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Star Trek: The Original Series (IDW) #8
Star Trek: Mission's End
The most important "lost" tale of the Star Trek saga can now be told: The final mission of the original Starship Enterprise and her crew. What prompts Mr. Spock and Doctor McCoy to retire from Starfleet? What earns Kirk his promotion to Admiral? And what is the mystery of Archenar-IV that threatens to tear the Federation itself apart? All will be revealed in this collection of the five-issue mini-series, with appearances by fan-favorite characters.
124 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 2009
37 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Ty Templeton
587 books21 followersTyrone Templeton is a Canadian comic book artist and writer who has drawn a number of mainstream titles, TV-associated titles, and his own series.
He is the brother of internet pioneer and entrepreneur Brad Templeton, and son of Canadian celebrities Charles Templeton and Sylvia Murphy. He lives in Ontario, Canada.
He is the brother of internet pioneer and entrepreneur Brad Templeton, and son of Canadian celebrities Charles Templeton and Sylvia Murphy. He lives in Ontario, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 28, 2020
The Last Mission of the 'U.S.S. Enterprise'
In the final mission of Kirk's first five year tour, the crew return to Archernar IV - the site of Kirk's first mission as Captain of the 'Enterprise' - in order to induct the civilisation into the Federation.
An interesting story which examines how Kirk and his command staff have matured over five years. The artwork needs to be forgiven as some of the character art is incredibly shoddy.
In the final mission of Kirk's first five year tour, the crew return to Archernar IV - the site of Kirk's first mission as Captain of the 'Enterprise' - in order to induct the civilisation into the Federation.
An interesting story which examines how Kirk and his command staff have matured over five years. The artwork needs to be forgiven as some of the character art is incredibly shoddy.
September 14, 2022
This short graphic novel takes a stab at the "Lost Years" between the original five-year mission and the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by addressing pertinent questions in the stories of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.
Why does Kirk accept promotion to admiral?
Why does Spock pursue Kolinahr?
Why does McCoy retire from Starfleet?
Unfortunately, the overall story feels relatively flat and somewhat uninspired. The illustrations are interesting and hark back to classic sci-fi tropes, but feature mainly giant insect people, which, while suitable for this medium in that an illustrator can explore more freely in two dimensions than those constrained by costume and special effects budgets, come across as literally and figuratively cartoonish and two-dimensional.
There's a sort of pseudo-Prime Directive Federation politics plot and a weak Section 31 and Orion Syndicate tie-in, but the story itself lacks a sense of punch. Despite the Death-Star-scale apparent stakes, the dramatic stakes feel quite low.
I do credit the author for the reach they take in spanning events from the days of Gary Mitchell and Lee Kelso to the days of Admiral Nogura and tying in the Animated Series background grew featuring M'Ress and Arex. There is also much that is true to the voices of the characters and the arcs of the Original Series (right down to the icy stiff but smart and capable classically styled blonde specialist captain who is a quasi-romantic foil for Kirk). There's nothing here that violates the spirit of Trek per se, but as a whole it just doesn't rise for me above a pleasant fan service. I may be being too harsh in that each issue would have been an enjoyable short adventure in the tradition of comic books. In that, this book is truer to a comic book serial heritage than a graphic novel in and of itself.
And in answering those three top-tier character questions, the revealed answers here suffer from feeling like they're entirely a function of this single story arc, when that seems insufficient, even if in some ways it may make the characters more human in their fallibility. They lose their mythic status a bit in ways that seem sadder in the kind of realism depicted than those cinematic bits of friendship we see advanced in the movies.
It is with mixed emotions that I suggest here Mission's End's "Lost Years" may have been better left lost to our imagination. I do recall earlier in life reading the Pocket Books novel The Lost Years, which addressed this gap with a sense of greater authority.
In some sense the author is dealt a difficult hand in approaching this story gap for the gap is a function of factors outside the Trek universe, namely the real-world decisions that brought the show's three-year run to an end, the beginning of syndication, and the ultimate decision to bring the crew back for The Motion Picture. All the fictional awkwardness on display from a dramatic perspective in TMP is foreshadowed here. You can almost feel the primary colored uniforms muting to Seventies earth tones and gray.
Why does Kirk accept promotion to admiral?
Why does Spock pursue Kolinahr?
Why does McCoy retire from Starfleet?
Unfortunately, the overall story feels relatively flat and somewhat uninspired. The illustrations are interesting and hark back to classic sci-fi tropes, but feature mainly giant insect people, which, while suitable for this medium in that an illustrator can explore more freely in two dimensions than those constrained by costume and special effects budgets, come across as literally and figuratively cartoonish and two-dimensional.
There's a sort of pseudo-Prime Directive Federation politics plot and a weak Section 31 and Orion Syndicate tie-in, but the story itself lacks a sense of punch. Despite the Death-Star-scale apparent stakes, the dramatic stakes feel quite low.
I do credit the author for the reach they take in spanning events from the days of Gary Mitchell and Lee Kelso to the days of Admiral Nogura and tying in the Animated Series background grew featuring M'Ress and Arex. There is also much that is true to the voices of the characters and the arcs of the Original Series (right down to the icy stiff but smart and capable classically styled blonde specialist captain who is a quasi-romantic foil for Kirk). There's nothing here that violates the spirit of Trek per se, but as a whole it just doesn't rise for me above a pleasant fan service. I may be being too harsh in that each issue would have been an enjoyable short adventure in the tradition of comic books. In that, this book is truer to a comic book serial heritage than a graphic novel in and of itself.
And in answering those three top-tier character questions, the revealed answers here suffer from feeling like they're entirely a function of this single story arc, when that seems insufficient, even if in some ways it may make the characters more human in their fallibility. They lose their mythic status a bit in ways that seem sadder in the kind of realism depicted than those cinematic bits of friendship we see advanced in the movies.
It is with mixed emotions that I suggest here Mission's End's "Lost Years" may have been better left lost to our imagination. I do recall earlier in life reading the Pocket Books novel The Lost Years, which addressed this gap with a sense of greater authority.
In some sense the author is dealt a difficult hand in approaching this story gap for the gap is a function of factors outside the Trek universe, namely the real-world decisions that brought the show's three-year run to an end, the beginning of syndication, and the ultimate decision to bring the crew back for The Motion Picture. All the fictional awkwardness on display from a dramatic perspective in TMP is foreshadowed here. You can almost feel the primary colored uniforms muting to Seventies earth tones and gray.
February 19, 2018
I think the J.M. Dillard paperback the Lost years did a better job of telling the story of the last mission of the 5 year mission. This one was kinda beholden to sexist tone of TOS - Kirk was going to try to break the ban on women being captain, and there was a joke where the Red-shirts acknowledged that they were more likely to die. breaking the fourth wall on ST no thanks. Kirk talked about guilt of dead crew memembers as if Mitchell and Kelso were the only ones he lost.
The Aliens and the setting were cool, Scotty in command is always great. Urhura had a great moment. Had fun reading.
The Aliens and the setting were cool, Scotty in command is always great. Urhura had a great moment. Had fun reading.
January 3, 2025
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5
It's never been told before, but finally we can read about the final mission of the Starship Enterprise. It's been five years and Captain Kirk and his crew have encountered many new life forms and discovered many inhabited worlds but will this mission bring about the end of the Federation itself?
The mission brings Kirk full circle as they head to Archernar IV, where Kirk had his first mission as the Enterprise captain. The natives here are essentially giant, intelligent spiders, and their beasts of burden are centipedes.
The story mostly looks at character growth. How much have Kirk and Spock and bones matured, as people and as Starfleet officers during the past five years.
I found this to be a well-written, interesting story and the art was generally okay (I miss the work of Gordon Purcell who worked on a number of different Star Trek comics) but there are enough oddly drawn scenes to take me out of the story. I've randomly opened to a couple of pages and grabbed these moments:
Kirk and Spock as dwarves? (See screenshot on blog https://lookingforagoodbook.com/2025/...)
Who knew Scotty had such a skinny leg? (See screenshot on blog https://lookingforagoodbook.com/2025/...)
I love Chekov with the machine gun, but is that Captain "Skinny Arms" Kirk firing a phaser? (See screenshot on blog https://lookingforagoodbook.com/2025/...)
This just strikes me as a 1970's action pose.
I do think that author Ty Templeton captured that characters, as we know them from the television series, nicely but why the bugs? Why spiders and centipedes and dragonflies for the presiding life forms? It kind of made me chuckle.
Artist Steven Molnar isn't the worst Star Trek graphic novel artist I've seen, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this book based on the art.
This was a pleasant enough read, but I'm glad I waited for the Kindle Unlimited version and didn't shell out big dollars just to read it.
Looking for a good book? Star Trek: Mission's End is a graphic novel by Ty Templeton and Steven Molnar of the last mission of the Enterprise's five years of missions. Star Trek fans will enjoy the story (but probably not the art).
It's never been told before, but finally we can read about the final mission of the Starship Enterprise. It's been five years and Captain Kirk and his crew have encountered many new life forms and discovered many inhabited worlds but will this mission bring about the end of the Federation itself?
The mission brings Kirk full circle as they head to Archernar IV, where Kirk had his first mission as the Enterprise captain. The natives here are essentially giant, intelligent spiders, and their beasts of burden are centipedes.
The story mostly looks at character growth. How much have Kirk and Spock and bones matured, as people and as Starfleet officers during the past five years.
I found this to be a well-written, interesting story and the art was generally okay (I miss the work of Gordon Purcell who worked on a number of different Star Trek comics) but there are enough oddly drawn scenes to take me out of the story. I've randomly opened to a couple of pages and grabbed these moments:
Kirk and Spock as dwarves? (See screenshot on blog https://lookingforagoodbook.com/2025/...)
Who knew Scotty had such a skinny leg? (See screenshot on blog https://lookingforagoodbook.com/2025/...)
I love Chekov with the machine gun, but is that Captain "Skinny Arms" Kirk firing a phaser? (See screenshot on blog https://lookingforagoodbook.com/2025/...)
This just strikes me as a 1970's action pose.
I do think that author Ty Templeton captured that characters, as we know them from the television series, nicely but why the bugs? Why spiders and centipedes and dragonflies for the presiding life forms? It kind of made me chuckle.
Artist Steven Molnar isn't the worst Star Trek graphic novel artist I've seen, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this book based on the art.
This was a pleasant enough read, but I'm glad I waited for the Kindle Unlimited version and didn't shell out big dollars just to read it.
Looking for a good book? Star Trek: Mission's End is a graphic novel by Ty Templeton and Steven Molnar of the last mission of the Enterprise's five years of missions. Star Trek fans will enjoy the story (but probably not the art).
June 17, 2018
So this comic was detailing the final mission of the Enterprise's five years. It was fairly interesting. It had all the things one can come to expect from the crew: action, two things going on at once, the Prime Directive getting in the way, some interesting alien politics, the crew being tested and challenged... I enjoyed it a lot.
Supposedly this explains why Kirk took the position as Admiral, and honestly I didn't really see it. I understood that their five-year mission was over and he felt like he was getting old, but I wasn't clear on why he went for Admiral other than feeling his age. Seems to me he would've done well as an instructor or a mentor to younger captains. Spock and Bones leaving made sense once he left, though, since they were both so loyal to him and wouldn't want to be under anyone else's leadership.
The art style was still nice and the pace was decent. I still wanted to know what was going to happen next. For their last mission, it felt very average and almost anticlimactic. But maybe that was the point. I feel like more could've been given to the falling action, but for what it was, it was nice.
