Star Trek Movie Adaptation

A six-issue comic adaptation of J. J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek film.

The Story

Issue 1

Starts with the deleted scene from the film showing Spock’s birth, then moves on to the U.S.S. Kelvin’s ill-fated encounter with the Narada.

Issue 2

Young Spock gets bullied on Vulcan, while boy Kirk has a jerky uncle (another scene deleted from the film). The issue ends with Kirk and Pike having their talk in the Iowa bar.

Issue 3

All the Academy scenes in this issue; ends with the Enterprise leaving for Vulcan.

Issue 4

Contains everything that happens at Vulcan, from the Enterprise’s arrival and dodging the debris field to Vulcan’s destruction.

Issue 5

Pike gets tortured, Kirk meets Future Spock, beams to the Enterprise with Scotty, and the whole crew gets together to plan their next course of action. During Kirk’s mind meld with Future Spock, we see images from Star Trek Countdown. I thought this was a nice touch.

Issue 6

The rest of the movie – fighting with Nero, saving Earth, and heading off to another adventure.

Thoughts

Back when home video releases took a very long time (and were expensive when they finally did come out), comic book adaptations were the next best thing to watching actual films. But now that home video releases are faster and more affordable, comic book adaptations have become pointless and obsolete. Why read the adaptation of a film, when the actual film is within reach?

Worst yet, this comic series came out a year after the film’s release. It would have made more sense for it to come out between the film’s release and the home release, if at all.

Worse still, comic book adaptations used to consist of the artists getting the film’s script and interpreting the scenes based on what they read. This would make for some interesting artwork in the comic when compared to the film, almost as if another director remade the same film.

But here? I can recognize nearly all the panels as shots from the actual film. On the plus side, though, I am very relieved the artists didn’t reproduce all the lens flares that were in the film.

Overall, it’s competently done, but what’s the point? Even the two brief scenes deleted from the film are readily available.