Star Trek vs. Transformers

Star Trek vs. Transformers #1-5

by John Barber, Mike Johnson, Philip Murphy (Illustrator)

Four decades in the making, it's the crossover that fans have demanded! Kirk, Spock, and Autobots! Decepticons and Klingons! Optimus Prime and the Prime Directive!

When Kirk, Spock, and the entire crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise investigate problems at a remote mine, they're met with an explosive battle between powerful warriors who change into vehicles from the 20th century! As the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons rages, it's up to Kirk to decide--does he violate the Prime Directive and interfere in a war that's raged for millennia? And how will the Klingons complicate the issue? It's cartoony fun between two of the most popular science fiction franchises in the world!

Transformers Hall of Famer John Barber and the world's most prolific Star Trek comics writer, Mike Johnson, team up with artist Philip Murphy (Powerpuff Girls) to tell an adventure that could only appear in comics!

(TM), (R), & (c) 2018 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. (c) 2018 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Hasbro.

Genres: Star Trek, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2019

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Trek Vs. Transformers. It's the crossover that was inevitable once IDW gained the rights to both properties. This is balls out complete fan service. I did think they made an inspired choice using Star Trek: The Animated Series as the jumping off point giving the art an animation vibe. This of course has everything you'd want to see in crossover of the two properties including having the Enterprise become an Autobot. Phillip Murphy's art is quite good. Hopefully he'll stick around for some of the Transformers books.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did like this comic. From a Star Trek point of view it was awesome and spot on, from the Transformers point of view the robot in disguise did not come off as well. Also on a personal level being a big Prime fan, having continuously get his butt kicked in this comic was painful to watch. Though I am a also a Kirk and Spock and they came off awesome.

I did find it interesting that the (by their robotic nature) the technologically advanced Transformers were a couple of centuries out of date. The story was interesting, a good amount of action the generation art is always a big hit with me.

An enjoyable crossover more Star Trek than Transformers, but as a fan of both if does mostly even out. One thing they did take from the Transfirmers original series is the Decepicons could get shot a number of times but the Autobots would be mortally wounded from a single shot. The book finishes with a cover gallery of full page spreads of all the issues' covers.

[Robert]

No rating since it’s Star Trek vs Transformers of all things, but I really enjoyed the art style and the loving homage to Saturday morning cartoon storytelling. Definitely recommended to ‘80s kids.

[Donna Lombardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely hilarious! I just finished this in the 5 issue format. The TPB should be on the reading list for 70s snd 80s kids.

[Emmanuel Nevers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This mini-series is a love-letter to the original Transformers cartoon as well as Star Trek: The animated series. Both franchises meet in a wacky "Saturday morning cartoons" way and the plot and pacing are on point for both. The strongest thing in the story for me was that the dialogue of each character was strong and very indicative of who they are. The ending of the story even has a really well-deserved pun. This is just pure fun and I would recommend this to anyone who is a star trek or transformers fan.

[I.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure, unadulterated fan service with the barest bones of a plot. It’s breezy fun stuff bordering on corny but it fits the cartoon art and vibe. Fun but slight.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised at the low ratings on this. The art is great and it feels like someone took screenshots of an 80s cartoon show and added speech bubbles. Combines the Star Trek animated and the transformers, the takeaway from this is it is just pure fun. No, it’s not incredible writing or anything that’s going to blow your mind but again this is written just like an 80s cartoon, to the point I am thinking how I can get hold of a toy version of the ‘surprise’ transformer. If you are nostalgic for this era and the cartoons we grew up on I think you’ll love it.

[PMoslice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun mash-up where we see far into the future and the Cybertonian war has landed on another distant plant. When their crashed ships are reactivated by miners on the plant, a distress call is sent out and sets off a battle like no other. The USS Enterprise captained by James T. Kirk arrives on the seen to witness, beings like they've never encountered in all of their travels. A fun trip through time and space.

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series has got my number. Combining the 80s nostalgia of Transformers with the retro vibe of the 70s Trek cartoon works perfectly. It hints at a sequel and now that's all I want.

