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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is my fandom security blanket, and Star Trek is one of the few pieces of media that can reliably make me feel hope for the future, so I bid on this crossover zine the week before the US elections as something of a 'Break Glass in Case of Emergency' purchase. Well, consider the glass broken.
I had fairly high hopes for this zine, given the reviews reprinted on Fanlore. Overall, it was solid comfort reading and I would recommend it, although there were some elements I didn't love. It tries to be a big ensemble piece, but I think it would have benefited from picking 2 or 3 POV characters and sticking with them. The shifts of POV were frequent enough to be somewhat jarring, especially among the Enterprise crew.
Accents are written out phonetically in a way that I know some readers find irritating, but which I don't really mind.
Overall, I think the Enterprise crew members adapted to the past just a little too easily, given how out of their element we see them in The Voyage Home. For instance, in an early scene, Uhura needs some cash, so she pops into a pawn shop to sell her earrings. I had an immediate 'Not in My Post-Scarcity Utopia' reaction to the supposition that a future person, used to the economic systems of the Federation, dumped into the past, would immediately recognize the utility of a pawn shop. I can, however, be convinced that the Star Trek characters fit into the '60s because they are, on some meta level, creatures of the time. There is a blink-and-you-miss-it bonus crossover towards the end that I found extremely unnecessary, your mileage may vary.
Like many 1980's and 90's zines, the narrative shows a marked preference for Illya over Napoleon. I have no problem with that, just feel obligated to warn Napoleon fans (and I do count myself among your number), that there's not much here for you. I've also noticed a fan tendency to (imo) overestimate Illya's intellect. I love the dude, but I don't personally see him winning any Nobel Prizes, if you know what I mean?
All of these quibbles may make it sound like I didn't enjoy this zine, but on the whole I did! The mystery element is well handled in that the solution is telegraphed enough to make it fun for the reader, but not so much that the characters seem like fools for taking 80 pages work it out, and there's one little twist at the end that I thought was particularly fun. Anyway, this story brought me through (? it seems too early to say that) a dark time, and I have to appreciate it for that. Also, the illos, by Gennie Summers, are quite nice!
I had fairly high hopes for this zine, given the reviews reprinted on Fanlore. Overall, it was solid comfort reading and I would recommend it, although there were some elements I didn't love. It tries to be a big ensemble piece, but I think it would have benefited from picking 2 or 3 POV characters and sticking with them. The shifts of POV were frequent enough to be somewhat jarring, especially among the Enterprise crew.
Accents are written out phonetically in a way that I know some readers find irritating, but which I don't really mind.
Overall, I think the Enterprise crew members adapted to the past just a little too easily, given how out of their element we see them in The Voyage Home. For instance, in an early scene, Uhura needs some cash, so she pops into a pawn shop to sell her earrings. I had an immediate 'Not in My Post-Scarcity Utopia' reaction to the supposition that a future person, used to the economic systems of the Federation, dumped into the past, would immediately recognize the utility of a pawn shop. I can, however, be convinced that the Star Trek characters fit into the '60s because they are, on some meta level, creatures of the time. There is a blink-and-you-miss-it bonus crossover towards the end that I found extremely unnecessary, your mileage may vary.
Like many 1980's and 90's zines, the narrative shows a marked preference for Illya over Napoleon. I have no problem with that, just feel obligated to warn Napoleon fans (and I do count myself among your number), that there's not much here for you. I've also noticed a fan tendency to (imo) overestimate Illya's intellect. I love the dude, but I don't personally see him winning any Nobel Prizes, if you know what I mean?
All of these quibbles may make it sound like I didn't enjoy this zine, but on the whole I did! The mystery element is well handled in that the solution is telegraphed enough to make it fun for the reader, but not so much that the characters seem like fools for taking 80 pages work it out, and there's one little twist at the end that I thought was particularly fun. Anyway, this story brought me through (? it seems too early to say that) a dark time, and I have to appreciate it for that. Also, the illos, by Gennie Summers, are quite nice!
