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Star Trek: The Next Generation (IDW) #2
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Intelligence Gathering
One year ago IDW's Star Trek comics line launched with Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Space Between, a series of six stand-alone issues. Now, prepare for the latest voyage of the Enterprise as the creative team that brought you Klingons: Blood Will Tell tackles an all-new Star Trek: TNG mini-series.
124 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 20, 2020
This is a collection of four one-shot adventures which have clues to a common source for the troubles the Enterprise encounters. It’s all tied up in the final story.
In the first one, the Enterprise-D is at Daystrom One which is an archive for information about hundreds of worlds. The Daystrom institute has constructed a A.I. to managed the information flow. The A.I. is based on Dr. Soong’s positronic brain model and is now refusing contact. The Institute asks for Data to go and see what’s wrong. Data isn’t happy about his order to simply shut down the A.I. if it has become sentient but he and Riker go to the extra-dimensional tesseract where are the info and the artificial brain.
The second story brings the Enterprise-D to a Rigelian colony which is under construction. If the colony isn’t built, the Cardassians will step in. However, a group of workers, who are humanoids called the Raylar and known for their aggressiveness, have taken over a critical power plant and are essentially keeping the colony hostage by refusing to give them energy. Picard sends in Lieutenant Worf to negotiate. Of course, things aren’t as they seem at first glance.
The third adventure begins with a short visit to Starbase 215. During the visit, Geordi ends up wondering how chief O’Brian can stand staying in just one small room and wants to take O’Brian off the ship. When the Enterprise-D leaves the base, they hear a priority-1 distress call from a nearby starship the USS Jackson. When the Enterprise meets with the Jackson, their captain says they don’t have an emergency. Instead, the captain has problems with his new chief engineer. Picard goes to talk with the captain while Geordi and O’Brian talk with the new chief engineer.
The fourth story starts with three Pakled ships attacking the Enterprise-D. Their weapons and engines have been enhanced but they don’t really have a chance against the Enterprise. The Pakleds talk about expanding “their empire”, which they don’t have and ram the Enterprise, succeeding only in destroying themselves. Troi is convinced that their minds are controlled. The Enterprise investigates.
In the fifth story, Picard confronts the people who have manipulated him in the previous adventures.
This was a nice story with just enough mystery. Many of the stories have small winks to us old TNG fans, such as the Bynars in the first story and Ensign Ro is in two stories. However, the female crew only appears in two stories and are very underused; Picard, Riker, and Data are the shows of this series. While I was intrigued by the the final issue, the convoluted way of manipulating the Enterprise felt unnecessary, which Picard does point out in the story
I mostly enjoyed this series and it was very nice to return to the TNG crew.
In the first one, the Enterprise-D is at Daystrom One which is an archive for information about hundreds of worlds. The Daystrom institute has constructed a A.I. to managed the information flow. The A.I. is based on Dr. Soong’s positronic brain model and is now refusing contact. The Institute asks for Data to go and see what’s wrong. Data isn’t happy about his order to simply shut down the A.I. if it has become sentient but he and Riker go to the extra-dimensional tesseract where are the info and the artificial brain.
The second story brings the Enterprise-D to a Rigelian colony which is under construction. If the colony isn’t built, the Cardassians will step in. However, a group of workers, who are humanoids called the Raylar and known for their aggressiveness, have taken over a critical power plant and are essentially keeping the colony hostage by refusing to give them energy. Picard sends in Lieutenant Worf to negotiate. Of course, things aren’t as they seem at first glance.
The third adventure begins with a short visit to Starbase 215. During the visit, Geordi ends up wondering how chief O’Brian can stand staying in just one small room and wants to take O’Brian off the ship. When the Enterprise-D leaves the base, they hear a priority-1 distress call from a nearby starship the USS Jackson. When the Enterprise meets with the Jackson, their captain says they don’t have an emergency. Instead, the captain has problems with his new chief engineer. Picard goes to talk with the captain while Geordi and O’Brian talk with the new chief engineer.
