The Unchartered World

The Unchartered World was a Star Trek: The Original Series coloring book, one of three 18" x 22" giant-sized books published in 1978.

In this story, a newly-discovered humanoid species shrank as they aged.

Summary
Spock detected a previously uncharted planet. James T. Kirk signaled the surface, and a landing party was invited to beam down. On the surface, Kirk and Spock met the humanoid inhabitants of Noriga. Strangely, Emperor Prago was only about 18 inches tall, whereas his son was six feet tall. Prago explained that their people grew smaller as they got older, so their smallest citizens were the wisest and most respected. Kirk and Spock were shown the capital city, but it was too small for them to enter. A small table of government officials including Empress Zethah was perched atop an Earth-sized table so they could all meet. The officials signed a treaty with the Federation, and then the landing party beamed back.

When they rematerialized, however, Kirk and Spock were surprised to find they had shrunk to about half their normal height. With some effort, Kirk climbed into his command chair, then Spock suggested they return to the surface. Prado greeted them warmly, but in frustration Kirk picked up the tiny emperor and asked for explanations. Replying that there was no need for anger, Prado revealed that a scientist in their past altered the biochemistry of their atmosphere to trigger the height mutations. Kirk and Spock would return to normal after they breathed their own air on the ship for a couple of days.

Warily, Kirk ordered Leonard McCoy to refrain from making any height jokes. After a few days, they had grown back to normal height. Over the viewscreen, they bade farewell to the society on Noriga.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Prago • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Uhura • Zethah • unnamed Noriga natives

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser)

Locations

 * Noriga (Quanto)

Earth

Races and cultures

 * Human • Noriga native • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Federation

Science and technology

 * chemical • communications • communicator • cudgel • scanner • spear • stylus • transporter • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

 * captain • crew • emperor • empress • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • officer • rank • scientist • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * air • assignment patch • atmosphere • barbarian • beam • bridge • capital city • civilization • command chair • day • diplomatic relations • galaxy • government • headband • height • lifeform • medal • orbit • planet • quadrant • quarters • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • treaty • tree • water • wisdom

Background

 * The title was intended to be "The Uncharted World", but it was misprinted on the cover and title page. Spock did use the word uncharted to describe the planet in the story. (Star Trek coloring books article at the Star Trek Comics Checklist website)
 * The book was 18" x 22" with a soft cover, newsprint interior pages, and a blank cardboard back cover, bound with staples and yellow tape. The cover was perforated so as to be removed as a poster. Puzzle-piece outlines were drawn on the inside front cover as a guide if the reader wanted to turn the poster into a puzzle.
 * Liza Hamill and Don Dyen also produced "Space Ark" and "War in Space" in 1978.

Related stories

 * – In 2266, Kirk, Spock and Nyota Uhura met tiny humanoids on Kujala.
 * – In 2269, spiroid epsilon rays shrank the crew of the Enterprise.
 * – A 50-foot clone of Spock was created by Augment Stavos Keniclius 5.
 * – Confrontations with giant humanoids.