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"Mirrored" Part 1
Star Trek #15
IDW
Writer: Mike Johnson
Inspired by the original teleplay "Mirror, Mirror" by Jerome Bixby
Artist: Erfan Fajar
Cover by
Tim Bradstreet
November 2012 |
In the Kelvin timeline,
things take a very different turn in the mirror universe.
Read the full story summary of this issue at Memory
Beta
Notes from the Star Trek Chronology
Page 4 (set in the mirror universe) has Captain Spock
stating stardate 2258.56. This would seem to set the story in
between "The Truth About
Tribbles" and "The
Redshirt's Tale". However, I've chosen to leave
it in publication order since the bookends of McCoy and
Scotty's conversation about mirror universes could be taking
place at any time.
Didja Know?
This story is inspired by, but not an adaptation of, the original series
episode "Mirror, Mirror".
Didja Notice?
The cover of this issue has a partially obscured
sword-through-Earth logo of the Terran Empire seen in the
original series Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", the
ST-Enterprise episodes "In a Mirror, Darkly" Parts
1 and 2, and the ST-DS9 episode "Crossover". This version
also includes words that may be Latin for "Terran Empire",
but they're partially obscured and don't look quite right.
The cover also depicts Spock wearing insignia pins of the
Terran Empire on his collar.
Both the mainstream and mirror universe depictions of the
Enterprise in this issue are, inaccurately,
of the refurbished Enterprise of the original movie
series, not the one seen in the Kelvin timeline of the
current Star Trek
movie franchise. The depiction is the same in
"Mirrored" Part
2.
On page 2, McCoy and Scotty are discussing the idea of
travelling between alternate timelines. McCoy says that
Scotty makes it sound like a drive from Tupelo to the Gulf.
He is referring to
Tupelo, Mississippi and the Gulf of
Mexico, a trip of about 320 miles.
The Gemini Agent
implies that McCoy is from Mississippi.
On page 3, Scotty says, "Damn it, Bones, I'm an engineer,
not a poet." Obviously, this is a play on McCoy's habit of
saying, "Damn it, I'm a doctor, not a..." Possibly, Scotty
has noticed this tendency in the good doctor and is poking a
bit of fun at him during their friendly argument.
While discussing the possibility of alternate timeline
versions of themselves dropping by for a visit, notice that
McCoy's thought representations of alternate Scotty and
himself look like the actors who played them in the original
Star Trek TV series, James Doohan as Scotty and
DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy!
On pages 4-7, we get our first glimpses of Qo'nos, the
Klingon homeworld, in the mirror universe.
In the mirror universe, Captain Spock briefly interrogates
and then executes Chancellor Gorkon of the Klingon Empire.
Gorkon appeared in the original timeline in the 1991
movie Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country.
On page 6, Gorkon whispers, "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam," which
Spock translates as "Today is a good day to die." According
to Marc Okrand's book Klingon for the Galactic Traveler
(1997),
the phrase is more accurately, "It is a good day to die."
In this version of the mirror universe, Spock is the captain
of the Enterprise and Kirk the first officer. Of course, it was the opposite
in the original episode "Mirror, Mirror".
Lt. Sulu reports to Spock that Praxis is now under the
Terran Empire's control. Praxis is a
moon of Qo'nos and the primary source of energy production
for the homeworld. In the original timeline, Praxis exploded
in 2293 at the beginning of Star Trek: The Undiscovered
Country.
Commander Kirk travels to Rura Penthe to exact revenge on
the still incarcerated Nero. In the main timeline, Nero and
his crew and ship, the Narada, were captured by the
Klingons and held on the prison asteroid Rura Penthe for 25
years, as depicted in
"Never Bet
Against the Romulan".
In the mirror universe, Scotty brings Commander Kirk a
bladed instrument he found in Nero's quarters aboard the
Narada. It is the
Debrune teral'n, an ancient bladed weapon that is the
greatest symbol of the Romulan Empire. Nero took it from the
Romulan Praetor in
"Countdown" Part 3.
On page 15, the struts supporting the warp nacelles of the
I.S.S. Enterprise have an odd, jointed look to them
that isn't seen in later depictions.
On page 16 (and later), notice that mirror-Chekov has a semi-mohawk
going on!
On page 17, Chekov says, "Dosvedanya!" to Captain Spock.
This is Russian for "goodbye".
On page 19, panel 4, the saucer section of the I.S.S.
Enterprise is mistakenly labeled as NCC-1701-D instead
of NCC-1701. (The D-designation
belongs to the Next Generation era Galaxy-class
Enterprise.)
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