Nor Any Drop to Drink

Nor Any Drop to Drink was a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in. It was the ninth story arc in the UK comic strips series, and was released in five parts within issues of TV21 & Joe 90. This was the ninth of 11 stories illustrated by Harry Lindfield.

Publisher's description

 * Teaser summary, 15 November 1969
 * In free space flight one moment… the next, submerged in the depths of an ocean! Incredible though it was, it had happened to the starship Enterprise… and utterly baffled Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock who had donned pressure suits to leave their craft and investigate. They found… trouble!

Summary
While exploring the Sigma Draconis Group, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) suddenly came to a complete halt. The vessel had penetrated the dense liquid of a globular planet and experienced a pressure of nearly 30 atmospheres. Kirk and Spock swam out an airlock to look around, but a mammoth sea creature suddenly swallowed the captain. Within its airy maw, Kirk was able to fire his phaser, annoy the creature, and be spat out.

They returned to the ship, only to discover Sigma fishmen attaching grapplers to the Enterprise. The starship was towed by a submarine toward an undersea city. Kirk and Spock left the airlock in their pressure suits to make peaceful contact with the natives, but they were captured, brought into the city and threatened with dissection.

Kirk escaped and returned with a raiding party. During the fighting, Kirk captured a freeze gun that generated immense cold and ice around any target. They located a tank sporting a more powerful gun. After blanketing the Enterprise with ice, their ship began to rise. The raiding party quickly returned to the ship before it broke the surface. Deflectors shattered the ice, and the Enterprise launched back into space.

Characters

 * Christine Chapel • Ross Johnson • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Sigma fishmen

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • tank • Sigma submarine

Locations

 * Sigma Draconis Group (globular planet)

Earth • Jupiter

Races and cultures

 * Sigma fishman • Human • Vulcan

Science and technology

 * airlock • communicator • computer • cudgel • deflector • dissection • engine • fishing rod • freeze gun • grappler • knife • observation port • phaser • pressure suit • scanner • sensor • spear • thruster • universal translator • webb-gun

Ranks and titles

 * angler • captain • chief • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • scientist • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * atmosphere • bridge • city • density • dream • hull • minute • ocean • parley • planet • pressure • space • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • starship • vacuum

Chronology

 * The lack of Pavel Chekov, James T. Kirk becoming momentarily paralyzed before being gobbled up by the sea creature, and Kirk calling McCoy "Mac" instead of "Bones" would place the story very early during the five-year mission, in 2265.

Production history

 * This story was serialized over five issues of TV21 & Joe 90 magazine in two-page sections.


 * November 1969
 * 8 November, pages 1-2 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #7
 * 15 November, pages 3-4 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #8
 * 22 November, pages 5-6 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #9
 * 29 November, pages 7-8 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #10
 * December 1969
 * 6 December, pages 9-10 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #11
 * April 2016 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1 (IDW Publishing)
 * 11 May 2017 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #10 (Eaglemoss)

Background

 * The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("Nor Any Drop to Drink") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1. It was a line from the 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
 * This was Christine Chapel's first appearance in the UK comic strips. She and McCoy tended to Hikaru Sulu, who had been injured when the Enterprise initially struck the watery world.
 * The pressure against the ship (stated to be 30 tons per square foot) was equivalent to 28.353 atmospheres. (Atmospheric Pressure Calculator at the Vcalc website.)
 * Phasers, engines and deflectors would not operate within the dense liquid.
 * Ross Johnson was referred to only as Johnson. Although he could be Bill Johnson, it seemed more likely he would be the character referred to on screen as Johnson in.

Related stories

 * – In the late 2260s, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was dragged below the surface of a dense, artificial, water-like world.
 * – In the Kelvin timeline in 2260, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) submerged to avoid detection by natives on Nibiru.
 * – In 2265, the Galileo was dragged underwater during a search for a missing exploration ship.
 * – In 2270, the Enterprise crew explored the oceans of aboard an aqua-shuttle.