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Star Trek: The Key Collection/The Enterprise Logs #1
Star Trek - The Key Collection: Volume 1
From 1967 through 1979, Gold Key published the first Star Trek comics, totalling 60 issues in all. +They‚were first collected in four seperate Enterprise Logs by Golden Press. Now Checker reprints these classic tales. This volume is the first of six editions and collects issues 1-8.
in this collection:
"The Planet of No Return" (#1)
"The Devil's Isle of Space" (#2)
"Invasion of the City Builders" (#3)
"The Peril of Planet Quick Change" (#4)
"The Ghost Planet" (#5)
"When Planets Collide" (#6)
"The Voodoo Planet" (#7)
"The Youth Trap" (#8)
in this collection:
"The Planet of No Return" (#1)
"The Devil's Isle of Space" (#2)
"Invasion of the City Builders" (#3)
"The Peril of Planet Quick Change" (#4)
"The Ghost Planet" (#5)
"When Planets Collide" (#6)
"The Voodoo Planet" (#7)
"The Youth Trap" (#8)
228 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 8, 2017
The new publisher makes no bones about the embarrassing faux-pas of the original Gold Key publications. Its clear the writers had never seen an episode of Star Trek when they wrote this. The language is wrong, the science is wrong, the colours are wrong and the actions don't fit the characters. It only really deals with Kirk and Spock. Scotty appears as a blond but Uhura doesn't appear at all.
However, it is a reprint of comics from a different age. An age before VCR - so I guess if you didn't see it live there was no chance to catch up.
However, it is a reprint of comics from a different age. An age before VCR - so I guess if you didn't see it live there was no chance to catch up.
July 17, 2017
OK, sure, the Enterprise's nacelles shoot rocket flames, sure Scottie is a blond, sure it seems the writers had never seen an episode of the show, sure the science is very wrong, sure the only characters they sort of get right are Kirk, Spock, and Bones, but take away all those errors and this is still a fun series. corny at tines, sure, but the art is fairly decent for the time, and for those of us old enough to remember it, this is a great nostalgic romp.
November 11, 2015
A cheap and unoriginal knock-off of the Star Trek original series
By necessity, the original Star Trek series used a great deal of the scientific equivalent of poetic license in the creation of the shows. When a scientific fact proved to be a difficulty, the writers and producers simply passed it over by either ignoring it or inventing a fictitious counterforce. Yet, there remained a reasonable adherence to the physical laws of the universe, one of the many reasons that the show was so popular. Unfortunately, adherence to the laws of nature was not followed in the comics in this collection, in fact many of the principles of the show are also neglected.
Star Trek comics debuted in 1967, in the second year of the run of the original series. and this book contains the first eight issues. The quality of the artwork is such that you often do not know which character is which until another calls them by name. The only exception is of course Spock, as the ears always identify him.
What I dislike most about the comics are things that deviate dramatically from the original series, for example the Enterprise is depicted as being rocket powered rather than via matter-antimatter reactions. At one point when Captain Kirk wants to get the Enterprise out of danger he yells “All rockets on full!” The Enterprise is repeatedly drawn as leaving a rocket exhaust as it is moving through space.
The transporter room, computer terminals and other parts of the Enterprise all appear differently than what they were on the original series. Dialog is also uninspiring and unoriginal, leading me to conclude that the comics were nothing more than an attempt to make money by exploiting the popularity of Star Trek by making a series of companion comics in the cheapest manner possible.
This review also appears on Amazon
By necessity, the original Star Trek series used a great deal of the scientific equivalent of poetic license in the creation of the shows. When a scientific fact proved to be a difficulty, the writers and producers simply passed it over by either ignoring it or inventing a fictitious counterforce. Yet, there remained a reasonable adherence to the physical laws of the universe, one of the many reasons that the show was so popular. Unfortunately, adherence to the laws of nature was not followed in the comics in this collection, in fact many of the principles of the show are also neglected.
Star Trek comics debuted in 1967, in the second year of the run of the original series. and this book contains the first eight issues. The quality of the artwork is such that you often do not know which character is which until another calls them by name. The only exception is of course Spock, as the ears always identify him.
What I dislike most about the comics are things that deviate dramatically from the original series, for example the Enterprise is depicted as being rocket powered rather than via matter-antimatter reactions. At one point when Captain Kirk wants to get the Enterprise out of danger he yells “All rockets on full!” The Enterprise is repeatedly drawn as leaving a rocket exhaust as it is moving through space.
The transporter room, computer terminals and other parts of the Enterprise all appear differently than what they were on the original series. Dialog is also uninspiring and unoriginal, leading me to conclude that the comics were nothing more than an attempt to make money by exploiting the popularity of Star Trek by making a series of companion comics in the cheapest manner possible.
This review also appears on Amazon
October 28, 2015
I've got mixed feelings about this book.
One one hand, the part of me that loves outrageous, cheesy sci-fi thought it was pretty good. Lots of ridiculous and impossible science, and whacky phrases that insert various space terms to make exclamations- Eat your heart out, Robin.
On the other hand, as a Star Trek fan, this was just painful. Minus the names, not much was the same. The art fluctuated so much that it was often times hard to make out which character was which, and sometimes the drawing didn't match who was being spoken to at all. Not to mention that it changed a lot of things that make Star Trek, Star Trek.
This was, of course, mentioned in the forward of the book, so it was definitely taken with a grain of salt.
By no means was this bad, it was a fun, rather mindless read.
One one hand, the part of me that loves outrageous, cheesy sci-fi thought it was pretty good. Lots of ridiculous and impossible science, and whacky phrases that insert various space terms to make exclamations- Eat your heart out, Robin.
On the other hand, as a Star Trek fan, this was just painful. Minus the names, not much was the same. The art fluctuated so much that it was often times hard to make out which character was which, and sometimes the drawing didn't match who was being spoken to at all. Not to mention that it changed a lot of things that make Star Trek, Star Trek.
This was, of course, mentioned in the forward of the book, so it was definitely taken with a grain of salt.
By no means was this bad, it was a fun, rather mindless read.
August 12, 2016
Surprisingly good art for the time it was created. Unfortunately, the biggest reason to read this would be the nostalgia factor. But it's difficult to be nostalgic when the characters act and speak differently from the television series. They frequently use expressions like "great galloping galaxies" and the faces are difficult to distinguish (except Spock). They make an effort to imitate Shatner's strange vocal style, but on paper, it seems like he is continually stuttering in terror. The positive side is that the publishing company did a solid job reproducing the art without changing a thing. No new inking or colorization in this collection. Also, it's a neat little time capsule that captures comic production of the late 60s/early 70s.
May 4, 2015
Meh. These weren't great comics at the time (late 1960s/early 1970s), and they haven't aged well. The characters bear only a superficial resemblance to the series and the stories are generally pretty bargain-basement science fantasy. Production values are weak, as well; minimal editorial content and the book just consists of indifferent scans of the original comics, with little or no restoration effort, so flaws and blemishes like off-register colour are faithfully preserved.... Nostalgia value only.
August 8, 2014
Sono stato contento di questa pubblicazione italiana, perché ne sentii parlare fin dal Texone di Giolitti ed ero veramente curioso.
Sebbene Giolitti resti un grande, le storie erano abbastanza fuori posto rispetto alla saga di Star Trek. Ma devo dire che, pur non avendo Giolitti visto la serie che qualche anno dopo rispetto a quando iniziò a disegnarla e quindi basando il suo lavoro su pure fotografie, aveva colto molto bene i tratti essenziali dei personaggi.
Sebbene Giolitti resti un grande, le storie erano abbastanza fuori posto rispetto alla saga di Star Trek. Ma devo dire che, pur non avendo Giolitti visto la serie che qualche anno dopo rispetto a quando iniziò a disegnarla e quindi basando il suo lavoro su pure fotografie, aveva colto molto bene i tratti essenziali dei personaggi.
November 2, 2014
This book is the first in a six volume set that contains the original Star Trek series comics. These are stories that were never able to be produced on the TV show for one reason or another. After finishing this book, I'm guessing it was because of the special effects that would have been to costly in the 1960's! Some of these stories are pretty out there, but if u love Star Trek- the nostalgia alone will make u love these cheesy stories! I did!
February 13, 2015
Cheesy fun in the final frontier!
The Enterprise's engines spurt flames! Scotty is blonde! The bridge looks like it came from a 50s sci-fi movie! McCoy is turned into a teenager! Best yet, Kirk and Spock use expressions such as "Galloping Galaxies!"
I enjoyed this alternate comic world of Star Trek from the late 60s where no Star Trek comic has gone, or will ever go again.
The Enterprise's engines spurt flames! Scotty is blonde! The bridge looks like it came from a 50s sci-fi movie! McCoy is turned into a teenager! Best yet, Kirk and Spock use expressions such as "Galloping Galaxies!"
I enjoyed this alternate comic world of Star Trek from the late 60s where no Star Trek comic has gone, or will ever go again.
April 10, 2013
I have almost the entire gold key collection and I really like them all. The stories are pretty cheesy but the artwork is actually pretty good. Sometimes the crew acts out of character. These comics really take me back.
September 6, 2016
Oh, so bad. Poor artwork, bad stories. No respect for the series. I kept thinking the stories would get better. They didn't. Glad I got this from the library, although IMO they could do well to free up shelf space with this one.
April 12, 2012
A good read for it's time with nice drawings too. I'm not a comic book buff so I don't know if this was a good example, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
December 14, 2015
Points for the retro styling and for its place in Star Trek history. However, it wasn't particularly appealing and was much more Sci-fi than Star Trek ever was. I don't think I'll check out volume 2.
June 28, 2017
1 star for continuity, 5 stars for a good time.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews