A Prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the series was based on its first pilot "The Cage" and depicted the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701) under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Like "The Cage", it took place in 2254, 12-13 years before the events of the first season of The Original Series.
Early Voyages was unceremoniously cancelled in the middle of a story arc, ending with an unresolved Cliffhanger. Marvel lost the Star Trek license shortly afterwards.
Much like its fellow Marvel series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the series was retroactively incorporated into the Star Trek Novel 'Verse as three of its original characters (Moves-With-Burning-Grace, Nano and Sita Mohindas) were later featured or mentioned in Star Trek novels.
The series provides examples of:
- Alien Blood: In "The Fallen, Part Two", it can be seen that the Chakuun have blue blood.
- Alien Invasion: Played with in the two-part story "The Fallen". The Chakuun Cohort General tells Gabrielle Carlotti that they periodically attack Federation colonies on behalf of the Tholian Assembly because the planets in question are Tholian territory, which is realigned every eight years. They regard humans as not only aggressive alien invaders but a primitive, arrogant child race. However, the retribution is definitely disproportionate as 100,000 people were killed in the attack on the Jubal colony alone.
- Alien Sky: In "Immortal Wounds", Neyda Prime has two moons.
- Alternate Timeline: In the story arc "Futures", Mia Colt accidentally activates the tachyon energy suspended in an Algolian keepsake when she scans it with her tricorder. As a result, she is sent 39 years forward in time to 2293 and thereby creates an alternate timeline. After her disappearance, James T. Kirk, newly graduated from Starfleet Academy, was assigned to replace her as Captain Pike's yeoman. However, the two men had a severe personality clash and Kirk resigned from Starfleet after a year. He went into the commercial sector and eventually became the captain of the freighter Bounty. Captain Pike remained in command of the Enterprise until it was decommissioned and became an exhibit at the San Francisco Smithsonian Museum of Air, Sea and Space. He then assumed command of the Enterprise-A. In 2293, the Federation has a very fragile peace with the Klingon Empire and it is feared that an instance of border violation may result in war.
- Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: In "Cloak and Dagger, Part Two", when the Enterprise is boarded by Commander Tagok's followers, Moves-With-Burning-Grace uses a traditional Masai battle lance to fight them instead of a phaser.
- Arch-Enemy:
- In "The Fires of Pharos", Commander Kaaj swears a blood debt against Captain Pike for destroying the Pharos siteworld. In "The Flat, Gold Forever", he lures Captain Pike away from the Enterprise with a Forged Message and attempts to kill him so that honor can be satisfied. When he later sees Pike on the Temazi homeworld in "Thanatos", he cannot contain himself. He attacks Pike in the Temazi shrine, thereby blowing both of their covers.
- In the Alternate Timeline story arc "Futures", General Chang has seemingly taken Kaaj's place as Captain Pike's Klingon adversary. In "Now and Then, Part Four", he even compares his conflicts with Chang to "the bad old days with Kaaj."
- Bizarre Alien Limbs: In the two-part story "The Fallen", the Chakuun are a centauroid race, possessing a lower body and four legs much like those of a horse.
- Call-Forward:
- In "Flesh of My Flesh", Captain Pike is advised by Captain Robert April, his predecessor as the commander of the Enterprise, to fight tooth and claw when the time comes and Starfleet tries to promote him. This is highly similar to the conversation between two future Enterprise captains, James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, about making a difference in Star Trek: Generations. April later tells Captain Pike to treat the Enterprise right and she'll always bring him home. Admiral McCoy said the same thing to Data about the Enterprise-D in the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot "Encounter at Farpoint".
- The title of "Our Dearest Blood" refers to the opening scene of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. When Cadet Foster asks Admiral Kirk whether there is going to be a reception to mark the Enterprise's return to Earth in the aftermath of the battle with Khan and Spock's death in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk replies, "A hero's welcome, son? Is that what you'd like?...Well, God knows, there should be. This time we paid for the party with our dearest blood." There is another reference to this scene when Number One remarks that the Enterprise feels like a house with all the children gone when most of the crew are on the surface of Rigel VII for shore leave. Kirk made the same observation about the ship after the majority of its trainee crew were reassigned.
- In "Cloak and Dagger, Part Two", when Captain Pike asks Spock for his opinion on the Lost Colony of pre-Logic Reformation Vulcans on Darien 224, Spock replies, "Captain, my perspective on this is no different than yours would be if we discovered a colony of Khan's eugenics warriors or Hitler's Nazis."
- In "Immortal Wounds", Spock states that he has considered the undertaking the ritual of Kolinhar, the purging of all emotion. He would later do so in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
- The Alternate Timeline story arc "Futures" features multiple references to canon Star Trek productions, most prominently the TOS films:
- In "Futures, Part One", José Tyler receives a vision of his future from an Algolian keepsake. He sees himself as the captain of a Starfleet ship wearing the uniform style introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. His ship's helmsman is a Vulcan male who appears to be Tuvok. The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback" established that Tuvok was a member of Starfleet during the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
- In "Future Tense, Part Two", Kirk tells Mia Colt that he was hoping to be assigned to the U.S.S. Farragut under Captain Garrovick after graduating from Starfleet Academy but he was instead assigned to the Enterprise as Captain Pike's yeoman following her disappearance. Captain Kirk's service aboard the Farragut in the normal timeline was established in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Obsession".
- Also in "Future Tense, Part Two", Kirk is the captain of the commercial freighter Bounty. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, this was the name that Dr. McCoy gave the Klingon bird-of-prey that the former Enterprise crew commandeered in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
- Again in "Future Tense, Part Two", the Phoenix can be seen on display in the San Francisco Smithsonian Museum of Air, Sea and Space, as Captain Picard said it was in Star Trek: First Contact.
- The main antagonist of the story arc is General Chang, who was also the main antagonist of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
- In "Futures, Part Three", Tyler comments that the Klingons will be all over the Enterprise-A like Denevan parasites, indicating that the Enterprise crew dealt with the same threat (as seen in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Operation: Annihilate!") in this timeline.
- Also in "Futures, Part Three", Scotty, the chief engineer of the Bounty, admires the engine room of the Enterprise-A. He notes that he has worked on tramp steamers, ram-jet scoops and full-burn fleeters but has always dreamed of working on a starship's engines. He tells Moves-With-Burning-Grace to cherish the experience. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics", Scotty told Captain Picard that he was at his happiest when he was working on the Enterprise's engines and gave Geordi the same advice as he gave Moves-With-Burning-Grace.
- In "Futures, Part Three" and "Now and Then, Part Four", as in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the Excelsior under the command of a former Enterprise crewmember (in this case, Number One) is ordered to track down the renegade Enterprise-A but lets it go on its way when it succeeds in locating it.
- In "Now and Then, Part Four", Pike and Kirk observe that sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. With respect to their mission to Algol II, Kirk later asks Pike, "I trust the situation's grim and the odds are against us." Pike replies, "You could say that." Almost the exact same exchange took place between Kirk and Picard regarding fighting Dr. Tolian Soran on Veridian III in Star Trek: Generations.
- When Mia Colt jumps into the Well of Tomorrows on Algol II in "Now and Then, Part Four", the Spock of the mirror universe, the Enterprise-D and its senior staff, Deep Space 9, the Borg and a Daedalus-class starship are seen.
- In the final scene of "Now and Then, Part Four", Captain Pike sees a vision of himself severely scarred and disabled by delta radiation in an Algolian keepsake.
- In "Nemesis", Commander Kaaj refers to himself as the son of Torg. In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Torg was the name of Commander Kruge's first officer, suggesting that he is a relative of Kaaj.
- Character Narrator: "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" is narrated by Yeoman Colt through the medium of her personal log.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In "Flesh of My Flesh", the transporter chief Nils Pitcairn, who appeared in "The Cage", is introduced as if he is going to be a major character. However, he appears in only two panels and is never seen nor mentioned again in the remaining 16 issues.
- Cliffhanger: Due to the series' cancellation, the seventeenth and final issue "Nemesis" ended on one which was never resolved: Number One has been severely injured in a Klingon attack, leaving the highly erratic mission commander Admiral Robert April in command of the Enterprise.
- Continuity Nod:
- In "The Fires of Pharos", Commander Kaaj refers to the old Klingon saying "Revenge is a dish best served cold."
- In the two-part story "Cloak and the Dagger", the Vulcans of Darien 224 use extremely powerful psionic weapons such as the Tol par-doj and the Vorl-tak. The Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter "Gambit" established that the Stone of Gol was an ancient Vulcan psionic weapon of immense power.
- In "Immortal Wounds", Toluk, the Vulcan ambassador to Neyda Prime, has heard of Spock and is aware that he chose to attend Starfleet Academy instead of the Vulcan Academy over his father Sarek's objections, as was established in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Journey to Babel". Ambassador Toluk later mentions the Vulcan concept of the katra.
- In "One of a Kind", there is an internal nod. As he prepares to leave the Enterprise, Nano packs a photograph of himself at a party or celebration with Yeoman Dermot Cusack, who was killed in "Our Dearest Blood", as well as Moves-With-Burning-Grace, José Tyler and Gabrielle Carlotti.
- In "The Fallen, Part One", Captain Pike visits his hometown of Mojave, an illusion of which was created for him by the Talosians in "The Cage".
- Also in "The Fallen, Part One", the gargoyles on the Empire State Building remind Spock of Taguan effigies of the Great Bird of the Galaxy.
- In "Nemesis", Virka reminds Commander Kaaj of an old Klingon proverb: "Only a fool fights in a burning house."
- The Coup: In "Our Dearest Blood", Rigellian extremists staged a coup against the government of Rigel VII as they were opposed to their planet's admittance to the Federation, the resulting abandonment of the centuries old policy of isolation and the impending disbandment of the Kaylar warrior elite. They attacked the Enterprise crewmembers who were enjoying shore leave on Rigel VII, resulting in three of them being killed (including Yeoman Dermot Cusack) and seven being injured (including Nano and Sita Mohindas). As a result, Rigel VII's admission was denied. However, in "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", Yeoman Colt mentions that the sacrifice of the Enterprise crewmembers inspired many Rigellians to expunge the barbaric elements of their society and that it was possible that Rigel VII could still join the Federation one day.
- Dad the Veteran: Captain Pike's father Josh Pike is a retired admiral who was highly decorated by Starfleet.
- Ditto Aliens: In "One of a Kind", the Lirin all appear to be identical to one another.
- Dramatic Irony: In "Immortal Wounds", Spock is highly doubtful that the katra can be transferred to another person through a mind meld. More than 30 years later, as was established in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Spock transferred his katra to Dr. McCoy before he made his Heroic Sacrifice in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom:
- In "The Fires of Pharos", the Enterprise destroys the dilithium-rich Pharos siteworld, resulting in the creation of a giant fireball that would burn for decades.
- In "Cloak and Dagger, Part Two", Darien 224 is destroyed by the Vorl-tak, otherwise known as the world weapon. It employs a planet's gravitational field as a psionic amplifier and has the potential to tear its host world apart. The Vorl-tak can also destroy any ship or object in orbit. Matriarch T'Kell, the leader of the main group of Vulcans on Darien 224, intended to use it to kill her rival Commander Tagok and his followers while she and her group escaped aboard the Enterprise. However, they failed to capture the Enterprise and all of the Vulcans from both sides died with the planetoid.
- Enemy Mine:
- In "The Fallen, Part Two", Gabrielle Carlotti is sorely tempted to kill the injured Chakuun Cohort General on Theta Kalyb in revenge for the Chakuun destroying the New Milan colony. However, she can't bring herself to do it. The experience teaches the Cohort General that humans are not as primitive and savage as she believed while Gabrielle learns that the Chakuun attack planets which the Tholians consider part of their territory. When the Cohort General is rescued by her troops, she stops them from killing Gabrielle and calls off the attack on Theta Kalyb.
- In "Nemesis", after being attacked by the Temazi, Captain Pike, Spock and Dr. Boyce are forced to cooperate with Commander Kaaj and Virka so that they can all escape the Temazi homeworld. Kaaj's motivation for helping is that he will not allow anyone to rob him of the chance of killing Pike.
- Fantastic Racism: In "Cloak and Dagger, Part One", Sutek is disgusted by what he has learned of modern Vulcans who live according to Surak's teachings of logic and pacifism. He believes the half-human Spock is "a walking embodiment of the travesty that the Vulcan bloodline has become, diluted with feeble human sap."
- Fictional Holiday: In "Our Dearest Blood", the Enterprise crew attend the Rigellian Festival of Light on Rigel VII. Captain Pike tells Dr. Boyce that they are the first off-worlders to attend the festival in a thousand years who were allowed to live. This turns out to be Foreshadowing as Yeoman Cusack and two other crewmembers are killed by Rigellian extremists shortly afterwards.