The fourth story starts with three Pakled ships attacking the Enterprise-D. Their weapons and engines have been enhanced but they don’t really have a chance against the Enterprise. The Pakleds talk about expanding “their empire”, which they don’t have and ram the Enterprise, succeeding only in destroying themselves. Troi is convinced that their minds are controlled. The Enterprise investigates.
In the fifth story, Picard confronts the people who have manipulated him in the previous adventures.
This was a nice story with just enough mystery. Many of the stories have small winks to us old TNG fans, such as the Bynars in the first story and Ensign Ro is in two stories. However, the female crew only appears in two stories and are very underused; Picard, Riker, and Data are the shows of this series. While I was intrigued by the the final issue, the convoluted way of manipulating the Enterprise felt unnecessary, which Picard does point out in the story
I mostly enjoyed this series and it was very nice to return to the TNG crew.
April 27, 2021
The crew of the 'Enterprise' discover they are being led around by unknown forces when a series of events make them question events as they unfold.
The Tiptons have created a sequence of interlinked adventures which build to a crescendo. The storylines vary in quality but the overarching plot is solid and achieves what it sets out to do.
The key art is gorgeous and the storyboards are of a high standard.
The Tiptons have created a sequence of interlinked adventures which build to a crescendo. The storylines vary in quality but the overarching plot is solid and achieves what it sets out to do.
The key art is gorgeous and the storyboards are of a high standard.
November 3, 2024
I'm thinking there's a 99.997% chance that the Frakes-meister was behind the illustrations for Riker. Chiselled, brooding, BUFF! Poor Miles O'Brien, meanwhile, looked like he'd had a particularly over-indulgent Christmas that had lasted the best part of a year.
I quite enjoy a Star Trek comic every now and again, but this wasn't a favourite. Although it had a Romulan thread binding the individual issues, some of the chapters felt like treading water on tangents that didn't add to the overall plot and I felt the illustrations didn't *quite* reflect the characters as well as I've seen in other Star Trek comics.
I quite enjoy a Star Trek comic every now and again, but this wasn't a favourite. Although it had a Romulan thread binding the individual issues, some of the chapters felt like treading water on tangents that didn't add to the overall plot and I felt the illustrations didn't *quite* reflect the characters as well as I've seen in other Star Trek comics.
April 3, 2021
Actually quite a nice set of stories.
Fits very well with TNG.
Also, the villains again demonstrating their love for needlessly complicated plans within plans.
However, the very basic artwork really lets this down.
Fits very well with TNG.
Also, the villains again demonstrating their love for needlessly complicated plans within plans.
However, the very basic artwork really lets this down.
April 7, 2019
This was a quirky little TNG adventure that played the stereotypes a little too hard but it still felt generally consistent with the tone of the original show. In this case, we have a series of stories that initially appear independent of the other only for everything to be somehow connected in the end under somewhat unusual circumstances. I get how they arrived at this conclusion and I can generally appreciate the efforts to lay the seeds throughout the larger narrative. But again it felt like we limited our "villains" in the story by forcing them to hatch such an elaborate plot for a relatively innocuous reason.
December 14, 2015
While it's always a pleasure to see the crew of the Enterprise, the plot was so convoluted it was almost comical.
October 20, 2023
novel grafis ini terdiri dari 5 cerita yang tidak saling berhubungan secara langsung yang baru terungkap jawabannya di cerita kelima. bermula dari Riker dan Data yang memeriksa pusat informasi sebuah stasiun namun diserang oleh Romulan, lalu Worf menjalani misi diplomatik untuk menengahi perselisihan dua kubu di sebuah planet.
kisah ketiga tentang penelitian Geordi dan Chief O'Brien di pesawat lain dan Enterprise yang menemukan alat sabotase, ditemukannya alat pengendali pikiran yang membuat Troi, Dr. Crusher dan Ro Laren melakukan tindakan melawan aturan Star Flee.
dalam kisah terakhir yang mengungkap Romulan sebagai dalang dari insiden dari kisah-kisah awal dengan alasan dan tujuan untuk mencegah bahaya yang lebih besar yang mengancam galaksi. empat cerita yang tampak tidak berkaitan dan meninggalkan pertanyaan ditutup dengan kisah kelima yang menjadi klimaks dan menjelaskan semuanya.
