The vengeance of V'Ger! – "V'Ger" was the second issue of Marvel Comics' 1980 series of Star Trek comics. The issue consisted of a single new title page and a reprint of the 18th through 34th pages of the TOS comic adaptation: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", as adapted and edited by Marv Wolfman from the screenplay by Harold Livingston, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry & Alan Dean Foster. The art was pencilled by Dave Cockrum and inked by Klaus Janson, with Jim Shooter credited as consulting editor.
Summary
- Captain's log, stardate 7413.2:
- An alien space cloud of immense power is heading directly toward Earth. It has already destroyed several Klingon warships and Earth Colony Epsilon 9. The newly refurbished Enterprise has been assigned to engage the alien intruder, learn what it can of its purpose, and destroy it if necessary. Possibly to this end we have just taken aboard a most welcome passenger..."
Spock joins the ship's crew as science officer, but returns their warm greetings with detached coldness. Still, he joins Montgomery Scott in engineering to repair the warp drive.
- Captain's log, stardate 7413.4:
- Thanks to Mr. Spock's timely arrival and assistance, we have engines rebalanced into full warp capacity... which means we will now be able to intercept the intruder while still more than a day from Earth.
In the officer's lounge, Spock explains that he left the Kolinahr discipline on Vulcan after sensing an entity of omniscient logic, but Leonard McCoy is left wondering whether they can trust him. As the Enterprise approaches the space cloud broadcasting friendship messages, an energy pulse is fired at the ship – the deflector shields block most of it, but the ship can't withstand a second shot. Spock discovers that the intruder replied to their messages at an extremely high frequency. As a second energy pulse approaches, Spock resends their message at the intruder's frequency, and the pulse dissipates.
The Enterprise enters the cloud, eventually discovering a large vessel within, and approaches it slowly. At 100 kilometers away, a probe made of living plasma suddenly materializes on the bridge. Phillips fires his phaser at it, and is immediately vaporized. The probe takes over the library computer, and as Willard Decker sees it going through Starfleet records, Spock smashes the console. The probe shoots an energy jolt at Spock, then targets Ilia, and she vanishes along with the probe.
A tractor beam drags the Enterprise helplessly forward and inside.
- Captain's log, stardate 7413.9:
- We have been swallowed up by something situated within the invading space-energy cloud that defies all possible description.
An android duplicate of Ilia appears, an upgrade of the plasma probe that can more easily move about the ship and interact with the crew. Interpreting the Enterprise as an independent machine lifeform, the android's intent is to understand why the ship is infested with Humans. She reveals little other than that she was programmed by something called V'Ger. Because the probe so perfectly replicates the Deltan navigator, Kirk and Spock hope Decker can leverage his prior romantic relationship with Ilia to forge a bond with the android. Still, Spock laments their lack of options.
- Captain's log, stardate 7414.1:
- Our best estimates place us some four hours from Earth. No significant progress thus far reviving Ilia's memory patterns within the space probe. Unfortunately, this remains our only means of contact with our captor.
Spock sneaks behind a crewman and gives him a Vulcan nerve pinch.
References
Characters
- Christine Chapel • Pavel Chekov • Willard Decker • Ilia • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Phillips • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel
Starships and vehicles
Locations
- the galaxy
- Referenced only
- Earth • Outpost Epsilon 9 • Sol system • Vulcan
Races and cultures
States and organizations
Science and technology
- airlock • Atalskes phaser IV • biobed • command chair • deflector shield • energy • gas • humanoid • matter • phaser • phaser pistol • probe • space • starship • tractor beam • type-2 phaser • viewscreen
Ranks and titles
- captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • communications officer • engineer • ensign • executive officer • helmsman • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • navigator • science officer • security chief • tactical officer • Vulcan master
Other references
- bridge • captain's log • emotion • helm • insignia • kolinahr • logic • log entry • planet • rank • rank insignia • sickbay • stardate • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (early 2270s) • telepathy • title • uniform • Vulcan nerve pinch
Appendices
Background
- The comic presents a fairly straightforward adaptation of the film, with many panels based on stills taken during the production of the film. The story and narrative are cut in places to account for the smaller pagespace of a comic book. As the scenes are based on actual film images, many of the characters are close matches to the film's appearance.
- An unused cover image created for this issue by Terry Austin was shown as a pin-up on the last page of the last issue of this series, TOS comic: "A Thousand Deaths".
- Marvel UK's serialized b/w reprinting of this portion of "The Motion Picture" was presented slightly out of order. In order to provide a splash page for their reprint in Future Tense #10, Marvel UK printed the splash page of "Evolutions", then pages 14-18 of "V'Ger", and then pages 2-5 of "Evolutions".
Connections
| Published Order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: #1 The Motion Picture |
TOS comics (Marvel) |
Next comic: #3 Evolutions |
| Previous story: The Motion Picture |
Stories by: Marv Wolfman |
Next story: Evolutions |
| Previous story: The Motion Picture |
Stories by: Alan Dean Foster |
Next story: Evolutions |
| Previous story: The Motion Picture |
Stories by: Gene Roddenberry |
Next story: Evolutions |
| Chronological Order | ||
| Previous adventure: The Motion Picture |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Evolutions |
Publication history
- December 1979
- First released in magazine form within Marvel Super Special, Issue 15.
- March 1980
- Collected in the pocket-sized trade paperback Star Trek: The Motion Picture (adaptation).
- May 1980
- First published as a solo comic book.
- 1980
- Collected in Star Trek Annual 1981 by Marvel Comics/Grandreams Limited.
- 24 December 1980 - 7 January 1981
- Serialized in b/w in Future Tense #8-10 by Marvel UK.
- June 2011
- Collected in the Movie Omnibus by IDW Publishing.
- 22 June 2017
- Collected in Graphic Novel Collection #13 by Eaglemoss.
Translations
- 1979
- German: In the omnibus Raumschiff Enterprise Comic - Sonderheft #2. (Condor)
- 1980
- French: As Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the omnibus Star Trek: Le Chemin des Etoiles.
- 1981
- Swedish: As V'Ger in Star Trek 1981 #1. (Atlantic)
- 22 November 2017
- Italian: In the omnibus L'era Marvel – Prima Parte, the Italian Graphic Novel Collection #13.
External links
- V'Ger (comic) article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- V'Ger (comic) article at The Marvel Database Project on Wikia.