It's all I want.

We go deeper into this in a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Paul Griggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crossover of great 70s and 80s cartoons that no one could ever have anticipated. Great fun!

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Than Meets the Eye

A supposed Klingon attack on a Federation colony is exposed as a millennia long conflict between two races of sentient cybernetic lifeforms.

A graphic novel that was all but inevitable, 'Star Trek vs. Transformers' is a fun, if a little shallow romp in the best traditions of crossover fiction. The blend between the ' Star Trek: The Animated Series' and 'Transformers' style is well handled and there are some wonderful visual gags, such as a frame with World War III soldiers and scientists watching the Autobot and Decepticon exodus from Earth, which is also seen by Cochrane and Sloane at the Montana Base.

[Jeremiah Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m worried what’s going to happen to Megatron. Is he OK? I know he’s not the nicest friend, he’s a despicable villain. He makes very bad choices very often. But seeing him in pain, I can’t deal with that.

Also, I enjoyed this. I love how the art played homage to the angles and close ups of Star Trek: The Animated Series.

My one main criticism with these Star Trek crossovers is too many Klingon stories. I’d have preferred another Star Trek villain like V’ger or just anything besides 1960s Klingons making a power play.

[Ron Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprisingly entertaining crossover. Worth it alone for the TOS Animated Series crew.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mix of the old star Trek cartoon a
And transformers cartoon in comic form.

Cheesy and really doesn't feel like Star Trek but it does have the bombast of the Transformers cartoons.

[Dann · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than meets the eye, Star Trek vs. Transformers is an action-packed crossover adventure. When the USS Enterprise visits a mining colony they find it under attack from a group of Decepticons disguised as 20th century Earth vehicles, but with the help Optimus Prime and the Autobots they are able to drive out the Decepticons; who retreat and join forces with the Klingons to take back the colony. Despite being a comic, this is actually a crossover of Star Trek: The Animated Series with The Transformers cartoon; which makes for a pretty good fit. The artwork is excellent, perfectly capturing the animation styles of each show, and the story is really well-done, seamlessly merging the mythologies of Star Trek and Transformers. Boldly going where no one has gone before, Star Trek vs. Transformers is a lot fun and delivers exciting thrills. Roll out!

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best decision that they made was to draw the "Star Trek" characters as they were in "Star Trek: The Animated Series" so that they blended much more cohesively with the "Transformers" characters. The story is just okay, but it's worth a read for the nostalgia factor alone.

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This crossover has a neat concept - a crossover specifically between the 1970s Star Trek cartoon, and the original 1980s Transformers cartoon, with art to match. Unfortunately, it feels like the authors just picked out certain crossover ideas they wanted to have, and only then came up with a plot to thread between them. (The random out-of-place bits from later Trek and Transformers canon don't help, though I admit that's nitpicking.) The resulting story is functional, not bad exactly, but kind of disappointing. Maybe my expectations were just too high. (B-)

[Rob Schamberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure fun!

[Ahdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun but I'm pretty happy that it's not official canon. Also, bonus points that the artwork was reflective of both franchises' respective popular animation shows. I love that, but the story was nonsense.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

IDW has been doing a line of miniseries based on classic cartoon shows from the 70s and 80s. A GI JOE and a Ninja Turtles book have been huge successes. Now the publisher is gambling on a micro-series based on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon that ran on CBS from 1983-85. I'm trying to get all of these books and I think none of those 'Saturday Morning Adventures' would have happened if not for this miniseries.

This 2018 story joins the Star Trek and Transformers franchises for the first (and so far) only time ever! Drawn in the style of the 1973-74 Star Trek Saturday morning toon and the original Transformers syndicated series from 1984-87.

The story starts with the Enterprise intercepting a distress call from a mining colony near the Neutral Zone. Expecting to run into Klingons, Kirk finds the colony under attack by aircraft from the late 20th Century! Adding to the mystery is the massive red and blue big rig that comes out of nowhere to counterattack the out of place planes!

