Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful art, nice prequel but BAD sci-fi!, March 27, 2009
I managed to hit the lottery and get my copy of the Star Trek: Countdown trade paperback very early from Amazon (before the release of Issue #4). Personally I would have preferred to win a real lottery, but that's no reflection of my opinion of Countdown itself. I skipped the comics as I always do these days, preferring to wait for the collected versions to be released. It's often less expensive (as it was in this case) and sometimes you get extras (as you do here, I suspect).
This will be a spoiler-light review, as so few have even seen the concluding Issue #4 at this point. Star Trek: Countdown is a prequel of sorts to the upcoming film, but takes place completely in the post-Nemesis Next Gen timeframe (8 years after Nemesis). Countdown is the story of a Romulan named Nero, a hardworking family man who captains a mining vessel. After barely avoiding a stellar catastrophe, he returns to Romulus with a warning of the pending doom that threatens the entire Romulan Empire. When his fears are rejected, he decides to take on a mission to save his world with the help of some unlikely (and familiar) allies from the Federation. But events will not go as planned, great losses will be incurred, and a villain intent on utter vengeance will rise from the ashes.
Short spoiler-free review: STC is a pleasant, fairly compelling story with wonderful art by David Messina. The TPB includes 5 pages of character sketches by the artist that may not be included in Issue #4, which alone may make it worth picking up the TPB. Despite being intended as a direct prequel to the film, STC stands very well on its own right up to the non-cliffhanger ending. The best aspect of it is the "passing of the torch" feel because of the inclusion of many well-loved characters, undoing some damage inflicted by Nemesis. I found the quality of both the character art and the space battles to be exceptional, the best I've ever seen in a Trek comic. I can't judge how well it succeeds as a prequel at this point, but the story and some specifics in it do raise some questions about some pre-conceptions fans (including myself) have about the movie storyline. The series is let down, however, but some plot-holes and grade school science fiction that I sincerely hope are not going to creep into the film itself.
Some light spoilers follow, so if you want to be surprised, stop reading now.
I've seen some criticisms leveled at Messina's character art, but I found it to be very good. His renderings of Spock, in particular, are just excellent. The character sketch section in the back and Giovanna Niro's cover are wonderful.
As I indicated above, I thought the story was better than average. Despite the number of cameos, they didn't feel forced. It's good to see how some of our favorite characters have moved up over the years, though there's really no time for development of anyone except Nero himself and, to some extent, Spock. The quiet moments are the best. Unfortunately, I feel that the story and Nero's progression is really let down by the contrived cataclysm of the Hobus system supernova. It's never explained how the explosion could possibly endanger Romulus so quickly, let alone Vulcan and the Federation, let alone the whole galaxy. And when Spock tells the Vulcan council, "It threatens the entire Universe," without any further explanation, it just goes from bad science fiction to stupid. I also have to wonder about what seemed to me to be a big plot hole, specifically that if the danger to Romulus was so immediate, why in the world would Nero have left his family there?
But those are the only big weaknesses that jumped out at me. I was impressed by how self-contained the story was because of the conclusion. Countdown could lead directly into the movie, or standalone on its own, and that's more than I expected.
|
|
|
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE COUNTDOWN TO "STAR TREK" BEGINS HERE!, April 12, 2009
"Star Trek: Countdown" is a fascinating, thrilling four-part adventure that serves as a prequel to this summer's blockbuster return of Gene Rodenberry's vision of the future: "Star Trek!" What makes this prequel unique is that it is actually set almost a full century AFTER the events of the film. Set in the Next Generation era, and featuring several of that show's iconic characters, it tells the origin story of Nero, a Romulan miner who will eventually become a threat to the entire universe, and the main nemesis of Kirk and Spock 100 years in the past.
Featuring beautiful imagery, a few surprise appearances and a story that builds toward an inevitable climax, "Star Trek: Countdown" serves as a fantastic prequel to the next epic chapter in the Trek franchise!
Grade: A
|
|
|
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have for ST: TNG fans!, April 15, 2009
"Countdown" is the official prequel to J.J. Abram's film prequel to the original Star Trek television series. While the STAR TREK film promises to be a "jumping on" point for non Star Trek fans, this miniseries is definitely written for the long-time fans!
I'm definitely more a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation than the original series and as you can tell from the cover this miniseries uses some key characters from ST:TNG. Without going into spoilers, fans of ST:TNG should be VERY happy with this miniseries. I definitely want to go back and watch the last ST:TNG episode ("All Good Things...") again after reading this series. Events involving Romulans following the last ST: TNG film (Nemesis) blend well into this miniseries, which promises to end where the new film begins.
Despite my fanboy gushing and five stars, this miniseries is not without its flaws. Cons include mediocre artwork, which is unfortunately increasingly typical for IDW books. There is also some re-treading of familiar Trek plot territory (yet another unique galactic phenomenon that threatens to destroy the galaxy) and the character Nero's motives for revenge that sets up the main conflict of the miniseries and upcoming film has (forgive the pun) seriously flawed logic. However, the use of familiar characters in a way that's true to their well developed on-screen counterparts more than made up for all of that.
Star Trek Countdown is a must have for an ST:TNG fan!
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Bettina Kurkoski
~ Michael Giacchino
by Dan Abnett
by Dave Galanter
