Warning: contains spoilers forStar Trek: Lore War#1!
Star Trekjust made the title of an Original Series episode even more disturbing with a surprise reveal. Both parts of “The Menagerie” are rightfully regardedas one of the classicStar Trek’sfinest hours. It is a story of courage and the nature of friendship,but inStar Trek: Lore War#1, the term “menagerie” takes on an even darker connotation thanks to the evil android Lore.
Christopher Cantwell will next write aStar Trek: Redshirtsminiseries for IDW.
Star Trek: Lore War#1 is written by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Davide Tinto. Throughout the issue, continual references are made to Lore’s “Menagerie,” but its exact nature is kept vague at the beginning. Later, Lily Sato is charged with infiltrating Lore’s Menagerie. Spock,here part of the Maquis, informs Sato that the Menagerie is not just Lore’s personal zoo, but a place where he keeps “every being that functions out of alignment with this reality,” in this case, the blasphemous multiverse he has created.
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Now, inLore War,the android has positioned himself as the “god” of a new multiverse, one he created after destroying the previous. Lore, who had stolen Kahless II’s god-killing technology, attacked the Pleroma, where the gods of theStar Trekuniverse lived. This caused a ripple effect, consuming the entire multiverse, including Fluidic Space and the Kelvin timeline as well. Lore was not content to stop there, and his ego led him to construct a new reality, one where his rule is absolute. Lore has twisted theStar Trekuniverse to his cruel whims.
And Lore’s Menagerie, introduced in this issue, is proof of his sadistic nature. Many believe it to simply be a prison, or a “zoo,” where Lore keeps dissidents, and to be fair, it does just that. Yet very few living in this reality seem to know what the Menagerie really entails, and Lore keeps it that way. If others were to find the secret of the Menagerie, it could lead to serious problems with Lore. And while the Menagerie may seem intimidating,Lore War#1 makes it clear the key to beating Lore is buried deep in it.
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Lore Has Put His Own Spin on the Talosian’s “Menagerie”
The term “menagerie” holds a specific meaning in theStar Trekuniverse.The only two-part episode in the classicStar Trek’srun, “The Menagerie” introduced the Talosians to the mythos. These advanced, almost god-like aliens kept prisoners from across the galaxy in a zoo, searching for the right species to repopulate their desolate world. The Talosians fed their captives advanced illusions to pacify or punish. Lore took a page out of the Talosians’ play book when crafting his new reality, and invoking “The Menagerie” is the perfect callback to this classic episode.
Lore took a page out of the Talosians’ play book when crafting his new reality, and invoking “The Menagerie” is the perfect callback to this classic episode.
The references to “The Menagerie” throughoutStar Trek: Lore War#1 are not the only shout-outs to other episode titles.Ben Sisko tells Kahless II: “we are only the sum total of what we leave behind,” a reference toDeep Space Nine’sfinal episode. Much like “The Menagerie” allusion, Sisko’s line also carries deeper meaning beyond being a simple Easter Egg. Yet whereas Sisko uses it in a positive way, Lore has taken the term “menagerie” and given it an even darker meaning, just like he has corrupted theStar Trekuniverse.
Star Trek: Lore War#1 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!