sebagai salah satu serial televisi dan budaya pop, novel grafis star trek yang dibuat banyak orang dengan gaya gambar beragam turut menambah jumlah kreasi cerita yang bisa berada di luar serial televisi bahkan meski serialnya sudah tidak dibuat belasan tahun setelah buku ini terbit.
kisahnya tetap menarik meski berbentuk novel grafis dan masih tetap dalam gaya dan ciri khas star trek yang bernuansa ilmiah dan diplomasi antar planet.
ditambah bonus kisah star trek original dari masa Gold Key Archives yang mengisahkan pengalaman Kirk, Spock, Bones dan Scotty di planet yang dikuasai seorang penyihir dan terpaksa memenuhi permintaannya demi keselamatan kru Enterprise. melewati sejumlah kesulitan dan menemukan sekutu, mereka mengungkap misteri di balik kekuatan sihir si penyihir dan berhasil mengatasi masalah.
sebagai orang yang lebih akrab dengan gaya gambar tahun 1990-an hingga 2020-an, melihat komik versi tahun 1970-an terasa beda karena komposisi dan gaya visual dan cerita yang jauh berbeda tapi tetap menarik.
kisah ketiga tentang penelitian Geordi dan Chief O'Brien di pesawat lain dan Enterprise yang menemukan alat sabotase, ditemukannya alat pengendali pikiran yang membuat Troi, Dr. Crusher dan Ro Laren melakukan tindakan melawan aturan Star Flee.
dalam kisah terakhir yang mengungkap Romulan sebagai dalang dari insiden dari kisah-kisah awal dengan alasan dan tujuan untuk mencegah bahaya yang lebih besar yang mengancam galaksi. empat cerita yang tampak tidak berkaitan dan meninggalkan pertanyaan ditutup dengan kisah kelima yang menjadi klimaks dan menjelaskan semuanya.
sebagai salah satu serial televisi dan budaya pop, novel grafis star trek yang dibuat banyak orang dengan gaya gambar beragam turut menambah jumlah kreasi cerita yang bisa berada di luar serial televisi bahkan meski serialnya sudah tidak dibuat belasan tahun setelah buku ini terbit.
kisahnya tetap menarik meski berbentuk novel grafis dan masih tetap dalam gaya dan ciri khas star trek yang bernuansa ilmiah dan diplomasi antar planet.
ditambah bonus kisah star trek original dari masa Gold Key Archives yang mengisahkan pengalaman Kirk, Spock, Bones dan Scotty di planet yang dikuasai seorang penyihir dan terpaksa memenuhi permintaannya demi keselamatan kru Enterprise. melewati sejumlah kesulitan dan menemukan sekutu, mereka mengungkap misteri di balik kekuatan sihir si penyihir dan berhasil mengatasi masalah.
sebagai orang yang lebih akrab dengan gaya gambar tahun 1990-an hingga 2020-an, melihat komik versi tahun 1970-an terasa beda karena komposisi dan gaya visual dan cerita yang jauh berbeda tapi tetap menarik.
May 27, 2023
In this volume, Data the turnip uses grammatical errors to transform into Frankenstein’s monster, and Worf, the Shojo male protagonist, dithers between a shoulder-to-head ratio of 5, 7, or 8. He’s secretly shoulder-width competing with the big Kylar guy, who he manages to imprison in the conference room with Troi. Meanwhile, Riker the constipated lumberjack hugs his trombone SO hard that he turns into Captain Q with 4 pips, and some guy named Rodriguez cosplays as Data on an away mission. His doppelgänger, Singh, doesn’t die from a phaser attack. Pulaski remains the most hated TNG character of all time, as indicated by her cameo being voice only, and Worf failing to spell her name correctly. Honestly, that’s what she gets for calling Data “Dah-ta” in early season 2.
