Christopher Cerf

The Enterprise is headed to Vega III to sign a trade treaty, to get Korium. The way the book phrases it sounds a bit ominous, though:

Vega III had a large supply of Korium, a rare metal used to build new starships. The United Federation of Planets needed Korium. The Vegans were going to give it to the Federation. The Prisoner of Vega (1977-10), 6

When they arrive, they are told they must leave or be destroyed. Kirk is friends with Queen Vanadala, though, and knows something must be wrong, so Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to investigate.

On the planet, they find that Klingons have taken over Vega III and imprisoned Queen Vanadala in order to take the valuable Korium for themselves. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy knock out three Klingon guards and steal their clothing in order to observe undetected (knowing, as we all do, that Augment Klingons are indistinguishable from humans).

They meet the Klingon leader, and Spock recognizes him:

"It is Commander Kalor!" whispered Spock. "The meanest Klingon of them all. I have met him before." The Prisoner of Vega (1977-10), 22

Our heroes are captured and imprisoned with Queen Vanadala, then all four are taken out to be executed. However, Kirk comes up with a cunning plan: stall for a few minutes until the time they have arranged for Scotty to beam them all back up, so they will be saved.

He does and they are.

Like The Truth Machine, it's not much of a story, but it's a picture book, so... good enough.… (meer)

A children's picture book.

The Enterprise receives a distress signal from the fifth planet of the star Fomalhaut--it seems that dinosaurs are terrorizing the populace, destroying their cities. The Enterprise rushes to their aid, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to investigate.

There are no dinosaurs. Instead, they encounter Colonel Kragg, who informs them that his armies are prepared to take over the universe--as soon as they learn the secret of the Warp Drive. And they will get it, too: they have a machine that can force a man to tell the truth.

Spock volunteers to be subjected to the machine, on the theory that if any of them can resist, it will be him, but it seems that his plan has failed. On command, he draws up plans for a warp engine.

In only two days, an engine has been built and placed into one of the Fomalhaut warships, but when they test the ship--it explodes! Spock has told a lie of omission--he did not inform them that if the dilithium crystals were not cut just so, then their ships would explode.

In the confusion, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are able to get the drop on the men of Fomalhaut, and return to the ship with Kragg as their prisoner.

A silly, simple story, with silly, simple language, but what do you expect from a picture book? As for the ending, well... we all remember "The Enterprise Incident", don't we? As Spock said, then, "It is not a lie to keep the truth to oneself."… (meer)

Access a version of the below that includes more illustrations on my blog.

By any objective measure, this is not a very good book: Kirk and the Enterprise visit an alien planet to secure trade with the Federation, the Klingons are there, Kirk wins by beaming the Klingon commander up with a plan that depends on an incredible amount of coincidence and isn't really explained all that well.

What makes the book fun are the pictures by Robert Swanson, which are excellent, but weirdly inaccurate. Like, he gets the likenesses down perfectly, but no one has an assignment patch on their uniform, and Captain Kirk has a digital wristwatch. Plus there's his Klingon uniforms, which defy all explanation, and give you some pretty awesome pictures of Captain Kirk showing off his legs.

The plot means that Kirk actually spends most of the story in this goofy disguise, rather than his usual uniform, which seems a pretty big oversight for a picture book.

Swanson's clearly been given some reference material, but no one has told him what it actually means. His Klingon ship on the surface of Vega looks like the Federation installation Deep Space Station K-7. Did someone hand him pictures from "The Trouble with Tribbles" but not tell him no Klingon ship actually appears in the episode? Still, it looks pretty good even if the subject matter is goofy. I can't wait until I have a kid, and this book is their introduction to Star Trek. It'll warp their perceptions for life.… (meer)