Supposedly this explains why Kirk took the position as Admiral, and honestly I didn't really see it. I understood that their five-year mission was over and he felt like he was getting old, but I wasn't clear on why he went for Admiral other than feeling his age. Seems to me he would've done well as an instructor or a mentor to younger captains. Spock and Bones leaving made sense once he left, though, since they were both so loyal to him and wouldn't want to be under anyone else's leadership.
The art style was still nice and the pace was decent. I still wanted to know what was going to happen next. For their last mission, it felt very average and almost anticlimactic. But maybe that was the point. I feel like more could've been given to the falling action, but for what it was, it was nice.
August 7, 2019
This graphic novel is about the final adventure of the people from the Enterprise. There is a first contact diplomatic mission dealing with meeting with very large intelligent spiders. There are also seemingly non-intelligent creatures called the crawlers that the spiders use for transportation and for food.
What complicates matters is that there's a revolution on the planet and some of the Enterprise crew end up kidnapped by the crawlers who have their own plans for a structure that has religious importance. There's also a traitor in the group.
It all ends with Kirk becoming an admiral and Spock going back to Vulcan to purse himself of all emotions.
Other then it being spiders I thought it was a fairly decent story. I've been surprised with the quality of most of the Star Trek graphic novels.
What complicates matters is that there's a revolution on the planet and some of the Enterprise crew end up kidnapped by the crawlers who have their own plans for a structure that has religious importance. There's also a traitor in the group.
It all ends with Kirk becoming an admiral and Spock going back to Vulcan to purse himself of all emotions.
Other then it being spiders I thought it was a fairly decent story. I've been surprised with the quality of most of the Star Trek graphic novels.
July 20, 2017
This is a well thought out and developed plot line. A First Contact at the start of their five year mission sets the scene for a repeat visit at the end. The species are interesting and the drama is exciting. It has some tongue in cheek references to 'redshirts' but the crew feel real and react appropriately. Bones also gets to demonstrate his leadership skills for once.
I'd be lying if I didn't say I read it primarily for a different explanation on why the triumvirate split after the mission though. While I liked the motivation given to Kirk, I still prefer the novel 'Crisis of Consciousness' explanation for Spock, although this did lend a rather touching scene to the parting, and the Movie novelization's for Bones.
I'd be lying if I didn't say I read it primarily for a different explanation on why the triumvirate split after the mission though. While I liked the motivation given to Kirk, I still prefer the novel 'Crisis of Consciousness' explanation for Spock, although this did lend a rather touching scene to the parting, and the Movie novelization's for Bones.
July 20, 2019
A decent story that bridges some gaps between TV series and the first movie. Not sure it needed to be told: I do sometimes like to imagine what these gaps contain for myself. The art is fine, though some panels seem to have more effort put in than others. Characters behave consistently, which is important with beloved ones like these. I’m just not a big fan of sentient bug stories, and I also think the story had some pacing issues.
April 16, 2021
Solid Star Trek story that felt consistent in tone and character with the original series. It was supposed to bridge the gap between the show and the first movie but that part felt unearned and thrown in at the end. Overall though, decent art and an entertaining story that should leave fans pleased.
May 1, 2022
This is probably the 4th ending to the original series that I've read or seen on screen (through some fan film.) Interesting. It keeps with the Strange New Worlds, New Life, and New Civilizations theme. The mission aliens were not humanoid, they weren't even warp-capable on their own, but used tech by another civilization long gone. Not a bad read, and a surprising ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2020
Although I was sorely tempted to give this 5 issue Star Trek graphic novel a full 5 star rating (especially since the art is much, much more than simply adequate, the layout and pacing of the story is superb in most respects, and I JUST PLAIN LOVE STAR TREK, period, end of story), the overall plot and writing of the piece is somewhat choppy, and at times really rather uneven.
The narrative does flow quite well at times, however, and there really is an awful lot to love here, in terms of sheer creativity alone. Even more satisfying is the obvious respect paid to classic Original Series characters and themes, that are, in most cases, reasonably well served overall. The plot is also skillfully and almost flawlessly interwoven with established Star Trek Universe canon, but the author seriously runs aground with his rather hamfisted moralizing via the story's needlessly awkward "religious" motif.
