Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy, the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG, Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online, as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant. Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{spoiler}}, {{spoilers}} OR {{majorspoiler}} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

READ MORE

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki
Advertisement

Missing in action — on a dark age planet! — "Day of the Inquisitors" was a Star Trek comic book story published by Gold Key Comics in 1972, the 16th issue of their TOS series. It was the last of eight stories written by Len Wein and the 14th drawn by Alberto Giolitti.

In this story, the crew of the crashed Galileo shuttlecraft are obliged to interact with a medieval society.

Description[]

Shipwrecked on an alien planet, Captain James T. Kirk and his companions find themselves prisoners of a strange cult of power-mad fanatics — with little hope of the starship Enterprise coming to their rescue...

Summary[]

Part I[]

Hanging from chains in a medieval dungeon, Spock is threatened with further torture unless he divulges information Kirk desperately asks him not to reveal...

Captain's log, star date 43:25.2First Officer Spock, Dr. McCoy, Ensign Chekov, Public Relations Officer Claire and I are returning by shuttlecraft to the Enterprise – our diplomatic mission to Tarsus IV a qualified success...

Aboard the Galileo, the diplomatic party discuss their moderately successful first-contact mission. The shuttlecraft hits a meteor storm and crashes in a forest on a nearby planet. Its occupants are unhurt, but the shuttle is beyond repair and its communications system is damaged. Kirk and the others follow a road to a nearby city in search of replacement parts for the radio. Kirk and Spock knock out the guards at the gate and the group enters the city. They rescue an older man who is being forcibly escorted by three men in black robes. When his captors flee, the old man, Corben, tells them the black-robed men are the Inquisitors, who are oppressing the people.

Captain's log, star date 43:25.6 – (Lt. Cmdr. Scott reporting) – The shuttlecraft carrying the captain and the others is long overdue – we are preparing to initiate emergency procedures...

Uhura receives a message from Star Fleet Command ordering the Enterprise to respond to a planetary disaster in the Sigma Quadrant. Scotty risks court-martial by continuing to search for Kirk. Now in "borrowed" native clothing, Kirk's party is led by Corben toward the rebel camp in the mountains. They see the Inquisitors carting the radio and the other equipment from the shuttle toward the castle. Corben, Kirk and McCoy proceed toward the rebel camp, while Spock, Chekov and Claire head for the castle to recover the equipment.

Part II[]

Captain's log, star date 43:25.7 – Our shuttlecraft has crashed on a planet in the throes of an inquisition! While searching for replacement components, we've watched our equipment being carried to the castle of those who rule this world – and we know that attempting to regain that equipment will most likely result in our deaths...

With the help of the Vulcan nerve pinch, Spock, Chekov and Claire disguise themselves as Inquisitors and enter the castle. The Enterprise is checking the flight paths the shuttle might have taken. Star Fleet insists that they give up the search, leading Scotty to reflect that "they've just ordered me to let my best friends – die!" In the castle, the equipment is being examined by Inquisitors in a guarded room. Chekov and Claire attack the guards, causing the Inquisitors to leave the room to investigate. Spock enters the room to retrieve the radio and other tools, but is struck from behind and knocked out. The three are brought before the Grand Inquisitor, who orders them taken to the interrogation chambers to reveal the workings of their machines.

At the rebel camp, Kirk offers Karad, the rebels' leader, the chance to deal a blow to the Inquisitors' power by attacking the castle and helping recover the equipment. Karad agrees, and they set out for the castle. In the castle dungeon, Spock is resisting torture with his Vulcan tolerance of pain. When the Grand Inquisitor threatens to torture Claire instead, Spock agrees to tell him everything. With the situation in Quadrant Sigma worsening, Star Fleet again demands that Scotty abandon the search; knowing that Kirk would want him to leave, he decides to search for thirty more minutes.

Kirk and McCoy's phasers have enough power left to break through the castle doors. The rebels fight the guards while Kirk and McCoy make their way to the room where Spock, Chekov and Claire are being held. Spock has repaired the radio in order to demonstrate its use to the Inquisitors. He contacts Scotty, who beams the five officers away, leaving Karad to tell the captured Grand Inquisitor that they were men, not demons.

Captain's log, star date 43:26.3 – We are proceeding at warp eight to the Sigma Quadrant to answer the distress call received from that area...

Spock has recovered from his whipping. He expresses the hope that the planet's step out of the Dark Ages was a permanent one.

References[]

Characters[]

Pavel ChekovClaireCorbenGrand InquisitorKaradJames T. KirkLeonard McCoyMontgomery ScottSpockNyota Uhura

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise (Constitution-class) • Galileo (shuttlecraft)

Locations[]

unnamed planet
Referenced only
Sigma QuadrantTarsus IITarsus IV

Races and cultures[]

HumanTarsusianVulcan

States and organizations[]

FederationStar FleetStar Fleet CommandInquisitor

Science and classification[]

alienatmospherecircuitrydeflector shieldenginegravitational fieldmachinephaserradioseat beltsensorstarstarshipwarp factor

Ranks and titles[]

captaindoctorensignfirst officerGrand Inquisitorlieutenantlieutenant commanderpublic relations officerrebel

Other references[]

captain's logcastlecitycivilizationclothingcommunicationscourt-martialcultDark AgesDark Onedemondiplomacydistress callemotionfirst contactforesthereticintergalactic judointerrogation chamberjunglemedievalmeteormeteor stormmountainpalaceplanetsciencesectional space probesolar minutestardatestatus reportstonetechnologytreeVulcan nerve pinchVulcan water-beetlewater

Appendices[]

Related story[]

Background[]

  • Angelo Todaro said on his website that he penciled this story and Giolitti inked it. (Angelo Todaro’s website)
  • Due to artists unfamiliar with the Star Trek series, this issue features Scotty, with reddish-brown hair, wearing a command division green-gold Starfleet uniform, rather than his proper engineering division red uniform, although in his case the uniform is explainable – as second officer, he can properly wear command colors as an alternative to his regular operations division uniforms. Scotty makes switches between command and operations uniforms in his last few movie appearances.
  • The communications device from the shuttlecraft is repeatedly referred to as a "radio" (not a "subspace radio").

