"The Aging World" was a four-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 25th weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in two installments in Valiant and TV21 in 1971. This was the first of 14 stories drawn by John Stokes, who illustrated the final 13 stories of the regular series as well as one of the annual stories, contributing a total of 240 pages. In this story, the USS Enterprise tracked the distress signal from a missing Federation ship.
Description[]
- Teaser, 9 October 1971
- Investigating the disappearance of a survey ship, the USS Enterprise lay in orbit above the planet Taunus, from which a continuous S.O.S. signal was being received. Captain Kirk, Chief Engineering Officer Scott, and two crewmen took a shuttlecraft down to the surface … but although the signal was stronger than ever, there was no sign of the survey vessel! It was technician Chalmers who first realized that something terrible and sinister was happening!
Summary[]
Nyota Uhura tracks the call sign of a missing survey ship to Taunus. Kirk takes a rescue team with him in the Galileo, but extremely dense foliage slows their search. Chalmers feels a tingling sensation in his skin, then realizes with horror that he is rapidly aging. In a panic, he runs back to the shuttlecraft and takes off. But in his despair, he crashes the Galileo into the side of a mountain.
Scott realizes that they are all aging rapidly. A crewman wonders if the aging will reverse when they leave they area. Kirk won't give up until they've rescued the ship's crew, so they keep searching, eventually locating the vessel buried deeply under plants.
But it is too late. The crew had aged into skeletons, with one person's hand left permanently on the distress call button. Kirk turns off the signal, then asks Scott to beam them up. They rematerialize back to normal in the transporter room. Kirk remarks that Taunus will remain unexplored forever.
References[]
Characters[]
- Chalmers • Pavel Chekov • James T. Kirk • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Nyota Uhura • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel (unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s))
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
- Certax Alpha system (Taunus)
- Referenced only
- Earth • Jupiter
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
Science and technology[]
Ranks and titles[]
- captain • chief engineer • crewman • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • officer • Starfleet ranks • technician
Other references[]
- assignment patch • atmosphere • beam • bridge • foliage • gravity • helm • mountain • parking orbit • planet • rapid aging • skeleton • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • transporter room • universe
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS episode & Star Trek 7 novelization: The Deadly Years – In 2267, radiation from a comet triggered rapid aging.
- TAS episode & Log Two novelization: The Lorelei Signal – In 2269, Taurean women used headbands to drain life energy from a landing party, resulting in rapid aging.
- TNG episode: "Unnatural Selection" – In 2365, super-strong antibodies triggered rapid aging in the crew of the USS Lantree and Doctor Katherine Pulaski.
Background[]
- This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Aging World") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2.
- The British weekly anthology comic TV21 Weekly merged with anthology Valiant to become Valiant and TV21 in 1971. Its first two issues serialized this Star Trek story.
- Valiant and TV21 #1 was 32 pages and included cover teasers for Star Trek and three British comic strips. Star Trek was the only color story in the publication and was printed on pages 18-19. The cover listed pricing for distribution in Malaysia, Malta, Australia, East Africa, West Africa, South Africa, Rhodesia and New Zealand.
- Valiant and TV21 #2 was 44 pages. The front cover contained page 3 of the story. The back cover contained page 4 of the story.
- Pavel Chekov was seen on the bridge manning the helm in one panel, but had no dialogue. Kirk not knowing whether the transporter would reverse hyperaging may suggest a placement prior to TAS episode: "The Lorelei Signal".
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: Vibrations in Time |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next comic: By Order of the Empire |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: A Warp in Space |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Ground Zero |
| Previous comic: A Warp in Space |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Three | Next comic: Ground Zero |
Production history[]
- 2 October 1971: Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #1.
- 9 October 1971: Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #2.
- December 2016
- Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2. (IDW Publishing)
- 1 February 2018
- Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 29. (Eaglemoss Collections)
External link[]
- The Aging World article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.