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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

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Star Trek: The Q Gambit (Part 2) "The Q Gambit" Part 2
Star Trek #36
IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Roberto Orci
Art by: Tony Shasteen
Cover by: Tony Shasteen
August 2014

 

The Enterprise finds itself over 100 years in the future, when the Federation no longer exists.

 

Read the story summary at Memory Beta

 

Didja Notice?

 

In the "Previously in Star Trek" paragraph on the inside front cover of this issue, it states that Q has arrived in the new timeline "caused by the elder Spock's pursuit of Nero (as seen in the 2009 STAR TREK film)." But Spock did not intentionally follow Nero's ship into the singularity that transported them both back in time; both ships were sucked unintentionally into the gravity well of the singularity, as seen in "Countdown" Part 4 and in flashbacks in "The Vengeance of Nero".

 

The inside front cover of this issue features birth date information for McCoy, Scotty, and 0718. McCoy, born 2227 in Marietta, Georgia, Earth; Scotty, born 2222 in Linlithgow, Scotland, Earth; and 0718, online as of stardate 2260.314. These dates are correct from what was known before except for 0718; he was already online before the events of Into Darkness, which takes place in 2259. Possibly the stardate of his activation should be 2259.314, which would be a couple of months before the earliest stated stardate in Into Darkness, 2259.55.

 

As stated at the end of the study of "The Q Gambit" Part 1, the ships confronting the Enterprise at Deep Space Nine here are Jem'Hadar battleships.

 

On page 5, Jem'Hadar soldiers of the Dominion beam aboard the Enterprise and take the crew prisoner. The Jem'Hadar and other members of the Dominion were seen frequently in episodes of ST: DS9.

 

The being depicted on the right-hand edge of the splash page of page 8 may be the Lurian, Morn, seen in numerous episodes of ST:DS9 as a patron of Quark's Bar.

 

The commander of Deep Space 9 is found to be the Cardassian Gul Dukat and the space station referred to as Terok Nor. In the original timeline, the station was originally a Cardassian one, used during their occupation of the planet Bajor and named Terok Nor; the Cardassians were ultimately driven away in a Bajoran uprising and the station was administered by a combination Bajoran/Federation contingent, as seen in episodes of ST: DS9. Gul Dukat was also a recurring character in that series.

 

In this story, Dukat has a diagonal scar running across his face from right to left, starting above his right eye. Additionally, his right eye appears to be discolored, suggesting he may be blind in that eye in the new timeline. These traits did not exist in his appearances in the original timeline.

 

Gul Dukat suggests that Kirk has never seen the Cardassian species before. This would make sense since the Federation is not known to have encountered the Cardassians until the 24th Century in the original timeline. However, in "Parallels", Uhura orders a couple of Cardassian sunrise drinks at the Shipyard Bar, implying the Cardassians were already known. In the lettercol of Star Trek #38 ("The Q Gambit" Part 4), writer Mike Johnson explains the seeming continuity glitch with a sort-of No-Prize like answer: "The 'Cardassian Sunrise' cocktail was introduced to the Federation by a lone Cardassian smuggler, the first of his species to enter Federation space years before. Only the few humans who did business with him at remote outposts ever saw his face before he was murdered in an I'danian spice barter gone awry, but the popularity of his drink spread quickly, years before the Federation would ultimately make first contact with the Cardassians as the history books record it."

 

Page 13 introduces Benjamin Sisko. In the original timeline, he was the commander of Deep Space 9 during the events of the TV series ST: DS9.

 

The "Open Channels" letter column of Star Trek #37 reveals that the two prominent figures in the background of page 14, panel 2, are Trent and Teresa Walsh, who were drawn into the comic in return for their generous donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at 2013's ComicsPro meeting.

 

Page 16 introduces the U.S.S. Defiant. This was a Starfleet ship stationed at DS9 during the Dominion War in the original timeline.

 

Page 17 introduces the shapeshifter Odo. He was one of the regular characters in episodes of ST: DS9.

 

Page 19 introduces Keiko O'Brien as the captain of the Defiant. She was a recurring character in episodes of ST: DS9, where she was a botanist, stationed with her husband, Starfleet engineer Miles O'Brien, who is introduced in this timeline in "The Q Gambit" Part 4.

 

On the last page of this issue, we see that, in the future timeline, Earth is now subjugated by the Klingon Empire. The bridge in the foreground appears to be a Klingonized version of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

 

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