The Mindless Ones

The Mindless Ones was a ten-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 31st weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in five installments in Valiant and TV21 in. In this story, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) encountered a small sentient probe.

Publisher's description

 * Teaser, August 12, 1972
 * For centuries, the process of eliminating people had been unknown on the planet Janvar. There had been perfect peace… until an attempt by six criminals to overthrow the regime! Caught, their punishment had been the removal of their minds... their personalities... which had been sent out on an endless voyage through space, contained in a metal cylinder...

Summary
Nyota Uhura picked up an SOS distress signal from the Janvar Five space probe, a device launched from Janvar centuries earlier, apparently to seek out intelligent life. James T. Kirk bought it aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and Spock determined the probe's point of origin. The starship arrived in orbit of Janvar and Uhura established contact with President. Kort spotted the probe on the bridge of the Enterprise and panicked. He immediately fired missiles at the Enterprise, intent on destroying the probe at all costs.

Force fields nullified the missiles. Still in a panic, Kort ordered the "mindless ones" to be destroyed. These turned out to be the bodies of ruthless criminals kept in stasis, whose personalities had been jettisoned into space as an alternative to the death penalty. Janvar Five contained the minds of six ruthless rebels, and now they reanimated their former bodies on the planet, bursting out of their stasis chambers before guards could stop them. Via psychokinesis the probe paralyzed the crew of the Enterprise to prevent interference.

The criminals' bodies boarded a shuttle rocket. To buy time, Spock agreed to help them land aboard the Enterprise. He hypothesized that the Janvarians' minds were overtaxed with the effort of controlling so many people at once. Montgomery Scott alerted the bridge that he'd been in the middle of a battery charge procedure which threatened to blow up the ship because he couldn't move to turn it off. Spock used that emergency to distract the criminals — their rocket collided against the shields of the Enterprise and blew up. Now without purpose, the probe collapsed, dead.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk • • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Janvarians

Charles Dickens

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • shuttle rocket

Locations

 * Janvar (Neutralisation Centre)

Races and cultures

 * Human • Janvarian • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Starfleet (command division • operations division • sciences division)

Science and technology

 * acceptor • artificial intelligence • communications • communicator • computer • disintegrator • docking • engine • force field • gun • hoverlift • intercom • Janvar Five • missile • power cell • printout • probe • rifle • rocket • scanner • star chart • stasis • stasis chamber • storing charge • transporter • video • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

 * captain • criminal • guard • president • rebel • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • rank • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * beam • bridge • capital city • century • court martial • crime • death penalty • distress signal • engineering • life • helm • lifeform • light • metal • minute • orbit • peace • psychokinesis • second • security • SOS • space • star • star system • starship • telepathy • transporter room • universe • vault • assignment patch • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270)

Background

 * This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Mindless Ones") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3.
 * The cover of Valiant and TV21 #46 featured British author H.G. Wells and cited his novels The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and The Invisible Man, among others.
 * The Janvar Five probe was reminiscent of the Nomad probe in . Both were silver metallic, roughly the same shape, had retractable appendages, and were not what they initially appeared to be.
 * The subject of the death penalty in the 23rd century was explored in several episodes, including.
 * Unusual for Kirk, he decided not to beam down and meet with the Janvarians at the end of the story.
 * Except for elderly, bearded President Kort, the Janvarians were all unnamed and drawn with the same face and hair, as if they were clones, though the story did not address the topic.

Related stories

 * , – Other encounters with entities unwillingly turned into disembodied consciousnesses.
 * – An encounter with entities who claimed to be disembodied.
 * – Other instances where criminals attempted to deceive Kirk into saving them.
 * – Disembodied emotions of Vulcans possessed Enterprise crew members.
 * – In the Kelvin timeline, and his Augments were incarcerated in stasis chambers after Khan crashed the USS Vengeance (Kelvin timeline) in San Francisco.

Production history

 * This story was serialized in two-page sections over five consecutive weeks in Valiant and TV21 magazine. Issues 44, 45, and 46 were 36 pages, with the Star Trek segment printed in color on pages 18-19. Issues 43 and 47 were 40 pages with the segment printed on pages 20-21.


 * : Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #43.
 * : Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #44.
 * : Pages 5-6 published in Valiant and TV21 #45.
 * : Pages 7-8 published in Valiant and TV21 #46.
 * : Pages 9-10 published in Valiant and TV21 #47.
 * September 2017 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3 (IDW Publishing)
 * 1 February 2018 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)
 * September 2017 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3 (IDW Publishing)
 * 1 February 2018 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)