A Book to Color, third story

A Book to Color, third story was the fourth licensed Star Trek: The Original Series story. Published by Saalfield Publishing in 1967, it was the last of three untitled coloring book stories appearing in the anthology A Book to Color. The story was edited for its reprinting in Coloring Book C1856 in 1975.

In this story, the Enterprise helped restock Earth's zoos following an animal epidemic.

Summary[]

The USS Enterprise comes across a variety of spacecraft, space stations and satellites, including a vessel Spock recognizes from the planet Onyx. Then Nyota Uhura receives word that James T. Kirk is to report to headquarters, where he and Spock are given the ship's next assignment. An epidemic has killed many animals on Earth, and the Enterprise is tasked with bringing back Earth animals from other planets to repopulate several species.

Provisions and animals are loaded aboard the starship. A crewman notices that one of the animals is unaccounted for – a chimpanzee, which was enticed off of a stack of boxes with a banana. The animals are safely delivered back to Earth.

Kirk shares details of their next assignments with Spock, Uhura and Hikaru Sulu. Their next mission is to find out why they haven't heard from 150 colonists on Omicron, which Spock points out is surrounded by Berthold rays. Uhura realizes there is no chance the colonists have survived. Sulu asks if they have to go, but Kirk affirms that they were ordered to investigate. A later mission will be to visit a planet where inhabitants live for centuries, which both Spock and Uhura look forward to.

References[]

Characters[]

James T. Kirk • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s) • unnamed Starfleet personnel

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) * Klingon D7-class battle cruiser • Onyx spacecraft • rockets • spacecraft • space station

Locations[]

Earth
Referenced only: Omicron • Onyx

Races and cultures[]

Human • Onyx native • Vulcan

Appendices[]

Related media[]

TOS movie: The Voyage Home – Over dinner in 1986, Kirk claims to Gillian Taylor that he is on a mission to repopulate the extinct species of humpback whale.
TOS audiobook: The Logistics of Stampede – In 2268, huge rampaging herds of dranzers threaten crops and colonists on Ribol II.

Background[]

Burton Marks updated the story for the 1975 edition. (Star Trek coloring books article at the Star Trek Comics Checklist website)

Edition differences[]

Animals
- The 1967 edition included single-page drawings of a polar bear, kangaroo, sea turtle, and zebra. The escaped chimp knocked over a basket of apples and a pile of canned food.
- The 1975 edition omitted those pages, but retained drawings of a bear, camel, hippopotamus, and leopard.
Briefing
- In the 1967 edition, an officer briefed Kirk and Spock on the epidemic. He was seen on one page.
- In the 1975 edition, the officer was seen on two pages, but on the second page he wore a beard and different clothes. The second illustration came from a different briefing in A Book to Color, second story.
Preface
- In the 1967 edition, Onyx natives were unidentified and seen only from the back between the events of A Book to Color, first story and A Book to Color, second story. The preface was four pages long, showing illustrations of Kirk and Spock playing tennis at a "space center", a tricorder, microtape reader, and a "control center" building. Later, en route to picking up the animals, the Enterprise came across various ships and satellites, including a rocket labeled "USAF".
- For the 1975 edition, the Onyx natives and spacecraft images were moved to the beginning of the story to create a new 12-page preface, with the ship encountering "heavy air traffic". The "USAF" label was removed, although that organization's logo remained on the ship's port side wing.
- A new illustration was added showing the top view of a Klingon D7-class battle cruiser. The 1967 edition could not include such a drawing, as the vessel hadn't yet been introduced to Star Trek. It debuted in September 1968 in TOS reference: The Making of Star Trek and TOS episode: "The Enterprise Incident".
Denouement
- The 1967 edition contained a 12-page scene with a coffee break and discussion of future assignments.
- The 1975 edition reprinted only the last page of that scene, as the Enterprise "starts off on its next mission". The coffee break was moved to the end of A Book to Color, second story.