Because let's be perfectly honest here. Although the writers of the very first Star Trek series almost certainly would have had the same, or at the very least, a more or less similarly secular view of the faith based subject matter (especially Star Trek creator and well known atheist, Gene Roddenberry himself), I sincerely doubt that the religion of the insectoid alien races presented in the story would have been handled quite this heavyhandedly on the classic TV series. I mean, come on, kids! William Shatner (dare I say, "God bless him" - 'cause I honestly do love the man) tried all that with Star Trek V, and look how that turned out....
In fact, an excellent example of just exactly how brazenly one dimensional author Ty Templeton unabashedly tends to paint his peripheral characters in this book with huge, sloppy, broad strokes, is the token, bigoted, blatantly phobic, red shirted crewman who causes so much cardboard cutout style angst in the last few chapters of the book. But then, even just a quick visit to the prolific author's website will surely take you to the glistening crimson, still pounding, Aztec sacrifice style extracted heart of irreverent, profanity-laced comic darkness. If you're actually into that sort of Trek, that is.
Okay, Mr. Templeton, I think most of your readers are surely smart enough to get the main idea of this particular Trek tale already! Yes, yes, people who believe that anything in the universe might have ever been divinely inspired or conceived (even if any or all of it can also be conveniently explained away by Science Almighty) are just a bunch of pathetically simple, superstitious louts who would have no qualms whatsoever about blowing themselves and their whole damn planet up in pursuit of their precious faith sooner or later, right?
Oh... and we wouldn't be moralizing quite effectively enough unless we threw in a nice, big, weaselly "RACIST" character to give the principal players somebody to condescend and lecture to every now and then, would we? All right. Okay. Check. Roger that! Message most definitely received and far too easily understood. As resoundingly as a good, solid club over the head, no less.
In fact, it's all just a wee bit too LOUD and pathetically clear for comfort. Maybe even downright indigestion inducing. Yep, it all gets shoved down the reader's unwelcoming gullet with the suspiciously similar gusto usually associated with, oh... I dunno... A RELIGIOUS SERMON, maybe? But let's move on, shall we? Trek time's a wastin, fanboys and girls!
And believe it or not, despite all of its unambiguously unsubtle shortcomings, I really like the author's highly imaginative approach to Star Trek Universe world building. Honestly! I mean, what's not highly inventive and just plain cool about the existence of a planet populated with sentient spiders who have evolved to worship the ancient alien machine ("the heart of god") that artificially enhanced their intelligence?
So if you love the Original Series as much as yours truly, you'll most likely still find a whole lot to enjoy in Star Trek: Mission's End. Plus, the art by Steve Molnar really is scrumptious stuff to behold. It's not flawlessly executed in every single detail in every single panel by any means, but the vast majority of the illustrations are thoughtfully and very skillfully (if perhaps a bit hastily) rendered.
Best of all, the likenesses of pretty much every single one of the Original Series alumni are exquisitely accurate, and Molnar's drawings of the female characters (such as Lt. Uhura and Kirk's unrequited love interest, Captain Cassady) really are enough to make any discerning reader stop and lovingly linger on specific panels more than just a bit longer than usual.
So, even though I honestly wish I could give an honest full 5 stars to this mostly well conceived IDW Star Trek comic (and hey, 4 outa 5 ain't bad), sadly, despite the superbly executed majority of elements of this better than average book, a good old fashioned re-write most likely would have done wonders for this otherwise highly memorable tale -- if only to smooth things out a bit, and hopefully tone down the oppressive, selfrighteous moralizing just enough to help the medicine go down without such a needlessly bitter aftertaste.
The narrative does flow quite well at times, however, and there really is an awful lot to love here, in terms of sheer creativity alone. Even more satisfying is the obvious respect paid to classic Original Series characters and themes, that are, in most cases, reasonably well served overall. The plot is also skillfully and almost flawlessly interwoven with established Star Trek Universe canon, but the author seriously runs aground with his rather hamfisted moralizing via the story's needlessly awkward "religious" motif.
Because let's be perfectly honest here. Although the writers of the very first Star Trek series almost certainly would have had the same, or at the very least, a more or less similarly secular view of the faith based subject matter (especially Star Trek creator and well known atheist, Gene Roddenberry himself), I sincerely doubt that the religion of the insectoid alien races presented in the story would have been handled quite this heavyhandedly on the classic TV series. I mean, come on, kids! William Shatner (dare I say, "God bless him" - 'cause I honestly do love the man) tried all that with Star Trek V, and look how that turned out....
In fact, an excellent example of just exactly how brazenly one dimensional author Ty Templeton unabashedly tends to paint his peripheral characters in this book with huge, sloppy, broad strokes, is the token, bigoted, blatantly phobic, red shirted crewman who causes so much cardboard cutout style angst in the last few chapters of the book. But then, even just a quick visit to the prolific author's website will surely take you to the glistening crimson, still pounding, Aztec sacrifice style extracted heart of irreverent, profanity-laced comic darkness. If you're actually into that sort of Trek, that is.
Okay, Mr. Templeton, I think most of your readers are surely smart enough to get the main idea of this particular Trek tale already! Yes, yes, people who believe that anything in the universe might have ever been divinely inspired or conceived (even if any or all of it can also be conveniently explained away by Science Almighty) are just a bunch of pathetically simple, superstitious louts who would have no qualms whatsoever about blowing themselves and their whole damn planet up in pursuit of their precious faith sooner or later, right?
Oh... and we wouldn't be moralizing quite effectively enough unless we threw in a nice, big, weaselly "RACIST" character to give the principal players somebody to condescend and lecture to every now and then, would we? All right. Okay. Check. Roger that! Message most definitely received and far too easily understood. As resoundingly as a good, solid club over the head, no less.
In fact, it's all just a wee bit too LOUD and pathetically clear for comfort. Maybe even downright indigestion inducing. Yep, it all gets shoved down the reader's unwelcoming gullet with the suspiciously similar gusto usually associated with, oh... I dunno... A RELIGIOUS SERMON, maybe? But let's move on, shall we? Trek time's a wastin, fanboys and girls!
And believe it or not, despite all of its unambiguously unsubtle shortcomings, I really like the author's highly imaginative approach to Star Trek Universe world building. Honestly! I mean, what's not highly inventive and just plain cool about the existence of a planet populated with sentient spiders who have evolved to worship the ancient alien machine ("the heart of god") that artificially enhanced their intelligence?
So if you love the Original Series as much as yours truly, you'll most likely still find a whole lot to enjoy in Star Trek: Mission's End. Plus, the art by Steve Molnar really is scrumptious stuff to behold. It's not flawlessly executed in every single detail in every single panel by any means, but the vast majority of the illustrations are thoughtfully and very skillfully (if perhaps a bit hastily) rendered.
Best of all, the likenesses of pretty much every single one of the Original Series alumni are exquisitely accurate, and Molnar's drawings of the female characters (such as Lt. Uhura and Kirk's unrequited love interest, Captain Cassady) really are enough to make any discerning reader stop and lovingly linger on specific panels more than just a bit longer than usual.
So, even though I honestly wish I could give an honest full 5 stars to this mostly well conceived IDW Star Trek comic (and hey, 4 outa 5 ain't bad), sadly, despite the superbly executed majority of elements of this better than average book, a good old fashioned re-write most likely would have done wonders for this otherwise highly memorable tale -- if only to smooth things out a bit, and hopefully tone down the oppressive, selfrighteous moralizing just enough to help the medicine go down without such a needlessly bitter aftertaste.
August 30, 2017
Bought this as part of a HumbleBundle once. Story and artwork are nothing to write home about, and the small font-size makes it hard to read on an iPad Air 2. Maybe it is because I have been spoiled by the much better DarkHorse 30th HumbleBundle, Fables, Black Magick, ... graphic novels.
