Changes: The Ageless One

Revision as of 16:58, 24 September 2020

"The Ageless One" was a 15-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in 1970. It was the 14th story arc in the UK comic strips series, released in six parts within issues of TV21 Weekly. This was the second of four stories drawn by Mike Noble.

In this story, James T. Kirk and Spock became trapped in the 33rd century.

Description

Teaser summary, 11 July 1970: Beaming down to investigate the surface of an unknown planet in the Omega galaxy, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock found themselves kidnapped in an utterly incredible way. Through the genius of Palnak, the sinister "Collector" whose museum housed all manner of plant and life form, they were transported a thousand years forward in time!

Summary

Discovering an unexplored planet, the USS Enterprise launched a probe into orbit, only to have it vibrate and mysteriously disappear. James T. Kirk and Spock beamed down to investigate, only to encounter sonic vibrations which knocked them to the ground. When the air calmed and they recovered, a large domed structure stood before them. Unable to contact the ship, they approached the entrance of the building, only to be seized by grappler arms and tossed into an enormous hall full of biological specimens, museum exhibits. A blue squid-like being approached on a hovering disc. Suspecting that they might become the newest additions to the museum, Kirk activated his translator communicator and diplomatically introduced himself.

Kirk and Spock had time-traveled into the 33rd century. The non-humanoid being, Palnak, claimed to be ageless, having built the museum five hundred years earlier on the planet. The Enterprise was visible on a monitor screen, and Palnak said that if the ship remained in orbit for a thousand years they would receive Kirk's communicator signal. With a small control device, Palnak paralyzed Kirk and Spock, then carried them further into the museum.

Aboard the Enterprise, Nyota Uhura picked up a ghostly signal, an image from inside the museum, which the computer identified as coming from the 33rd century. Hikaru Sulu realized that the landing party had time-traveled, and Montgomery Scott prepared a rescue operation.

Palnak began processing Kirk and Spock, compelling the paralyzed officers to provide information on their life histories. Palnak initiated a process to numb them before killing and preserving them, but was distracted when a monitor showed two shuttlecraft approaching the surface in the 23rd century. Realizing he'd left his screen on, allowing two-way transmission into the past which could be traced, Palnak became excited at the prospect of adding the shuttles and their crews to his collection. He moved off to control the time-slip effect, leaving Kirk and Spock unattended. Their paralysis wore off, and they sneaked into the control room behind Palnak, able to watch as he manipulated the equipment to bring the shuttles forward in time.

As soon as Scott arrived in the 33rd century, he hailed Kirk, but Kirk's communicator unfortunately alerted Palnak to their presence. Kirk and Spock retreated into the museum gallery and spotted a showcase containing a pair of bipedal armored soldiers. They broke the exhibit glass and stole the rifles. Defensive rays shot out near them. Palnak ordered them to stop or they would be killed. Kirk warned Scott about the grapplers by the museum entrance, and Scott's rescue party blew the entrance apart with phaser rifles. Kirk shot and destroyed Palnak's control device, and it fled into the museum, claiming it'd rather blow up the museum than be defeated. The Starfleet officers fled, but first Spock ran to the time-slip mechanism and activated it, triggering the sonic vibration effect that returned the shuttles and officers to the 23rd century.

References

Races and cultures

Human • Palnak's species • Vulcan

States and organizations

Starfleet Command

Science and technology

communications • communicator • computer • detector • grappler • hover platform • invisibility • Palnak's weapon • phaser • phaser rifle • probe • questing missile • radio • rifle • time travel • time-slip mechanism • translator communicator • transporter • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

captain • chief engineer • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • skipper • Starfleet ranks

Other references

animal • armadillo • atmosphere • beam • bird • bluff • brain • century • cephalopod • city • dinosaur • ghost • glass • gravity • helmet • insect • language • life • metal • minute • moon • museum • orbit • planet • plant • red alert • reptile • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • tentacle • tomb • year

Chronology

2265: Kirk and Spock beamed down to Palnak's planet
28th century: Palnak's museum was first built
33rd century: Palnak brought Kirk, Spock, two shuttlecraft and a rescue party forward in time

Appendices

Related media

TNG episode: "Captain's Holiday" – 27th century Vorgons time traveled to the 24th century to steal the Tox Uthat.
DTI novel: The Collectors – Time traveling collectors
TNG episode: "The Most Toys" – Kivas Fajo kidnapped Data to be the focal point of a prized collection of unique objects.
TOS comic: "Museum at the End of Time" – The pocket universe museum held a vast collection of antiques.

