Evolutions

The deadly V'Ger is about to destroy Earth...and only the Enterprise stands in its way! – "Evolutions" was the third issue of Marvel Comics' 1980 series of Star Trek comics. The issue consisted of a single new title page, and a reprint of the 35th through 51st pages of the TOS comic adaptation: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", as adapted and edited by Marv Wolfman from the screenplay by Harold Livingston^MA, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry & Alan Dean Foster. The art was pencilled by Dave Cockrum and inked by Klaus Janson, with Jim Shooter credited as consulting editor.

Summary

Captain's log, stardate 7414.1:: Like the Biblical Jonah, the Enterprise has been swallowed by a whale of her own... a seventy-eight kilometer powerfield. And within that powerfield lies an alien-intruder vessel called — V'Ger! To date, V'Ger has somehow "eliminated" security officer Phillips, and navigational Lieutenant Ilia, although it has placed a mechanically-exact duplicate of Ilia aboard the Enterprise. At this moment, Commander Willard Decker is attempting to ascertain if the memory-patterns of the real Ilia have been ingrained within the duplicate probe's body.

Spock leaves the ship in a thruster suit in an attempt to contact V'Ger's crew directly. James T. Kirk follows, and soon is covered by a swarm of crystals, which Spock removes with his phaser. Together they follow a light swarm through plasmic walls and crystalline halls that store data files of the Klingon battlecruisers and Outpost Epsilon 9. They locate the patterns for Ilia, and Spock mind melds with it, but it overloads his cortex. In sickbay, Spock revives with a chuckle, realizing the irony of his personal quest. He'd met the embodiment of emotionless logic and found it barren, itself seeking to learn the meaning of its existence. Emotion provides meaning and purpose.

As V'Ger approaches Earth, it signals its creator using rudimentary radio. After getting no answer, V'Ger launches a large number of powerful objects to cleanse the surface of humanity, which it believes is interfering with the creator. Kirk bluffs that he will explain why the creator didn't answer, but only to V'Ger directly. Complying, V'Ger tows the Enterprise to a transmitter located on a floating island and produces external atmosphere and gravity for a landing party.

Kirk, Spock, Decker, Ilia, and Leonard McCoy stand on the ship's hull and step onto the island, discovering NASA's Voyager 6 space probe at its center. Recalling that this probe fell through a black hole, they deduce that it was found on the other side of the galaxy by a planet of living machines that upgraded it to fulfill its programming of collecting all possible data, interpreted literally as learning all that was learnable, and the probe developed consciousness on its journey back. Kirk reveals to V'Ger that humans created it, and to prove it Nyota Uhura transmits NASA's response code. But V'Ger melts Voyager 6's antennae leads to prevent reception, hoping its creator will complete the job in person. It is ready to evolve, and wants to join with its creator. Decker reconnects the leads to manually key in the response. Kirk tries to stop him, but Ilia shoves Kirk aside. Expanding energy envelops Decker and Ilia. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy run back to the ship as V'Ger fades away as a new lifeform, perhaps to a higher plane of existence.

Back on the bridge, Spock affirms that his quest on Vulcan is over, and Kirk decides to take the refit Enterprise on a shakedown cruise.

References

Races and cultures

Human • Vulcan
Referenced only: Deltan

States and organizations

Federation • NASA • Starfleet

Science and technology

airlock • auto destruct • biobed • command chair • deflector shield • energy • gas • humanoid • matter • probe • space • starship • star • tractor beam • system • viewscreen • Voyager 6

Ranks and titles

captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • communications officer • engineer • ensign • executive officer • helmsman • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • navigator • science officer • security chief • tactical officer

Other references

Bible • bluff • bridge • captain's log • emotion • gravity • helm • insignia • logic • log entry • mind meld • oxygen • planet • rank • rank insignia • shakedown cruise • sickbay • stardate • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (early 2270s) • telepathy • title • uniform

Appendices

Background

The comic presents a fairly straightforward adaptation of the film, with many panels based on stills taken during the production of the film. The story and narrative are cut in places to account for the smaller pagespace of a comic book. As the scenes are based on actual film images, many of the characters are close matches to the film's appearance.
A few events were based on scenes that ended up being cut or altered from the film, most notably that James T. Kirk and Spock explored the inside of V'Ger together. When the android Ilia observed that the Enterprise logically had no need for engineers, Montgomery Scott replied that logically he should show her the inside of a trash compactor. The captain's log noted the death of security guard Phillips on the bridge.

Connections

Published Order
Previous comic: #2 V'Ger	TOS comics (Marvel)	Next comic: #4 The Haunting of Thallus!
Previous story: V'Ger	Stories by: Marv Wolfman	Next story: The Haunting of Thallus!
Previous story: V'Ger	Stories by: Alan Dean Foster	Next story: Star Trek (2009)
Previous story: V'Ger	Stories by: Gene Roddenberry	Next story: Encounter at Farpoint
Chronological Order
Previous adventure: V'Ger	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: Spock: Reflections Spock: Reflections, Issue 2 Pages 4-7

Publication history

December 1979: First released in magazine form in Marvel Super Special, Issue 15.
March 1980: Collected in the pocket-sized trade paperback Star Trek: The Motion Picture (adaptation).
June 1980: First published as a solo comic book.
1980: Collected in Star Trek Annual 1981 by Marvel Comics/Grandreams Limited.
7 January 1980 - 21 January 1981: Serialized in b/w in Future Tense #10-12 by Marvel UK.
June 2011: Collected in the Movie Omnibus by IDW Publishing.
22 June 2017: Collected in Graphic Novel Collection #13 by Eaglemoss.

Translations

1979: German: In the omnibus Raumschiff Enterprise Comic - Sonderheft #2. (Condor)
1980: French: As Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the omnibus Star Trek: Le Chemin des Etoiles.
1981: Swedish: As Stjärndatum in Star Trek 1981 #1. (Atlantic)
22 November 2017: Italian: In the omnibus L'era Marvel – Prima Parte, the Italian Graphic Novel Collection #13.

External links

Evolutions article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
Evolutions article at The Marvel Database Project on Wikia.

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki