Post “Babel”; Amanda saves the day, and gets Kirk and Spock to rest up, by finding the lost crochet needle of the Tellarite Ambassador’s obnoxious wife - in the sensor works.
"In Defense of 'Tomcat' " (p.18-20 ) /
Connie Faddis
Editorial on interpretations of Kirk. Makes the interesting point that for most of us a few of a character’s better episodes establish that character for us. But Kirk, because of the way tv works, had to be the central character almost all the time, including for the “Broad of the Week” episodes, so that when taken as a whole the character ends up looking shallow.
Rather tedious tale with Kirk being singled out because of his latent esper talent to join/rescue a “Circle” of 7 Elsons, who are merged beings, and outlawed on their own planet. Despite Spock’s encouragement to explore this side of himself, Kirk is committed to his individuality and disturbed by the Elsons. It just doesn’t all hang together very well.
An explosion leaves Kirk in pain with the prospect of indefinite life support and no chance of recovery. Spock releases him. McCoy talks Spock out of turning himself in to the authorities. Standard get ‘em.
Kirk, watching at McCoy’s bedside through the doctor’s crisis point, reminisces about his first encounter with McCoy when the doctor pulled him through a bout of polio and he pulled the doctor out of his shell.
"Galactic Myths and Legends: The Great Bird of the Galaxy" (p.89) /
Patrice Cullen
Silly little tidbit about Gene Roddenberry mythology
In late middle age, Spock dreams of Jim and decides to come to terms with those memories. At a loss after Jim’s death, he had learned to rely on McCoy and stayed to finish his tour. The two “closings” (from the Dickinson poem) to his life were those of Jim and McCoy. Now he becomes attached to a young assistant working with him on a renewed Daystrom M-5 project. Nice little touch is a Wizard of Oz dream.
Spock has disobeyed Kirk’s direct order to save him; with Kirk unconscious in Sickbay, a court sentences Spock to “maximum sentence” at the Carbel penal colony. Spock redeems himself by heroism when the Klingons attack the colony to free their operatives. Standard fare. The sentence seemed extreme for the crime.
Recovering from his exposure to Ambassador Kollos (“Is There In Truth No Beauty”), Spock explores the meaning of separation and union, touching and untouched. Interesting.
"A Temporary Calorific Effulgence" (p. 52-55) /
Carol Mularski
McCoy wagers Jim that he can make Spock blush. Entertaining little farce.
Story contest - illo of Kirk holding Spock protectively while McCoy huddles nearby clutching a book and a skeletal figure looks on.
Grim story of beings coming to life to destroy the landing party with madness.
Story contest- illo of Kirk holding Spock protectively while McCoy huddles nearby clutching a book and a skeletal figure looks on.
This was fun. McCoy becomes a wizard’s apprentice and has to hold evil spells at bay from his friends.
Story contest - illo of Kirk holding Spock protectively while McCoy huddles nearby clutching a book and a skeletal figure looks on.
Chilling alternate ending to “City on the Edge of Forever.” The crew left behind go through the Guardian and change something; when Kirk, Spock and McCoy return to the future after sacrificing Edith, there is no Starfleet, no rescue, and they are marooned to die on a barren planet. Told from Kirk’s rather delirious pov. Kinda overdramatic, but points for the idea.
Rather alarming little story, a sequel to “The Maze” (Joan Winston, Metamorphosis 2) in which Kirk has received a spanking (good grief!) from his liege lord Spock for disobeying an order. He then behaves in a super-Vulcan fashion to show his brother Spock and father Sarek their error in trying to make him so. Ick.
A happy-ending alternative to “City on the Edge of Forever.” Kirk stays, marries Edith, and prevents her from meeting Roosevelt and holding back the war. Points for the idea.
At a medal ceremony for Spock on Vulcan, McCoy reminisces about their early days together, vying with one another for Kirk’s attention. The feud is resolved after a shuttle crash in which Kirk is poisoned and they learn to cooperate and trust to save him. Kind of a well-used situation, but nicely written.
Crew dismantling the old Enterprise is shocked to see her re-form, brighten up, and streak off to new adventures, with a full complement of the original bridge crew. Okay, it’s trite, but kinda sweet.
Post-Babel, Spock is furious with McCoy for not taking proper care of Kirk. McCoy sends them down for recuperation during the conference, and the Orion blood-mate of the spy who committed suicide goes after Kirk. Spock sets himself up as bait instead as they try to uncover the full Orion plot. Spock is held hostage, Kirk trades places, Spock overpowers his guards to escape and reveal the plot while the Orion tortures Kirk, and McCoy arrives with the cavalry to tend Kirk. Corridan is admitted, and Sarek asks Kirk to help him get to know his son on the return journey. Has some good points, including McCoy trying to fight his own jealousy of the friendship between Kirk and Spock, but flawed by a decidedly overprotective and overemotional Spock.
McCoy has worked himself into exhaustion on a plague assignment and is blaming himself for sitting communing with the computers while other medical personnel were out assisting patients and dying with honor - though he was forcibly kept in safety and reduced the projected plague deaths by three-quarters. Kirk gets him out of the funk by telling him (falsely) that Spock had said the computer could have done it without him; the argument against Spock shows him that he really did make a difference. Nice touch with McCoy’s mercurial personality here - he really is rather irrational, but keeps all his good martyr points.
Macabre and very compelling tale of McCoy being forced to play chess with real people, and almost managing to save Kirk and Spock. Almost. (Interp story from previous issue's art work.)
Kirk is growing weary of Starfleet and thinking of a new life for himself and Spock. Enterprise is sent to investigate the disappearance of a Terran scientist and suspicions of a new Romulan base. Sure enough, the Romulans do have a base, and fortuitously capture the scientist and force him to rework his invention - a dimensional door - into a field that can operate as a weapon. They also capture Kirk and Spock who came down in a life shuttle to do a little poking around, but Kirk manages to get away by taking the Romulan commander’s lover hostage. Kirk gets Spock back by setting the field in motion and stunning everyone who could turn it off. However, he is almost caught in his own trap when the Romulan technician is revived but still can’t turn the thing off. The Romulan couple as well as their ship are doomed in the field; Kirk and Spock race against the field, have a tender pre-death moment together, and are rescued early by Scott, who noticed something wrong with space. Kirk decides to give the ‘Fleet another 6 months.
"Trek Humor Portfolio" (p. 88ff)
A nice collection of cartoons - best are “Beads and Rattles” (McCoy taunting Spock, holding an Andorian infant) and “How You Play the Game” (triumphant Kirk and annoyed Spock at Planetary Monopoly)
Spock’s marriage to T’Pring - with everything going along in mind-numbingly logical fashion, until Spock (with much relief) is slapped into reality by McCoy – who had to treat Spock with a hallucinogen. Reasonable speculation of what that life might really be like, and nice awakening of Spock’s pride in his human bits.
Kirk and Spock spend a shore leave in a cabin in the Canadian winter, agonizing over their declaration of mutual love and what that means to each. They don’t actually seem to resolve anything, and despite a few pleasant scenes, the story gets tedious as Spock worries about his own protectiveness of Kirk and Kirk keeps wondering if Spock means sex when he says love. Ends with them on the new ship after V’ger, each still wondering what they are to each other.
"The Saints and Poets, Maybe" (p. 124-131) /
Martha J. Bonds
Kirk, Spock and McCoy are all in good moods as they wrap up a mellow shore leave when Kirk investigates a local porcupine-like critter, gets nailed with poison spines, and witnesses his death. Afterwards, McCoy is plagued by the fact that he gave up on Kirk and it was Spock who insisted they keep trying to resuscitate – successfully. An old premise, but well handled. Title from “Our Town” quote.
A redemption story of Mirror Kirk. Returning from his hour aboard “our” Enterprise, Kirk must sort out what really happened in his absence, determine his real relationships with Spock and Marlena, and figure out what to do about the Halkans - he doesn’t want to destroy the planet, but knows that Spock has orders to kill him if he doesn’t. This is a nice ISS Enterprise story, with a Kirk who is ambitious but bothered by the actions he has taken to gain his position, and by the picture the facts of his record will present to the “other” Kirk. For example, he killed Pike out of mercy, not ambition. Problems abound - Marlena frees Sulu and Chekov to kill him - but he and Spock dance around each other until they determine that they are both interested in taking up the revolutionary life.
McCoy’s mixed feelings on hearing of the birth of his first grandchild sparks reminiscence of an early falling-out between him him and Kirk and Spock. McCoy had just heard that his ex, Ariane, had died suddenly, and was dealing with conflicting emotions around that and the consequences of caring, when Kirk and Spock went off on a planetary mission together leaving him feeling excluded. Spock was in fact suffering a Vulcan endocrine transformation called Tyanar which is painful and causes loss of all pain control, though should be controllable with rensolin. Not wanting anyone to see him in that condition, he only reluctantly agreed to accept Kirk’s company, with the clear understanding that any revelation to others (including McCoy) would be a violation of trust. However, Spock underestimated the danger and Kirk eventually called in McCoy, demanding that he treat him on the spot to protect his pride. McCoy adamantly refused and took him to Sickbay, with all the privacy-securing provisions he could manage. Throughout the long treatment, Kirk remains furious with McCoy and McCoy withdraws into a shell, performing his function as doctor but without his usual fussing, compassionate bedside manner. Afterwards, McCoy feels unloved, that no one needs Leonard McCoy, just the skilled Doctor. Kirk begins to catch on that something else must be afoot, and attempts to reconcile, but McCoy rebuffs him, stating that it isn’t something he wishes to discuss with him. When McCoy attempts a reconciliation himself, he is dangerously injured in a turbolift crash. While his future hangs in limbo, Kirk and Spock rally to him. They also discover the tape from Joanna, and all are reconciled looking at events from one another’s perspective. Back in the “present” McCoy calls the others to a toast for his new grandchild, but has decided not to go visit, deliberately setting his family on the shelf again, and Kirk accepts his decision. (Though this seems a tad out of character, I like it - the guy really is running away, and he’s going to keep running.)
A few unfortunate uses of “special” and all forms of the word “care” get overworked. Also, it is tiresome to always have to have someone at death’s door to effect a reconciliation. Otherwise, well written and a compelling exploration of the fragility of friendship within a plot that keeps the story going.
Spock goes missing on a classified mission to an icy planet in search of a rare mineral hoard. Kirk follows, nurses the wounded Spock (by mind touch) until Enterprise returns, and deals with the Vulcan's sense of failure.
Romp. Kirk's accidental signature attached to a porn-company brochure causes the entire crew to invest.
Contest Results (p. 31-35)
Leslie Fish illo depicting Uhura with the con, Kirk in the embrace of a multi-tentacled, horse-faced critter, and McCoy clasping Spock in a corridor. Interps include: Spock having set Kirk up with an incomplete description of the ambassador
(Joyce Hindman, "Touche"); and Uhura having achieved command by murdering Kirk - and wondering if it was worth the loss of a good lover
(Dayle Barker, poem: "Coup d'Etat"); and
[Continuation of "Raison d'Etre" from Galactic Discourse #3]
Mirror Kirk has sorted out the crewmembers who will join him in the revolution. Delivering Sulu and Chekov to a prison for execution, he decides to act on an opportunity to rescue members of the Resistance, and the revolution is underway sooner than he expected. Interesting aliens who can merge their bodies into one, and a fine tension between Kirk and Spock, unsure of one another and their trust put to the test as the mission goes awry.
The touch between Kirk and Spock after Spock's contact with V'ger, from Kirk's pov, with flashback to the night three years before, when McCoy reported Spock's emotional breakdown and plans to leave, and prevented Kirk from seeing him. Good exploration of the anger between Kirk and McCoy there.
A probe returning from a nebula infects Enterprise with a living corrosive agent. But the story really revolves around the conflict between Ensign Pickering and her pompous supervisor, Lt. Masters; she saves the day by disabling him in an emergency. Nicely written.
Fan-tasia (p. 77-90) /
Includes a transporter malfunction that results in "Baby Kirk" (Suzanne Garden), a pointilist portrait of the hairy Scott and McCoy (Nan Lewis), and two nice ST X SW cartoons with Yoda - "He Claims You Are the Last What?" and "I Fail to See the Resemblance" by Suzan Lovett.
On a landing party, Kirk is captured by the locals, who proclaim him a bringer of death, beat him and stake him out to be stung by a swarm of insects. On rescue, he recovers, but suffers mysterious debilitating bouts of illness. Meanwhile, they rescue a cargo ship from Klingon attack but Kirk has to stay aboard to whip the mutinous crew into shape - until they conspire to hand him over to the Klingons. Their doctor, fortunately, plays with him a while before resorting to the mind-sifter. This allows rescue, and the eventual discovery that he is suffering from malaria - which had been imported to the unfriendly planet by someone before the Prime Directive came into play, accounting for the hostile reaction.
"The Fan Editor's Guide to Fanzine Publishing" (p. 131-135) /
Post-V'ger. Exploration of the estrangement of Spock and McCoy, from Spock's pov while trying to meditate. Spock seeks to "turn away" from the human contamination - nice emphasis on the smells, here - and recover the clean, dry logic of his recent time on Vulcan. But he is haunted by phrases from McCoy... "Capture God?" Visions of the encounter with V'ger blend with that of McCoy's battering at the hands of the Vians, and Spock experiences the chaos of McCoy's passionate loneliness, contrasting with the clean, sterile loneliness of V'ger. Much of this was unclear to me, but I liked it anyway - very evocative. Reconciliation occurs when McCoy tentatively approaches, and Spock requests to see the tapes of his new grandchild.
Post-"Tholian Web". The crew has become so fond of Theragen as a cocktail mixer that most of them are drunk. This leads to a mild confrontation between Kirk and McCoy, and a Spock/McCoy reconciliation over Theragen and brandy which leaves Spock so drunk that he does not even object to McCoy "tucking him in". Nice scene.
Post-"Khan" vignette. Kirk/McCoy scene outside the radiation chamber. Kirk is shocked, grieving and blaming himself, while McCoy tries to protect the admiral's dignity and points out that Kirk's presence at the end was crucial to Spock.
AU - Arthurian. Lord Kirk's beloved advisor Len has vanished into a mysterious portal through which strange creatures have appeared. Kirk captures the sorcerer Spock in order to force him to close the portal. By mind-meld, Spock shows Kirk that he has no control over the portal, which draws misplaced individuals throughout the universe, in order to restore them to their proper spheres.
Post-TMP. Kirk and Spock confront the problems their friendship poses for their work, as Spock ponders whether to resume his Enterprise post. Kirk believes that Spock retrieved him from a mission on Andulsia out of concern for his welfare, and that if he'd had a few more minutes, he could have prevented the civil war that annihilated the planet. Spock insists he made a proper command decision.
On assignment to train Zanatan surgeons, McCoy gets nosy about conditions in the "corrections" work camps that underpin the planet's society (which is divided into diminutive, deft Zans with eyes adjustable to microscopic focus and the more humanoid Outminders). A former colleague with an axe to grind and a bribery scandal to avoid has McCoy sentenced to the camps, where he contracts a nasty parasitic infection and is looked after by the Zan convict Schovil. Kirk and Spock effect a rescue just in time. Good relationship scenes, but the comfort here is mostly provided by Schovil. Cross & Tullock's usual good writing and characterization of the Big Three relationships. Points for nicely alien aliens - loved the eyes - and a really icky new disease, a gelatinous mass that must be physically removed as it crawls up the throat.
Post-"Empath." Spock tends McCoy in recovery; Spock and Kirk each offer tokens of appreciation. McCoy makes the interesting point here that he was the only logical choice -- the Vians would have eventually taken him whether or not they first destroyed Spock, because they required an emotional connection to Gem.
Post-STIII. To prevent court-martials for his crew, Kirk is blackmailed into accepting a counterspy mission designed to get him killed. The crew, along with Sarek, uncover the plot and elude Starfleet to rally 'round again.
Post-"Enemy Within." Fresh from having to absorb his own dark side, Kirk encounters good and evil twins vying for planetary rule. He is tortured and dropped into a lake, from which he is rescued by Spock and McCoy, after which he manages to bring the sides to negotiation.
* "The Universal Insanity Bomb" (p. 80-87) /
Rayelle Roe
Farce. Spock, under the influence of a new weapon, begins wearing little alligator emblems on his uniform, saying things like, "...it took 7.54 minutes to whack the little sucker in there," and romancing Nurse Chapel. Lots of fun and great dialogue before things are corrected.
Flashbacks of the relationships between Kirk and Carol Marcus, and Kirk and Spock. When Spock leaves for Kohlinar, Carol inadvertently blurts out the general rumor that the men are lovers, much to Kirk's surprise.
Post-STIII. Kirk & Co. negotiate with Starfleet for their futures, with a little help from Saavik, Sarek, and Areel Shaw. Realistic and nicely handled.
Post-STIII. Flashbacks of Kirk's intermittent encounters with his son, as Kirk prepares to tell Carol of David's death. Kirk first learned of David when the boy was five; Carol keeps putting off telling the boy of his father; as a teenager, David is drawn to the New Humans, and an angry final confrontation with "Uncle Jim." Very much in character, believable and well-written.
Post-STIII. After the fal-tor-pan, a disturbed Spock comes to McCoy feeling that he has "misplaced" the doctor - he has no memories of him at all, nor why he chose him as Keeper - and requests a mind-meld.
Kirk and McCoy wager over whether Spock is or is not ticklish, with inconclusive and Doctor-aggravating results.
* "The Death of a Cavalier" (p. 179-182) /
Leslie Fish
Spock, a lieutenant on the Cavalier, confronts the Toyers, energy critters greedily feeding on the crew's emotions by creating horrific hallucinations and heedless of the catastrophic results. Spock has escaped his rigid Vulcan upbringing and allowed himself more emotion in his new life in Starfleet, only to find now that he must fall back on his logic not only to survive the attack but to wall off the emotional aftermath of his captain's death. Leslie's usual powerful writing.
ST universe, but no familiar characters. The mixed-species crew of the salvage vessel Rescuer save the dying Klingon Torrin from the wreckage of his ship. Torrin remains suspicious and not particularly grateful, as he recovers and begins to participate in the work.
Vignette; Kirk pondering what there is of Spock in Spock after the fal-tor-pan
"Pegasus and the Starman" (p. 225-255) /
Joyce Tullock
McCoy has become fearful, and Kirk assigns him to a rescue mission (with Scott and Uhura) to snap him out of it. They find the missing young scientist, but lose their shuttle and are themselves stranded on the icy and quake-ridden planet. McCoy must lead them in powering and piloting a living spaceship - which drains them all dangerously - in order to return to Enterprise. Rather mystical, with lots of good angst.