Customer Reviews

Star Trek Omnibus Volume 2: The Early Voyages

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Considering that the original Star Trek pilot episode "The Cage" and its subsequent use in the two-part classic episode, "The Menagerie" have only gotten better with age, in my opinion, this book offers a rare glimpse into what the missions of the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike might have been like. Most of these stories take place before, during, and after "The Cage". So not only do we learn a little more about some of the crew members, such as the fact that Number One does have another name but chooses not to use it, but we also learn more about some of the events alluded to in "The Cage", such as what Dr. Boyce calls "the fight on Rigel VII", where Pike's first yeoman and two other crewmen died. Yeoman Colt also gets a glimpse into the future, but I'm not giving anything away.

The book's only negative points for me would be that it didn't seem like Spock got a whole lot of "book time", seeing as how he bridges the gap between "The Cage" and the rest of TOS. Also the last story in the book is unfinished; Issue 17 was supposed to be the second part of a multi-part storyline and Issue 18 was never published, which is a shame because Issue 17 ends with a cliffhanger. But it's a very interesting read overall.

Overall, a very enjoyable read for any Trek fan. Compiles in one volume Marvel's 17-issue comic book series from 1996. Seems to follow Trek canon fairly well enough. There are several two- and three-part stories that span several issues and these are the best of the lot, as they are better paced and less hurried, and much more thoughtfully written. In particular, the 4-parter dealing with time and space bending (issues/chapters 12-15) is by far the best. Here we are introduced to James Tiberius Kirk for the first time in the series.

I'm not sure how I feel about the artwork in general. At times it seems very well done. Other times it appears rushed and disappointing. I don't care at all for the drawing style of the last two issues done by penciller, Javier Pulido. Sorry, Javier. And the poor choice of front and back cover art leaves a whole lot to be desired in my opinion. Each chapter does start off with a full-page reprint of the actual comic book cover, which is nice.

One very annoying item: The tight binding and the thickness of the book make it difficult to open the book far enough to see images and type close to the spine.

I give this omnibus 3.5 stars. The actual individual comics, without the binding issues and the awful cover art of this volume, and with the larger format, earn 4 stars from me. If you can find the comics cheap on Ebay, get'em! But for the price, this volume works.

This book collects the complete series Star Trek: The Early Voyages featuring the Christopher Pike era Enterprise.
I remember enjoying this comic series very much in the 90's. Sure there are couple canon errors - the original 1701 Enterprise was built in San Francisco not Utopia Plantia (or Iowa). But these errors are trivial and easily forgiven because of quality of the art and writing.

The reproduction seems to alternate between very good for some issues and slightly grainy for others. I can only guess that some of IDW's source materials were better than others. The book loses a star for this inconsistency.

The better parts of this book are VERY good indeed. Lots of the stories are a little bland though.

First, I have a few gripes. There are a lot of lines lifted from Star Wars and they seem really out-of-place in these Star Trek stories. The authors also used several anachronisms-- there was stuff in these stories that wasn't supposed to exist yet in the Star Trek timeline. I know that makes me one of those "crazy, nit-picky" fans, but it is pretty jarring to hear Captain Pike giving orders to fire the photon torpedoes when they aren't supposed to be invented for another fifteen years. The laser pistols are often called phasers, the ship cruises at warp nine-- a lot of this stuff is the result of sloppy research.

We also never learn Number One's first name-- apparently, no one who serves with her knows it. They even talk about what a mystery her name is. Seriously? They can't find out what their first officer's first name is? I would rather have seen the authors just give her a name already and risk stepping on some toes at Paramount. They could always change their minds later and tell us that was the wrong name after all. It's just so weird that such an important character doesn't have a name.

Having said that, the artwork is great. The stories are the usual bland comic-book stuff, with a few exceptions. We find out more about the Tholians, so that is pretty cool for fans of the original series. The big treat is near the end of the book-- there is a two-part story about one of the crew being transported forward in time about 35 years. She meets Captain Kirk (circa Star Trek VI), and finds that her disappearance has changed the timeline considerably. I won't spoil the details, but it is an exciting and fun story, involving most of the original-series crew.

For die-hard fans, this series is a must, especially if you always wanted to know more about the Enterprise before James Kirk came along. Comic book fans will also likely enjoy this one. But if you didn't love watching "The Cage," then this one might not tickle you. If it hadn't been for the two-part time-travel story, I couldn't have given this collection more than three stars.

Star Trek: Omnibus2: The Early Voyages is a 17 issue collection (1997-1998) of adventures chronicling the Captain Pike era crew of the USS Enterprise.

Presentation/Artwork: The overall artwork is what I consider "non-modern" pencils and coloring - in other words it isn't annoying. Some of the modern comics have jagged lines, what looks to me to be incomplete artwork, and muted coloring or flat out black and white coloring.

Story/Plotlines: Captain Pike, according to the canon sources, was the second captain to command the Enterprise. The fictional galaxy at this time was still very much unexplored and this early era Trek has generally been presented as frontier-ish. The plotlines are about what you'd expect; Pike and company righting wrongs and getting up to adventures, with some future surprises thrown in (no spoilers here).

It is nice to have all seventeen issues presented in one omnibus. I own the original issues, but noticed no real quality problems with the original issues to omnibus transfer. Granted, some Trek fans need everything pristine when it comes to hard copy Trek products such as this Early Era omnibus; unless there are *noticeable* smudges or extreme grainy images, I don't go all ballistic.

Are you a comics fan, Old School Trek fan, and interested in some Captain Pike-Era adventures? Grab yourself a copy!