History Lesson

   

   

   

History Lesson

Description[]

From solicitations

Celebrate the20th Anniversary ofStar Trek: The Next Generation with this all-new relaunch of theTrek franchise incomics. In the first issue of this specialminiseries, planetTigan-7 requests entry into theFederation, but the Enterprise is attacked as a hostile invader when it makes contact, and the planet's leader has no record of any communication with any outside world.Riker,Tasha, andData beam down to theplanet in secret, and discover an information-obsessed culture, rewriting pieces of its 6,000-year history on a daily basis, to maintain political stability. An all-new, all-different, Next-Gen adventure, featuringCaptainJean-Luc Picard and the crew of theEnterprise-D!

Summary[]

TheUSSEnterprise-D is overTigan, a traditionally isolationist world;CaptainJean-Luc Picard talks with theTiganChancellor, thanking him for the opportunity for contact.CommanderRiker selectsData andTasha Yar for the away team to the planet.

On the bridgeGeordi La Forge detects a brief energy pulse from the planet. Awaiting their escort Picard fills in the away team on the unidentified energy readings, warning them to stay alert. They are met byEdic, who leads them to meet the Tigan Chancellor. En route Edic explains the Tigans' impressive power facility, thegravimatrix, and about theTigan neurological communications system which downloads information straight to the Tigans'cerebral cortexes via minutetachyon bursts.

As they reach the Chancellor the team are surprised to find themselves met by a ChancellorKadec, who claims no knowledge of anyone called Lomac. On consulting the Tigans' computers Data confirms no record of Lomac or any contact with theFederation.

Above, the Enterprise detects another energy reading and is fired upon.

On Tigan the team find themselves out of contact with the ship. Data find evidence in theTigan central computer that the first pulse Enterprise detected was aGravimetric pulse which could have been used to wipe the computer core clean. The core lost 1.3 trillion mega-bits in the pulse and as the Tigans haven’t used a written history in centuries the team surmise the pulses could be used to rewrite Tigan history. A near by Tigan hears the discussion and fires on Riker; Kadec orders the team fired upon and the security forces are lead by none other than a man named Lomac…

Elsewhere, theEnterprise is being hurled across thegalaxy by the Tigans' gravimetric pulse; if they don’t break free soon they’ll find themselves in theGamma Quadrant. Picard and Geordi devise a solution, pushing thewarp engines to full power and nearingwarp 10 they can break free, perform aslingshot maneuver and get back to Tigan moments before the pulse was fired. MisterWorf works on the necessary calculations.

In a Tigan library the truth about the history of Tigan is revealed, as Kadec and Edic tamper with Data’spositronic brain in the hopes of wiping his memory so upon his return to the Enterprise no one will know of the goings on below. When testing the gravimatrix a pulse was accidentally emitted; it wiped the Tigan computers and the entire Tigan database had to be re-entered by hand. The politicians of the time took the opportunity to make a few adjustments "for the good of the people" and others have been rewriting history ever since.

In a Tigan cell Yar completes adjustments to hercombadge and she and Riker prepare themselves as a Tigan guard approaches. As the guard enters they activate the badge which emits a continuous whine, sufficiently painful and distracting for the pair to battle their way through a succession of Tigan guards and make their escape.

Above theEnterprise returns and fires on a Tigan emplacement on the planet. Below Riker and Yar find their way to Data and Kadec just in time to witness Lomac making a stand; seeing the error of his ways he arrests Kadec for crimes against the state.

Data comes back online asking“Did anyone get the name of thatsehlat?”, but will soon recover, his advanced brain saving him from the damage the Tigan pulses might have done.

Later… The away team depart wishing Edic good luck on a reformed Tigan. Picard welcomes them back aboard the Enterprise.

In theobservation lounge Yar finds Data musing over recent events, thinking of the words ofSantayana“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”; his mind remembered everything, and maybe that ability will one day allow him to learn to behuman.

References[]

Characters[]

Data •Edic •Kadec •Geordi La Forge •Lomac •Jean-Luc Picard •William T. Riker •Deanna Troi •Worf •Natasha Yar

Referenced only

George Santayana

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class)

Locations[]

Tigan (Gravimatrix •Tigan central computer)

Referenced only

Gamma Quadrant

Races and cultures[]

android •Human •Klingon •Tigan

States and organizations[]

Federation Starfleet •United Federation of Planets

Other references[]

black hole •book •cerebral cortex •Chancellor of Tigan •combadge •containment field •coup •geothermic energy •gravimetric pulse •gravimetric wave •graviton gun •positronic brain •sehlat •slingshot effect •tachyon burst •Tigan interface •warp drive •warp 10

Appendices[]

Related media[]

• Space Seeds (TNG comic) - The events from this comic are referenced in "Space Seeds" when Data discovers elections on the planetLanger 14 were rigged in a similar fashion to the history rewriting on Tigan.

Background[]

• This is the firstStar Trek comic byIDW Publishing, and the firstStar Trek comic (with the exception ofStar Trek: The Manga in2006) sinceWildStorm Comics gave up the license in2001.
• The comic states that theEnterprise is being pushed across the galaxy at "near-light speeds" yet also that at full warp power theEnterprise could not break free and if they did not do so soon they would end up in the Gamma Quadrant. Given that they resorted to using time travel to escape one can assume the near-light speed line is inaccurate and theEnterprise was actually traveling at very high warp speeds, unless one takes relativistic effects into consideration.
• Thestardate given for theEditor's Log on the letters page is 60319.7, which would place the editorial content in early-2383.
• The comic received mostly good reviews; criticism was sometimes aimed at the artwork which is more stylized than many previousStar Trek comics. Whether in favor or not of that style choice there was a strong opinion that the likeness of Riker was a bit off. In the letters page ofIssue 2 it was revealed the artistCasey Maloney shared those concerns and was looking forward to drawing Riker with abeard as he would be appearing in other issues set later inTNG's run.
• With the exception of a brief cameo in theX-Men crossoverSecond Contact, this issue marks the first comic book appearance ofTasha Yar since the1988 six-issue miniseries preceding theDC Series

Covers[]

• This comic has four different covers, two which were equally widely available; one byDennis Calero and a photomontage. And two more limited availability retail incentive covers, both byZach Howard, either a color or sketch version of the same artwork.

• Dennis Calero's cover for this issue was later reused for the cover of the miniseries' omnibus book.

Images[]

TheTigan central computer.

Edic leads Tigan security forces.

Agraviton gun.

ATigan interface.

Edic.

Kadec.

Lomac.

Cover gallery[]

Howard cover

Howard sketch cover

Calero cover without titles

Howard cover without titles

Connections[]

• This issue is set inseason one of the TV series.
• The stardate given for the issue is 41590.8, due to the erratic stardate system used in the first season of TNG this could put placement of the comic over a large part of the series, the latest stardate before this is the episodeHide and Q on 41590.5. Stardates prior to this comic continue until much later in the series, the last episode which could be before beingHeart of Glory on 41503.7. On the letters page ofIssue 3 of the miniseries the editorDan Taylor suggested placement should be immediately after the episodeHide and Q, and interestingly whilstHide and Q starts before the given stardate it actually continues on after to stardate 41591.4.

Timeline[]

Publication history[]

17 January2007

First released byIDW Publishing.

12 September2007

Collected inThe Space Betweenpaperbackomnibus. (ISBN 1-60010-116-X)

25 December2012

Collected inStar Trek Omnibus: The Next Generation. (ISBN 1613775377)

2 March2017

Collected inGraphic Novel Collection,Volume 5. (Eaglemoss Collections)

28 May2019

Collected inThe Missions Continuehardcover omnibus. (ISBN 978-1-68405-421-3)

17 October2023

Collected in theLibrary Collection,Volume 2 omnibus. (ISBN 9798887240299)

Translations[]

December2009

German: Reprinted in the miniseries hardcover and paperback editions. (Cross Cult: hardcoverISBN 978-3941248458, paperbackISBN 978-3941248441)

February2009

Italian: Collected in the miniseries omnibus. (Free Books,ISBN 9788863310375)

27 September2017

Italian: Collected in the Italian release ofGraphic Novel Collection,Volume 5. (RCS MediaGroup, ISSN 977228074425770005)

External link[]

• History Lesson article atMemory Alpha, the wiki for canonStar Trek.