Changes: Prophet of Peace

Revision as of 12:46, 29 June 2020

Frozen sleep in the depths of space! — "Prophet of Peace" was a comic book story published by Gold Key Comics in 1976, the 39th issue of their TOS series.

Summary

In this story, a scientist and pacifist was cryogenically frozen in the 1990s and revived by the crew of the USS Enterprise in the year 2266. He takes a tour of 23rd century Earth and promotes peace.

References

Science and classification

astronomy • astrophysics • bacterial weapon • computer • cryonics • decontamination • Earth defense screen • environmental suit • glasses • mathematics • nuclear weapon • radio • steri-bath • tractor beam

Ranks and titles

captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • doctor • first officer • general • helmsman • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • mayor • professor • science officer

Other references

bacteria • blood • brain • captain's log • civilization • donation • electricity • energy • fish • government • hypnosis • magnet • lifeform • log entry • logic • Mount Hebron • Nobel Prize • orchid • philosophy • planet • poetry • politics • police • Prime Directive • quarantine • universe • x-ray • rose • Space News • star • stardate • Starfleet Headquarters • star system • tea • Vulcan orchid

Appendices

Related media

TOS episode: "Space Seed" – The Botany Bay spacecraft launched from Earth in 1996 is discovered. Khan Noonien Singh and his Augments are revived from cryogenic freeze.
TAS episode: "The Infinite Vulcan" – Eugenics Wars survivor Stavos Keniclius was found to have survived into the 23rd century through a cloning process.
TNG episode: "The Neutral Zone" – Several individuals were revived who had been cryogenically frozen and shot into Earth orbit in a spacecraft in 1994.
TOS comic: "Furlough to Fury" – The next Gold Key comic story, which also takes place on 23rd century Earth and Luna.
TOS comic: "The Voodoo Planet" – The Eiffel Tower and Colosseum were destroyed, along with the Great Sphinx and Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Background

José Delbo contributed to the artwork of this story. (The Unknown Star Trek Artist article at Who Created the Comic Books?).
The steri-bath used in this story strongly resembled the decontamination chamber aboard NX-class starships. Decontamination was normally handled by the transporter, as explained in TOS episode: "The Naked Time", so it might have been under repair at the time.

23rd century Earth

This story, written in 1976, was noteworthy for being the first time a Star Trek comic was explicitly set entirely on 23rd century Earth. Although it was implied that an earlier story, "The Trial of Captain Kirk", took place in San Francisco, that location was not named in the story. The next story, "Furlough to Fury", was also set on Earth.
Bleikoff's world tour covered several continents of Earth, including North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as New Chicago on Luna. It also included travel via two distinct transport craft. The transporter was not used in the story.
The Eiffel Tower and Colosseum visited in this story were destroyed later that same year, on stardate 2417.9, along with the Great Sphinx and Leaning Tower of Pisa, in TOS comic: "The Voodoo Planet".
The Mariana Trench, a likely site for Mariana City, is a trench in the Pacific Ocean with a maximum depth of 36,200 feet, consistent with the 30,000-foot depth cited in the story. (Mariana Trench article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
The mountain range seen during Bleikoff's tour was not named, but it probably was Mount Everest in the Himalayas. They were en route to India, with one of the defense screen facilities visible there. As they are "spread around the world at various high points," and Mount Everest is the highest point, it seems a likely spot for a facility.
The news media on Earth were depicted in a decidedly 20th century manner, with a printed Space News newspaper, TV sets, and a broadcast studio with a large video camera. A reporter jotted down his notes on a pad of paper.
New Chicago's O'Hare Rocket Port was named similarly to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Both would have been named in honor of World War II United States Navy pilot Edward O'Hare. (Edward O'Hare article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Alfred Bleikoff

