Product Description

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise...as you've never seen them before! "Star Trek: Countdown" is the official prequel to the smash-hit movie, outlining the history of Nero, the movie's villain (played by Eric Bana). Who is this mysterious Romulan, and how did he turn from hero to villain? Also featuring Captain Picard and many of the Next Generation stars, this is essential reading for "Star Trek" fans! JJ Abrams, the film's director, along with scriptwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have supervised the script by Tim Jones and Mike Johnson, illustrated by David Messina ("Angel"), to make the ultimate prequel for the ultimate reimagining of "Star Trek".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12400 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-08
• Binding: Paperback
• 104 pages

Customer Reviews

Solidly average
After having seen the excellent 2009 Star Trek movie I was pleased to discover this prequel comic written by the movie's screen writers.

Whilst the movie set the bar very high, this graphic novel hits a solid average. Given the characters on offer, including TNG favourites, I was expecting more. It's not quite good enough to rate 4 stars.

The artwork is reasonable and the plot pacing is generally good. Some elements however, do not gel as well as they could. It is in parts a little slow and lacks the pep present in the movie it preceeds. Also the origins of the Narada, Nero's ship, are not adequately explained and we are left feeling that the Authors just glossed over that rather large plot point. Nonetheless, some interesting back story is revealed that gives the reader a fuller appreciation of the film. And the inclusion of Next Generation characters in the plot is welcome.

To Sum up: An essential purchase for dedicated Trek fans but only worth borrowing from a friend if you're an occasional fan.

A brilliant story in so few pages!
I watched the film before reading Countdown, but I don't think it really matters which you view first. I read this because I wanted to know about my favourite character, Nero and I heard that Countdown made things a little clearer about his past. As a big fan of The Next Generation, Countdown really hit the mark and really finalised the series (I'm a little sad that there will be no more TNG films). I was extremely happy, if not a little puzzled at first to see Data as captain of the Enterprise E and even more so when Picard appeared now as an Ambassador!

So, Countdown starts with Nero witnessing the power of a solar flare from the Hobus star. He warns the Romulan Senate about it, but they all appear to not trust this information, because Spock is a Vulcan. So Nero sides with Spock to mine some Decalithium for him to create Red Matter that can make an artificial singularity... (yeah, this is real physics, honestly!) Nero leaves his wife, who is pregnant at the time, to do this task, hoping to bring back a weapon that can save his beloved Empire. By this point, I have already warmed up to Nero (but then again, I liked him anyway!). The Vulcans ultimately refuse to share the technology with the Romulans and Nero, enraged by this betrayal, returns home with a threat to destroy Vulcan if Romulus should die.

As well all know, Nero doesn't make it in time and he watches everything burn before his eyes, and I'm almost prepared to admit I cried more than he did! Nero gradually turns into the villain, mad with his grief and plans to destroy Vulcan. He takes the Narada to the Vault, where she is fitted with Borg tech, explaining why the mining ship from the film is so darn powerful (and shiny)! This is the part where Worf shows up, and even though I like Worf, I still get a bit of satisfaction when Nero uses a weird spiky bit of the ship to impale him. So, Nero goes after Spock to take his revenge, but he is too late. The supernova was destroyed and Nero too travels through the black hole, followed by Spock... to be continued on screen!

My final thoughts, this is a sad story! The parts told from Nero's point of view as the tattoos are painted onto his skin is almost soul destroyingly sad. From my perspective, Spock could almost be seen as the villain and Nero as the hero trying to avenge the deaths of everything he ever loved. Nero had his trust betrayed and the galaxy was saved at the expense of his people and his home. I think that anyone who dares to say Nero's motives were silly needs to read this story, canon or not! Nero is really a tragic villain who certainly deserves more credit than he gets, and I'm truely looking forwards to the Star Trek:Nero series coming out this autumn.