Star Trek: The Official Motion Picture Adaptation (2010)

Star Trek: The Official MP Adaptation (2010)

Authors: Mike Johnson / Tim Jones (from a script by Robert Orci + Alex Kurtzman) | Illustrators: David Messina / Claudia Balboni | Page Count: 147

"Where I'm from, when someone hits you, you hit back. How is that not logical?"

A  tattooed Romulan group in an inexplicably heavily armed mining vessel attack a Federation starship. It's during that encounter that for the 2009 reboot of Star Trek a number of important plot threads are born.

It then skips some years and enters the 'establishing character' introduction phase of the story, showing how two of its main protagonists respond to differing situations according to their individual natures.

Both are rebellious and far removed from the men we know them to become in established TOS continuity; e.g., the youthful James Kirk steals, is rude, cocky, knowingly sexist, directionless and fights in bars.

He's an arrogant prick, basically, but he's presented that way for a reason, serving as both a contrast and exhibiting a foundational attitude that can be used to gain an advantage in future exploits.

Alas, Kirk's journey from path-to-ruin towards a hard-won shining path-to-greatness isn't very interesting and, like the book as a whole, suffers from some awful planning and construction.

The promotion for the release promised scenes that were cut from the film. I don't know what the scenes are, but it doesn't help the story feel any less choppy. In fact, there are parts of the book, mostly action moments, that are a complete mess, bordering on incomprehensible.

The placement of speech bubbles in comics is an underappreciated art form, in general, but at times The Official Motion Picture Adaptation has some of the worst modern examples that I've personally seen in a long time. It's perhaps even more difficult to tell on a screen than on the page, but Spock, the person being addressed by the speaker, is there, underneath the bubbles.

The example that I've used is one of the most extreme ones, to be fair, but it was chosen to highlight an additional point - the artist didn't leave the letterer enough room to work with.

I know I should write about the relationships of the primaries, and the crafty way it both respects the existing continuity and forges ahead with its own semi-independent one, but I honestly just want to be done with new Trek so I can get back to the Star Trek that I love.

So I'll cut it short and end with some positives (that aren't all that flattering). The story has an aged version of one character. The scenes with that person were the only ones that I enjoyed reading, which, probably not coincidentally, are the same as my feeling about the movie itself.

But best of all, while there are some digitally illuminated backgrounds, the artist chose not to recreate the ridiculous amount of lens flares that makes the movie an unbearable experience.

The adaptation isn't a satisfying way to experience the story, but it's a hell of a better way to experience the visual side of it, even if that aspect also isn't as good as it could've been.

The book collects together Star Trek: The Official Motion Picture Adaptation issues 1-6.

Individual covers (clean). Click for FULL size: