The concept behind this series is strong as it allows two writer/artist teams to capture a moment in any timeline of the Star Trek universe and each story to have a beginning middle and end. This issue covers Enterprise and TNG, but is it good?
Star Trek: Waypoint #4 (IDW)
So what’s it about? The synopsis reads:
First, an ENTERPRISE story by Vivek Tiwary and Artist TK. Captain Archer’s pet beagle Porthos takes center stage in a Temporal Cold War tale that sees the beloved pooch traveling back in time in order to save a young Jonathan’s life. Then, a NEXT GENERATION story by Scott Bryan Wilson involving double trouble – quite literally – for an away team when they explore a strange new planet!
Why does this book matter?
These are basically lost stories, which means we can revel in the characters we love in stories that can take chances with the genre. That means high concept sci-fi that a TV show or movie couldn’t accomplish with our favorite characters!
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
It’s easy to forget how close to now Enterprise took place.
The first story opens on Johnny Archer when he’s just a boy in 2020. He’s enjoying the great outdoors but is met with a surprise that could end his life. This story, written by Vivek J. Tiwary, is a nice reminder of how close to our own timeline the Enterprise series was. It also has a nice cute twist at the end. There’s a rather creative double page spread by Hugo Petrus showcasing the cracking of ice as Johnny attempts to escape his doom.
The second story by Scott Bryan Wilson and drawn by Caspar Wijngaard takes place in in the TNG series with Worf and Doctor Crusher encountering a strange flower on a new planet. Wilson does a great job capturing the philosophical element of the series as Crusher and Worf are duplicated. Picard ends up beaming down to make sense of things which turns this story into an exploratory sort of tale. Wijngaard draws the characters quite well and the flower planet certainly looks quite alien.
Smell it up Worf!
It can’t be perfect can it?
The first story is cute, but not the most substantial of stories. Time travel is a cheap sort of story element that ends up making the tale a throwaway one.
The second story possibly goes too deeply into the explanation of the alien entity. It’s certainly interesting, but there’s a lot of talking to understand what is happening, only to have everything resolved way too conveniently. Worf surprisingly stands around having nothing to say either, which is a let down given how much Crusher and Picard chat it up.
Is It Good?
The strengths of this series continue to be expressed via varied creative teams who capture a variety of subjects the series was good at capturing. This issue doesn’t quite excel in both stories, but it’s worthy of your time if you were a fan of either Enterprise or The Next Generation.
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