- Flashback Nightmare: In the two-part story "The Fallen", Gabrielle Carlotti often has nightmares about the destruction of the New Milan colony by the Chakuun.
- Foreshadowing:
- In "Our Dearest Blood", Nurse Gabrielle Carlotti witnesses Dr. Boyce doubled over in pain and talking to someone who isn't there during the Rigellian Festival of Light. Shortly after she comes aboard in "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", Yeoman Colt witnesses Boyce behave in the same manner in Sickbay. In "Cloak and Dagger, Part Two", Matriarch T'Kell warns Sutek to keep an eye on Boyce as she can tell that he is "more than he appears." It is revealed in "Immortal Wounds" that Dr. Boyce possesses the consciousness of three Jultha Free Men who frequently spoke to him and to each other, causing his mental state to appear erratic.
- In the two-part story "The Fallen", the Tholian Assembly begins another of their periodic territorial expansions, which typically consist of attacks on Federation colonies and outposts by their shock troops, the Chakuun. The Federation's history of conflict with the Tholians was mentioned in several previous issues. "Flesh of My Flesh" established that Gabrielle Carlotti lost almost her entire family when the New Milan colony was destroyed during a previous Tholian expansion program. Her backstory is essential to "The Fallen". In "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", the Talosians presented Yeoman Colt with an illusory version of her Starfleet Academy boyfriend Alex Dumant, who was killed aboard the Crazy Horse when the Tholians broke the truce at Kakrafoon. In "Cloak and Dagger, Part Two", Spock believes the Vulcans of Darien 224 could be an even greater threat to the Federation than the Klingons and the Tholians. In "The Flat, Gold Forever", Clare Thorn tells Captain Pike that her ship was destroyed in battle with the Chakuun, though at that point their connection to the Tholians wasn't made clear.
- Forged Message: In "The Flat, Gold Forever", using pirated Starfleet codes and a computer simulacrum, Commander Kaaj sends a message to the Enterprise supposedly from Captain Pike's godfather Admiral Mahirn telling him that he had to return to Earth immediately as his father Admiral Josh Pike was gravely ill. When Pike left the Enterprise in the shuttle Icarus, Kaaj opened fire and it crashed on the Federation colony Prairie. The Enterprise learned of the deception when the real Admiral Mahirn contacted them several hours later and told them that he had sent no message and that Josh Pike was perfectly healthy.
- The Ghost: The Tholians are never shown even though they are mentioned as being a major enemy of the Federation throughout the series. When they launch an attack on the Federation in the two-part story "The Fallen", their Chakuun shock troops do all the fighting.
- Handicapped Badass:
- Kaaj, the commander of the Klingon battlecruiser Varchas, has a withered right arm. In "The Fires of Pharos", his subordinate Kir makes a snide remark about Kaaj's disability affecting his bravery when he does not engage the Enterprise in battle. Kaaj immediately smashes Kir's face into his console using his left arm and warns him not to underestimate either him or the Federation based on appearances.
- In the two-part story "Cloak and Dagger", Commander Tagok, the leader of the rogue group of Vulcans on Darien 224, is blind in his right eye. He possesses a large scar, indicating that it happened in combat.
- Henchmen Race: In the two-part story "The Fallen", the Chakuun serve as the shock troops of the Tholian Assembly, destroying various Federation colonies at the behest of their masters.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In "Nemesis", Kaaj destroys two of the Thanatos weapons, sacrificing his life in the process, so that his crew, Captain Pike, Spock and Dr. Boyce can escape. While it was certainly heroic, he did not do so out of the goodness of his heart but because he did not want anyone else to have the pleasure of killing Pike.
- Human Aliens:
- In "Our Dearest Blood", the Rigellians are physically identical to humans.
- In "Immortal Wounds", the Neydans are likewise identical to humans.
- Human Resources: In "Flesh of My Flesh", a Ngultor mothership and several support craft became stranded in Federation space due to a freak warp malfunction. They abducted the crews of various small ships and harvested their body parts in order to repair the damaged mothership's lifeworks. These ships were left intact but adrift, leading Captain Pike to describe them as "a fleet of Marie Celestes." The Ngultor's ultimate goal is to harvest the organic lifeforms on all worlds in the region so that they can replenish themselves.
