That Time the Star Trek: The Next Generation Comic Book Did a Christmas Issue (1987)

In 1988, Star Trek: The Next Generation hit television screens, and although it definitely made waves as a successor to the original series, it wouldn’t be fair to say that it was instantly popular. In fact, it’s pretty much universally agreed that the show took a while to properly hit its stride. The original comic book based on the franchise, a six-issue mini-series published by DC Comics, showed similar growing pains. One symptom of the oddities thus demonstrated is the fact that they did a Christmas story with the second ever issue. Since it’s the season, let’s have a look at this bizarre corner of the Star Trek universe.

Before I get too far into the weeds, a bit of context is in order. ST:TNG itself premiered on September 28, 1987. This comic book mini-series sent out its first issue barely more than a month later (with this issue, again only the second, having an on-sale date of December 1, 1987). It can therefore be assumed that the creators had not seen a finished episode yet by the time they had to get these comic stories ready. They probably had a packet of visual aids and character bios, alongside a basic synopsis of what the series was expected to be like, and had to go from there. Any rough edges (and there were quite a few) might be forgiven when taking this into account.

As we look to the crew of the Enterprise-D at the beginning of this issue's story, most of them are preparing to go off-shift to attend holiday festivities (and we learn that, somehow, lots of planets... not just Earth... have similar holidays at this approximate time. Don't think about that too hard). Picard's not much of a partier (the writer clearly having read something about Picard's less-than-social behavior in the show's information packet), but he understands that one must make appearances. The party is to take place in the holodeck, which has been programmed to feature a wintery venue.

Not everything goes according to plan, of course, as two notable incidents happen in close succession: an unknown vessel approaches the Enterprise, and the Enterprise is hit by an energy wave (not apparently from the unknown vessel) that knocks off power momentarily. Riker, keeping watch on the bridge while Picard and most of our leads attend the party, gives the captain such information as is known on what happened, but isn't too concerned. In fact, he quickly invites the inhabitants of the unknown vessel to join everyone on the Enterprise for the Christmas party. Whatever else might be said about this issue's oddities, the close-up of Riker's face is a nice likeness of what Jonathan Frakes looked like at this early point in the series.

It is eventually discovered that the aliens have energy siphoning abilities, and are pursing the wave that had struck the Enterprise. The wave, itself, seems pretty eager to be shared with any and all aboard, offering warm feelings to anyone who comes in contact with it. Although most crewmembers are unable to see the entity directly, La Forge is able to perceive it through his visor, and the art provides a view of what he sees. Look familiar? The story ends with everyone, alien and human alike, experiencing the good feelings the entity offers (some might use more suggestive terms, which I confess the book's depictions freely allow) before it departs.

Among the oddities of this story, we are led to believe that Troi can get a better read on the emotions of a subject through physical contact (despite such contact clearly being unnecessary elsewhere in the story, let alone in the series that inspired it), Yar^* makes a comment about reconnecting with her faith, and there's an awkward scene when the aliens first come on board where Picard seems offended that the aliens won't return his handshake, and Yar reminds him that alien cultures may not have the same customs (if anything, I'd have expected the roles to be reversed in such an exchange. See images related to all of these at the bottom of the page).

Finally, an oddity that, although it may not be the oddest thing about this issue, seems especially emblematic of the mini-series of which it's a part. There is a bit of a side-plot featuring the Bickleys, characters apparently created for this mini (and only featuring in the first four of its six issues!). I can only assume that, having read that ST:TNG was to feature married couples and families, the writer thought it would be fun to feature a married couple that bickered (see what they did there?) all the time. Apparently, the information packet didn't include a well-known edict of creator Gene Roddenberry's when the show was being created, in that members of the Enterprise crew were not supposed to have any personal conflicts (humanity supposedly having evolved beyond that). This little sub-plot doesn't really affect the rest of the story much, and as I've said, it disappears entirely from the franchise after only a couple more issues.

I hope you've enjoyed this little side trip into Trek history. However you celebrate, I hope you have a happy holiday season!

---

^*I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this mini-series features most of Yar's rare appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation comics, as by the time the next attempt is made, the series had already entered its second season, and the character of Yar had been killed off.