While there have been plenty of “holodeck run amok” episodes of Star Trek, it’s always been an episode premise that I still love to see. It’s a way of paying homage to the multigenre origins of the original crew finding themselves on a gangster planet, an old west planet, or a world where Roman culture continues to advance. Plus, it’s always fun to see what our heroes like to do for fun, be it living in a world of 1920s noir detectives, going for a rock climbing adventure, or being the world’s greatest detective. Having this seemingly recreational device “go rogue” has made for some interesting stories over the years, but there are some that see it as a well that might have run dry over the years. When you see a title like “Star Trek: Holo-week” #2, you expect a certain degree of simple holodeck shenanigans. However, the issue does so much heavy exposition it detracts from the overall enjoyment.
Written by Christopher SequeriaCover by Francesco Francavilla
Illustrated by Joe Eisma
Colored by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettered by Clayton CowlesThe exciting weekly Star Trek horror event continues through all of October! Redjac—posing as JACK THE RIPPER—has infiltrated the Enterprise-D and taken control of the holodeck, luring unsuspecting victims and feeding on their fear. Not to mention Redjac has turned Data into a monstrous incarnation of Frankenstein. With more and more crewmates falling victim, Captain Picard and his crew decide to fight fear with fear and turn themselves into classic Terran monsters to confront Redjac.
“Star Trek: Holo-ween” #2 asks a lot of its audience. Christopher Sequeria seems almost hellbent on making sure you know that this is NOT a “holodeck run amok” issue; instead, it is the infestation of the Enterprise-D by a non-corporeal foe, Redjec, who tangled with Kirk and the original crew of the Enterprise. This is the entity that feeds on fear and was Jack the Ripper in Earth’s Past. Remember him? If not, that’s okay because he was your classic one-off villain of the week. But now, he’s back and has found a way to terrorize the ship by taking over the Holodeck and turning Data into the creature from Frankenstein. If this already feels like too much plot of a reason to have a fun, light Halloween adventure, don’t worry; it only gets more convoluted from here.
While Star Trek is a series famous for its quick-talking “technobabble,” phrases just scientifically credible sounding to make you not question the plot too much, reading it has an entirely different impact. “Star Trek: Holo-Ween” #2 again features some incredibly big asks from the audience. Dr. Crusher describes a device from Deneb III that can create a fake personality, a “holodeck for the mind,” as one character puts it, to ensure the away team doesn’t get scared. (Monsters can’t scare monsters, you see.) But also, if you’re in the device for too long, you can lose yourself to the new personality. But if they remove you too early, that’s also bad. (Are you confused yet?) It is a lot of really heavy lifting to justify having a story where Picard and our other friends are classic Universal movie monsters. It just feels like too much is going on. There are almost too many rules, which is a shame because it becomes fun once you enter the Holodeck.
While the setup is incredibly convoluted, the payoff makes you wish that we got more holodeck and exposition. Each one of the alternate personas for Troi, Worf, Riker, and Picard is perfect and helps highlight something fun about their personalities. This section of “Star Trek: Holo-Ween” #2 also allows Joe Esima and Charlie Kirchoff to shine. They do an incredible job bringing a Universal Studio’s Victorian Village to life. Their designs on Mummy Troi, Wolfman Riker, Creature from the Black Lagoon Worf, and Mr. Hyde Picard are all incredible. Even Clayton Cowles has fun with color-coordinated speech balloons and a slightly monstrous script. From the gothic castles, spooky forests, and European town squares to the tri-leth and other horror rebranded Trek classics, once you get to the Halloween aspect of this Halloween adventure, you can see why this story is appealing in the first place.
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Sure, this is only the second chapter of a larger story, and the rest of the issues might give us plenty of horror holodeck fun, but the more you get, the stronger the story. That’s the biggest shortcoming of “Star Trek: Holo-ween” #2: it doesn’t fulfill the central promise and leaves you wanting more, not in a good way. It also sets up some seemingly pretty obvious twists. For instance, if they’re not fighting Hyde!Picard, in the final issue, that would be quite the surprise. By giving the usually morally resolute captain the personality of one of literature’s greatest monsters and NOT having him ultimately be a big evil, you are literally laying out a frustrating Red Herring. In general, though, it’s difficult to see where this is even going. This should ultimately feel like a light, spooky adventure featuring some wonderful characters. While the visuals deliver on that in spades, the story just doesn’t work.
It’s a shame, considering that it was initially very exciting to think about a Halloween adventure for the crew of the Enterprise-D. It just seems that Sequeria and Eisma were more interested in telling a story more interested in the technobabble than the fun to the story’s downside. Who knows what would have made “Star Trek: Holo-ween” #2 work better? Maybe just having the holodeck go rogue would be enough, but as it stands, this was too much buildup for insufficient payoff.
Final Verdict: 6.0 While “Star Trek: Holo-ween” #2 features some spooky Victorian horror art, the story doesn’t live up to the promise of the premise.
