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"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[]

ChalmersPavel ChekovJames T. KirkMontgomery ScottSpockNyota UhuraUSS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel (unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s))

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • Galileo (class F shuttlecraft) • surveyor

Locations[]

Certax Alpha system (Taunus)
Referenced only
EarthJupiter

Races and cultures[]

HumanVulcan

States and organizations[]

Federation

Science and technology[]

communicationscommunicatordistress signalMorse coderadioS.O.S. signaltransporter

Ranks and titles[]

captainchief engineercrewmanFederation Starfleet ranks (2260s)officerStarfleet rankstechnician

Other references[]

assignment patchatmospherebeambridgefoliagegravityhelmmountainparking orbitplanetrapid agingskeletonStarfleet uniformStarfleet uniform (2265-2270)transporter roomuniverse

Appendices[]

Related media[]

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[]

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 (123) • Graphic Novel Collection (102029121)

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[]
October 1971
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[]

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