Bleikoff appears to look like a combination of Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein.
The notion of Bleikoff as a Rip Van Winkle-of-Space refers to the 19th century short story "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving, in which Van Winkle sleeps through 20 years of history, including the American Revolution. (Rip Van Winkle article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Alfred Bleikoff won the Nobel Prize for his theory of the origin of the universe. The Big Bang theory was first proposed by Georges Lemaître in the 1920s. An early version of the Unified Field Theory was first proposed in 1974, two years before this story was written. Bleikoff might have worked on some aspect of that theory. (Big Bang article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
The real-world Nobel Prize awarded in the category of astrophysics is actually just called the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1995, Martin Lewis Perl won the award. By coincidence, he somewhat resembles Bleikoff. (Nobel Prize in Physics and List of Nobel Prize Winners articles at the Nobel Prize website)

Cryogenics

It was not explicitly stated when Bleikoff won the Nobel Prize, inspired a war to end, fell victim to an incurable disease, or was cryogenically preserved in space, but the elapsed time between these events did not seem that long since he looked the same. McCoy said that Bleikoff's cryogenic capsule "was their first such experiment." A similar cryogenic process was done to several individuals shot into Earth orbit in a spacecraft in 1994, in TNG episode: "The Neutral Zone", so Bleikoff's turn of events would have happened around this time. The war could have been either the Persian Gulf War or the Eugenics War. It's plausible that he won the award in 1990, saw the Persian Gulf War end in 1991, and was put in space by 1994 as the "first major effort in cryonics." It's also plausible that Bleikoff won the award in 1995, saw the Eugenics War end in 1996, then shortly thereafter was put into space, with the first experiment being that of using cryogenics in a coffin-sized capsule rather than a spacecraft. Supporting that possibility, Brand and Chang also participated in a peace movement against the Eugenics War, in TOS comic: "Sceptre of the Sun".
Other 1990s humans who survived cryogenics in sleeper ships included Khan Noonien Singh, his Augments, and the pacifist group which included Brand and Chang. L.Q. Clemonds, Clare Raymond and Ralph Offenhouse survived cryogenics in a spacecraft. Doctor Stavos Keniclius survived through cloning.

Images

Timeline

Chronology

Published Order
Previous comic: #38: One of Our Captains Is Missing!	TOS comics (Gold Key)	Next comic: #40: Furlough to Fury
Previous story: One of Our Captains Is Missing!	Stories by: Arnold Drake	Next story: Furlough to Fury
Chronological Order
Previous adventure: Child's Play	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: The Planet of No Return

Production history

July 1976: First published by Gold Key Comics
1977: Printed in hardcover in Star Trek Annual 1978 (World Distributors Limited)
June 2004: Printed in the omnibus The Key Collection, Volume 5 (Checker Book Publishing Group)
September 2008: Included on The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD (Graphic Imaging Technologies)
2 August 2018: Reprinted in Graphic Novel Collection #42 (Eaglemoss Collections)

Translations

1977: Dutch: As "De Vredesapostel" in the omnibus Ruimteschip Enterprise Classics Strip-Paperback #1 (De Vrijbuiter)
1978: German: As "Der Prophet des Friedens" in the omnibus Raumschiff Enterprise Comic Taschenbuch #1 (Condor)
2007: Italian: As "Profeta di Pace" in the omnibus The Gold Key Collection, Volume 9 (Free Books)

External links

Prophet of Peace article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
Best of Gold Key #21-41 article at The Mugato's Blog.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Comic|
+{{comic
- type        = [[Comic]]|
+| type = [[comic]]
- title       = Prophet of Peace|
+| title = Prophet of Peace
- cover image = [[Image:Gold_Key_39.jpg|250px]]|
+| cover image = gold Key 39.jpg
+| altimage = prophet of Peace.jpg
- cover artist= [[George Wilson]]|
+| cover artist = [[George Wilson]]
- series      = [[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]]|
+| series = {{sT|The Original Series}} ([[star Trek (Gold Key)|Gold Key TOS]])
- number      = 39|
+| number = 39
- date        = [[Stardate|1806.9]] ([[2260s]])|
+| date = [[1990s]], [[2266]]
- editor      = |
+| stardate = 1806.9
- artist      = [[Alden McWilliams]]|
+| artist = [[José Delbo]], [[Alberto Giolitti]]
- penciller   = |
+| writer = [[Arnold Drake]]
- inker       = |
+| omnibus = [[Star Trek Annual 1978]], [[The Key Collection, Volume 5]]
- colorist    = |
+| published = {{srcdate|1976|August}}
- letterer    = |
+| format =
- writer      = |
+| pages = 23
- omnibus     = [[The Key Collection, Volume 5]]|
+| publisher = [[Gold Key Comics]]
- published   = [[1976|August 1976]]||
- format      = |
- pages       = |
- publisher   = [[Gold Key Comics]]|
- ISBN        = |
- altcover    = |
 }}
+''Frozen [[sleep]] in the depths of [[space]]!'' — "'''Prophet of Peace'''" was a [[comic book]] story published by [[Gold Key Comics]] in {{srcdate|1976}}, the 39th issue of their [[star Trek (Gold Key)|''TOS'']] series.
-FROZEN SLEEP in the depths of space!
 ==Summary==
+In this story, a [[scientist]] and pacifist was [[cryogenics|cryogenically frozen]] in the [[1990s]] and revived by the crew of the {{uSS|Enterprise|NCC-1701}} in the [[year]] [[2266]]. He takes a tour of [[23rd century]] [[Earth]] and promotes [[peace]].
-{{stub}}
-==Characters==
+==References==
-===Main===
+===Characters===
+:[[Abdula]] • [[Alfred Bleikoff]] • [[Hershkoqitz]] • [[James T. Kirk]] • [[Leonard McCoy]] • [[Rajipur]] • [[Spock]] • [[Montgomery Scott]] • [[Sellers]] • [[Hikaru Sulu]] • [[Nyota Uhura]] • [[Unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s)|unnamed USS ''Enterprise'' personnel]] • [[unnamed Humans]] ([[Stockholm]] police, protestors, [[Nobel Prize]] host, [[journalist]], [[Earth]] [[councilor]])
-* [[James T. Kirk]]
+{{ref}} [[Henry David Thoreau]] • [[Rip Van Winkle]]
-* [[Spock]]
-* [[Montgomery Scott]]
-* [[Hikaru Sulu]]
-* [[Nyota Uhura]]
-===Others===
+===Starships and vehicles===
+:{{uSS|Enterprise|NCC-1701}} ({{class|Constitution}} [[heavy cruiser]]) • [[shuttle|transport craft]]
-===Referenced===
+===Locations===
+:[[Colosseum]] ([[Rome]]) • [[Eiffel Tower]] ([[Paris]]) • [[Great Pyramid]] ([[Giza]]) • [[Jerusalem]] • [[Mariana City]] ([[Pacific Ocean]]) • [[Mount Everest]] • [[Mount Rushmore National Memorial]] • [[O'Hare Rocket Port]] ({{dis|New Chicago|Luna}}) • [[Statue of Liberty]] ([[New York City]]) • [[Stockholm]] • [[Taj Mahal]] ([[India]]) • [[Earth]] ([[Sol system]])
+===Races and cultures===
-==References==
+:[[Human]] • [[Vulcan]] • [[unnamed races and cultures]] ([[alien]] reprogrammers, [[alien]] [[journalist]]s)
-===Starships===
-* [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|''USS Enterprise'' (NCC-1701)]] - [[Constitution class|''Constitution''-class]]
+===States and organizations===
-===Locations===
+:[[United Earth|Earth's government]] • [[Federation]] • [[Interplanetary Press]] • [[Port Inspectors’ Association]] • [[Starfleet]] • [[Supreme Council of Earth]]
-===Species===
-* [[Human]]
-* [[Vulcan]]
-===States and Organizations===
+===Science and classification===
+:[[astronomy]] • [[astrophysics]] • [[biological weapon|bacterial weapon]] • [[computer]] • [[cryogenics|cryonics]] • [[decontamination]] • [[Earth defense screen]] • [[environmental suit]] • [[glasses]] • [[mathematics]] • [[nuclear weapon]] • [[radio]] • [[steri-bath]] • [[tractor beam]]
-===Others===
-==Information==
-==Related Stories==
-==External Links==
-* {{memoryalpha}}
+===Ranks and titles===
-{{start box}}
+:[[captain]] • [[chief engineer]] • [[chief medical officer]] • [[commander]] • [[commanding officer]] • [[doctor]] • [[first officer]] • [[general]] • [[helmsman]] • [[lieutenant]] • [[lieutenant commander]] • [[mayor]] • [[professor]] • [[science officer]]
-{{next comic box|
-title = [[Star Trek: The Original Series]]<br>([[Gold Key Comics|Gold Key]])|
+===Other references===
-before = #38: [[One of Our Captains is Missing!]]|
+:[[bacteria]] • [[blood]] • [[brain]] • [[captain's log]] • [[civilization]] • [[donation]] • [[electricity]] • [[energy]] • [[fish]] • [[government]] • [[hypnosis]] • [[magnet]] • [[lifeform]] • [[log entry]] • [[logic]] • [[Mount Hebron]] • [[Nobel Prize]] • [[orchid]] • [[philosophy]] • [[planet]] • [[poetry]] • [[politics]] • [[police]] • [[Prime Directive]] • [[quarantine]] • [[universe]] • [[x-ray]] • [[rose]] • ''[[Space News]]'' • [[star]] • [[stardate]] • [[Starfleet Headquarters]] • [[star system]] • [[tea]] • [[Vulcan orchid]]
-after = #40: [[Furlough to Fury]]|
-}}
+==Appendices==
+===Related media===
+* {{elk|TOS|Space Seed}} – The [[Botany Bay]] spacecraft launched from Earth in 1996 is discovered. Khan Noonien Singh and his Augments are revived from cryogenic freeze.
+* {{elk|TAS|The Infinite Vulcan}} – Eugenics Wars survivor Stavos Keniclius was found to have survived into the 23rd century through a cloning process.
+* {{elk|TNG|The Neutral Zone}} – Several individuals were revived who had been cryogenically frozen and shot into Earth orbit in a spacecraft in 1994.
+* {{clk|TOS|Furlough to Fury}} – The next Gold Key comic story, which also takes place on 23rd century Earth and Luna.
+* {{clk|TOS|The Voodoo Planet}} – The [[Eiffel Tower]] and [[Colosseum]] were destroyed, along with the [[Great Sphinx]] and [[Leaning Tower of Pisa]].
+===Background===
+* [[José Delbo]] contributed to the artwork of this story. ([http://martinohearn.blogspot.com/2011/12/unknown-star-trek-artist.html The Unknown Star Trek Artist] article at [http://martinohearn.blogspot.com Who Created the Comic Books?]).
+* The [[steri-bath]] used in this story strongly resembled the [[decontamination chamber]] aboard {{class|NX}} [[starship]]s. [[Decontamination]] was normally handled by the [[transporter]], as explained in {{elk|TOS|The Naked Time}}, so it might have been under repair at the time.
+====23rd century Earth====
+* This story, written in [[1976]], was noteworthy for being the first time a ''Star Trek'' comic was explicitly set entirely on [[23rd century]] [[Earth]]. Although it was implied that an earlier story, "[[The Trial of Captain Kirk]]", took place in [[San Francisco]], that location was not named in the story. The next story, "[[Furlough to Fury]]", was also set on Earth.
+* Bleikoff's world tour covered several [[continent]]s of Earth, including [[North America]], [[Europe]], and [[Asia]], as well as {{dis|New Chicago|Luna}} on [[Luna]]. It also included travel via two distinct [[transport]] craft. The [[transporter]] was not used in the story.
+* The [[Eiffel Tower]] and [[Colosseum]] visited in this story were destroyed later that same year, on stardate 2417.9, along with the [[Great Sphinx]] and [[Leaning Tower of Pisa]], in {{clk|TOS|The Voodoo Planet}}.
+* The Mariana Trench, a likely site for [[Mariana City]], is a trench in the [[Pacific Ocean]] with a maximum depth of 36,200 feet, consistent with the 30,000-foot depth cited in the story. ({{wikipedia|Mariana Trench}})
+* The [[mountain]] range seen during Bleikoff's tour was not named, but it probably was [[Mount Everest]] in the [[Himalayas]]. They were en route to [[India]], with one of the defense screen facilities visible there. As they are "spread around the world at various high points," and Mount Everest is the highest point, it seems a likely spot for a facility.
+* The news media on Earth were depicted in a decidedly [[20th century]] manner, with a printed ''[[Space News]]'' [[newspaper]], [[television|TV sets]], and a broadcast studio with a large video camera. A [[reporter]] jotted down his notes on a pad of paper.
+* New Chicago's [[O'Hare Rocket Port]] was named similarly to [[Chicago]]'s O'Hare International Airport. Both would have been named in honor of [[World War II]] [[United States Navy]] [[pilot]] Edward O'Hare. ({{wikipedia|Edward O'Hare}})
+====Alfred Bleikoff====
+* Bleikoff appears to look like a combination of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Albert Einstein]].
+* The notion of Bleikoff as a Rip Van Winkle-of-Space refers to the [[19th century]] [[short story]] "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving, in which Van Winkle [[sleep]]s through 20 [[year]]s of [[history]], including the [[American Revolution]]. ({{wikipedia|Rip Van Winkle}})
+* Alfred Bleikoff won the [[Nobel Prize]] for his theory of the origin of the [[universe]]. The [[Big Bang]] theory was first proposed by Georges Lemaître in the [[1920s]]. An early version of the [[Unified Field Theory]] was first proposed in [[1974]], two years before this story was written. Bleikoff might have worked on some aspect of that theory. ({{wikipedia|Big Bang|Grand Unified Theory}})
+* The real-world Nobel Prize awarded in the category of [[astrophysics]] is actually just called the Nobel Prize in [[Physics]]. In [[1995]], Martin Lewis Perl won the award. By coincidence, he somewhat resembles Bleikoff. ([https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/ Nobel Prize in Physics] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Physics List of Nobel Prize Winners] articles at the [https://www.nobelprize.org Nobel Prize] website)
+====Cryogenics====
+* It was not explicitly stated when Bleikoff won the Nobel Prize, inspired a war to end, fell victim to an incurable disease, or was cryogenically preserved in space, but the elapsed time between these events did not seem that long since he looked the same. McCoy said that Bleikoff's cryogenic capsule "was their first such experiment." A similar cryogenic process was done to several individuals shot into Earth [[orbit]] in a spacecraft in [[1994]], in {{elk|TNG|The Neutral Zone}}, so Bleikoff's turn of events would have happened around this time. The war could have been either the Persian