Background

The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Ageless One") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1.
On July 11, 1970, beginning with the fourth segment, Star Trek segments would begin on the cover itself, then continue onto pages 6-7. This arrangement would continue for the next 11 stories, ending with "Vibrations in Time" in issue #105, the last issue of TV21 Weekly.
16 rescue officers, counting Scott, were seen disembarking from two shuttlecraft, using exits on the starboard side. Another officer was seen emerging from a roof hatch.
A stegosaurus was seen among the preserved life in the museum.
Kirk and Uhura wore operations division red shirts. Spock, Scott, Sulu and the rescue squad all wore sciences division blue shirts.
Kirk's communicator transmitted Scott's voice without first beeping and being opened, a story conceit so that Scott could accidentally give away Kirk's position.
The disruptive vibrational effect produced by Palnak's time travel equipment was also shown in arc 24, "Vibrations in Time". In that story, the Enterprise visited the 15th century.

Images

Connections

UK comic strips
Weekly story arcs	"Life Form Nonexistent" • "The Crucial Element" • "Beware the Beast" • "The Third Party" • "The Children of Stai" • "Skin Deep" • "The Eagles Have Landed" • "Spectre of the Zond" • "Nor Any Drop to Drink" • "Menace of the Moloth" • "The Klingon Ultimatum" • "The Marshall Plan" • "Mutiny on the Dorado" • "The Ageless One" • "Thorpex" • "Under the Sea" • "Revolt on Dak-Alpha" • "Where Giants Tread" • "I, Emperor" • "Slaves of the Frogmen" • "Key Witness" • "Nova-Thirteen" • "Prison Break" • "Vibrations in Time" • "The Aging World" • "By Order of the Empire" • "Creeping Death" • "Ground Zero" • "The Collector" • "To Swiftly Go..." • "The Mindless Ones" • "The Perithees Alliance" • "The Saboteur Within" • "The Void of Storms" • "Spheres of War" • "Shell Game" • "To Rule the Universe"
Annual stories	"Target: Zargot" • "A Bite of the Apple" • "Captives in Space" • "Planet of Rejects" • "Gateway to the Future" • "The Zodian Sacrifice" • "Smoke and Mirrors" • "Planet of the Dead" • "What Is This Thing Called Spock?" • "The Gods Have Come!" • "Rock and a Hard Place"
Collections	The Classic UK Comics (1 • 2 • 3) • Graphic Novel Collection (10 • 20 • 29 • 121)

Production history

The appearance of nacelle spikes on the USS Enterprise suggest a placement for this story in 2265 after the death of Gary Mitchell in TOS episode: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and prior to a refit evident in TOS comic: "Dark Traveler".

Published Order
Previous comic: "Mutiny on the Dorado"	TOS comics UK comic strips	Next comic: "Thorpex"

The magazine TV21 & Joe 90 was renamed TV21 Weekly, a.k.a. TV21, as of issue #39. This was the first Star Trek story printed in that publication, and was serialized over six weekly issues.

June 1970

20 June: Pages 1-2 published in TV21 Weekly #39.
27 June: Pages 3-4 published in TV21 Weekly #40.

July 1970

4 July: Pages 5-6 published in TV21 Weekly #41.
11 July: Pages 7-9 published in TV21 Weekly #42.
18 July: Pages 10-12 published in TV21 Weekly #43.
25 July: Pages 13-15 published in TV21 Weekly #44.

April 2016: Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1 (IDW Publishing)
11 May 2017: Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #10 (Eaglemoss)

External links

The Ageless One article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.

@@ Line 94: / Line 94: @@
 ====Production history====
-* The appearance of [[warp nacelle|nacelle]] spikes on the {{uSS|Enterprise|NCC-1701}} suggest a placement for this story in [[2265]] after the death of [[Gary Mitchell]] in {{e|TOS|Where No Man Has Gone Before}} and prior to a refit evident in {{clk|TOS|Dark Traveler}}.
+* The appearance of [[warp nacelle|nacelle]] spikes on the {{uSS|Enterprise|NCC-1701}} suggest a placement for this story in [[2265]] after the death of [[Gary Mitchell]] in {{elk|TOS|Where No Man Has Gone Before}} and prior to a refit evident in {{clk|TOS|Dark Traveler}}.
 {{timeline-published}}
 {{published order
@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 ===External links===
 * {{memoryalpha|Fourteenth UK Story Arc}}
 [[category:tOS comics]]
 [[category:comic strips]]

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki