BotTalk Reviews

Sato gives Kirk command of the Omega and he immediately springs into action, giving various orders.  The Omega speeds back to Earth only to find it has been bombarded by the Warp Cores from the Klingon Fleet.  Sato challenges the Klingon Fleet Commander to single combat.  He eventually defeats his opponent and sends the Klingons to their death while Kirk questions Agnes.  Earth, having been devastated, breaks aways from the Federation and is now an independent world.   The distinction between Sato and Kirk is further displayed here.  Kirk jumps into action, giving orders the moment he is given command.  Sato hesitates at the very idea of bloodshed but ultimately, kills the Klingon Commander and later, spills even more blood.  The last panel is... certainly something.  Nothing I expected.  Given that the Klingon situation has been resolved and Earth has declared independence I wonder where the story goes from here.   seven out of ten...

In space the Enterprise is pummelled by the drones but Uhura manages to send out a signal.  The drones begin to target each other.  On the planet Spock, Scotty and D-6 sink further underwater and discover a plant enveloped spaceship while Chapel battles The Seed.  Spock mind melds with a giant octopus that gives the backstory of The Seed.  Chapel is beaten and imprisoned as The Seed prison ship rises from the depths to confront the Enterprise, with a possessed Una in command. This is the most interesting issue of Seeds of Salvation thus far.  D-6 continues to feel like an annoying Star Wars character, making wisecracks constantly.  We get a callback to better Trek with Spock mind melding with a non-humanoid lifeform here.  The Seed backstory is unremarkable really.  The stakes were raised this issue on multiple fronts though.     six out of ten.

Here she comes, an underwater tree again! Sentient vines that control minds this gonna conclude this time or is gonna continue to another issue again? ahhhhh ahhhh ahhhhh ahhhhh  Underwater Sentient vines woman! And it will! It will continue to issue 5, but we have a moving plot now. So we continue underwater with Christine Chapel fighting the vine people while Spock, Scotty, and D6 fight then make contact with the giant squid in only the way Spock would. In space Enterprise works out a solution to stop the Arken drones, then come face to face with another larger ship, which is where we will have to wait for the next issue. This actually a pretty good story that would have been a good addition to season 3 instead of some of the episodes we got. Vine woman is hell bent on some good old fashioned vengeance! 8.932/10

Star Trek’s first-ever interactive original graphic novel!  “Meet the new GOD of Cats!” Finally a Lower decks story where we can make T'Ana a godlike being while Brad Boimler is turned into a borg and Andy Billups is eaten by a chest bursting alien or “nutrek gorn hatchling”.  What the causality loop crazed scientist experiment was that?! Well what it is, is a choose your own adventure style story that leaves you turning to the pages you’re given until it finally leads down the path toward a very good conclusion. Along the way it gets a little confusing and would probably work better as a physical book and it could just be that way because I’m reading off a pdf file and for all I know the digital copy lets you click on the page option. It doesn’t take away from the issue itself though, which is very good. Good issue and somehow a 10/10

As this is a TPB (Collects Star Trek: Lower Decks #1-3 (2022)) this is going to be a list of initial thoughts. Starfleet has other captains but you wouldn’t know it by how it acts. Photons be free, Mariner! Photons be free! Love that these specific writers for this story organically referenced Voyager’s EMH and his fight for photonic rights. Good reference that actively fits in with the universe. Dracula holoprogram being the A story meanwhile the B story is second contact goes bad, are they on the right planet or did they end up somehow on the wrong planet, a planet where they’re closeted furries? Love that even here they give Shaxs Drazon a best day. And the plot twists wherein they landed on the wrong side of the planet/Dracula has slowly taken over the ship. Love that it all ties together in the end and Dracula goes off to join the Emergency Hologram Academy run by Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram (love that for him). It’s a good story that fits better as a TPB, which is why I ...

T'Lyn being the best character? Laapeerians vanished? T'Ana playing a prank on the captain? It must be issue 14! The Cerritos visits neighbouring Laapoonia to find out why the Laapeerians disappeared suddenly, Jack Ransom and an away team including T'Lyn, D'Vana Tendi and Brad Boimler beam down and are suddenly greeted by people who fan worship Vulcans which makes Tendi mad and more jealous. Meanwhile on the ship Carol Freeman handles the laapoonian ambassadorial team. All of which eventually ties together to lead us to our cliffhanger, which swoops down like some dark and mysterious bird of prey and now all we have to do is wait until next month! Is it worth it? Lower Decks seems to be regaining its momentum again after several less than stellar issues. This is part two of a plot that started in last issue and will continue into the next, and maybe one after that. Who knows! Lower Decks comics work better when they actually seem like they could fit into the show. 8.572...

Raad manages to sow some discontent between the Klingons and Romulans.  She challenges the Romulan commander to single combat.  When it appears she has the upper hand Miller takes a disruptor and kills her.  He is actually a Romulan agent.  The Klingons get the data they were promised, but are destroyed by the Romulans.  Miller is eventually rescued by the Enterprise and names Raad as the spy. This final issue stinks.  The single combat sequence is built up only for it to be rendered useless by the reveal of Miller being a spy.  This completely falls flat for me.  It doesn't make me want to go back and reread the previous issues for clues.  It just makes me want to forget about this entire mini series.  The promise of a mini devoted to no-name red shirts getting killed off was interesting, but it was a complete letdown.  And I say that as someone who enjoys horror films, there were one or two interesting kills.  But it all just...