This all sums up to Picard suffering an excruciating malaise of unknown origin that turns him into a wooden puppet — possibly related to making too many dad jokes. Then, Barclay wins the Oscar for most in-character, and Geordi becomes an alchemist and repeatedly turns his visor into gold. O’Brien obviously hasn’t met Keiko yet because he’s a bit lumpy and has secluded himself in the transporter room because… Cardassians.
In an ultimate twist, the Pakleds (most terrifying race in the quadrant) kamikaze themselves on the Enterprise in the name of their empire, whichLumberjack Captain Q Riker proves doesn’t exist thanks to Troi’s psychic superpowers.
God, I should have been a graphic artist/comic book writer.
This all sums up to Picard suffering an excruciating malaise of unknown origin that turns him into a wooden puppet — possibly related to making too many dad jokes. Then, Barclay wins the Oscar for most in-character, and Geordi becomes an alchemist and repeatedly turns his visor into gold. O’Brien obviously hasn’t met Keiko yet because he’s a bit lumpy and has secluded himself in the transporter room because… Cardassians.
In an ultimate twist, the Pakleds (most terrifying race in the quadrant) kamikaze themselves on the Enterprise in the name of their empire, which
God, I should have been a graphic artist/comic book writer.
January 30, 2023
Part of the Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection.
In the main story in this book, a series of misadventures lead Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D to believe that they are being manipulated towards a particular place in the galaxy for mysterious reasons. The back-up story from 1971 sees Captain Kirk and his crew forced to serve a self-proclaimed sorcerer called Chang.
The TNG story 'Intelligence Gathering' does a nice job of capturing the personalities of Picard's crew but has an episodic nature which detracts from the quality of the story overall. It would've been much more enjoyable if the writers had committed to writing a single narrative instead of giving us a series of mini-stories which then link, not entirely convincingly, into a finale.
I also felt that the Romulans were rather poorly used here, feeling neither as complex or as dangerous as they did in the TV series.
Len Wein's story from 1971 has a nice nod the classic Trek lore by referencing the Eugenics Wars (of the distant future year 1997!) but aside from that is silly nonsense. Which should've been obvious from the very early scene wherein the Enterprise is captured by a giant space genie.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
In the main story in this book, a series of misadventures lead Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D to believe that they are being manipulated towards a particular place in the galaxy for mysterious reasons. The back-up story from 1971 sees Captain Kirk and his crew forced to serve a self-proclaimed sorcerer called Chang.
The TNG story 'Intelligence Gathering' does a nice job of capturing the personalities of Picard's crew but has an episodic nature which detracts from the quality of the story overall. It would've been much more enjoyable if the writers had committed to writing a single narrative instead of giving us a series of mini-stories which then link, not entirely convincingly, into a finale.
I also felt that the Romulans were rather poorly used here, feeling neither as complex or as dangerous as they did in the TV series.
Len Wein's story from 1971 has a nice nod the classic Trek lore by referencing the Eugenics Wars (of the distant future year 1997!) but aside from that is silly nonsense. Which should've been obvious from the very early scene wherein the Enterprise is captured by a giant space genie.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
August 17, 2019
This starts off with Riker flying a place from WWII in the holosuite. He and the others get called to a place that is setting up what is essentially a library of all the data the Federation has on virtually everytihng (except classified things, I'm sure.)
When you put that kind of information in one place it's great temptation to the Romulans who use mind-control on certain ST:TNG characters to try to help them get the data they want.
There's also an art gallery.
I don't think the story is as good as most of the others in the series that I have read. If the information is not military in nature and just concerns data about planets, species, history, art, etc, then why isn't it going to be open to any civilization that wants to see it? An approach like that is possible with the one condition that any civilization wanting to look into the library should add information on their own civilization so that the data continues to expand.
It's like a regular Earth library where anyone can come in and do reading/research. Some people donate books to the library thus adding to its data total.
When you put that kind of information in one place it's great temptation to the Romulans who use mind-control on certain ST:TNG characters to try to help them get the data they want.
There's also an art gallery.
I don't think the story is as good as most of the others in the series that I have read. If the information is not military in nature and just concerns data about planets, species, history, art, etc, then why isn't it going to be open to any civilization that wants to see it? An approach like that is possible with the one condition that any civilization wanting to look into the library should add information on their own civilization so that the data continues to expand.
It's like a regular Earth library where anyone can come in and do reading/research. Some people donate books to the library thus adding to its data total.
October 9, 2018
I keep hoping against hope that that someday the IDW Star Trek comics written by the Tipton brothers will actually be good. Sadly, that day has not arrived yet. It is not that the writing is bad, but it is uninspired and dull.
This collection has five stories which are essentially stand alone, but there is a thread that connects them together which is revealed at the end of this volume. The only memorable story is the one involving Worf where he is placed in charge of a diplomatic mission to settle a dispute. Worf's approach to dispute resolution is novel and enjoyable. The rest of the stories are more formulaic. The writing for the female characters is poor and they have almost no meaningful role to play in the stories. This is a waste from my point of view.
The art is OK, but it is not outstanding. IDW rarely can afford to pay for A list artists and they have to settle for they can get.
This collection has five stories which are essentially stand alone, but there is a thread that connects them together which is revealed at the end of this volume. The only memorable story is the one involving Worf where he is placed in charge of a diplomatic mission to settle a dispute. Worf's approach to dispute resolution is novel and enjoyable. The rest of the stories are more formulaic. The writing for the female characters is poor and they have almost no meaningful role to play in the stories. This is a waste from my point of view.
The art is OK, but it is not outstanding. IDW rarely can afford to pay for A list artists and they have to settle for they can get.
July 20, 2019
Quick impressions: a nice story overall. Basically feels like watching an extended episode of the show. The Enterprise start out with a call to assist Daystrom One, which houses a giant archive. The A.I. of the archive has developed consciousness, or so it seems. From there, the ship and crew go through a series of missions, all with various degrees of risk and distress. The missions seem unrelated, but they soon find out there is a common connection.
As I said, feels very much like an extended episode of the show. It was entertaining, but one of those you read once and move on. The art to be honest is not that good. The volume includes a covers gallery, and the art on that was good. If they had made the same effort with the art in the story as they did in the alternate covers, this would have been a better comic.
I will be posting a review to my blog later.
As I said, feels very much like an extended episode of the show. It was entertaining, but one of those you read once and move on. The art to be honest is not that good. The volume includes a covers gallery, and the art on that was good. If they had made the same effort with the art in the story as they did in the alternate covers, this would have been a better comic.
I will be posting a review to my blog later.
April 19, 2023
Ok so this had potential. The idea was that they'd have a continuing story arc with each issue focusing on different characters (like the tv show did) and then tying it up together. But it was in actuality the Riker, Picard and Data show. Why do so many men writing next gen stories not understand the principle of agency. So the guys got individual stories where they could so things. Ep 4 lumped all the women together in one story, where instead of doing things, they were all possessed by evil aliens, and the men had to go rescue them and sort it out. There were also some very silly ideas about holodeck technology being used to create archive storage, where you could have ships firing on each other. This was sent to me by mistake, and I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It'll be heading to the charity shop.
March 10, 2024
I love this entire collection. In this story Data and Riker have to decide what to do with a computer who might have become sentient. It had Data questioning his "life" and his friends opinions. Also Work takes on the role of diplomat which is not his normal and has him out of his comfort zone. When the two warring sides won't talk how can he arbitrate for peace among them? A distress call has the Enterprise responding only to find the captain saying that he doesn't trust the findings of a new crew member. Geordi takes O'Brien out of the transporter room to check it out and finds his engineering skills to be very useful when encountering a mantleau wave that threatens to explode. Mind control takes over Troi, can Riker get through to the real Brianna? Well written and illustrated stories.
March 24, 2019
THE NEXT GENERATION RETURNS
I am reading this graphic novel because of the anticipation of the upcoming Star Trek series featuring Jean Luc Picard. The story does have a feel of being an actual part of this beloved series. The artist does a fantastic job in making sure that the characters resembles the original actors. It is a great time to be a Star Trek fan again thanks to Star Trek Discovery.
Looking forward to more TNG stories in the future.
I am reading this graphic novel because of the anticipation of the upcoming Star Trek series featuring Jean Luc Picard. The story does have a feel of being an actual part of this beloved series. The artist does a fantastic job in making sure that the characters resembles the original actors. It is a great time to be a Star Trek fan again thanks to Star Trek Discovery.
Looking forward to more TNG stories in the future.
September 16, 2019
Captain Picard and the Enterprise deal with saboteurs, get involved in a dispute between the Rigelians and the Kaylar, , defend themselves against Pakleds, and respond to a medical emergency on Rete Mire. It eventually becomes obvious that the Enterprise is being manipulated, and Data maybe the key.
This collects the six issues miniseries in one graphic novel and has usual Scott Tipton has done a wonderful job bringing the Star Trek universe to life.
This collects the six issues miniseries in one graphic novel and has usual Scott Tipton has done a wonderful job bringing the Star Trek universe to life.
February 17, 2020
This was an okay adventure. The art itself was average for the most part, but the spider creatures looked pretty good. Given when this takes place, I thought it was a nice touch having LaForge ask O'Brien about whether he'd want a change of scenery, thus foreshadowing him joining Deep Space Nine. There's also a really good line from Picard regarding a trap being an appointment since they're aware of it.
February 6, 2018
The main part is a decent TNG yarn; four separate connected stories with an overall arc. The art was a little distracting in places, but also decent. Gold Key comic #10 was typical. The Len Wein storyline was a bit magical and was okay as a story, but not great as Star Trek. Still looking forward to seeing more of Len’s work.
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January 11, 2020Difficult to follow: the reaction to the Romulan infiltration was pretty ho-hum; the "evil plot" was convoluted; and the attacks on the large structures were easy to confuse with one each other. The giant space monsters were a nice classic Trek touch, and, yes, O'Brien and Barclay always need stuff to do.
June 1, 2021
A great standalone adventure with your favorite characters from Star Trek TNG. I really enjoyed this story because I got to see the camaraderie between the characters and other members of the crew. Plus, you get to see the inner workings of how Starfleet handles certain situations. Look forward to reading more of these stories with this crew. Plus, the artwork is really cool.
August 7, 2018
I do love these graphic novels that throw me back into one of my favorite childhood shows and just makes me so happy. It's like finding an old friend again and this was a wonderful graphic novel to read and enjoy the adventures of Star Trek: The Next Generation again!
January 25, 2022
3.5-4. Not bad! Appreciated the consistent art. Character "voices" sounded right. All felt very Star Trek. Ending was kind of a whimper, though, and the reveal has been done before. Still! I enjoyed it.
August 24, 2018
Yeah!
This was actually like a real episode. I liked it. Word. Another word. And more words. One more word. Nope
This was actually like a real episode. I liked it. Word. Another word. And more words. One more word. Nope
April 11, 2019
Very good
It was great to see tomalak and that the romulans are after data for some reason the artwork was good as well
It was great to see tomalak and that the romulans are after data for some reason the artwork was good as well
May 10, 2019
Kinda fun. Always good to see Tomalak.
June 3, 2019
pretty good actually, convoluted and roundabout but in the end satisfying
August 15, 2019
Good story
Good story but the art work wasn’t good enough. Hardly looked like the next gen crew. Still worth a read for any next gen fan.
Good story but the art work wasn’t good enough. Hardly looked like the next gen crew. Still worth a read for any next gen fan.
August 25, 2020
This book balances individual episodes spotlighting members of the Enterprise crew with an overarching plot by those pesky Romulans. It's a fun series that really captures the look and feel of TNG.
September 30, 2020
The artwork was a little off once again, and I would have liked the story to be a bit less violent, but this was actually enjoyable, if mainly for the fitting portrayal of the Romulans.
August 30, 2021
Another enjoyable jaunt with my old favourites.
Interesting mission spread out over 5 comics with effective art work and enough to keep me interested.
Interesting mission spread out over 5 comics with effective art work and enough to keep me interested.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews