Colouring Book is an 80-page TOS coloring book released by World Distributors in England in 1974. Notably, it contains a 26-page original story inserted within an adaptation of Gold Key Comics' "Invasion of the City Builders". The new portion takes place during the USS Enterprise's visit to Alpha Z-21 in 2266 before the landing party meets Krill. Designs for new characters were based on Nabu characters seen in TOS comic: "The Devil's Isle of Space".
Summary[]
After technicians repair a malfunction to a warp nacelle in environmental suits, the Enterprise approaches planet Alpha Z-21. Entering a high orbit in the atmosphere, a bizarre metal city is spotted through the viewscreen. When Spock's sensors detect only machines, Captain James T. Kirk elects to use the teleportation chamber to beam down and investigate.
Once on the surface, Kirk and Spock hear strange humming sounds — two Zakarak spacecraft are approaching. Kirk and Spock watch from behind boulders as the ships land. But the alien ships have spotted them, and leader Zappa intends to capture them. Suspicious, Kirk asks Zappa and his associate Kalik to move away from their ship. Meanwhile, Kilima sneaks out of the other spacecraft and throws a net over Kirk. Spock fires his phaser, but Kilima evades the shot. Kirk cuts himself free of the net, and Kilima charges him. Zappa raises his zakaram sword and throws it at Kirk, but strikes Kilima instead. Dodging as phaser beams blast the ground beneath him, Zappa concedes defeat. The aliens escape aboard a stolen spacecraft.
Kirk and Spock then offer their assistance to Krill, leader of the surviving Alpha Z-21 natives. Krill says that construction robots used to help them, but they've lost control of them. Now the machines design and build cities non-stop. Krill and his followers have hidden from the city builders across a river in the last of the planet's wilderness. As they're talking, machine vehicles approach the river. Kirk shoots his phaser rifle at them, and automated police rockets fire at them too, but the city builders seem invulnerable. As they start building a bridge across the river, Spock asks for a sample of the impervious metal. Kirk maneuvers a boat near the bridge and uses his rifle to dislodge an I-beam from a crane. Spock tests the material: a welding torch won't melt it, but one particular liquid dissolves it. Krill sees hope. A few rifles are rigged to shoot the liquid. Kirk tests it on one of the city builders, which short circuits, but Krill's followers retreat in fear. Choosing to go alone, Krill pilots a boat across the river and destroys the bridge. The followers cheer as Krill emerges from the river, victorious. Krill thanks Kirk and Spock for their help.
References[]
Characters[]
- Kalik • Kazar • Kilima • James T. Kirk • Krill • Spock • Nyota Uhura • Zappa • Zika
Starships and vehicles[]
- boats • city builders • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • groundcar • police rockets • spacecraft
Locations[]
- Alpha Z-21
- Referenced only
- fifth dimension
Races and cultures[]
- Alpha Z-21 native • Human • Vulcan • Zakarak
States and organizations[]
Science and classification[]
- circuitry • environmental suit • lirpa • machine • mêlée weapon • net • phaser • phaser rifle • rifle • robot • thruster • teleportation chamber • tricorder • type-2 phaser • viewscreen • welder • zakaram
Occupations and titles[]
Other references[]
- assignment patch • asteroid • atmosphere • backpack • beaker • chemical • city • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • iron • laser • liquid • metal • planet • plant • police • races and cultures • rank • rock • space • Starfleet ranks • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • water
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS comic: "Invasion of the City Builders" – Tells the original city builders portion of the story in greater detail.
- TOS comic: "The Devil's Isle of Space" – Designs for Zappa, Kalik, and Kilima were based on the characters of Targu, Lara, and one of Targu's followers.
- TOS comic: "Voyage of Discovery" – Ships like the Alpha Z-21 spaceship Zappa steals also pursued the Enterprise near Nekros.
Background[]
- Produced during the era of — and in the style of — Gold Key's TOS comics, the USS Enterprise was drawn having flaming exhaust from its warp engines, the transporter was called a teleportation chamber, and the landing party wore backpacks. The stardate, 20:14.6, was provided in "Invasion of the City Builders".
- The book was 8" x 11", larger than Whitman Publishing's own 1970s TOS coloring books. Its 54-page adaptation of the city builder story was limited to one short sentence per page. It omitted the redundant historical overview on the comic's second page and the landing party marveling at the city builders for three pages. The threat of the encroaching city builders was retained when Krill explained it. To avoid confusion, the coloring book referred to the planet as Alpha Z-21, omitting the natives' name of it (Zarta) and the name by which Kirk referred to it prior to beaming down (Planet Questionmark). To simplify the ending, it skipped over Kirk's attempts to stop the city builders with a trench and force field, proceeding directly to Spock seeking an analysis of the machines' metal. Victory was summarized through the one act of destroying the bridge, instead of the two comic pages in which the Zarta natives were shown proceeding to attack and disable the remaining machines.
Errata[]
- Oddly, even though he had a phaser and wore a backpack, Kirk freed himself from a net using a lirpa, perhaps just because it looked interesting to color, but the weapon only appears on that one page.
- The coloring book abruptly ended its original story with Zappa fleeing – Kirk met Krill on the next page without any transition.
Images[]
Original story images[]
Adaptation images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: The Zodian Sacrifice |
TOS comics World Distributors original works |
Next story: Star Trek Press-Out Book |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Invasion of the City Builders |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Ice Journey |
| Previous story: Invasion of the City Builders |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next story: Ice Journey |