----------------------------------------------

Strictly for my own amusement -- no other reason!

How far will I get before I lose interest, I wonder?

Clever!  I particularly like the slow, 3-panel fade-in on the transporter effect, and giving McCoy two separate word balloons makes his line "By bribing them?" even funnier.

I'm all for seeing how the rest of this episode pans out, JB-style!

Shaun Barry: Clever! I particularly like the slow, 3-panel fade-in on the transporter effect, and giving McCoy two separate word balloons makes his line "By bribing them?" even funnier.

I'm all for seeing how the rest of this episode pans out, JB-style!

----------------------------------------------------

Me too! It's like when I first got a peek at 'Crew' - it's a tad scary how natural a fit JB's style is with classic TREK!

Of course, the really spooky thing is just how much the original Enterprise crew (i.e., Pike, Number One, Boyce, etc.) look like 'JB-style characters' in real life! By which I mean, if ever I saw a group of real-life people who look like they'd been created and drawn by JB, it'd be the bridge crew from 'The Cage':

Way cool.

But, it just reminds me how I want new TREK comics from you!

Greg, Eric - agreed!

I'll say it again - JB's IDW TREK comics are one of the few spin-offs to properly capture the original TREK feel (to the point where 'Crew' felt akin to seeing some long-lost unproduced scripts from the show archives, made into comics!). It's a criminal shame that TPTB decided to focus on new movie spin-offs instead (half of which are just weak retellings of original TREK episodes) - here's hoping that someone in charge sees sense, and green-lights more GOOD Star Trek comics soon...

One the questions, of course, is whether I would completely restrict myself to existing "footage", or allow myself access to, say, my 3D modeler for ships we haven't seen before -- or even a new alien race. And if I went so far as to combine images -- the new aliens on the Bridge, for instance -- would that be "cheating"?

There are many considerations that need to be addressed before embarking upon a project like this. As already noted, there is the question of whether my story could include new sets/models/characters. Beyond that, when I have thought about something like this over the years, I have also wondered about some of the following:

• Guest Stars. Would I want to feature characters "returning"? A story I long ago wanted to explore, for instance, was the return of Gary Mitchell. But if that happened, how would I handle it? Would I allow myself to use shots of Gary Lockwood lifted from sources outside STAR TREK? And what about actors who have not appeared on TREK? Would it be "cheating" (and perhaps even pointless) to finally have Robert Culp guest star on the show?

• Post-TOS Continuity. In my IDW series I have already visited the characters as they were after the show. While this project would be set "between episodes" in the original, would I be bound to what we know from what came later? Could I finally do "The Face of Fear", and "reveal" why the Klingons looked so different in TMP, or does the ENTERPRISE resolution block that path? This is, after all, the kind of project that would be endlessly dissected by the overly anal fanboys, and while I generally care not a whit about what they might think, I also don't want to just HAND them their ammunition!

• A Bottle Episode. Depending on the limitations placed by my decisions about new sets and new ships, would I be limited to a story that takes place entirely aboard the Enterprise? TOS often recycled bits and pieces of sets and props from previous episodes -- NOMAD's "head" atop the Romulan cloaking device, the Tantalus control panel decorating McCoy's office, Beta V as Mr. Atos' console, etc -- so would I be at liberty to do the same?

Which, of course, brings up the BIG question:

• Cut and Paste. When I first conceived this project, lo these many years ago, my thought was to use scenes, including dialog, from TOS show ON VIDEO. Doing it in "fumetti" form is, of course, enormously liberating in this respect, since I can have the characters saying entirely different dialog -- but can I drop Character A into Scene Q, where s/he was not before, in order to get the scene/interaction I want? Just how "pure" does this project need to be?

The scene has no particular "meaning". (Bad day for Scotty? Actually, he was just the first one I found lying on the floor at the right angle!) Just seeing for myself how well various elements could be integrated. A distinct bonus is that TOS used virtually the same lighting set-ups on all scenes that did not require specific "mood".

••

I didn't get much of an impression that the people behind those Fotonovels had any experience actually creating comic books.

This is something I have noticed many a time when "Science Fiction Artists" attempt to cross over into this field. They may be superb at their particular job, but the language of comics eludes them. So, too, with the Fotonovels. Taking pictures and sticking word balloons into them does not a comicbook make!

Later episodes give much more to select from. Maybe I'll have to pick another, if I really want to pursue this.

Great idea, JB.

I think it would be wonderful regardless of what story you decide to do.

Just have fun.