Kathryn Janeway and the rest manage to escape from Species 8472 in a shuttle and head back to Voyager.  They find a cave and decide to hide so a new deflector can be built.  Sending out a probe, they find wreckage from a Borg cube, destroyed during the invasion of  several years ago.  Seven discovers Borg drones, cut off from the Collective, who have a working deflector.  8472 make contact with Janeway.  They want the deflector.  Janeway can either ally with them, or the Borg... The Borg drones who survived the 8472/Borg war and just happen to have a working deflector is very convenient.  At least they remembered Voyager's upgrades provided by Future Janeway.  This issue moves at a fairly brisk pace, only giving us a few pages to spend time with The Doctor and Tuvok.  It does give the feeling of a Voyager season finale though.   seven out of ten. 

James T. Kirk and Captain Sato discuss classic literature while the command crew arrives.  They make final preparations to engage Transwarp drive when a fleet of Klingon ships are detected.  The Borg-enhanced Omega arrives and immediately comes under attack.  As the Omega fights for its life Kirk begins to flashback to the death of his son (David Marcus in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock).  As a Klingon boarding party breaches the hull Kirk appears on the bridge, reporting for duty and wearing a Starfleet uniform. We see the polarity between a resurrected Kirk and Sato, his modern counterpart.  Sato knows little of war while Kirk is more than experienced, Sato even giving Kirk a specific number of people who died as a result of orders he gave.  We get some time with the crew of the Omega... but not much.  A few even appear to have been killed off during the battle.  This is still the most engaged, to pardon a pun, I've felt with an IDW Trek c...

As the landing party tries to avoid The Seed they become separated.  Spock and D-6 encounter Scotty and the trio manage to escape in a mini sub as the underwater complex is destroyed.  Underground, Chapel comes face to face with La'an Noonien-Singh and Number One, now possessed by The Seed.   Again, a lot going on this issue... and again, very little seems to happen.  The cliffhanger of the Enterprise being surrounded is followed up on by only a few pages.  The action of this issue is focused on the surface, with Chapel having several conversations with her old friend, now possessed by The Seed.  It is the old routine of a friend telling someone things they don't want to hear or don't want to admit.  Seen it before a thousand times.  D-6 continues to feel like a Star Wars character and Scotty hardly registers to me as actually acting like Scotty. six out of ten.

Part 3 starts with a quick flashback scene with Christine Chapel and Jinare before returning to the present with the plant terror trying to coax chapel to join, but is stopped by Una Chin-Riley.  Una and Chapel stay behind to buy time for the rest of the landing party, meanwhile in orbit the ship is about to be attacked by an alien race. Spock and D-16 make it to the sub but are stopped by the returning giant squid from issue one.  In between space and underwater we learn the vine creatures were imprisoned by an ancient race called the Arken (who are surrounding the Enterprise) who have less than benevolent reasons for imprisoning the vine people, the vine people are pissed and we’re left in another cliffhanger. One of the many things I’ve always liked about Star Trek, they introduce an alien race that’s considered ancient and give you enough information that leaves you wanting more. And with this issue specifically they are doing just that while keeping the pacing moving alo...

Brad Boimler and Sam Rutherford ordered an android from Harry Mudd Companions! Beckett Mariner tries to avoid going to the dentist! Cerritos is visiting Laaperia for second contact! Surely this is a normal day for the Cerritos! And it kind of is, Boimler and Rutherford’s android goes on a rampage while Shaxs Drazon chases down Mariner to drag her to see the dentist. Eventually the Cerritos arrives to make second contact with the Laaperians, but when the away team beams down, they arrive into a... to be continued! A good issue after a string of not great issues, and is a day in the life type story that eventually reaches the overarching plot, a plot that is a mystery for the crew to solve.  So a good story, decent art as always.  It’s about as Rick Berman era trek as you can get. 7/10

The Klingons torture the captured Starfleet personnel while, in space, they face off against the Romulans.  Neither willing to make the first move.  On the surface the trapped personnel manage to raise the buried ship from the swamp and blast off.  The captured Starfleet crew turn the tide on their captors and escape.  The buried ship is eventually destroyed by the Romulans and later the Klingons and Romulans agree to meet, and the Romulans ask them to bring the recaptured Starfleet personnel with them.   This issue was better than the previous ones.  The stakes feel higher with Klingons and Romulans getting involved.  Red shirt crew continue to get killed off though, and two are tortured by the Klingons with painstiks.  Honestly, I was expecting more gore once the Klingons showed up, but that was not the case. six out of ten.

The Voyager crew meet in sickbay and discuss the situation.  Part of the command crew attempt to retake Main Engineering.  B'Elanna Torres hits a plasma conduit that should disintegrate Species 8472 on contact, but fails.  8472 destroy the main deflector, rendering Voyager unable to open a rift back home.  The team surrenders and, leaving Seven of Nine behind, are taken to meet the Hierarch of Species 8472.  Kathryn Janeway's meeting does not go well and after B'Elanna finds the data they need to open a rift home Janeway tells her to delete it. Species 8472 kinda has a point here.  Janeway aided the Borg in their conflict.  They didn't follow First Contact procedures.  They also never bothered to learn their real name, they just continue to use the Borg designation.  This issue feels somewhat rushed but it does make Species 8472 seem as threatening as they were during their first appearance.  Though, you would think they would have more...

The submarine crew manage to escape from 'squid thingies' and enter some sort of underwater structure.  Making their way inside they encounter people covered in strange vines until they discover Christine Chapel's friend, Jinare, covered in the same vines and seemingly possessed by some entity.  In orbit, Nyota Uhura manages to decipher an ancient symbol.  It states the planet is a prison for the entity.  It then detects the Enterprise and sends multiple ships to intercept.  The robot, D-6... is annoying.  It feels like a character from a completely different show... like a Marvel character... full of quips that are supposed to be funny or endearing but fall flat.  Our actual Star Trek characters also feel off... like they were written by someone who has only seen a handful of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episodes.  Scotty especially feels very ADHD. five out of ten.

And now in part 2, the away team goes deep underwater only to discover a city ruled by... vines? Meanwhile on the ship, Uhura attempts to translate writing the sensors picked up in the ice, writing that could signal doom for them all! And here we are with part two in which they go looking for Jinare only to find The Terror Beneath the Seas. But at least no one’s bored at this point. Meanwhile in space the Enterprise faces its own problems and crises to solve. It keeps the pace from the first issue while giving us a mystery on the planet for both ship and away team to solve. 8/10

And now the conclusion! The crew is in 1985 on Earth attempting to find extra whales to help keep the species alive in the 24th century, along for the journey are the two beluga whales, will they find these whales and make it back? For some reason there’s a Klingon ship in orbit! For reasons! This second part is an improvement over the first part if nothing else. The landing party manage to find a way out to sea, they manage to wrap everything up and for some reason there’s a Klingon ship in orbit as well that they dispatch easily as it’s a 20th century Klingon ship. For all that, the plot is pointless and throwing in a Klingon ship (for reasons!) doesn’t add anything to the story, not even tension, it’s at least an enjoyable read where you’re at least not bored and just wondering when it ends. At least it moves along if just a bit rushed, but they only have so many pages to wrap this story up, at least this time they avoided the usual time tropes of pointing out how weird and crazy th...

Three of the red shirts dangle on the antenna array while taking sniper fire.  Meanwhile, inside the base they discover a warp core.  The base is actually a starship.  As the core is brought online two of the Romulans make it to the Beam Out point, only for one of the red shirts to jump into the matter stream.  The result is horrifying once it materializes.  The other two red shirts that were on the antenna are beamed out by a cloaked ship in orbit... one that belongs to the Klingons. One of the Romulans operating from the Bird of Prey is named Neral.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to be the same character from TNG and DS9.  As that character eventually becomes Praetor, I assume it is.  Honestly that name drop is the most interesting thing about this issue.  More red shirts perish.  The story continues to meander along.  The introduction of Klingons here could be interesting.  But I expect it will be just an excuse to up the...

The USS Sagan confronts a Gorn fleet.  Moments from destruction they accept an offer to join the Federation and avert an armed conflict... only for their ships to explode, as well as the Sagan.  Captain Sato and four others manage to beam out at the last minute. The Burn has just destroyed every Warp Core in the galaxy.  72 hours later the surviving Starfleet captains meet and discuss the situation on Earth.  Captain Sato suggests using Transwarp.  At this moment a Borg Queen seems to appear, taking everyone by surprise.  It is Agnes Jurati.  She proposes the use of Borg Transwarp technology in exchange for a position as Chief Engineer on a starship and access to a certain item on the Daystrom Institute Station.   A new ship is constructed, seemingly using the old frame of the USS Theseus.  Jurati visits Daystrom Station and resurrects James T. Kirk.   A lot going on this first issue, and many references.  The Burn comes from Star T...

The USS Cerritos has to travel back in time to 1985 to rescue more humpback whales to bring them forward in time because the whales from the last time didn’t repopulate as well as everyone hoped. So instead of a new, original idea they... are doing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I mean they could have done some kind of story where they track down that probe thing if they really wanted to do Star Trek IV. Otherwise this is HEY REMEMBER STAR TREK IV THE ONE WITH WHALES? REMEMBER KIRK AND SPOCK IN 1986? REMEMBER WHALES! REMEMBER THE WEIRD TIME TRAVEL SEQUENCE? Remember? They even have Shaxs dressed like Spock from that movie and Brad Boimler dressed like Marty McFly. Also I get Jack Ransom is supposed to be a meathead or something, but you don’t get into Starfleet and work your way to first officer by being an idiot. Anyways the story in itself isn’t terrible, and while it absolutely wastes time trying to be a sequel to a much better movie, at least it takes the time to exposition dump wi...