- Insane Admiral: In "Futures, Part One", Captain Pike, Spock and Dr. Boyce are sent on a secret mission (later revealed to be an undercover mission to the Temazi homeworld in "Thanatos"). Number One is left in command of the Enterprise while Admiral Robert April is assigned as mission commander. In "Thanatos" and "Nemesis", Admiral April seems to be working towards his own agenda which includes provoking conflict with the Klingons when it could potentially be avoided. Sita Mohindas appears to be taking orders directly from him. The reasons for April's behavior are never explained as the series was cancelled before the story arc could be concluded.
- In-Series Nickname: In "The Fires of Pharos", Starbase 13 is located in the Marrat Nebula, "a treacherous expanse of charged gas clouds and ion storms where privateers and brigands prey on commercial traffic." Starbase 13's resulting difficulty in policing the area has led to Starfleet personnel nicknaming the facility "Fort Apache."
- In Spite of a Nail: In the Alternate Timeline story arc "Futures", Sulu, Uhura and Saavik were still assigned to the Enterprise in spite of the fact that Kirk never became its captain. Spock still became the first officer, though this time under Captain Pike.
- Left Hanging: The series' cancellation left several story arcs unresolved:
- The identity of the individual who sent a message to the Enterprise telling them that Captain Pike was on Prairie in "The Flat, God Forever" is not revealed. Pike is concerned that the individual responsible may be an enemy of Commander Kaaj who could pose a threat to the Enterprise in the future.
- Captain Pike's distant relationship with his father Admiral Josh Pike is not explored after the two-part story "The Fallen" but there were plans to do so in a flashback storyline involving the Federation's first contact with the Klingons.
- The Will They or Won't They? storyline between José Tyler and Mia Colt is never resolved. Although she agreed to go on a date with him in "The Fallen, Part Two", they had not got around to it by the time that the series ended.
- The story arc concerning the search for the ancient weapons on the Temazi homeworld and the strange behavior of Admiral Robert April in the final two issues "Thanatos" and "Nemesis" is left unfinished.
- Literary Allusion Title: "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" is a reference to the famous line from the 1642 poem To Althea, the Prison by Richard Lovelace: "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage."
- Lost Colony: In the two-part story "Cloak and Dagger", while searching for the missing survey ship the U.S.S Cortez, the Enterprise discovers a lost colony of violent, passionate Vulcans on the barren planetoid Darien 224. Their ancestors crash-landed on the planetoid 2,000 years earlier and founded the colony, known as the Last-of-all-Cities. They live as the ancient Vulcans did prior to the Time of Awakening when Surak convinced his people to embrace logic and suppress their emotions. There are two mutually antagonistic groups in the colony. The main group, led by the Matriarch T'Kell, seek to rejoin the galactic community and conquer Vulcan in order to return the planet to its ancient roots. The rogue group, led by Commander Tagok, seek to maintain their isolation from the rest of the galaxy. Tagok captured the Cortez and butchered most of its crew. For her part, T'Kell rescued its captain John Stone and the surviving crewmembers as she thought that they would prove useful. She intended to use the Enterprise to achieve her plans of conquest. Spock believes that the Vulcans of Darien 224 have the potential to be even more dangerous to the Federation than the Klingons and the Tholians.
- Lost Superweapon: In "Thanatos" and "Nemesis", Commander Kaaj leads a covert mission to the Temazi homeworld in order to obtain the ancient and extremely powerful weapons left there by Ancient Astronauts several millennia earlier. He hopes to regain the honor and glory that he lost when Captain Pike destroyed the Pharos siteworld in "The Fires of Pharos". The Federation learns of Kaaj's plan, though they are unaware of his specific involvement, and sends Pike, Spock and Dr. Boyce, disguised as Temazi, to prevent him from obtaining the weapons. The Klingon High Council sends a fleet of battlecruisers to the Temazi homeworld as Kaaj is a renegade and they believe that he intends to use the weapons against them.
- Love Triangle: In "Thanatos", José Tyler is extremely jealous when he sees the Enterprise's new assistant chief engineer Shane Samson flirting with Mia Colt, with whom he is madly in love, in the mess hall. The two men almost come to blows but they are interrupted by a red alert.
- Ludd Was Right: In "The Flat, Gold Forever", the inhabitants of the Federation colony Prairie reject most forms of advanced technology because they believe that Starfleet's commitment to exploring strange new worlds creates more problems than it solves, having led to numerous wars with hostile species. Clare Thorn was the science officer aboard a Federation starship until it was destroyed in battle with the Chakuun. She joined the colony as the experience caused her to reassess her priorities.
- Meaningful Name:
- In "The Fires of Pharos", Project Pharos is the Federation operation to construct a "lighthouse" to transmit navigational data to ships in the Marrat Nebula in order to keep track of illegal traffic and the brigands operating in the system. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, otherwise known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was a huge lighthouse in Ancient Egypt and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
- In "The Flat, Gold Forever", the Enterprise's shuttlecraft Icarus crashes to Prairie in flames in much the same way as the figure of the same name from Greek Classical Mythology fell to Earth after flying too close to The Sun.
- In "Thanatos" and "Nemesis", the Temazi worship an alien race who visited their planet thousands of years ago as gods with Thanatos being the monarch of the heavens. The Klingons refer to the weapons that these aliens left on the Temazi homeworld as the Thanatos cache. In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death.
- Mental Fusion: In "One of a Kind", it is revealed that the Lirin possess a shared consciousness called the Unity. When three Lirin are killed unexpectedly in a fire in a residential tower, it is an almost unprecedented event in their history and a deep loss for the Unity. Nano is recalled to Liria in order to rejoin the Unity but he is unable to do so as it repels him. He is almost crushed by a boulder but Captain Pike pushes him out of the way at the last second. Soon afterwards, José Tyler and Sita Mohindas are almost killed by another fire after attempting to strike up a conversation with a gardener. Although the Lirin claim that it was no more than a freak accident, it is clear that this is not the case. Nano requests his crewmates' assistance in solving this mystery. After Nano is connected to a psionic amplifier from the Enterprise, Spock determines that the Lirin have a shared unconsciousness of which they are unaware. Their deep-rooted fear of the unknown has given rise to a pyrotechnic manifestation that attempts to destroy all outsiders or traces thereof. As a result, this fear is slowly killing them. It can only be defeated and eventually eradicated by the Lirin confronting themselves and learning to live among the rest of the galactic community.
- Microts: In "The Fallen, Part Two", the Chakuun measure time in cycles, which seem to be equivalent to standard years.
- Mind Probe: In "Flesh of My Flesh", the Ngultor use a mind probe on Captain Pike after capturing him to examine his memories and learn of "the other life-self consumables" on the Enterprise. Pike relives his memories of taking over command of the Enterprise from Captain Robert April and recruiting Number One and Spock to the crew.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- "Flesh of My Flesh" gives Number One's surname as Robbins. Her first name begins with "Eure-" but she interrupts Captain Pike before he can finish saying it. She tells him that she would prefer to be simply called Number One as there is an old family curse concerning her first name.
- Also in "Flesh of My Flesh", the transporter chief Pitcairn is given the first name Nils.
- In "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", Yeoman J.M. Colt is given the name Mia. She seemingly prefers to go by her middle name. Neither her first initial nor what it stands for are ever referenced in the series.
- Neuro-Vault: In "Immortal Wounds", Ambassador Toluk determines after mind melding with Dr. Boyce that three members of a psi-adept species called the Julthans or Jultha Free Men transferred their consciousness or siras into Boyce many years earlier when he was a young medic. When their shuttle crashed on the remote medical research outpost to which he was assigned, the Julthans made physical contact with Boyce just before they died. It was brief but there was nevertheless sufficient time to make the transfer. The siras eventually went insane due to the confusion and pain that they experienced. When Dr. Boyce encountered Narten Phayn Drexler, the leader of the Orion raiders that destroyed their colony, the Julthans took control of Dr. Boyce and killed Drexler with a lethal injection of metrazene.
- New Neo City: In "Flesh of My Flesh", it was established that Gabrielle Carlotti lived on the New Milan colony until it was destroyed by the Chakuun, the shock troops of the Tholians. Out of her family, only she and her two younger brothers survived.
- Oh, My Gods!:
- When he is shocked, Nano often swears "by the Unity!" In "One of a Kind", the Lirin Unity is established as being his people's shared consciousness and the entire basis of their society.
