This two-part story is based on the televised episode
of the same name from the original Star Trek TV series.
This story opens on stardate 2821.5. This matches the
stardate given in the original episode. However, according
to the stardate system used in the Kelvin timeline, the
stardate should match the year in which it occurs, 2258.
Since the previous story
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" began on
2258.56, this one would have to be some time after that,
perhaps 2258.6.
Then, on page 20, Kirk's log states that the stardate is 2328.3.
Obviously this is a misprint, since that would be earlier
than when the story opened! Most likely it's meant to read
2823.3 (though, again, it should be 2258-point-something).
Captain Kirk's opening log entry is almost identical to the one in the original episode.
The quasar-like phenomenon seen here called Murasaki 312
also appeared in the ST-TNG episodes "Yesterday's
Enterprise" and "Data's Day".
The New Paris colony mentioned here also appears in the ST
novel Articles of the Federation and is mentioned
in the novelization of the 2-part ST-DS9 episode "The
Search".
Commissioner Ferris' outfit is similar in design to that
seen in the episode, but is white and black instead of all
blue.
The Galileo shuttlecraft is presumably named after the
scientist Galileo Galilei. Galileo
Galilei (1564-1642) is often considered the father of the
Scientific Revolution and contributed to astronomy, physics,
mathematics and philosophy.
In this story, Yeoman Janice Rand, who appeared in several
episodes of the original series, is one of the crewmembers
of the Galileo shuttlecraft. In the original episode, it is
Yeoman Mears instead. The original teleplay was written to
feature Yeoman Rand, but actress Grace Lee Whitney was no
longer involved in the series when the episode was shot.
In this story, Lieutenants Boma and Gaetano are depicted in
red uniform shirts. In the original episode, they wore blue
and gold, respectively.
On page 8, Spock remarks that the Enterprise's search for
them without scanners will be like the proverbial "needle in
a haystack". In the original episode, this aphorism is
instead spoken by Kirk in regards to the search in his
captain's log.
For some reason, most of the dialog for, and references to,
Sulu in the original episode are applied to Chekov instead
here. Possibly this was done to give Chekov some "screen
time" since his character did not appear during the first
season of the TV series.
On page 10, Commissioner Ferris remarks that, despite his
brief tenure, Captain Kirk has already developed a
reputation for neglecting protocol. This may refer to his
time at Starfleet Academy as told in the various
Starfleet Academy novels and his stowing away on the
Enterprise in
"The Vengeance of Nero".
It appears to be Dr. McCoy who is holding the spear pulled
out of Latimer's body on page 14, yet he is depicted in a
red shirt. It should be blue as depicted in the previous and
following pages (except on pages 19 and 22, where his shirt
is again colored red!).
On pages 14-15, Spock remarks on the similarity of the
chipped stone spearheads of the natives of Taurus II as
being similar to the Folsom points of an ancient stone age
culture of North America on Earth. This is a reference to the Folsom
cultures of North America (named for the town of Folsom, New
Mexico, where the first such spearhead was found) which existed
10-12 thousand years ago.
On page 16, Yeoman Rand refers to Lt. Latimer as Joseph. In
the 1998 Star Trek video game Starship Creator,
based on the original timeline of course, Lt. Latimer has
the first name Reese instead. Latimer may have been given a
different first name by his parents in the new timeline, or
maybe "Joseph" is his middle name and he goes by that.
On page 17, Lt. Boma suggests to Spock that they follow the
will of the majority in deciding whether to attack the
primitives that are surrounding the downed shuttle. In the
original episode, it is Lt. Gaetano who makes the
suggestion.
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