"What Is This Thing Called Spock?" was a seven-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in 1972. It was the ninth of 11 annual stories from the UK comic strips series and was printed in the United Kingdom along with "Planet of the Dead" in TV21 Annual 1973. In this story, Kirk and Spock encounter an unusual non-humanoid lifeform.
Description[]
- Omnibus teaser
- When a series of catastrophes befall the colony world Taragon, Kirk is sent to investigate the resulting rioting and chaos, which Spock realizes is due to alien telepathic influence.
Summary[]
Simultaneous disasters seem to plague Taragon, everything from volcanic eruptions to mining disasters to frightened rioting by the Human colonists. Frantic distress calls by the governor are received by the USS Enterprise. Beaming down, he tells Kirk and Spock that colonists seem to be taken over and driven insane by some unknown force. Although no evidence of telepathic life is reported on Taragon, they search for clues outside of the colony. They separate and agree to meet back in an hour.
Thirty minutes later, Spock hears something large in the brush and is suddenly enveloped by a living, brain-like mass of tissue. Kirk hears a warning over his communicator, and runs to help. He arrives to find a quiet Spock, who suddenly turns and fires a phaser at him. Kirk leaps for cover, but discovers four other armed Spocks hunting him. He realizes they all have terrible aim and can only track him by sound. Whatever has duplicated Spock hasn't yet mastered the complexities of the humanoid form.
Kirk beams back to the ship to discover Spock in the ship's library. Spock reassures him he is the original — his duplicates can't see or read. Spock deduces that when panicked colonists reacted violently to the recent catastrophes, this previously unknown native lifeform learned that people were hostile. Spock has been similarly guilty of teaching that lesson, having drawn his phaser when initially approached. Its innate ability to duplicate matter was how it learned about its environment. This was why the duplicate Spocks were hostile. The lifeform also had created hostile duplicates of some colonists, which led to the hysteria and rioting.
Kirk and Spock return to the surface. This time when the lifeform appears, Spock sits peacefully and writes on a PADD. Through Spock's writing, it learns Human language and can now communicate with them telepathically. It is an enormous, complex, intelligent organism which lives underground. After a meeting with the governor, a partnership is formed whereby colonists protect the lifeform in exchange for helping duplicate buildings and equipment.
References[]
Characters[]
- James T. Kirk • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Taragon lifeform • Nyota Uhura • unnamed colonists
- Referenced only
- Leonard McCoy
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
Races and cultures[]
Science and technology[]
- brain pattern • communicator • computer tape • distress call • microphone • PADD • radio • phaser • tranquilizer • transporter
Ranks and titles[]
Other references[]
- alien • beam • brain • cavern • cell • creature • gas • hour • language • lifeform • mico-library • mineral • mining • molecular structure • planet • pressure • second • sound • starship • stylus • telepathy • tree • universe • volcano • written language • year
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS episode & Star Trek 4 novelization: The Devil in the Dark – In 2267, the Enterprise aids threatened miners on Janus VI.
- TOS novel: Spock Must Die! – The transporter duplicates Spock.
- TOS comic: "The Brain-Damaged Planet" – A huge brain mass within a planetoid becomes infected with a disease, which impels spurts of insanity upon the native humanoid population.
Background[]
- This comic strip story had several parallels to TOS episode & Star Trek 4 novelization: The Devil in the Dark, including industrial and ecological sabotage resulting from miners inadvertently intruding on an alien lifeform, Kirk and Spock splitting up during their search, and the formation of a partnership.
- The Taragon lifeform is similar to the Tactisian encountered in TOS comic: "The Mimicking Menace". However, while the Taragon entity could easily duplicate Spock, the Tactisian found Vulcan physiology harder to copy than shuttlecraft or Humans. It was also sentient and peaceful, whereas the Tactisian behaved only through predatory instinct.
- Artist Jim Baikie signed the last panel of the story.
- Publication date was 24 August 1972. (Amazon.com.)
- Jack Sutter was credited as author. (Star Trek in Books and Magazines article at the Star Trek Comics Checklist).
- Nyota Uhura is on the bridge in two panels but does not have any dialogue.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: Planet of the Dead |
TOS comics (UK comic strips Annuals) | Next comic: The Gods Have Come! |
| Previous story: Planet of the Dead |
Stories by: Jack Sutter |
Next story: latest story |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Planet of the Dead |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: The Gods Have Come! |
| Previous comic: Planet of the Dead |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next comic: The Gods Have Come! |
Production history[]
- 24 August 1972
- Published in TV21 Annual 1973
- September 2017
- Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3. (IDW Publishing)
- 16 July 2020
- Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 121. (Eaglemoss Collections)
External links[]
- What Is This Thing Called Spock? article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- ...This Funny Thing Called Spock article at the Voice of Odd blog.