I have to give Mike Johnson and John Barber credit: I never imagined that they’d be able to sustain a story out of this truly odd fusion of franchises.

Yet, here we are in the third chapter of Star Trek vs. Transformers, and the improbable story continues. However, I think that’s the draw for this book. It’s improbable and unexpected, yet somehow a coherent storyline has emerged.

When we last left off, our intrepid Animated Series-era Enterprise crew were facing off against the combined threat of the Klingons and the Decepticons protecting a group of miners of a planet that is both rich in dilithium and energon, power sources that the Federation, Klingons and Transformers can use.

Very little has transpired since the last issue, as the Enterprise crew is still separated: some of the crew is down on the surface, with a damaged Optimus Prime, protecting the miners from the Decepticons, while others venture below the surface with the Autobots and Captain Kirk trying to find their way back to the surface. Meanwhile, the Klingons have cemented an uneasy alliance with the Decepticons in their campy, Filmation rage against the Starfleet officers.

When I looked at Issue #1, I mentioned that nostalgia is a big key in in appreciating this book, though the two franchises are separated by at least a generation of different viewers. I remember watching the Filmation animated Star Trek when I was a young kid.

While the cartoon failed to fully convey all the nuances of Star Trek within its roughly 30-minute episodes, I still had a fondness for it that extends to my middle ages as I have the good nature and maturity to forgive its repeated sequences, clunky animation and relatively stiff voice performances of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and others.

The same can be said of the Transformers. The cartoon of these toys showed up in the 80’s when I was an older teen, ripe with cynicism, yet a little bit more discerning. I couldn’t forgive the fact that they were originally toys, and that I was aware that both comics (published by Marvel) and cartoon (Sunbow and Marvel Productions) were intended to support the toy line. Even as a teenager, the crass commercialism of the intent was obvious.

Flash-forward to today. While the animated version of Star Trek was at least based on something that had more literary substance, I still have an issue with accepting Transformers into my range of fandoms that I’ve never been able to shake. I don’t know, perhaps I need an intervention or some sort of literature.

My younger contemporaries most vehemently disagree with me. For them, Transformers came at an age when they were able to play with the toys and be mesmerized by the cartoon. So, for them, the toys and this book have an intense nostalgic appeal, even as much as the animated Star Trek does for me.

Thus, the oddity factor is at great play here and it’s clearly more than meets my eye, at least.

I have always been a big fan of Mike Johnson’s work. It makes sense that IDW would tag this guy to assemble a story with this unlikely combination of intellectual properties to work. To be fair, he does make it work. He pays close attention to the nostalgically appealing features of each show (the focus on Kirk, the Trypticon vs. the Fortress Maximus dynamic and the simplistic dialogue) and crafts a story out of these and other simple elements.

Don’t look for any degree of sophistication in this story; it’s pure whimsy. The animated Star Trek couldn’t have overly simplistic dialogue and stories given its audience range and the length of time to wrap up a story. Also, involvement from other characters had to be limited to a small number as the show didn’t have most of the original cast and there were many occasions for the cast to double up on roles.

The same conditions existed with Transformers. Under half and hour and Optimus Prime and his battling ‘bots had to defeat Megatron and the Decepticons fairly quickly so the plot had to be fairly formulaic and easy to resolve.

Even with the presence of the Klingons – the rogue element in the mix – this is still a very simple story. the Klingons add very little to their new-found allies. But things that weren’t present in the animated series, like hand-weapons such as the d’k tahg or cloaking technology have found a place to go beyond the scope of the original animation’s concept of the Klingons.

I found Issue #3 to be a tad rushed, particularly when it came to the appearance of the Enterprise. Through the Cybertronian connection, Kirk is able to craft a Transformer Enterprise that will allow him and his compatriots to break out of the underground mine they’ve been trapped in since last issue. Even for a simplistic book, I found this to be a bit contrived.

I’m going to blame it on The Transformers.

I missed Phillip Murphy’s work in Issue #3. No disrespect to Jack Lawrence, but Murphy has the Filmation style down pat. It’s apparent in the positioning of the characters and also in their dynamism. They move like the cartoon characters and their facial expressions are exactly as you would remember them.

Even the Transformers are exactly the way I remember them, from even my limited exposure to the 1980’s Transformer cartoons. While Lawrence’s work is good, I think Murphy’s work has spoiled me.

• Cover ‘A’ is Phillip Murphy’s. It’s also of note that Uhura isn’t in this issue for some reason, but if you look at her expression, it’s exactly as you would remember it from the cartoon. I also love the fact that Soundwave still has his ejectable tape-transformers. This is my favourite cover of the three.
   
• Cover ‘B’ by Gavin Fullerton is a little scratchy and I don’t think it jibes well with the animated vibe. It’s probably best to get an art style that meshes with the animation. I enjoyed the scene, but I think the styling just wasn’t what was best for this book.
   
• Finally, the retailer-incentive cover by Megan Levens, with colours by Charlie Kirchoff, is a wonderful rendition of the major female characters (though we really haven’t seen much of Christine Chapel in this series) from the cartoons that emulates the same styling.

Is it the Trek story I’ve been longing for? Nah… but it does have a nostalgic appeal to it and I think it’s quite a feat of literary legerdemain that Johnson and Barber were able to cobble a story out of the two franchises distanced by time and subject matter.

And, if there was anything that could make Transformers better, it would be Star Trek!