"Star Trek" is celebrating its 50th birthday, but the release of the Chris Pine and Idris Elba-starring "Star Trek Beyond" motion picture isn't the franchise's only gift to fans as a new story from IDW Publishing tells a tale featuring both the classic and modern Starship Enterprise crews.
During Friday's Star Trek Comics panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego, IDW editor Sarah Gaydos and "Star Trek" series writer Mike Johnson revealed new details about the "Altered Encounters" storyline of issues #59 and #60, which close out the current volume of the ongoing series before it relaunches with post-"Beyond" stories this October in "Star Trek: Boldly Go."
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The two-parter, the first of which is already in stores, sees the two crews of the Starship Enterprise encountering the same interstellar irregularity from the vantage point of their respective timelines. The classic characters and those from the newly-dubbed "Kelvin Timeline" of the current crew (named for the ship piloted by Captain Kirk's father to open J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot) switch bodies and enter the others' reality in the Freakiest of Friday scenarios, and while they never officially meet face-to-face, Gayos promised that diehard "Trek" fans won't be disappointed, as in the story, "Problems are solved with science, and problems are solved with teamwork," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Johnson, who will reunite with series artist Tony Shasteen in "Boldly Go," also revealed that the new series will feature characters from IDW's "Starfleet Academy" series.
"Star Trek Beyond" is in theaters now.