- In "The Fallen, Part Two", Captain Pike swears by the Great Bird of the Galaxy.
- In "Future Tense, Part Two", Yssir similarly swears by the "Great Bird above."
- Opening Narration: The opening narration is a slight variation on that of Star Trek: The Original Series: "Space...the final frontier. Before James T. Kirk, before Jean-Luc Picard, there was Christopher Pike. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before..."
- Orbital Bombardment:
- In the two-part story "The Fallen", the Chakuun ghostships launch devastating attacks from space on Federation colonies such as Jubal and Theta Kalyb. Approximately 100,000 Federation citizens are killed in the attack on Jubal. New Milan suffered the same fate eight years earlier.
- In "Nemesis", the Klingon commander Kharg threatens to destroy the major population centers of the Temazi homeworld from space.
- Organic Technology: In "Flesh of My Flesh", all Ngultor technology is organic in nature. They regard the purely mechanical Enterprise as a dead ship. They are able to reshape their ships at will, which Captain Pike compares to flexing a muscle. The Ngultor also infect the Enterprise with an organic virus which uses the ship's systems as a feeding ground. Spock and Dr. Boyce are able to create a viral antibody which proves successful in defeating it.
- Playing with Fire: The Lirin are able to mentally generate fires. Lt. Nano is a grade two pyrotechnic.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Captain Pike's yeoman and close friend Dermot Cusack, an Irishman with a well known and well deserved reputation as a rogue, is the Plucky Comic Relief for the first three issues, until he is killed by Talza on Rigel VII in "Nor Iron Bars a Cage".
- P.O.V. Sequel: "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" retells the events of "The Cage" from the perspective of Yeoman Colt. Several scenes from the episode are reproduced verbatim in the comic.
- Prequel: Aside from the series itself being a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, "Our Dearest Blood" depicts the Enterprise's mission to Rigel VII, a major part of the backstory to "The Cage". This includes Captain Pike's fight with the Kaylar in the abandoned Zemtar fortress, which the Talosians forced him to relive soon after abducting him. It turns out that the dress that the Damsel in Distress Vina wore in this illusion is identical to one actually worn by Talza, the aide of the Rigellian Minister Etashnan. Unlike Vina in the illusion, however, Talza left as soon as the Kaylar began to attack Pike as she had brought him to the fortress so that he could be ambushed.
- Reset-Button Suicide Mission: In the Alternate Timeline story arc "Futures", the joint mission of the Enterprise-A and the Bounty to return Mia Colt to 2254 via the Well of Tomorrows on Algol II turns into one as the planet is located in a disputed system deep in Klingon-controlled space. In space, the Enterprise engages in battle with a fleet of Klingon birds-of-prey. Sulu dies when his console explodes. On the surface of Algol II, Scotty is enraged by the death of his Bounty crewmate Yssir and is killed with a Klingon bat'leth when he attempts to retaliate. In the meantime, the Enterprise has been severely damaged by the Klingon ships and many members of the crew, including Saavik, are dead. Just as Mia Colt jumps into the Well of Tomorrows, Captain Pike activates the self-destruct in order to take as much of the Klingon fleet with him as possible.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: In "Thanatos" and "Nemesis", the Temazi are an extremely violent and xenophobic pre-industrial race who worship Ancient Astronauts as gods. They instantly slaughter anyone that they come across who does not resemble their gods.
- Shout-Out: "Future Tense, Part Two" features several references to A New Hope. The design of the Bounty, the commercial freighter commanded by James T. Kirk in the Alternate Timeline, closely resembles that of the Millennium Falcon. When Mia Colt speaks disparagingly of the Bounty, Scotty says, "She may not look like much but she's got it where it counts." These are the exact words that Han Solo used to defend the Falcon after Luke Skywalker called it a piece of junk. Kirk later says that taking Mia to Algol II will reap a greater reward than his crew can possibly imagine. His helmsman Lamek says that he can imagine an awful lot. Han said much the same thing about the reward that the Rebel Alliance was offering for Princess Leia's rescue.
- Single-Biome Planet:
- In "Flesh of My Flesh", it is mentioned that the Masai, from whom Moves-With-Burning-Grace is descended, settled on the desert planet Eristas during the first phase of humanity's expansion from Earth.
- In the two-part story "Cloak and Dagger", Darien 224 appears to be a desert planetoid due to the high degree of radiation emitted by the system's sun.