Gulf War or the [[Eugenics Wars|Eugenics War]]. It's plausible that he won the award in [[1990]], saw the Persian Gulf War end in [[1991]], and was put in space by 1994 as the "first major effort in cryonics." It's also plausible that Bleikoff won the award in [[1995]], saw the Eugenics War end in [[1996]], then shortly thereafter was put into space, with the first experiment being that of using cryogenics in a coffin-sized capsule rather than a spacecraft. Supporting that possibility, {{dis|Brand|warrior}} and {{dis|Chang|sorcerer}} also participated in a peace movement against the Eugenics War, in {{clk|TOS|{{cd|Sceptre of the Sun}}}}.
+* Other [[1990s]] [[human]]s who survived cryogenics in [[sleeper ship]]s included [[Khan Noonien Singh]], his [[Augments]], and the pacifist group which included {{dis|Brand|warrior}} and {{dis|Chang|sorcerer}}. [[L.Q. Clemonds]], [[Clare Raymond]] and [[Ralph Offenhouse]] survived cryogenics in a spacecraft. [[Doctor]] [[Stavos Keniclius]] survived through [[cloning]].
+===Images===
+<gallery>
+gold Key 39.jpg|Cover image.
+prophet of Peace.jpg|Cover image.
+gk39.jpg|[[James T. Kirk]] and [[Spock]] recover the Bleikoff stasis pod.
+gk39alien.jpg|Depiction of the [[alien]] purported to have programmed Bleikoff.
+gK39-stasis-pod.jpg|Bleikoff in stasis chamber.
+gK39-Bleikoff.jpg|[[Alfred Bleikoff]].
+gK39-Rajipur.jpg|Journalist [[Rajipur]].
+gK39-Councillor.jpg|Councillor.
+gK39-Paris.jpg|The Eiffel Tower.
+gK39-Great-Pyramid.jpg|The Great Pyramid.
+gK39-Liberty.jpg|The Statue of Liberty.
+gK39-Mount-Rushmore.jpg|Mount Rushmore.
+gK39-Colosseum.jpg|The Colosseum.
+gK39-Taj-Mahal.jpg|Inside the Taj Mahal.
+gK39-New-Chicago.jpg|New Chicago.
+gK39-Mariana-City.jpg|Mariana City.
+</gallery>
+==Timeline==
+====Chronology====
+{{Timeline-published}}
+{{Published order
+| type = comic
+| seriesformat = [[TOS comics]] ([[Gold Key Comics|Gold Key]])
+| before = #38: [[One of Our Captains Is Missing!]]
+| after = #40: [[Furlough to Fury]]
+|}}
+{{Author order
+| author = [[Arnold Drake]]
+| before =  [[One of Our Captains Is Missing!]]
+| after = [[Furlough to Fury]]
+|}}
+{{Timeline-chronology}}
+{{MB order
+| prevMB = {{com|Child's Play}}
+| nextMB = [[The Planet of No Return]]
+|}}
 {{end box}}
+===Production history===
-[[Category:TOS Comics]]
+;[[July]] [[1976]] : First published by [[Gold Key Comics]]
+;[[1977]] : Printed in hardcover in ''[[Star Trek Annual 1978]]'' ([[World Distributors Limited]])
+;[[June]] [[2004]] : Printed in the omnibus ''[[The Key Collection, Volume 5]]'' ([[Checker Book Publishing Group]])
+;[[September]] [[2008]] : Included on ''[[The Complete Comic Book Collection]]'' DVD ([[Graphic Imaging Technologies]])
+;[[2 August]] [[2018]] : Reprinted in ''[[Graphic Novel Collection]]'' #42 ([[Eaglemoss Collections]])
+====Translations====
+;[[1977]] : Dutch: As "De Vredesapostel" in the omnibus ''Ruimteschip Enterprise Classics Strip-Paperback'' #1 (De Vrijbuiter)
+;[[1978]] : German: As "Der Prophet des Friedens" in the omnibus ''Raumschiff Enterprise Comic Taschenbuch'' #1 (Condor)
+;[[2007]] : Italian: As "Profeta di Pace" in the omnibus ''The Gold Key Collection, Volume 9'' (Free Books)
+===External links===
+* {{memoryalpha}}
+* [https://themugato.blogspot.com/2016/09/gold-key-comics-tos-21-41.html Best of Gold Key #21-41] article at [https://themugato.blogspot.com The Mugato's Blog].
+[[category:tOS comics]]

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