Oh.... Did I mention that the truck just transformed into a big ole' freakin' robot?

This story was just amazing! It had Arak and M'Ress! Klingons! And writer John Barber and artist Philip Murphy figured out a way to make a Transformer out of the Enterprise!

This story was also kinda sad. Or bittersweet. Star Trek: The Animated Series takes place around the year 2269. That means from 1990 to 2269, the literal hundreds of Transformers whittle down to about 6 Autobots and around a dozen Decepticons. Okay, there could be more. But that's about how many Transformers are in this crossover. So, I'm to infer that a whole bunch of characters died from my cherished childhood memories to about 270 years in the future; all thanks to a needless war for power and energy.

I did love the Easter eggs peppered throughout this book. To get to see the Eugenics war and Zefram Cochran and company from Star Trek: First Contact. Though this is supposed to be a family friendly comic book story, it is a bit shocking to see one of those soldiers from World War III taking narcotics in a throwaway panel. It's a lot like those innuendos that get thrown into Disney films. The kiddoes don't get it. But it's something the adults catch on to. Same thing here. It looks like a dude is picking his nose or something. But really, he's getting high as a kite!

There's something here for the whole family. Whole generations of family. The artwork was utterly amazing. The story was action packed and full of the stuff of dreams. If I had seen Optimus Prime transform into an iconic ship from pop culture history, like the Millennium Falcon or a Cylon raider one Saturday morning, I would have spit my cereal out like an exasperated grown-up drinking coffee when they hear something incredible and then done victory laps around the living room.

I don't think I need to have Star Trek and the Transformers ever meet-up again. But I hope this isn't the end of the animated Enterprise joining forces with other animated entities from my childhood.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I'm a sucker for bizarre sanctioned crossovers that are too crazy to possibly make any sense. Y'know, those DC/Hanna-Barbera or DC/Loony Tunes team ups. Supergirl and the Crash Test Dummies. Spider-Man meet Cap'n Crunch. Madballs meet the Care Bears.

The probelm is every once in awhile, somebody screws up one of these ideas and creates a total gem. Archie Meets The Punisher. Most of the TMNT and Usagi Yojimbo crossovers. And yes, Star Trek vs. Transformers.

Start with the art style. It looks like the Filmation animation crew from 1973 started the pages and the Transformers art team from 1984 finished. So yeah, it looks like what a Star Trek and Transformers crossover should look like.

Second, the dialouge. All the characters read like themselves. I read the Star Trek characters my imagination has no trouble imagining Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Nichols, Doohan, and company saying these lines. And with the Transformers, I no trouble imagine the words coming from mouth of Cullin, Welker, Latta, etc.

The plot? There are a lot of reason it shouldn't work. Especially the last chapter with the Star Trek crew in Autobot mechas. It's sitll not as absurd as an ACTUAL episode of the animated series alled 'The Infinite Vulcan'. Not only that but the idea just goes with it and everything else is so true to form that I simply don't give a crap.

I often complain that comic writers have forgotten the medium is supposed to be fun. Barber and Charm have not. This book is weird. It's kinda wacky. Maybe a little bit dumb but in exactly the right kind of way to be satisfying and entertaining.

[Philmore Olazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good crossover, I didn't expect this.

Here we have a story where the Crew of the Enterprise, taken from The Animated Series, and a version of the G1 Transformers.

Instead of creating a new continuity or using the good ol´ alternate universe, these two actually existed in the same timeline, since G1 happens in Star Trek's past and was a sort war hidden from humanity the Federation doesn't have records of the Cybertronians. This is quite cool.

Kirk and his crew are answering a call to help out a mining colony under attack by 20th century machines, the Decepticons, that end up having an alliance with the Klingon. The crew of the Enterprise have close contact with the Autobots and make an uneasy alliance with them.

