"The Evictors" was a Star Trek comic book story published by Gold Key Comics in 1976, the 41st issue of their TOS series. It was the 13th of 21 stories written by Arnold Drake and the third of 22 drawn by Alden McWilliams.
In this story, a planet's religious and historical figure returns to oust the current inhabitants.
Publisher's description
- Teaser
- Who were these men who came like gods? Were they, indeed, the first inhabitants of this strange world driven from it my mass calamity or was this the most horrendous hoax in the universe?
Summary
Captain's log: stardate 19:27:12.
- Carrying out a protocol call upon the planet Nraka celebrating its 10,000th year of recorded history…
During a cultural visit, James T. Kirk, Spock and Montgomery Scott witnessed the interruption of a planet-wide fireworks celebration by the arrival of a Sanoora world ship. Its commander looked strikingly like the religious founder of Nrakan's peaceful civilization, Zotar. Instead of peace, however, he announced that his people, the Sanoora, used to live on Nraka, and had been forced to evacuate to avoid an extinction-level event. Now he wanted his planet back, and he blew up an empty city to prove his might. The attack sent the Nrakan populace into panicked riots. Kirk and Spock speculated that Nrakans could be descendants of Sanoora who were left behind.
Captain's log: stardate 19:27:12.
- During a historic celebration on the planet Nraka, invaders have laid claim to the planet! Against our carefully voiced judgment, Nraka has launched a defensive attack.
Councilor Dvor believed the world ship was run by pirates perpetrating a hoax. A fleet of spacecraft were launched to drive it away, but their weapons were useless against its shields. Kirk and Spock remained neutral, but Kirk had to concede that he would fight before ceding Earth to an invading force. When the world ship began firing at the USS Enterprise, Hikaru Sulu evaded the shots rather than return fire. However, this prompted Kirk and Spock to provide Nrakan technicians with a way to penetrate the enemy's shields. Nrakans continued to fight back, despite losing large numbers of ships, and as their weapons finally began to cause damage, the world ship was forced to retreat.
Spock later found evidence supporting the Sanoora's claim that they once inhabited Nraka.
References
Characters
- Dvor • Inoduku • James T. Kirk • Rava • Montgomery Scott • Sja-Yo • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Zotar
- Referenced only
- Paul Bunyan • Julius Caesar • Albert Einstein • Moses
Starships and vehicles
- USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • groundcars • Nrakan spaceships • Sanoora world ship
Locations
Races and cultures
States and organizations
Science and technology
- alphabet • atmosphere • bio-sensor • body armor • carbon-14 • communicator • computer • deco-blazer • energy shield • genetics • laser • mathematics • music • orbit • phaser • radiation • rogue star • shield • sword • telescope • viewscreen • weapon
Ranks and titles
- captain • councilor • criminal • engineer • general • king • pirate • professor • saint • savior • scientist • supreme councilor • technician
Other references
- adrenaline • amoeba • assignment patch • atmosphere • beef • cape • captain's log, USS Enterprise, 2266 • cave • chemical • city • civilization • comet • crater • day • death • deity • fireworks • dog • dress uniform • emotion • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • fire • fish • fly • freedom • history • immortality • language • log entry • love • mile • minute • month • mountain • movie • mutation • oath • observatory • orbit • pageant • peace • popcorn • races and cultures • rank • religion • science • Shield of Zotar • space • Starfleet ranks • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • statue • tatimoro • The Black 23rd • toast • universe • vacuum • war • whale • world ship • writing • year
Timeline
Chronology
- 500,000 years ago
- Sanoora evacuated the planet Nraka in Sanoora world ships to avoid an extinction-level event.
- 7734 BCE
- First year of recorded history for Nrakan civilization.
- 2266
- The USS Enterprise visited Nraka during a planet-wide pageant.
- A Sanoora world ship returned to Nraka claiming rightful ownership of the planet.
Appendices
Background
- The events of this story were recounted in a sequel, "Planet of No Life". Inoduku and the Sanoora returned in the sequel, while Dvor, Rava, Zotar and the Nrakans appeared in flashback scenes.
- Spock hypothesized that Nrakans might be mutated descendants of the Sanoora. A similar catastrophe and mutations were faced by the Bwujans in "The World Beneath the Waves".
- When Montgomery Scott asked when Zotar had time to rest while inventing their language, music, and mathematics, Spock said “perhaps on the seventh day,” a reference to the Bible, Genesis 2:1-3.
- Inoduku did not explain his remarkable resemblance to Zotar.
- Nrakan spaceships did not appear to have warp drive.
- Hikaru Sulu was in command of the Enterprise during the Sanoora attack, taking battle instructions from planet-bound Kirk as he did in TOS episode & Star Trek 3 novelization: Arena.
- Nyota Uhura was seen in one panel but did not have dialogue.
Sanoora world ships
- Regarding the vessel's size, Inoduku said "each ship was six square miles" and Sja-Yo estimated it to be "several miles in diameter". If it had six square miles of spherical surface area, the ship's diameter would only be 1.38 miles, too small for Sja-Ya's description. Since the inside of a sphere is described by its volume, not its area, an interior volume of six cubic miles would be more consistent, giving the vessel 16 square miles of spherical surface area and a diameter of 2.25 miles, or about twice as wide as the Fesarius. (Sphere calculator at Russell Kightley Media)
- It was unclear from this story how many world ships were built. The "Planet of No Life" stated that the ship seen in "The Evictors" rejoined its sister ships, so at least a few survived. Some had the capability of reaching another star system.
Errata
- When Kirk speculated on Nrakan origins, he explained how they came to have noses and blue skin. The colorist may have erred, as they were depicted with pink skin.
- Oddly, vegetarian Spock complimented Councilor Dvor on a beef dish.
- Kirk addressed his first officer as Dr. Spock on page 11.
Related media
- TOS comic: "Planet of No Life" – Sequel to this story, with Sanoora adapting to life on a new world.
- TNG episode: "Devil's Due" – As Kirk feared Inoduku was impersonating religious figure Zotar to take over a planet, a con artist impersonated Ventaxian mythological figure Ardra to claim ownership of Ventax II.
- TOS episode & Star Trek 8 novelization: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, TOS comics: "The Crucial Element", "The Hijacked Planet", SCE eBook: Small World – Other stories featuring planetary evacuations.
Images
Connections
Timeline
| Published Order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: #40: Furlough to Fury |
TOS comics (Gold Key) |
Next comic: #42: World Against Time |
| Previous story: Furlough to Fury |
Stories by: Arnold Drake |
Next story: World Against Time |
| Chronological Order | ||
| Previous adventure: The Trial of Captain Kirk |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: The PsychoCrystals |
Production history
- November 1976
- First published by Gold Key Comics.
- December 1978
- Printed in Dynabrite, Issue 11357 (Western Publishing)
- 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)
- 30 August 2018
- Reprinted in Graphic Novel Collection #44 (Eaglemoss)
Translations
- 1978
- Dutch: In the omnibus Ruimteschip Enterprise Classics Strip-Paperback #2 (De Vrijbuiter)
- German: As “Der Große Zotar” in the omnibus Raumschiff Enterprise Comic Taschenbuch #2 (Condor)
- 1980
- German: As “Der Große Zotar” in some editions of Condor Superheiden #1: Star Trek Jahrbuch (Condor-Verlag)
External links
- The Evictors article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- The Evictors article at Random Happenstance.