"Where Giants Tread" was a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 18th story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in nine installments in TV21 Weekly in 1970 and 1971. In this story, unexpected gravity from a cloaked planet forces the USS Enterprise to land on its surface.
Description[]
- Omnibus teaser
- When Kirk is badly injured, the insane Captain Eustace Hensham is placed in command of the Enterprise, and the crew becomes trapped on Carnak, a planet of xenophobic giants.
Summary[]
From out of nowhere, an undetected meteor shower pummels the hull of the Enterprise, leaving the ship immobilized while engineering teams conduct repairs. While outside in an EV suit, Kirk is accidentally struck by a large tool and severely wounded. Leonard McCoy sends him back to Earth to recuperate, and HQ assigns Captain Eustace Hensham to assume temporary command.
Hensham's arrogance rubs the crew the wrong way, but they nonetheless obey his orders. After Montgomery Scott determines that the meteors had been manually shot at them, Hensham orders the ship to track their source, which turns out to be a cloaked mass driver. It fires another round of rocks at them, which this time are deflected by the shields. Evasive maneuvers at full speed catch the ship within the gravity well of a cloaked planet. Hensham hesitates, then panics and orders the crew to abandon ship. Spock countermands him, ordering vertical thrusters to hold the ship level as it descends. The Enterprise safely touches down on the planet's surface, then tips awkwardly to starboard. Hensham is relieved of duty and taken to sickbay.
Outside, a trio of tanks approach. Spock leaps out of an airlock to meet them. When an officer steps out of the tank, he is revealed to be a giant, perhaps seventy feet tall. Using the universal translator, Spock explains that they have no hostile intent and are helpless. The relatively tiny Spock, Scott and Pavel Chekov meet with the planet's president, who is amenable and hospitable, but as his people are isolationist, he can't allow them to leave. He gives them a tour of the city and nearby spaceport, where they meet the president's son Mankar, who is sympathetic to their plight.
Meanwhile, Hensham escapes, sneaks out of the ship and bombs one of the Carnak tanks. Spock arrests Hensham and locks him up, but it is too late. Carnak reinforcements retaliate with bazooka bombardment. Spock fires starboard vertical thrusters to keep the primary hull off the ground so shields can defend it, but eventually they lose power and the ship tips again. Mankar heads through the battleground to help them, but is struck by weapons fire. Hikaru Sulu and Chekov accompany Spock outside to find Mankar barely alive. Spock brings the president and a doctor to the fallen Carnak. The doctor doesn't have medicine to help, but Leonard McCoy brings a full drug kit and together they stabilize him. The president apologizes for their misunderstanding and agrees to help them leave so long as they kept their location secret. Carrier rockets attached to the Enterprise are able to launch the starship back into space.
References[]
Characters[]
- Pavel Chekov • Eustace Hensham • James T. Kirk • Mankar • Martin (Admiral) • Leonard McCoy • Mychek • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel (unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel) • unnamed Carnak
Starships and vehicles[]
- Carnak hover tank • Carnak space cannon • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • ground car • motorcycle
- Referenced only
- ferry ship
Locations[]
- Carnak • Carnak city • Carnak government house • space sector G-5
- Referenced only
- Earth • Jupiter
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
Science and technology[]
- airlock • bazooka • bomb • communicator • drug • engine • explosive • force field • gun • jet welder • reverse polarity projector • medicine • missile • neutron • neutronic particle • neutronic particle tank • pressure suit • rifle • rocket • satellite • science • starship • technology • vertical thruster • translator communicator • weapon
Ranks and titles[]
- admiral • anti-video device • captain • Carnak president • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • communications officer • doctor • engineer • ensign • Federation Starfleet ranks • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • first officer • judge • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • navigator • officer • orderly • president • science officer • skipper • surgeon • tactical officer
Other references[]
- arkan • alarm stations • atmosphere • battle stations • clothing • colony • communications • court martial • desert • dress uniform • electrical bay • energy • galley • government • gravity • hull • lifeform • matter • meteorite • meteorite storm • moon • museum • mutiny • nation-state • orbit • operations division • planet • primary hull • quarters • races and cultures • sciences division • sector • shuttlecraft • sickbay • sick leave • space • spacecraft • spaceport • star • star system • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • time • uniform • universe • vacuum • Vulcan nerve pinch • war • wrench
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS comic: "Ground Zero" – Damage from a meteor strike prompts the Enterprise to drop to the surface of an airless moon for repairs.
- TOS comic: "One of Our Captains Is Missing!" – Captain Zarlo temporarily assumes command of the Enterprise while Kirk is assigned a secret mission on Mobita.
- TNG episode: "Chain of Command" – Captain Edward Jellico temporarily replaces Jean-Luc Picard as commander of the USS Enterprise (Galaxy-class).
- TOS comic: "To Swiftly Go..." – A shuttle crashes on Kwettir, with the survivors discovering a world of five-foot-long ants and humanoids upwards of 100 feet tall.
Background[]
- The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("Where Giants Tread") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2.
- Each segment began on the cover and continued onto two interior pages of TV21 Weekly. Artist Harold Johns signed the second through seventh installments.
- Eustace Hensham wears an operations division uniform, suggesting he might have had an administrative background like George Stocker rather than one of starship command. He wears a non-standard tunic with a pointed collar and pointed bottom end with a thick black edge.
- The Enterprise is dragged vertically through cloud cover towards a planet's surface, and fights back with vertical thrusters, similar to events from TOS movie: Into Darkness.
- Spock relieves Hensham on grounds that he is unfit for duty, as Spock had threatened to do to Matthew Decker in TOS episode & Star Trek 3 novelization: The Doomsday Machine.
- Montgomery Scott and Pavel Chekov both wear sciences division uniforms.
Errata[]
- The author apparently misinterpreted the range of the transporter. The ship is immobilized in sector G-5 for six hours, during which time Kirk is beamed back to Earth and a replacement commanding officer arrives "from HQ". They are not inside the Sol system within transporter range of Earth, but rather are within attack range of a cloaked mass driver orbiting Carnak. More likely Sector G-5 was within six hours' travel to Earth, close enough for unspecified vessels to pick up Kirk and drop off Hensham.
- The term meteorite was misused. Such objects are called meteoroids while in space.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: Revolt on Dak-Alpha |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next comic: I, Emperor |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Under the Sea |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Crucible The Star to Every Wandering Chapter 4 |
| Previous comic: Under the Sea |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next comic: Crucible The Star to Every Wandering Chapter 4 |
Production history[]
- Part 1: TV21 Weekly #65, 19 December 1970
- Part 2: TV21 Weekly #66, 26 December 1970
- Part 3: TV21 Weekly #67, 2 January 1971
- Part 4: TV21 Weekly #68, 9 January 1971
- Part 5: TV21 Weekly #69, 16 January 1971
- Part 6: TV21 Weekly #70, 23 January 1971
- Part 7: TV21 Weekly #71, 30 January 1971
- Part 8: TV21 Weekly #72, 6 February 1971
- Part 9: TV21 Weekly #73, 13 February 1971
- December 2016
- Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2. (IDW Publishing)
- 28 September 2017
- Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 20. (Eaglemoss Collections)
External link[]
- Where Giants Tread article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.