Can't See the Forest for the Trees

2263

Dwarf Planet
Stardate: 19:24.8
Comic: Star Trek #25
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: July 1974

Synopsis:

Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti

The Enterprise comes across a planet where strange rays from the local star are causing each generation of the population to grow progressively smaller. Fearful that they may one day shrink to microscopic size and disappear, the rulers of the planet agree to the Enterprise’s help. The ship heads for the nearby star to collect samples of the "shrinking rays." While outside the ship erecting a collector dish, Scotty rips his space suit and is exposed to the full strength of the rays. He soon shrinks down to microscopic size and faces the perils of vicious germs and falling dust flakes. Using Scotty as a test subject, Spock develops an "anti-shrink" ray. The Enterprise builds several of the machines and delivers them to the planet so that they can restore their population to the correct size.

Ice Journey
Stardate: 20:27.3
Comic: Star Trek #27
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: November 1974

Synopsis:

Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti

The Enterprise has been sent to Floe, the coldest planet in the Federation, to conduct a population survey. On the surface, they are greeted by blue-skinned "turtle people" who appear to have developed a natural adaptation to deal with the cold. However, they do not want their true numbers reported and capture Kirk and Uhura (depicted in this issue as a white woman) and force them to submit a false report. Meanwhile, Spock and a Federation scientist have been sacrificed to the planet’s fire pits. Their environment suits protect them from the heat, and they discover a race of subjugated red-skinned people. With Spock’s help the red-skins escape the fire pits and attack the blue-skinned people. The Enterprise crew escapes, having instigated a civil war!

The Mimicking Menace
Stardate: 34:21.7
Comic: Star Trek #28
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: January 1975

Synopsis:

Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti

The Enterprise sends a shuttle down to investigate an apparently dormant volcano on an asteroid. After they land, the landing party is stunned to see another identical shuttle alongside. As they investigate, more duplicates appear as the crew encounters strange dancing lights. Kirk orders the Enterprise to fire a stream of negative ions into the volcano crater. The crater turns out to be home to an energy creature that is a parasite who drains energy sources to feed. The duplicates are a by-product of the energy absorption process.

The Death of a Star
Stardate: 33:33.3
Comic: Star Trek #30
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: May 1975

Synopsis:

Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti

The Enterprise, sent to monitor the final hours of the star Isis, detects traces of life on a nearby planet. On beaming down, the crew encounters a woman who claims to be the Sun-Goddess Isis. On further investigation they discover an ancient underground city and an archive library, where they learn that Isis was once a living star who seeded the planet with her "eyes"—which grew into living beings—but that the Isisian civilization has been extinct for 25 million years. As the crew return to the surface, Isis goes nova, but in a last act transports the landing party back to the Enterprise and pushes the ship through a "space pocket" to save it from destruction

The Animal People
Stardate: 19:26.11
Comic: Star Trek #32
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: August 1975

Synopsis:

Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti

Responding to a distress call, the Enterprise finds a civilization apparently threatened by a race of violent "animal people." Spock discovers that the so-called "animals" are intelligent humans who appear to have lost the ability to vocalize, with the exception of their leader, a beautiful woman. It is later revealed that the “animal people” are in fact the indigenous population of the planet, who had been conquered and enslaved thousands of years before, and that each child has to undergo an operation to prevent them from speaking. When their leader is captured, the "animal people" revolt. The ensuing civil war is ended only when the leader of the "animal people" and the crown prince of the ruling family marry, and then commit a ritual joint suicide. The symbolic gesture stops the war, and the barbaric operations are banned, sowing the seeds for the two races to live together in harmony going forward.

The Psycho Crystals
Stardate: 19:27.4
Comic: Star Trek #34
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: October 1975

Synopsis:

Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti

On the planet Alpha 23-C the Enterprise landing party encounter strange crystals that seem to reflect different facets of their emotional makeup. The crystals turn out to be the young of a race of crystalline people who live in a city below ground (what a surprise). The landing party is accused of kidnapping the young and are sentenced to death. The crew get a reprieve when they stop an attack on the city from a crystalline monster via Spock concentrating his logic through one of the baby crystals and focusing it on the rampaging beast.

NEXT POST: 2263- Part 3

Previous Entries
– 1953
– 2056
– 2063
– 2250
– 2251 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
– 2253-2259
– 2262 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
– 2263 – Part 1.

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NOTES:
(1) This timeline covers Star Trek comics published in the USA and UK between 1967 to 2007 (i.e. from Gold Key to TokyoPop) – it does not include any stories from current Star Trek comics publisher IDW.
(2) Check out the first post in this series for the Time Line Introduction explaining the background, definitions and considerations for this Star Trek Comics Time Line project.
(3) For more information on the history of Star Trek in comics check out my book STAR TREK: A Comics History. now available in stores.