"Nor Any Drop to Drink" was a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in 1969. It was the ninth story arc in the UK comic strips series, and was released in five parts within issues of TV21 & Joe 90. This was the ninth of 11 stories illustrated by Harry Lindfield.
Description[]
- Teaser, 15 November 1969
- In free space flight one moment… the next, submerged in the depths of an ocean! Incredible though it was, it had happened to the starship Enterprise… and utterly baffled Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock who had donned pressure suits to leave their craft and investigate. They found… trouble!
Summary[]
While exploring the Sigma Draconis Group, the USS Enterprise suddenly comes to a complete halt. The vessel has penetrated the dense liquid of a globular planet and experiences a pressure of nearly thirty atmospheres. Kirk and Spock swim out an airlock to look around, but a mammoth sea creature suddenly swallows the captain. Within its airy maw, Kirk is able to fire his phaser, annoy the creature, and be spat out.
They return to the ship, only to discover Sigma fishmen attaching grapplers to the Enterprise. The starship is towed by a submarine toward an undersea city. Kirk and Spock leave the airlock in their pressure suits to make peaceful contact with the natives, but they are captured, brought into the city and threatened with dissection.
Kirk escapes and returns with a raiding party. During the fighting, Kirk captures a freeze gun that generates immense cold and ice around any target. They locate a tank sporting a more powerful gun. After blanketing the Enterprise with ice, their ship begins to rise. The raiding party quickly returns to the ship before it breaks the surface. Deflectors shatter the ice, and the Enterprise launches back into space.
References[]
Characters[]
- Christine Chapel • Ross Johnson • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Sigma fishmen • "huge creature"
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • tank • Sigma submarine
Locations[]
- Sigma Draconis Group (globular planet)
- Referenced only
- Earth • Jupiter
Races and cultures[]
- Sigma fishman • Human • Vulcan
Science and technology[]
- airlock • communicator • computer • cudgel • deflector • dissection • engine • fishing rod • freeze gun • grappler • knife • observation port • phaser • pressure suit • scanner • sensor • spear • thruster • universal translator • webb-gun
Ranks and titles[]
- angler • captain • chief • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • scientist • Starfleet ranks
Other references[]
- atmosphere • bridge • city • density • dream • hull • minute • ocean • parley • planet • pressure • space • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • starship • vacuum
Chronology[]
- The lack of Pavel Chekov, James T. Kirk becoming momentarily paralyzed before being gobbled up by the sea creature, and Kirk calling McCoy "Mac" instead of "Bones" would place the story very early during the five-year mission, in 2265.
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS comic: "What Pain It Is to Drown" – In the late 2260s, the USS Enterprise is dragged below the surface of a dense, artificial, water-like world.
- TOS movie: Star Trek Into Darkness – In the Kelvin timeline in 2260, the USS Enterprise submerges to avoid detection by natives on Nibiru.
- TOS comic: "Under the Sea" – In 2265, the Galileo is dragged underwater during a search for a missing exploration ship.
- TAS episode: "The Ambergris Element" – In 2270, the Enterprise crew explores the oceans of Argo aboard the NCC-1701/5A aquashuttle.
Background[]
- The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("Nor Any Drop to Drink") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1. It was a line from the 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
- This is Christine Chapel's first appearance in the UK comic strips. She and McCoy tend to Hikaru Sulu, who had been injured when the Enterprise initially struck the watery world.
- The pressure against the ship (stated to be thirty tons per square foot) is equivalent to 28.353 atmospheres. (Atmospheric Pressure Calculator at the Vcalc website.)
- Phasers, engines and deflectors do not operate within the dense liquid.
- Ross Johnson is referred to only as Johnson. Although he could be Bill Johnson, it seems more likely he is the character referred to on screen as Johnson in TOS episode: "Day of the Dove".
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Spectre of the Zond |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next story: Menace of the Moloth |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Delta Vega: Meltdown on the Ice Planet |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Menace of the Moloth |
| Previous comic: Delta Vega: Meltdown on the Ice Planet |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year One | Next comic: Menace of the Moloth |
Production history[]
- This story was serialized over five issues of TV21 & Joe 90 magazine in two-page sections.
- 8 November, pages 1-2 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #7
- 15 November, pages 3-4 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #8
- 22 November, pages 5-6 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #9
- 29 November, pages 7-8 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #10
- 6 December, pages 9-10 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #11
- April 2016
- Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1 (IDW Publishing)
- 11 May 2017
- Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 10. (Eaglemoss)
External links[]
- Nor Any Drop to Drink article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.