May 20, 2021
A really high quality TOS adventure that has some great high concept sci-fi, well written character development and good tie-ins to existing continuity. The art isn’t flashy, but very well executed and the new characters/aliens are well designed.
October 6, 2025
This felt like maybe the tightest representation of this crew in a comic book, I liked seeing it evolve in the setup of this book. Looks really nice, I thought this was a strong setup for this series.
October 20, 2017
It was okay. There was some stuff I really liked. There was some stuff that was meh. Most of the book was in between.
March 6, 2018
Centipedes and spiders on a planet that threatens the federation. Good introduction to the Star Trek movie. Section 31 strikes again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2018
This was the best Trek comic series I've ever read. Great story with new races and ethical dilemmas, filling in gaps in Trek lore without a ton of unnecessary fanservice fluff.
September 9, 2019
This is a wonderful story. It spans several years during the first mission. The art is really good. All I can really say is if you are TOS fan you really should read this.
June 20, 2020
Another "what if" trying to fill the gap between S3 of TOS and the Motion Picture. Pretty solid.
June 22, 2020
There's like half a dozen versions of the final TOS mission prior to refit. It's no The Lost Years but it is a decent enough morning read.
May 10, 2022
Un viaje nostálgico y un cuento de ciencia ficción puro y duro. Creo que quedó bien como un episodio de la saga original
December 22, 2022
Wonderful
An absolutely amazing final episode for the original series. I couldn't have hoped for better. I wonder what happens next, lol.
An absolutely amazing final episode for the original series. I couldn't have hoped for better. I wonder what happens next, lol.
December 18, 2023
A different author's view of the last mission of the Kirk captaincy of the Enterprise.
July 8, 2024
This one really missed the mark for me. For every little bit that I enjoyed, there was double the amount of mediocrity.
January 5, 2026
A brilliant end to the series, and a gorgeous link from the end of TOS to the movies
January 22, 2021
A decent comic novella. I do like the premise, and it gives us danger, and each part ends on a cliffhanger. I think the author does a real good job of capturing the end of the 5 year mission, even tying back to the beginning of the 5 year mission. Well done.
September 17, 2016
I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. The first issue begins prior to "Where No Man Has Gone Before," so we get to see more of Mitchell and Kelso before they meet their fates in TOS. And the final mission five years later comes full circle back to this world containing an arachnid species. Those along with the giant roaches remind me of King Kong, and I am glad that I am seeing them drawn in comic book form as opposed to realistic CGI that could be more unsettling. I imagine that if this had been a story produced for TOS if it had finished in 1971, there would've been stop-motion for these creatures.
But, to be honest, this probably would not have been the final mission back then. I have been told that there are multiple depictions of the end of the five-year mission, and I don't doubt it. I wish that the people behind the franchise would come out and say what the definitive final mission that fits in the Prime Timeline continuity is.
Either way, this is still a nice bridge between TOS and The Motion Picture, as we see Kirk deciding at the end to become admiral and then being surprised that Spock and McCoy do not want to be captains. It is rather touching that Bones believes that there is less of a chance that he could survive in space without Kirk, and Spock feels bad about nearly feeling guilt and wants to purge all emotions. It is quite an experience reading about Kirk believing that he can make a difference as an admiral and knowing that at the end of his life in Generations he believes that the captain's chair is REALLY the place where one can make a difference.
But, to be honest, this probably would not have been the final mission back then. I have been told that there are multiple depictions of the end of the five-year mission, and I don't doubt it. I wish that the people behind the franchise would come out and say what the definitive final mission that fits in the Prime Timeline continuity is.
Either way, this is still a nice bridge between TOS and The Motion Picture, as we see Kirk deciding at the end to become admiral and then being surprised that Spock and McCoy do not want to be captains. It is rather touching that Bones believes that there is less of a chance that he could survive in space without Kirk, and Spock feels bad about nearly feeling guilt and wants to purge all emotions. It is quite an experience reading about Kirk believing that he can make a difference as an admiral and knowing that at the end of his life in Generations he believes that the captain's chair is REALLY the place where one can make a difference.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2017
Why he became an admiral!
Bought this graphic novel to answer a burning question, why did Jim Kirk become admiral after the first movie? Explanation not entirely clear but I suppose its one answer, novel not bad but also not good! Will get another graphic novel soon maybe another story will be better, here's hoping!
Bought this graphic novel to answer a burning question, why did Jim Kirk become admiral after the first movie? Explanation not entirely clear but I suppose its one answer, novel not bad but also not good! Will get another graphic novel soon maybe another story will be better, here's hoping!
March 13, 2015
This can be a fun book if you try to not think about details. The premise is a bit silly, and the author doesn't even have a consistent story! Whoever edited this did a poor job. I good portion of my entertainment was making fun of how silly this is.
Issue 1: There is only one event where people die, and Kirk says to his log that 11 people died, then 12 in the next issue, and then 11 in the issue after that. He's not in a situation to be unaware of how many people died, and this isn't the Monty Python "bring out your dead" sketch where people can die and then get better.
Issue 2: Spock, the Vulcan who speaks precisely, talks about the same event as a release of "metaphasic energy," but then it becomes "quadraphasic energy" in the next issue. Sure, quadraphasic energy could be a subset of metaphasic energy, but since when does Spock speak inconsistently? (This is what happens when someone makes up techno-babble carelessly.)
More importantly, this event isn't as important as the publisher would like to claim. They created a situation where Kirk makes the admirals happy and Spock gets to second guess his purely logical approach. It is possible that this could have led to the changes after the five year mission, but it ultimately isn't very important in the characters' lives.
In conclusion, I'm a picky reader, but I found this to be somewhat enjoyable anyway. (Part of my pleasure was making fun of the author and editor.) Fanboys and teenagers will likely love this.
Issue 1: There is only one event where people die, and Kirk says to his log that 11 people died, then 12 in the next issue, and then 11 in the issue after that. He's not in a situation to be unaware of how many people died, and this isn't the Monty Python "bring out your dead" sketch where people can die and then get better.
Issue 2: Spock, the Vulcan who speaks precisely, talks about the same event as a release of "metaphasic energy," but then it becomes "quadraphasic energy" in the next issue. Sure, quadraphasic energy could be a subset of metaphasic energy, but since when does Spock speak inconsistently? (This is what happens when someone makes up techno-babble carelessly.)
More importantly, this event isn't as important as the publisher would like to claim. They created a situation where Kirk makes the admirals happy and Spock gets to second guess his purely logical approach. It is possible that this could have led to the changes after the five year mission, but it ultimately isn't very important in the characters' lives.
In conclusion, I'm a picky reader, but I found this to be somewhat enjoyable anyway. (Part of my pleasure was making fun of the author and editor.) Fanboys and teenagers will likely love this.
March 21, 2013
This is basically the last episode of the original Star Trek that never happened. It's the kind of story that fits in perfectly with the series, and the kind that they couldn't possibly have done with the limitations of special effects at the time.
The story makes good use of concepts from the series history and even some from later series. It was a real treat to see characters from the Animated Series here, even if it was only briefly.
Stephen Molnar's artwork is a little uneven at times, but overall very good.
Reading the last few pages, where the five year mission is brought to an end, and things are set rolling to unfold in the fist Star Trek movie, I think I felt as the TV audience would have were they actually able to watch this as the end of five seasons: a little sad, but satisfied.
The story makes good use of concepts from the series history and even some from later series. It was a real treat to see characters from the Animated Series here, even if it was only briefly.
Stephen Molnar's artwork is a little uneven at times, but overall very good.
Reading the last few pages, where the five year mission is brought to an end, and things are set rolling to unfold in the fist Star Trek movie, I think I felt as the TV audience would have were they actually able to watch this as the end of five seasons: a little sad, but satisfied.
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