Writers Scott and David Tippton bring us yet another unlikely but enjoyable franchise crossover, having already written a Matt Smith Doctor Who / Star Trek Next Generation story, they have now turned their talent to produce an original series Star Trek / Planet of The Apes crossover.
The crossover is explained by way of an advanced portal that has allowed the Klingons to enter the apes alternative time line so they can expand their empire without Federation interference, of course Kirk and and his crew love nothing better than a little interference when it comes to the Klingon Empire so they have followed them through the portal to see what they are up to.
At the start of the issue we find Dr Zaius in deep thought as he ponders potential food shortages, the general unrest among the ape population, and the increasingly uncontrollable gorilla army who seem intent on invading the forbidden lands. Elsewhere the Klingons are fueling a potential apes civil war by providing the gorilla army with advanced weaponry, while Kirk and his crew are having trouble not only from the apes they encounter but from Taylor the stranded earth astronaut from the first two ape films. Taylor is upset that Kirk has decided to invoke the Federations Prime Directive, and ordered his crew not to interfere with the evolution of the planet apart from putting an end to the plans of the Klingons. Having managed to beam on to the enterprise Taylor is giving Kirk and his crew the run-around as he looks for weapons that will put an end to ape dominance over mankind, the inevitable fight between Taylor and Kirk finally takes place with Kirk literally loosing his part of his shirt before the two men agree on a compromise.
The story as Spock would say is fascinating and the Tippton brothers have successfully merged two worlds that I didn't think possible to merge, the story is a plausible one as far as space opera and talking apes can be and the story doesn't feel forced (see Star Trek / X-Men).
Rachael Scott's art is fantastic and her character likeness of the Enterprise crew is uncanny, something that's not always easy to do when your dealing with such well known and established characters. Personally I enjoyed seeing the old series Klingons again, who I much prefer to the film and Next Generation style ones (sorry Worf).
As strange a concept this book seemed when I first heard about it, it is a cracking read with great artwork and as they say in movie land well worth the price of admission.
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