To Swiftly Go...

To Swiftly Go... was an 18-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 30th weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in nine installments in Valiant and TV21 in. In this story, a landing party visited a planet of giant humanoids.

Publisher's description

 * Omnibus teaser
 * The Enterprise crew visits Kwittir, whose natives are ten times normal human size. Shot down by a, the officers are captured by a giant child and nearly consumed by a massive spider.

Summary
Leaving Pavel Chekov in command, James T. Kirk, Spock, Leonard McCoy, Montgomery Scott and a pilot headed to a diplomatic mission to meet Governor Antar of Kwittir. While traveling via shuttlecraft, an enormous bird swiped at the ship. Scott was forced to shoot it with the ship's phasers, but it landed next to a hunter who thought the shuttle might be a hawk and fire at it with his rifle. The back third of the shuttle was instantly shredded, but luckily the shuttle crash-landed in water. Although the pilot died, the others made it to shore, realizing that everything on the planet was on a huge scale relative to them, with the Kwettirian humanoids being more than 100 feet tall.

They ignited a fire so jetcopters would notice them, but instead a boy named stuffed them in his pocket, then left them in a jar in his bedroom. As Spock tried to repair his communicator, a curious spider climbed onto the jar. The landing party was able to roll the jar over and shatter it against the floor. Returning, the boy heard the noise and swatted the spider. He put Kirk, Scott and McCoy onto a toy train, but Spock remained hidden. Realizing his shipmates could be killed by the relatively high speed of the train on the oval track, Spock fired a toy cannon at the boy to draw his attention. It worked, allowing Kirk to disable the train engine with a well-aimed phaser blast, and they all managed to slip away under the bedroom door.

By this time, Antar's aide Clorac had figured out the size differential and updated Chekov. Antar made a public broadcast on television asking citizens to look for the visitors. Togor overheard and told his parents the tiny people had been in his room, but had escaped. Meanwhile, the officers had made it outside, but had been cornered by a group of ants. Spock's translator communicator at last began to work, and by using its amplification circuits the boy heard them and saved them from the ants.

Later, the landing party attended a reception and conference, with Kwittir expected to sign a friendship treaty with the Federation.

Characters

 * Antar • Pavel Chekov • Clorac • Gorda • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Mornic • Montgomery Scott • Spock • • Nyota Uhura • unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s) (pilot)

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • jetcopter • rocket • train • unnamed shuttlecraft

Locations

 * Kwettir

Earth • Jupiter

Races and cultures

 * Human • Kwettirian • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Earth Control • Federation

Science and technology

 * communications • communicator • computer • engine • intercom • phaser • probe • projectile weapon • radio • rifle • scanner • television • translator communicator • transporter • universal translator • video • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

 * aide • captain • ensign • farmer • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • governor • • pilot • policeman • rank • senior officer • skipper • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * ant • assignment patch • atmosphere • beam • bird • book • bridge • button • cannon • carpet • civilization • cricket • desk • dress uniform • electricity • fairy tale • fly • furniture • glass • grass • hawk • history • hour • insect • lute • minnek • mistle thrush • motor • orbit • planet • rodent • replica • second • sickbay • slavery • space • spider • spider web • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • star system • teddy bear • transporter room • treaty • tree • universe • volleyball • water • wheel

Background

 * This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("To Swiftly Go...") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2.
 * Three Valiant and TV21 covers during the publication of this arc featured people referenced in Star Trek. The cover to issue #35 featured Jules Verne; issue #39 spotlighted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his creation Sherlock Holmes; and issue 41 featured American Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant.
 * The story may have originated from an unused script for the Land of the Giants comic strip, which had been serialized along with Star Trek in the magazines Joe 90: Top Secret, TV21 & Joe90 and TV21 Weekly, but had been canceled in 1970. (Alan J. Porter, "Flaming Nacelles and Giant Snails", New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics, Sequart, 2014)
 * 's bedroom contained many common items, including a cymbal monkey, books, dice, pencil, pendulum wave toy, teddy bear, and a volleyball.
 * Leonard McCoy wore an operations division dress uniform to the planet's surface and addressed Kirk as James rather than Jim.

Related stories

 * – In the 2260s, James T. Kirk, Spock and Montgomery Scott were trapped in glass jars next to a cage full of giant rats in a laboratory run by an enormous humanoid.
 * – Other encounters with giant humanoids in the UK comic strips series.
 * – Other encounters with giant spiders in the series.
 * – Another encounter with giant ants in the series.

Chronology

 * Pavel Chekov being given command of the Enterprise suggests a placement after his promotion to bridge duty in May 2267.

Production history

 * This story was serialized in two-page sections over nine consecutive weeks in Valiant and TV21 magazine. All issues were 36 pages, with the Star Trek segment printed in color on pages 18-19, except for issue 37, which was 40 pages with the segment printed on pages 20-21.


 * : Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #34.
 * : Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #35.
 * : Pages 5-6 published in Valiant and TV21 #36.
 * : Pages 7-8 published in Valiant and TV21 #37.
 * : Pages 9-10 published in Valiant and TV21 #38.
 * : Pages 11-12 published in Valiant and TV21 #39.
 * : Pages 13-14 published in Valiant and TV21 #40.
 * : Pages 15-16 published in Valiant and TV21 #41.
 * : Pages 17-18 published in Valiant and TV21 #42.
 * December 2016 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2 (IDW Publishing)
 * 1 February 2018 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)
 * : Pages 17-18 published in Valiant and TV21 #42.
 * December 2016 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2 (IDW Publishing)
 * 1 February 2018 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)