- In "The Flat, Gold Forever", the Federation colony Prairie is an agrarian planet.
- Space Pirates:
- In "The Fires of Pharos", Starbase 13 is a frequent target of space pirates, including Orions, Arcturans, Khodini and renegade humans. After Kaaj discovers that the Pharos siteworld is rich in dilithium so pure that it does not need to be refined after being mined, he convinces these disparate groups to band together under his leadership so that they can breach Starbase 13's defenses and gain access to the dilithium.
- In "Immortal Wounds", it is mentioned that Orion raiders destroyed a Julthan colony many years earlier.
- Starfish Aliens:
- The Lirin have a very finite population and everyone in their society fulfills a specific role. When the Federation made First Contact with Liria, Nano was generated in order to serve as their emissary. This means that Nano can't return home or he would upset his planet's delicate balance. In "Flesh of My Flesh", Captain Pike describes Liria as the closest thing to a perfect society that he has ever seen. In "One of a Kind", Number One tells Yeoman Colt that when a Lirin dies, typically of old age, another is generated in advance so that the balance can be maintained.
- In "Flesh of My Flesh", the Ngultor are significantly larger than the average humanoid. They are bipedal but have four arms linked by tendrils and a powerful exoskeleton with numerous spikes to protect them from harm or attack. In terms of their psychology, the Ngultor regard other races as raw material to supplement and repair their Organic Technology, which seems to be the basis of their religious beliefs, if not their entire society. They are completely unable to comprehend why the Enterprise crew resists the rapture of the flesh and the sacred harmony of blood, bone and gristle.
- Super Breeding Program: In "Our Dearest Blood", the Rigellians specifically bred the Kaylar as a warrior elite. They are larger than the average humanoid and possess pronounced fangs. They appear to have limited intelligence and can seemingly only say their name, which is typically used as a battle cry.
- Temporal Sickness: In "Now and Then, Part Three", Dr. Gabrielle Carlotti's examination of Mia Colt determines that her temporal integrity is breaking down. Saavik speculates that the timeline is rejecting her as she is alien to it. If she is not returned to her proper time and place, she will die within four days.
- Translation Convention: In the two-part story "Cloak and Dagger", the Vulcans of Darien 224 speak an ancient version of the Vulcan language. It is rendered in English with "<< >>" brackets when they are speaking among themselves. However, when they are speaking to the Enterprise crew, the brackets are absent as their language is being translated by the universal translator.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: In "The Fallen, Part One", it is readily apparent that Captain Pike and his hard-nosed father Admiral Josh Pike have a distant relationship. When Pike returns home to Mojave to visit his father during the Enterprise's layover at Earth, Admiral Pike is curt and unwelcoming. He says that there can only be two reasons why his son is visiting: either there is something that his doctors are not telling him or he wants something. He then asks him which one it is. Captain Pike is hurt by his father's attitude, especially since the visit was motivated by Commander Kaaj luring him into a trap with a Forged Message saying that the admiral was on his deathbed (as seen in "The Flat, Gold Forever"). In "The Fallen, Part Two", Captain Pike admits to Number One that he is afraid that his father will die alone while the Enterprise is on a mission.
- With a Foot on the Bus: In "One of a Kind", Nano is recalled to his homeworld Liria after three of his people are killed in a fire so that his presence can allow the shared consciousness to heal. He has mixed feelings about his impending departure from the Enterprise. Considering that he was created to be an outsider, Nano tells Sita Mohindas that returning to Liria should be a dream come true. However, he does not want to leave his friends and shipmates on the Enterprise. Nano is eventually allowed to remain in Starfleet as the Unity believes that he can help the Lirin to dispel their fears of the unknown by periodically returning home and sharing his experiences aboard the Enterprise with them.
- You Have Failed Me: In "The Flat, Gold Forever", Commander Kaaj is about to kill Kir after he loses track of the shuttlecraft Icarus containing Captain Pike. However, Virka tells Kaaj that Kolj gave Kir the wrong coordinates and Kolj is therefore the one to blame. Kaaj then shoots Kolj dead with his disruptor. Virka did this so that Kir would be in her debt.
- You No Take Candle: In "The Fallen, Part Two", the Chakuun Cohort General's speech is like this during her conversations with Gabrielle Carlotti.