Images[]

Connections[]

Gold Key Comics stories and publications
Issues "The Planet of No Return" • "The Devil's Isle of Space" • "Invasion of the City Builders" • "The Peril of Planet Quick Change" • "The Ghost Planet" • "When Planets Collide" • "The Voodoo Planet" • "The Youth Trap" • "The Legacy of Lazarus" • "Sceptre of the Sun" • "The Brain Shockers" • "The Flight of the Buccaneer" • "Dark Traveler" • "The Enterprise Mutiny" • "Museum at the End of Time" • "Day of the Inquisitors" • "The Cosmic Cavemen" • "The Hijacked Planet" • "The Haunted Asteroid" • "A World Gone Mad" • "The Mummies of Heitius VII" • "Siege in Superspace" • "Child's Play" • "The Trial of Captain Kirk" • "Dwarf Planet" • "The Perfect Dream" • "Ice Journey" • "The Mimicking Menace" • "Death of a Star" • "The Final Truth" • "The Animal People" • "The Choice" • "The PsychoCrystals" • "A Bomb in Time" • "One of Our Captains Is Missing!" • "Prophet of Peace" • "Furlough to Fury" • "The Evictors" • "World Against Time" • "The World Beneath the Waves" • "Prince Traitor" • "Mr. Oracle" • "This Tree Bears Bitter Fruit" • "Murder on the Enterprise" • "A Warp in Space" • "Planet of No Life" • "Destination... Annihilation!" • "And a Child Shall Lead Them" • "What Fools These Mortals Be.." • "Sport of Knaves" • "A World Against Itself" • "No Time Like the Past" • "Spore of the Devil" • "The Brain-Damaged Planet" • "To Err Is Vulcan" • "The Empire Man!" • "Operation Con Game"
Additional stories "James T. Kirk: Psycho-File" • "A Page From Scotty's Diary" • "Spock: Psycho-File" • "From Sputnik to Warp Drive"
Games "Voyage of Discovery" • "The Tunnel of Death" • "... Wild Goose Chase!" • "A Hint of Life" • "Space Chase" • "Escape from the Clinging Dags"
Collections Star Trek Annuals (1969197019721973197419751976197719781979198019831986) • The Enterprise Logs (Volumes 1234) • The Key Collection (Volumes 12345) • Gold Key Archives (Volumes 12345) • Gold Key 100-Page Spectacular
Related media "The Exile" • "The Red Hour" • "Colouring Book" • "Eye of the Beholder" • "The Menace of the Mechanitrons" • "Trial by Fire!"

Timeline[]

published order
Previous comic:
#15: Museum at the End of Time
TOS comics (Gold Key) Next comic:
#17: The Cosmic Cavemen
Previous story:
Museum at the End of Time
Stories by:
Len Wein
Next story:
Maggie's World!
chronological order
Previous adventure:
Oban
Memory Beta Chronology Next adventure:
Swarm
Previous comic:
Oban
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Three Next comic:
Swarm
Production history[]
November 1972
First published by Gold Key Comics
1973
Printed in hardcover in Star Trek Annual 1974 (World Distributors Limited)
August 1976
Printed in the omnibus The Enterprise Logs, Volume 2 (Golden Press)
June 2004
Printed in the omnibus The Key Collection, Volume 2 (Checker Book Publishing Group)
September 2008
Included on The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD (Graphic Imaging Technologies)
August 2014
Remastered in hardcover in the omnibus Gold Key Archives, Volume 3 (IDW)
31 August 2017
Remastered in hardcover in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #18 (Eaglemoss)
Translations[]
August 1974
French: As "La Journée des Inquisiteurs" in Star Trek #10 (Remparts)
1970s
French: In the omnibus Star Trek Album #5 (Remparts)
30 July 1974
Italian: As "Il Giorno degli Inquisitori" in Albi Spada #2 (2nd series) (Edizioni Fratelli Spada)
1975
Dutch: As "De Dag van de Bloedrechters!" in b/w in Star Trek #7 (De Vrijbuiter)
March 1976
Portuguese: As "O Planeta Dos Inquisidores" in Jornada Nas Estrelas #3 (2nd Series) (Abril)
25 May 1976
Spanish: As "Los Inquisidores" in Domingos Alegres #1143 Viaje a las Estrellas (Editorial Novaro)
1976
German: Abridged as "Das Geheimnis der Fremden Planeten" in the omnibus Zack Comic Box #21: Enterprise (Koralle-Verlag)
6 July 1977
Serbian: In Denis #60
5 June 1978
Portuguese: In b/w in O Caminho das Estrelas #12 (Aguiar)
2005
Italian: As "Il Giorno degli Inquisitori" in the omnibus The Gold Key Collection, Volume 4 (Free Books)

External links[]

Advertisement