The art is beautiful, the interactions and characterizations are on point, for both sides, and the funny crossover gimmick is very cool as well. My only gripes with this story is in the final issue, I really don't think that the extra robots was a particularly good choice to finish the conflict, and having Starscream as a surprise villain is quite boring.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whoever decided that this crossover title between the Transformers and Star Trek would use the Animated Series as a basis is a creative genius as it felt like the perfect way to bring these two worlds together in a manner that just worked. As much as many fans like myself recognize the cartoon as part of the official canon, we also have to concede that the tone of the show was pretty different from the original series and the nuance of difference really sets things apart.

The story starts out a little clunkily as they get the pieces in play but beyond that, it becomes a fairly plausible but highly entertaining little adventure with both Autobots and Decepticons squaring off alongside the likes of the Federation and the Klingons. The overall story has the right amount of camp, which was very in tune with TOS animated series such as Spock citing how illogical it was for Trypticon to take the form of a dinosaur at all.

Lots and lots of fun for fans of both franchises.

[Alex Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't smile at McCoy saying they're stuck between "a robot and a hard place," or Spock saying there might be "more than meets the eye," to a situation, you've come to the wrong graphic novel. I didn't see the Star Trek animated series as a kid, but I'm familiar with it now, and the animated look the show had in the 1970s is a perfect match for the animated look later given to the Transformers.

I was never a massive fan of the Transformers, but I love Trek, and this is both well-made and fun. Someone has clearly recognized these kinds of crossovers attract double the fans, but at least the effort here was a good one, by people familiar with both.

[carlton]

Pure fun.

Never would I have expected such a great combination such as Star Trek and the Transformers but they meld together flawlessly. The story is fairly simple and straightforward which is nice. Too many times these crossovers try to over indulge with their concept. The story is basically the Decpticons are attacking a human settlement and the Enterprise and her crew show up to help the settlers. The Autobots awaken and team up with Kirk and Crew to defend against the diabolical Decipticons who have also gained new allies in the warrior race of the Klingon Empire. As my title to this post proclaims, it is all just pure fun.

[Tony Calder · Rating 2 out of 5]

This crossover uses Star Trek: The Animated Series as its basis rather than the original series - M'Ress and Arex from the animated series feature in this comic. I am a huge Star Trek fan and I enjoyed the animated series, but I was never a big fan of Transformers - I never understood why the Decepticons got to change into the cool stuff - fighter jets, etc - while the Autobots could only change into cars and trucks. And, as a 60s kid, I wasn't really the target audience for Transformers.

Anyway, I didn't really get into this. I thought the story was pretty silly, but I did enjoy the artwork - it was a good match for the animated series art.

[Chris Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

My crossover addiction continues. Another fun one, but really thin on plot beyond what you honestly probably predicted when you saw this existed. Decepticons want dilithium for energy, ally with Klingons/ Prime and Starfleet must stop them.....you get the idea. The backdrop for this adventure is the animated series versions of both, so no movie characters or designs here. Honestly, I didn’t mind that. The artist renders both Trek and Transformer in the style of their respective cartoons, making me get all nostalgic. Fun fluff.

[Hex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vaguely silly but still weirdly compelling sci-fi adventure in which the Enterprise crew team up with the Autobots and wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons (and the Klingons) - exactly the kind of content I expect from both franchises.

The art style matches TAS perfectly, sometimes even going so far as to include panels where you can see the edge of the 'animation cels.'

If you like Transformers and Star Trek (G1 and the Animated Series in particular), please read this!

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheesy and campy, but amazingly, deliciously so. Ever wondered what would happen if Decepticons had Klingon cloaking tech? What Kirk would be like as an Autobot? This is decidedly all-ages, drawn simply and colored brightly, but evocative of cartoons, both that of the TOS & the original Transformers ones. A solidly enjoyable afternoon read; but you will still wonder why the fuck Megatron never just murdered Starscream and got it over with.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shouldn't work; it should be a terrible, cash-grabby mess. But it WORKS! So well. It's transcendent. It's amazing. It's corny and absurd but all of that makes the effort more enjoyable. So good.

I read it via Hoopla (the digital library system) and am seriously considering buying a printed copy. And I very much want a poster of one of the covers, because the art is wonderful.