Celebrating 50 years of Star Trek: The Animated Series – Never cross ... "The Scheimer Barrier!" – "The Scheimer Barrier" was a TAS comic released digitally in four chapters by IDW Publishing beginning on 8 September 2023, then printed as a one-shot for distribution at the New York Comic Con. Written by Casper Kelly and illustrated by Jonathan Case, the story involved the crew of the USS Enterprise exploring strange alternate realities.
Description[]
- Kirk, Spock, Arex, and company tangle with a rogue scientist intent on proving his wild theory that the universe is actually a comic book. What if he's right? And what if he develops the godlike powers of the comic book artist? And what if that power has driven him mad? Will our heroes find a way to defeat him and restore the universe?
Chapters[]
Chapter 1[]
The USS Enterprise locates the missing USS Edison within an anomalous energy field and beams a landing party to investigate. Aboard Edison, walls are graffitied with slogans from 20th century television advertising. The science vessel's crew has gone insane, with Captain Daniel Fontana and his officers deluded into thinking that they are characters in Star Trek: The Animated Series. To prove it, they've built the Fontana drive, a device powerful enough to destroy a star system, but Fontana claims it will open a doorway into an alternate reality. Fontana's crew stuns the landing party and locks them in the brig. Kirk's team escapes, but it's too late. Fontana activates the device, and everyone nearby seems to fall into a featureless void. Interpreting what they see as a two-dimensional universe, Fontana claims that they're now inside a comic book. The landing party begins to perceive real-world elements such as word balloons, page edges, page numbers, caption blocks, and then a full-page ad.
- Characters
- Daniel Fontana • James T. Kirk • Shiboline M'Ress • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Starfleet personnel (guard)
- Imaginary characters
- Blargle • the creature • Pleasance • Ubalda
- Starships and vehicles
- USS Edison (science vessel) • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser)
- Locations
- star system
- Referenced only
- Earth
- Races and cultures
- Caitian • Human • Vulcan
Chapter 2[]
Believing that he controls perceived reality, Fontana places the Enterprise landing party into a famous comic book series in which Bessie and Verona compete to win the affections of Artie. Uhura, M'Ress, and Spock convince Bessie to seek a less fickle companion while Kirk finds a communications device. Before he can hail the ship, however, Fontana literally erases the device from Kirk's hands.
- Characters
- Daniel Fontana • James T. Kirk • Shiboline M'Ress • Spock • Nyota Uhura
- Imaginary characters
- Artie • Bessie • Big Ox • Verona
- Starships and vehicles
- Referenced only
- USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser)
- Imaginary locations
- Brookdale • Earth
- Races and cultures
- Caitian • Human • Vulcan
Chapter 3[]
Growing more insane by the minute, Fontana rapidly changes the perceived reality around the Enterprise landing party. They see bridges of different starships from various eras, gathering starship personnel from various centuries as they travel.
- Characters
- Daniel Fontana • James T. Kirk • Shiboline M'Ress • Spock • Nyota Uhura
- Imaginary characters
- Bradward Boimler • Michael Burnham • Una Chin-Riley • Geordi La Forge • Jean-Luc Picard • Christopher Pike • Saru • William T. Riker • D'vana Tendi • Worf
- Referenced only
- Roga Danar • Nomad • Q
- Imaginary starships and vehicles
- USS Enterprise-D, Borg cube, Orion starship, USS Discovery, Gorn starship
- Imaginary locations
- Earth
- Referenced only
- Q Continuum • Quark's
- Races and cultures
- Caitian • Human • Vulcan
- Imaginary races and cultures
- Illyrian • Kelpien • Klingon • Orion
- Referenced only
- Borg
Chapter 4[]
Fontana compels the landing party to fight as part of a large melée. When Spock asks what happens if they refuse to participate, Fontana erases him. M'Ress comes up with a solution that plays into Fontana's insanity. Because Fontana thinks of himself as writer and artist of a comic, he would be at the mercy of the comic's editor. Throwing aquacite boulders at each other and pretending to fight, the officers are actually forming the letters to an editor's note on the ground. When he reads it, Fontana's illusions collapse. He and his deluded crewmates are secured in the Enterprise's brig.
- Characters
- Daniel Fontana • James T. Kirk • Shiboline M'Ress • Spock • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Starfleet personnel (guard)
- Imaginary characters
- Bradward Boimler • Michael Burnham • Data • Kurros • Ellen Landry • Jean-Luc Picard • Christopher Pike • Quark • Saru • Seven of Nine • Khan Noonien Singh • D'vana Tendi • Deanna Troi • Tuvix • Worf
- Starships and vehicles
- USS Enterprise
- Imaginary locations
- Casperla
- Races and cultures
- Caitian • Human • Vulcan
- Imaginary races and cultures
- Borg • Ferengi • Gorn • Jem'Hadar • Kelpien • Klingon • Orion
References[]
States and organizations[]
- Federation • Starfleet
Science and classification[]
- antenna • anthropology • bat'leth • brig • combadge • communicator • computer • Fontana drive • glasses • holodeck • laboratory • phaser rifle • replica • sensor • shields • spear • sword • television • transporter • tricorder • type-2 phaser
Occupations and titles[]
- captain • guard • lieutenant • officer • science officer
TV series[]
- Star Trek: The Animated Series • Star Trek: Discovery • Star Trek: Lower Decks • Star Trek: The Next Generation • Star Trek: The Original Series • Star Trek: Picard • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Other references[]
- 1970s • 20th century • anomalous field • aquacite • Artie's Gals Bessie & Verona • assignment patch • beam • bikini • blood • bordeaux • boulder • bridge • captain's log, USS Enterprise, 2269 • comic book • crew • decade • DNA • dollar • donkey • electricity • elephant • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • god • hail • headache • high school • home universe • illusion • log entry • logic • milkshake • mining • minute • movie • oxidation • pencil • planet • rank • sand • science • space • Starfleet ranks • Starfleet uniform (2250s) • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • Starfleet uniform (2366-2373) • Starfleet uniform (early 2380s) • Star Trek within Star Trek • swimming • swimming pool • transporter room • uniform • Vulcan nerve pinch • warp factor (warp three)
Log entries[]
- Captain's log, stardate 5371.3
- The Federation has lost contact with the science vessel USS Edison, and sent the Enterprise to investigate.
- Captain's log, stardate 5371.3.
- We are back in our home universe. Fontana and his minions have been apprehended.
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS - The New Voyages short story: "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" – A transporter malfunction beamed Kirk, Spock, and McCoy onto the transporter room set of The Original Series.
- TOS comic: "Getting Real" – The Enterprise crew visited an alternate reality Earth where they were familiar as characters from the Star Trek TV series.
- TOS comic: "Year Four, Issue 4" – Negotiating with president of programming Ted Tinker, Captain James T. Kirk produced a reality show about life aboard the USS Enterprise for an audience on the planet Viden.
- TOS - New Visions comic: "Dream a Little Dream" – Unable to come up with a plot for the next issue, writer/artist John Byrne dreamed that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beamed him aboard the Enterprise.
Background[]
- Showrunner Mike McMahanMA was given special thanks for consulting on the Lower Decks characters.
- The story and its reality-bending device were, of course, named for TAS executive producer Lou ScheimerMA, while Daniel Calder Fontana was named for story editor D.C. Fontana.
- Stardates placed this story in 2269 shortly after "Beyond the Farthest Star", the first episode of TAS.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Star Trek vs. Transformers, Issue 5 |
TAS stories | Next story: Forewarned and Three-Armed |
| Previous comic: Echoes, Issue 5 |
TOS comics | Next comic: latest comic |
| Previous story: Very Short Treks |
Stories by: Casper Kelly |
Next story: latest story |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Beyond the Farthest Star |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Forgotten History Chapter 3, Section 3 |
External links[]
- The Scheimer Barrier article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- The Scheimer Barrier article at Mark Martinez's Star Trek Comics Checklist website.