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When it came to scripting these two, the first question I found myself confronted with was What does Scotty call McCoy? On TOS and subsequently, we'd seen Bones call Scott "Scotty" many times, but Scotty had not called the good doctor anything but… Doctor. Certainly I could not recall him EVER having called McCoy "Bones". Eventually I settled on "Leonard", and an occasionally more formal "Doctor". This, I felt, reflected their relationship, being that of friends, but not of the Let's Go Camping Together kind that Kirk and McCoy are.

They're not all screencap tracings. The first shot of Scotty on that page, which is his first appearance in the issue, is traced from a photo. But he has a distinctive enough face -- high hairline, "flat" hair, small and wide apart eyes, and of course the mustache -- that I am "freehanding" the other shots, as I do with McCoy.

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I'd kinda guessed that. Color me even more impressed, then! The freehand work looks spot-on!

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Chris Ryall is now gently nudging me to do a TOS vintage series with the original crew! Not sure I'm ready for that!

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You've clearly been testing the waters with each successive IDW TREK book.

ROMULANS one-shot: Likeness of Mark Lenard.

ASSIGNMENT: EARTH: Likeness of Robert Lansing, generic likeness of Teri Garr, and Victoria Vetri (and Nixon!). First series to feature the Enterprise.

ROMULANS: THE HOLLOW CROWN: Likenesses of John Colicos and Bill Campbell. One-panel likeness of Bill Shatner.

CREW: Likenesses of Majel Barrett, Jeff Hunter, John Hoyt, and Leonard Nimoy. Two issues set aboard the Enterprise, with the key players from the first pilot in major roles.

ROMULANS: SCHISM: More likenesses of Barrett, Colicos, and Campbell. Major Constitution-class starship action.

FRONTIER DOCTOR: Likenesses of Shatner, Kelley, and Doohan.

There seems to be a progression here, from bit players and guest-stars to the main cast, as well as from alien ships and locations to the Enterprise herself.

I'm sure there's a tiny voice inside you growling--"Do it! Dooooo itttt!!!!"

Don't ignore it!

Certainly I could not recall him EVER having called McCoy "Bones". Eventually I settled on "Leonard", and an occasionally more formal "Doctor". This, I felt, reflected their relationship, being that of friends, but not of the Let's Go Camping Together kind that Kirk and McCoy are.

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Yeah, even in private scenes together, he still refers to McCoy as "Doctor".

And "Bones" seems to be Kirk's exclusive nickname for McCoy.

Chris Ryall is now gently nudging me to do a TOS vintage series with the original crew! Not sure I'm ready for that!

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Yes you is! Be'est thou nudged, man!

Perhaps if Chris and I can come up with something that has not been previously explored, I may take a swing at it.

••

Two of the pitches I recently made to IDW deal with just that. I've also thought it might be fun to do a 12 part maxi-series, with each issue set aboard a different C-Class starship. Perhaps with some connective "theme".

(First thought would be the Klingon/Romulan War, since that has been established in official Trek lore -- but it would also happen after SCHISM, and by the time of that series about half the C-Class starships had been blowed up real good! Not sure a possible series would have as much oomph with fewer ships!)

Two of the pitches I recently made to IDW deal with just that. I've also thought it might be fun to do a 12 part maxi-series, with each issue set aboard a different C-Class starship. Perhaps with some connective "theme".

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See, that's a cool idea. And at least one such issue would presumably feature the Enterprise!

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(First thought would be the Klingon/Romulan War, since that has been established in official Trek lore -- but it would also happen after SCHISM, and by the time of that series about half the C-Class starships had been blowed up real good! Not sure a possible series would have as much oomph with fewer ships!)

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Well, we don't know how many Constitution-class ships were around during the movie era. And it could very well be that replacements for Constellation, Defiant, etc. were built during or after TOS (a la Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual).

Well, we don't know how many Constitution-class ships were around during the movie era. And it could very well be that replacements for Constellation, Defiant, etc. were built during or after TOS (a la Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual).

***

In Relics, Picard does mention that one Constitution-class ship still does exists in the Fleet Museum, but never really confirmed it that it was a refit or not (one of the TNG novels had it as a non-refit, with Scotty stealing it out of the museum with the captured TOS cloaking device to rescue Ambassador Spock from Romulus).

In Relics, Picard does mention that one Constitution-class ship still does exists in the Fleet Museum, but never really confirmed it that it was a refit or not (one of the TNG novels had it as a non-refit, with Scotty stealing it out of the museum with the captured TOS cloaking device to rescue Ambassador Spock from Romulus).

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Who knows? It could very well have been the Enterprise-A!

It left no question in my mind there is an "original" Constitution Class starship in the fleet museum whether a sister ship of the 1701 or a recreation, it's never clear.

I always got the feeling that Scotty was like an unlisted man...and always referred to McCoy by Doctor in the saem knee jerk you refer to an officer as sir...even though Scotty was an officer himself.

Somehow, I'd like to think Star Fleet was "sentimental" enough to have kept one pre-refit version for display.

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Agreed.

Maybe it could be the Constitution herself.

Or maybe all the parts stripped off of the Enterprise in order to make the TMP-refit version were just....put back together, Ship of Theseus style!

12 part series would be cool, you could show how this war have affected the races we know. 

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My mind has been playing around with the possibilities of such a series. Perhaps it could revolve around a given planet visted by each ship over a long period of time. Or maybe it could feature an event told from each ship's point of view (although that's perhaps too close to the style of SCHISM).

Solicit for the first issue is out:

http://trekmovie.com/2010/01/18/exclusive-first-look-at-apri l-star-trek-comics-including-new-john-byrne-dr-mccoy-series/

Comments like this never fail to mystify me. Especially when, as here, they appear to be POSITIVE comments! There are no aliens on that cover that bear any resemblance to the ones I drew in STARLORD!

What means this?