A part of the Star Trek Expanded Universe, Star Trek was an ongoing monthly comic series published by DC Comics. It ran from 1984 to 1996, encompassing two volumes and a total of 136 issues, along with nine annuals, three specials, four film adaptations, two graphic novels, and a four-issue miniseries. The series attracted talent such as writers Peter David, Len Wein, and Mike Barr, artists Gordon Purcell and James W. fry, and inker Arne Starr.
Volume 1
Volume 1 was released from 1984-1988, primarily covering a period of time after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, though a few issues were set during the time of the original five-year mission, or between Wrath of Khan and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In addition to the core cast of The Original Series, this first volume introduced several new characters who played significant roles in the series, as well as bringing back fan-favorites Arex and M'Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series. In addition to the regular run of this volume were adaptations of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Prominent stories included follow-ups to the Mirror Universe, and a stint where the crew commanded USS Excelsior after the events of The Search for Spock.
Volume 1 includes examples of:
- Canon Welding: As the series was set between the second, third, and fourth movies, a lot of welding was necessary to make the storyline fit. Enterprise gets involved in preventing wars with the Klingons and Romulans before the events of The Search for Spock get to take place, and then end up having to fend off a Mirror Universe invasion, which gets Kirk command of the Excelsior and Spock his own science vessel... until everything falls apart, Spock's ship is destroyed, and Spock himself gets reset to the way he was at the end of the third movie to set up the events of The Voyage Home.
- Reset Button: The three-part "The Doomsday Bug!" storyline results in Kirk and his command crew abandoning the Excelsior to go back into exile on Vulcan while Spock has to once again re-train his mind, setting up the events of The Voyage Home.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Arex, M'Ress, and a bevy of original characters created for the book quickly proved incredibly popular among readers, and eventually led to the classic crew being pushed more Out of Focus.
One reason Paramount ended the volume was to force a retool to eliminate these characters, and put the spotlight back on Kirk and company.
Volume 2
Volume 2 of the series ran from 1989-1996, immediately preceded by the adaptation of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and was set in the time between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the latter of which also received an adaptation. It also saw the graphic novels Debt of Honor and Ashes of Eden, along with the four-part The Modala Imperative miniseries. While the editorial staff may have considered the series a continuation of the previous one, Executive Meddling led to all of the first series' original characters, along with Arex and M'Ress, being removed, and the story basically starting over from The Final Frontier. The extent of the meddling by Paramount Studios eventually led to the departure of Peter David, though a change in the Paramount offices after the death of Gene Roddenberry eased up the restrictions a bit.
Volume 2 includes examples of:
- Aborted Arc: R.J. Blaise was going to continue as part of the cast after the Trial arc, and would have been an ongoing love interest for Kirk. However Roddenberry ordered her to be dropped immediately, so although she appeared in the first issue of the next storyline, she disappeared from the rest of the arc and her absence (and even existence) was never mentioned again. Blaise did finally make a return appearance several years later in Star Trek Special #1, but this was a one-off story and the last time she was ever mentioned.
- A Day in the Limelight: Although the Power Trio gets most of the development, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, and Saavik all receive a story arc or two of their own throughout the series.
- Accidental Marriage: Kirk comes into possession of a hot wife when her husband is murdered and willed everything — including her — to him. It's subverted, however: The entire thing is part of a complex ploy by Victoria — the wife in question — to lure Enterprise near the Neutral Zone. Victoria's husband is actually a political prisoner of his government, and they are blackmailing her into helping start a war between the Federation and Romulans. Kirk is able to rescue Vicki's husband, the plot is exposed, and he returns to Enterprise with his bachelorhood intact.
- The Alleged Car:
- When the series begins Enterprise is still not yet up to snuff, and has a few of the bugs that plagued her in The Final Frontier. The transporters are still a bit finicky, and Kirk's logbook constantly malfunctions.
- The Tyrion fleet in issues 17-18 looks impressive: cloaking devices, big ships, heavily armed, and fast, capable of reaching Warp 15note However half the ships aren't even manned and are just for show. They're also poorly-constructed, and their security systems are appalling. Uhura and Scotty need hardly any time at all to completely eliminate them as a threat.
- Apocalypse How: Karimea suffers a Class 6.
- Arc Words: Yin and Yang is a recurring theme throughout the first annual.
- Asteroid Thicket: The Tabukan System has a particularly dense asteroid field housing their weapons labs and the disposal facilities tasked with disarming the weapons. Enterprise and Excelsior use it to ambush the Maroans preying on their convoys in issue 40.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Kirk and R.J. Blaise. They butt heads from the start, are constantly arguing and sniping at each other, get on each others' nerves, and generally can't stand to be in the same room together. They're also intensely attracted to one another, and R.J. herself freely acknowledges how she actually feels. To anyone except Kirk.
- BFG:
- Sulu packs a portable phaser cannon during an assault on an Essejjian stronghold in an effort to rescue a captured Starfleet medical team.
- The Reversionists on Lerik IV are also equipped with very heavy terrestrial cannons, however they haven't ever fired them.
- The protomatter weapon being tested aboard Pacific is a starship-scale BFG. In simulations one blast was enough to annihilate a Klingon battlecruiser. Keep in mind this is a class of vessel nominally on par with a Constitution-class heavy cruiser like Enterprise.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The aliens at the center of Debt of Honor are this: Giant, bug-like predators that ambush ships exploring or caught up in stellar phenomenon within a particular area of space. Even worse, however: They're sentient.
- Big Damn Heroes: A regular occurrence, whether a landing party coming to the rescue of trapped crewmen, Enterprise bailing out another vessel, another vessel bailing out Enterprise, the list goes on.
- Bilingual Bonus: The four-part arc in issues 30-33 is titled "Veritas," Latin for "Truth."
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The people of New Brinden were separated by a caste system that extends to the genetic level, to the point that a disease ravaging the lower caste was unable to naturally infect the upper-class.
- Bottle Episode: While not to the same extent to the TV series, thanks to not being at the mercy of a budget and the need to build sets, there's still a few issues that take place entirely aboard Enterprise (or another Starfleet vessel, which in a series could reuse existing sets and thus still qualify). Issue 41, for example.
- Breather Episode: Each major multi-part storyline is usually separated by a single-issue story, or the occasional two-parter.
- Brick Joke:
- McCoy's communicator in "A Piece of the Action." Turns out Oxmyx has held on to it for some twenty years waiting for a chance to return it, figuring that McCoy wouldn't be too pleased if he started messing with it.
- Scotty finally returns the components he removed from Excelsior's transwarp computer as a gift to Sulu when he takes command.
- Brutal Honesty: Peter David has been very forthcoming about the severity of the Executive Meddling by Paramount and Roddenberry endured by the series, and that it eventually led to his resignation. He even commented on it in the book's letter pages.
- Bulletproof Vest: Subverted: Ensign Fouton invents a phaser-proof vest capable of shrugging off a phaser set to maximum power. Unfortunately Chekov points out two key problems: The first, is that it's so heavy that no human could possibly wear it. The second is that while the vest survived the blast, the dummy it was mounted on didn't.
- Characterization Marches On: For the Klingon Empire: In the first extended arc, the Emperor of the Klingon Empire places a bounty on Kirk's head, and later makes a personal appearance during the Trial of James T. Kirk. However it was later established in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine that there was no Emperor during Kirk's era (the last Klingon Emperor reigned during the 21st Century).
- Church Militant: Several come up throughout the series.
- As the Nasgul are heavily theocratic, pretty much everyone in the direct service of the Sallah count.
- Shelm and the Essejjians in the first annual. They attack and seize a Federation medical team attempting to harvest sperm and eggs from the population of Datugad in an effort to save them from extinction, because they believe that people are at the mercy of fate, and that the reclamation effort is an affront to the gods.
- The Reversionists on Lerik IV are in an open rebellion against their secular government, as they believe their people have strayed too far from their traditional faith. Unlike many examples in Star Trek canon they're not fanatical in their beliefs, and their leader is a perfectly reasonable, compassionate man more than willing to open a dialogue with the planet's Prime Minister.
- Class Reunion: A yearly reunion for Starfleet Academy grads is the center of the plot of issue 25. Kirk is reluctant to go, despite McCoy browbeating him into it, and eventually acquiesces when he learns the rest of the crew will pass as well unless he attends. McCoy then tries to weasel out of it himself, until Kirk threatens him with leaving him in Spock's company for the evening. At the reunion he bumps into Styles and Saavik, before unexpectedly reuniting with an old friend and shipmate from Farragut, Victoria Leigh. Victoria has come seeking his help investigating the death of her husband, a mutual friend, and a member of a noble family on Pilkor III. The evening ends when she reveals left everything to Kirk in his will. Including her.
- Continuity Porn: Debt of Honor is dripping with it. Characters from throughout the Original Series — most of whom appeared for only a single episode — rejoin the crew for the mission, and the story spans some 30 years of Kirk's career with many particular incidents adventures being referenced. Even Gillian, George, and Gracie appear, (and Gracie finally has her baby) while Saavik is drawn to resemble Kirstie Alley (whereas in the main series she much more closely-resembles Robin Curtis).
- Comic-Book Time: In Debt of Honor, Jame is presented as a youthful "jaygee" fresh out of the academy, and so inexperienced that Kirk is surprised to see her at the con after meeting a receiving party of Enterprise veterans when he first comes aboard. However Jame was born c.2250s, meaning she should have been at least in her mid-30s at the time Debt of Honor was set (2289).
- Cool Starship: Quite a few new designs. Perhaps most notably a predecessor to the infamous Romulan Warbirds of The Next Generation.
- The Coup:
- How Vlagro came to power as Salla of the Nasgul, taking it by force by stealing the Jaheela from its resting place, and overthrowing the rightful Salla.
- Prusk wants emergency powers for policing the Quatrin system to put himself into a position of doing just that.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover to issue 31 shows Sulu and Uhura in a courtroom surrounded by angry Quatrini shouting "GUILTY!" as if they're being judged. In the issue itself, they're just testifying as witnesses.
- Continuity Nod: As it serves as a Sequel Series both to the films to that point, and the Original Series itself, there's too many individual ones to count, but as an example:
- The entire first arc is partly a reaction to Kirk's exoneration at the end of Star Trek IV, with appearances by many characters from both the films (such as the Klingon Ambassador and Klaa) and the Original Series (See Sequel Series below for more details).
- Characters such as Kor, Saavik, Cartwright, Trelane, and Styles all make appearances over the rest of the run, with the relevant events being specifically discussed.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Enterprise utterly overwhelms a Nasgul courier in their first encounter with the race, with a single volley crippling it to the point that the commander tried to ram them rather than surrender.
- A Tyrion warship manages to cripple Lafayette, and later a Klingon light cruiser operating in their area. Lafayette never got off a shot against her attacker, and was badly crippled. However the Klingon battlecruiser Qapla' is far beyond their capabilities, and single-handedly manages to badly maul their fleet, taking out at least one of the ships without effort. Kirk manages to resolve the situation peacefully, but as Enterprise is a match for Qapla', presumably she would have had no less trouble annihilating them.
- Enterprise and Excelsior vs. a squadron of Maroan attack ships. The Maroans never had a prayer, as even one Federation starship alone significantly outgunned them.
- Dead Guy on Display: The fate of a freighter crew who tried to run the Maroan blockade in issue 37.
- Divide and Conquer: The first part of the Maroans' plan to steal the Tabukan warheads centers around them splitting up Excelsior and Enterprise, by carrying out a gas attack on another planet to divert Kirk's attention.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Issue 29 deals with Kirk investigating accusations by a Federation ambassador that the local population has been slaughtering a fully-sentient and peaceful, but primitive, species to seize their land, for the valuable mineral resources beneath the surface.
- Doomsday Device: Remember the unstable protomatter used in the Genesis device, and was ultimately responsible for the planet's destruction? Starfleet decided to make a weapon out of it.
- Downer Ending: Annual #1: After a Starfleet medical team is captured by Church Militants who object to the team's attempts to save their species, feeling it's the will of the Gods that they go extinct, Sulu defies orders and leads a rescue team to assault their compound and rescue the hostages. They succeed, only to discover he arrived too late to save his girlfriend, who has now been affected by the same chemical poisoning that is killing the Datugadans. She remains behind to continue her work, but can never be with him again.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom:
- Several issues involved Enterprise attempting to evacuate doomed planets before they collapse on themselves. Most notably in issues 7-9, with a colony facing imminent destruction refusing aid from Enterprise out of fear of the price the Klingons placed on his head.
- Erion, Tabuk III's largest moon, lost a full quarter of its mass when a weapons depot exploded on the surface.
- Energy Being: Several of them appear throughout the comics, including one species of Swirly Energy Thingies.
- Escort Mission: Excelsior must escort a convoy of Tabukan ships ferrying wareheads earmarked for destruction in issue 35. The issue ends on a cliffhanger with the convoy falling under attack by Maroan raiders, and Sulu moving to engage them.
- Eye Color Change: The eyes of individuals possessed by the energy creature in issue 41 change colors to match it, in this case blue. It's not as evident for Scotty, whose eyes are blue anyway, but it's clearly evident for brown-eyed Saavik and Chekov.
- False Flag Operation:
- In an attempt to spark war between the Federation and Romulans, the Pilkorans secretly train small groups of settlers to colonize nearby worlds, alter their memories, then destroy the colonies while slaughtering one hundred of their own people in the process, with only one survivor to blame the Romulans for the attacks.
- Security Director Prusk of the Quatrin Security Agency arranged the murder of his own operatives, while simultaneously executing a captured Betan terrorist, in order make it look like the Betans attacked a Quatrin station to carry out the assassination themselves as a means of securing broader powers as a prelude for a potential Coup D'état. When this is derailed by the survival of one of the intended victims, and the killings being witness by Sulu and Uhura, he orders another assassination of the pair as they return to Enterprise after giving their testimony. He once again intends to frame the Betans for that action.
- Fanservice:
- R.J. and Uhura relax at a gardened pool while the former vents about her attraction to Kirk in the prelude to his trial. While both are in bathing suits, and Uhura shows off that time has been quite kind to her, R.J.'s suit bares the entirety of her right breast. And no, this was not an artist's error. Only a strategically placed arm or bit of conveniently placed scenery keeps the book in line with the Comics Code (though it doesn't prevent one panel of Side Boob). Naturally, the scene was quite popular in the letter pages.
- Victoria Leigh's slinky evening gown in issues 25 and 26, combining Sexy Backless Outfit, Impossibly-Low Neckline, Everything's Better with Sparkles, and a skyhigh slit over her thigh to positively dramatic effect.
- Fantastic Racism: The Nasgul virtually have this as their Hat, and view all other races as beneath them. They especially hate the Klingons, who demonstrate this themselves.
- Funetik Aksent: Scotty's and Chekov's accents are written out, though the degree is Depending on the Writer. Even McCoy's drawl gets this treatment in Debt of Honor, with "Ah" instead of "I." The latter helps that it was written by Chris Claremont.
- Funny Background Event: Well, foreground. After Kirk's escape from Sweeny's ship, he tells Spock when asked why he didn't inquire after R.J. Blaise's status that for a woman like Blaise, such concerns on his part would be viewed as an insult by implying she can't take care of herself. Uhura can be seen in the foreground of the panel rolling her eyes at his remarks.
- Genre Shift: A subtle one. The first 12 issues were serialized, with everything eventually culminating with "The Trial of James T. Kirk." From issue 13 onward each story was self-contained.
- God Guise: The Olahm are a species of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens who willingly go around helping uplift other sentient species by masquerading to them as gods. Then, once they feel their "followers" have advanced enough that they have no more purpose for them, proceed to test their convictions. If the culture proves they have Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions, they reveal themselves and move on.
- Gratuitous Russian: While Chekov's dialogue is almost explicitly written as Funetik Aksent in the main series, it's frequently dotted with bits of Russian in the Debt of Honor graphic novel. Of course it was written by Claremont
- Green Aesop: The first annual centers around Starfleet attempting to help clean up a planet that's so polluted, physical contact between any of its inhabitants will cause them to spontaneously combust.
- Heir Club for Men: According to Ravia, Nasgul society favors men in their inheritance laws. As a result, when her father died, her brother Vlagro seized everything, even though she was the eldest. The veracity of her claim is unclear, however, as both Vlagor and Ravia were attempting to illegally seize power.
- Humiliation Conga: Bela Oxmyx is a one-man conga. The Salla brings him from Sigma Iotia to "testify on Kirk's behalf" at his trial. Oxmyx, not realizing the Salla's actual intent is to embarrass "Koik," does his job with aplomb.
- Hooking the Keys: During the Sweeney arc, Kirk is locked in a cell with RJ Blaise, with the guard standing outside the energy bars. Kirk spends their time in confinement humming an innocuous tune, which eventually gets on RJ's nerves. Kirk points out that it's because she's not an Andorian, like their guard, who has been lulled to sleep by the melody. It's subverted when Kirk slips his hand between the bars to snatch the key card, and the guard (who was not quite as asleep as it seems) grabs him and chastises him over trying to pull such a simple trick. Double Subverted when Kirk simply grabs the guard and yanks him into the bars, shorting them out.
- Irony: Starfleet's test bed for its protomatter superweapon is the aging cruiser USS Pacific. Spock immediately notes the irony of the vessel's name, in allusion to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Sweeny's chief henchman tries to pull this on Kirk during his escape from Sweeny's ship. Kirk simply stuns the bastard.
- Kangaroo Court: What both the Klingons and Nasgul want to submit Kirk to. In fact the Nasgul are even worse than the Klingons, as the Salla considers himself judge, jury, and executioner, and even attempted to kill Kirk in their first encounter by pronouncing sentence on him (it fails; for unclear reasons the Salla can kill his own people with a word, but it doesn't work on outsiders).
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Runs out for Ambassador Stonn and T'Pring, in a story that follows up on "Amok Time." It turns out their marriage ultimately imploded. Stonn has custody of their daughter, a wild and unruly young woman with a criminal record, and whom Stonn coldly abandons to her fate when she runs afoul of local authorities he's negotiating with on the Federation's behalf (though Kirk and company help bail her out). And then Stonn dies of a fatal heart ailment.
- Klingon Promotion: Appropriately enough, given the setting. One of Klaa's subordinates attempts this in issue 2, as well as getting rid of him for his embarrassment at Kirk's hands (he fails). It's also how the Klingon Ambassador got his job in the first place.
- Literary Allusion Title: "The First Thing We Do..." / "...Let's Kill All the Lawyers!" is a reference to a line from Henry VI Part 2 Act IV, Scene II.
- Luxury Prison Suite: Issue 19: The leader of a pirate raid thinks he's going to be getting this after he's captured by Enterprise for attacking a Federation-registered freighter. After all, the Federation doesn't have the death penalty (except for one crime) or penal colonies. Instead he and his crew are due to be locked up into what may as well be a resort, after which they'll be free to go right back to raiding again. Kirk, furious that the man's actions cost him the life of one of his crew and at his casual disregard, very quickly disabuses him of that notion. Instead he coldly informs him that he'll be using his prerogative as captain to turn the man over to the people who hired the freighter, and whose goods they hijacked. A people who happen to practice Cruel and Unusual Death for capital offenses.
- Macguffin: The Jaheela, a sacred Nasgul relic, in issues 22-24. Vlagro stole it as part of his coup to forcibly install himself as Salla. Ravia stole it from him in turn, in a bid to discredit him and seize power for herself. It's stolen from her by Harry Mudd, who first intends to sell it back to Vlagro, but after overhearing Sulu and Uhura how desperate Ravia is to get it back decides he could get even more for it from her. Ultimately, Kirk ensures it's restored to Watan, the rightful Salla, after the Federation assists him in overthrowing the rebels and ousting Vlagro's unpopular regime.
- Magic Music: Harry Mudd's protege, Shilo, has a flute that can stimulate or tranquilize beings around her. It's not actually magic, instead working on a bit of Technobabble, but the ultimate effect is the same.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Possibly among the most egregious examples in the franchise, as a result of the severe Executive Meddling heavily limiting the secondary cast (see Minimalist Cast).
- Minimalist Cast: As a result of Executive Meddling. While Volume 1 introduced a substantial main cast including original characters, fan-favorites Arex and M'Ress from the Animated Series, and the cast of the Original Series, Paramount forced their removal for Volume 2, to provide Kirk and company more of the spotlight. R.J. Blaise was intended to be a regular, but she, too was forcibly dropped after the "Trial of James T. Kirk." Any other recurring characters, such as Commodore Kherzi, only appeared sporadically. The closest the volume had to a regular who was not introduced in canon (with Saavik assuming Sulu's post after he received his promotion to command of Excelsior) was the transporter chief, Ms. Tuchinsky, who received almost no development and never had a role beyond operating the transporter.
- Mythology Gag:
- As part of Kirk's plan to dupe the Pilkorans into believing their plot to start a war between the Federation and Romulans is succeeding, he has McCoy masquerade as a Starfleet admiral delivering a warning to any Pilkoran ships in the area to avoid the potential warzone. The issue in question (#28) even plays it up by splashing "He's not a doctor, he's an admiral!" on the cover. It's a subtle nod at "Encounter at Farpoint," in which the retired Admiral McCoy comes aboard to visit Enterprise-D on her maiden voyage.
- Admiral Nagura consults with Vice-Admiral Tomlinson about starship design while discussing the situation with Kirk early in the series. Nagura looks at a model of the current Constitution-class refit, and muses what Tomlinson would think if the primary hull were to be enlarged, while the warp nacelles were reduced in size relative to the hull, and lowered below the line of the saucer. The configuration he describes is remarkably (and quite intentionally) similar to that of the later Galaxy-class starships.
- No One Could Survive That!: Uttered by McCoy on the very first page of issue 39, when he and Abby rush into Vodrin's headquarters, which had just been bombed by La Résistance. Cue a feeble cry for help from one of the wounded.
- One-Hit KO: Enterprise and Excelsior are able to swat Maroan attack ships down like flies, with even single phaser volleys being sufficient to put a Maroan fighter out of action. A full power blast from one of Enterprise's phaser banks completely destroys Horalt's command ship.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Crewmen possessed by the alien in issue 41 experience extreme euphoria while under its influence.
- Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: While theological debates come up — particularly between McCoy and Spock, the series on the whole presents the Federation as this. It becomes a plot point whenever they come up against a culture such as the Larikans who still believe in their deities. The Olahm actually make use of this trope themselves, as a race of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens who wear a God Guise to help uplift primitive species. Once they think a culture reaches this point they test whether or not they are willing to move on from their beliefs and embrace the future, and if so, reveal themselves to complete the process of evolving them away from primitive belief systems.
- Percussive Maintenance: Scotty finally fixes Kirk's glitchy logbook by whacking it against the arm of the captain's chair.
- The Political Officer: Starfleet has a variant in the form of Protocol Officers. These are Federation civilian officials well-trained in Starfleet regulations and Federation law, along with the languages and cultures of multiple species, whose purpose is to ensure the Prime Directive is being followed in accordance with the law. Their authority places them above the captain of a starship in matters of Federation policy and interactions with other governments, although they remain subservient to the captain in the operation of the ship itself. Protocol Officers are usually assigned to novice captains, and it's considered a significant embarrassment and insult when one is posted aboard Enterprise to keep tabs on Kirk after one Cowboy Cop incident too many.
- Public Execution: The crew of one of the freighters trapped on Epsilon Kitaj when Vodrin invades is publicly executed as a warning to others who might try to defy him. their bodies are hung from the top of a building for all to see.
- Ramming Always Works: Averted twice:
- During Enterprise's first encounter with the Nasgul, a Nasgulian pursuit ship decides to ram after a single phaser volley virtually disables it. Enterprise's shields shrug off the blow as if it were nothing.
- A Maroan ship attempts to ram Excelsior after their attempt to seize Tabukan warheads is thwarted. Enterprise vaporizes them with a single phaser blast before impact.
- Rank Up:
- Sulu finally gets his promotion to Captain at the end of issue 33. The next major arc in issue 35 depicts his first mission as commander of Excelsior.
- Saavik received a promotion to full lieutenant since the crew last saw her on Vulcan (she was a jaygee in the films).
- While her promotion had already been confirmed by Star Trek VI, issue 35 is the first chronological confirmation that Janice has climbed the ranks from a lowly yeoman, to full Commander and executive officer of USS Excelsior.
- Red Shirt: Deconstructed in issue 19. After one of Enterprise's security guards is killed protecting him in an ambush, Kirk must give a eulogy and realizes that no one knew anything at all about the man. As he goes from crew member to crew member trying to learn something about the man who saved his life, he's disturbed at how jaded he's become to the number of crewmen who have perished on his watch.
- Right Behind Me: Following the conclusion of his trial and return to the bridge of Enterprise, Kirk waxes about things getting back to normal, with no more Protocol Officer hanging over his shoulder second-guessing him...right as R.J. struts onto the bridge. Spock did try to warn him, but couldn't get a word in edgewise.
- Running Gag:
- For the first few issues Kirk's logbook is still malfunctioning.
- The crew tricking R.J. onto a turbolift, and sending her to Deck 10 whenever they want to get rid of her. Even Spock pulls it on her. To her credit she quickly catches on...and gets locked out of a turbolift when the bridge crew leave for the Deck 10 briefing room because she stops and rants about the prank. And just to Kick the Dog again, the crew actually went to the Deck 8 briefing room, and lied to send her on a wild goose chase. R.J. gets the last laugh, however, announcing to Kirk that Starfleet has extended her assignment by strutting onto the bridge and asking "Which way to Deck 10?"
- "X is a Russian inwention" continues from the Original Series.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Nasgul are described as a race of spacefaring fanatics, utterly loyal to their leader, the Salla. To the point that the Salla can execute a dissident merely by pronouncing a death sentence within his hearing, even across a comm channel.
- Secret Test of Character: Kirk's fake message from "Admiral" McCoy in issue 28 pulls double-duty as this. It's main purpose is to make the Pilkorans believe their attempt to start a war between the Federation and Romulans is succeeding. However it's also intended to test Victoria Leigh's loyalty, and determine whether she's truly working against the Pilkoran authorities, or with them. Since Vickie knows McCoy, if she is working for the government she would be able to reveal the deception. Fortunately, she passes.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: A twisted version in "Time Trial": The Romulans decided that the best way to make the Federation and Klingon Empires ripe for conquest is to change Klingon history so that they followed the teachings of Khartan — a peaceful philosopher — rather than becoming the familiar Proud Warrior Race Guys they've become known as. This would then allow the Romulan Empire to roll over both with ease, since much of Starfleet's own history was defined by its arms race with the Klingon Empire.
Unfortunately, it backfires spectacularly, as the Romulans didn't count on just how fiercely peaceful people would fight to defend their freedom. It ends with the complete extermination of the Romulan Empire.
Kirk and company must then go back in time to revert the changes, and ensure history is allowed to take its proper course to prevent a war that should never have happened. Unfortunately, doing so means allowing Khartan, a man whom Kirk comes to greatly admire, to be assassinated. Commander Worf, (yes, this Worf) in this timeline a member of Enterprise's crew, takes it upon himself to carry out the assassination after they fail to prevent the original Romulan interference. Just to twist the knife in further a second change has to be undone: preventing the assassination of a brutal Klingon warlord named Baraga. - Sequel Series: As the entire series is one, many episodes of the Original Series are followed-up on directly:
- Several are part of the testimonies in "The Trial of James T. Kirk:"
- "Court Martial": Sam Cogley returns as Kirk's defense attorney for the trial. He reveals that after successfully defending him, he and the prosecuting attorney, Areel Shaw, began dating and eventually married. They now work together as partners, presenting opponents a one-two punch between Sam's personable and theatrical approach, followed-up by Areel's hard-nosed tactics.
- "A Taste Of Armageddon": Anan 7 reveals that Kirk destroying the computer used by their society in place of open conflict did bring them peace for a time. Unfortunately, things fell apart and eventually led to open warfare. Vindikar itself was completely destroyed in the conflict.
- "A Piece Of The Action": Oxmyx reveals the good Kirk's actions did to help repair the damage done to Iotian society by previous visitors, and put an end to the cycle of violence tearing their civilization apart. It's further revealed that after Enterprise's visit, later Starfleet missions have helped further these efforts. Also see Brick Joke above for a brick twenty years in coming to land.
- "Friday's Child": Leonard James Akaar is brought before the council by Sam Cogley as a character witness. He has assumed his position as Teer of Capella IV, and swears his entire family's lives to Kirk in payment for Kirk saving his mother's life, and defeating a Klingon plot.
- "The Cage"/"The Menagerie": Spock is sent back to Talos IV to visit with Captain Pike, and inform him that a new medical procedure can repair the damage to his and Vina's bodies, allowing him to return to Starfleet. Pike himself surprises Spock by revealing that he and Vina were able to have a son after repairing damaged Talosian medical equipment, and that the boy has developed similar mental capabilities.
- In the Debt of Honor graphic novel, Ben Finney's daughter, Jame, is revealed to have followed Kirk into Starfleet in an attempt to balance the scales after her father falsely framed him for murder.
- "Rivals" loosely follows up on "Amok Time," revealing T'Pring and Stonn had a daughter, T'Ariis. However their marriage fell apart not long after, with Stonn belatedly realizing Spock was correct, and "having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting."
- The Modala Imperative miniseries of this volume actually received one, when DC's Next Generation comic ran another four-part series to follow-up on the original, and answer the lingering questions.
- Several are part of the testimonies in "The Trial of James T. Kirk:"
- She's All Grown Up: A Parental Substitute variation in Debt of Honor. Kirk's goddaughter, Jame Finney, has followed him into Starfleet. When Kirk arrives aboard Enterprise, when he gets to the bridge he's astonished to see the now-20-something Lieutenant Finneynote at the con.
- Shown Their Work: In addition to all the Call Backs, Continuity Nods and outright Continuity Porn, the writers really showed how well-versed they were with the franchise. Even Enterprise's rarely-mentioned aft phaser banks get used in one issue.
- Shrouded in Myth: The Worthy, a group of ancient explorers, adventurers, and diplomats who were lost in space, whose adventures are legendary throughout the galaxy.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Pretty much sums up Kirk and R.J. Blaise's working relationship.
- Space Battle: Not being tied to the limitations of visual effects technology or budgets, the series is able to provide far more combat than the Original Series. Enterprise participates in several engagements throughout the book, including one-on-one actions, a chaotic battle royale between a Federation task force, Klaa's Bird of Prey, the Salla's flagship, and Sweeny's entire fleet, and teams up with Excelsior to curb stomp a Maroan attack group.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Zig-Zagged. Ship names are variously referenced both with and without a "the" with no particular consistency.
- Spontaneous Human Combustion: The first annual features a planet that's become so polluted, any physical contact between its inhabitants will cause them to immediately burst into flames. It also affects anyone visiting the planet without adequate protection. Unfortunately, Sulu's love interest gets exposed to protect another scientist under her command.
- Status Quo Is God: Averted in issues 1-12, which featured an extended story line building up to the Trial of James T. Kirk in issue 12, with several recurring characters (R.J. Blaise, Lts. M'yra and Li, etc.) throughout the arc as regular recurring characters. However after issue 13 it's played straight. Although there were a few multi-parter (such as the six-part "Tabukan Syndrome," each story became self contained, and with a handful of exceptions any characters introduced in a story only appeared for the duration of that story, and never appeared again afterwards.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: Seeing as it's Star Trek, there's plenty of them. Most notable among them are the Olahm, who wear God Guise as a Hat.
- Swirly Energy Thingy: One issue features a species made up entirely of what are effectively sentient tornadoes.
- Technobabble: It wouldn't be Star Trek without it, although used sparingly.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
- Any time Kirk and crew find themselves teamed up with the Klingons.
- This pretty much sums up the entirety of the working relationship of Kirk and R.J. Blaise
- Temporal Paradox: Chekov discusses one of Star Trek's most famous in issue 10: Kirk's glasses, which McCoy gave him in Star Trek II and Kirk pawned in Star Trek IV. He points out that no one ever actually made the glasses: McCoy bought them and gave them to Kirk, Kirk went back in time and pawned them, but otherwise the glasses just are, and were never actually created.
- There Is a God!: Kirk makes this comment verbatim in his personal log when he observes that Starfleet assigned him a female Protocol Officer.
- Third Wheel: Chekov intentionally makes himself one. He interrupts a dinner date between Sulu and Nina by pretending to be returning some music Sulu loaned him, then remarking how much he loves Japanese food. They conspire to call his bluff by inviting him to join them, and Chekov backs out.
- Time Travel: Several arcs, including the use of the Guardian of Forever, solar slingshot maneuvers, and other methods.
- Unexpected Inheritance: When Kirk meets an old friend at an Academy reunion, she reveals that her husband was murdered, and his will stipulated that Kirk was his sole heir. Kirk is stunned to when she tells him this included her husband's lands, noble title, and wife.
- Unobtanium: Issue 29 deals with a very rare, but very important mineral used in Federation computer cores called hawkingite. It's so rare that it was only known to exist on two planets, only one of which lies in Federation space. Not only that, but the Zuynan hawkingite is nearly twice as pure as the purest previously-known sample.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Kirk and Blaise. They're both quite attracted to one another, but various things keep getting in the way. They finally do resolve it in Special #1, but Kirk promptly torpedoes the thought of a lasting relationship.
- The Unreveal: Issue 6 ends with Ensign Fouton infecting Prefect Witten with the plague ravaging the lower caste of New Brinden, and Witten begging Kirk for help. The next issue finds Enterprise already on a new assignment. How the plague was actually cured is never revealed, but Witten nonetheless turns up to testify at Kirk's trial completely healthy.
- Used Future: Averted with the Federation, which is as clean and pristine as it was throughout the films and series. However the trope very much comes into play in some of the seedier locales and less advanced planets.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: Uhura and R.J. take shore leave at a pond so the latter can vent her frustration and feelings for Kirk. R.J.'s bathing suit almost doesn't even qualify as one.
- Waterfall Shower: Uhura takes one while relaxing with R.J. in issue 10.
- What Could Have Been: An In-Universe example: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy explore a planet much like the Amusement Park Planet, except in this case its effects are actually real. Kirk's fantasy has him imagining what things could have been if David had followed him into Starfleet.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Issue 19 is very similar to the classic M*A*S*H episode "Who Knew," in which Hawkeye volunteers to write a eulogy for a nurse he was dating after she was killed when she stepped on a landmine. Both stories centered around the fact that no one knew anything about the deceased, and the effect this has on the one giving the eulogy.
- Will They or Won't They?: Kirk and Blaise, in what was to be an ongoing subplot. However Executive Meddling led to Blaise being dropped from the book without explanation, making this an Aborted Arc.
- Blaise does eventually make an appearance in Special #1, in which she and Kirk finally resolve their Unresolved Sexual Tension...
- World Tree: The mythology is discussed in issue 34.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: In issue 34 Enterprise encounters a planet with properties similar to the Amusement Park Planet in the classic episode "Shore Leave," and in fact, the episode is specifically referenced. However in this case, reality is actually changed, based on the individual's perceptions. For example, a discussion about the World Tree concept leads to a tree spontaneously appearing, and generating life on the planet. However one's private thoughts can create a pocket universe, of sorts, which anyone not privy to those thoughts will not experience. Kirk uses it to create a reality in which his son followed him into Starfleet, and became executive officer of Enterprise. Because of Spock's formidable mental discipline, he's able to follow Kirk and McCoy into the realities they create.
