Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

These are neat tie-in novels to the Nu!Trek movies.   They take episodes from the original series and revamp them to fit the new universe.   It's great to see Gary Mitchell in the first story arc, and Janice Rand in the second.   This volume is composed of the "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and the "Galileo Seven" story lines.   Read more after the page break. 

Gary Mitchell was a year ahead of Captain Kirk in this continuity, and his friend at the Academy.   When Kirk was suddenly promoted to be Captain of the Enterprise, he asked for both Mitchell and Kelso - also from this episode originally - to be transferred to the Enterprise.   It's a clear set up for the story to take place as it did in the series. 

And it really does.   It's actually kind of odd that other than that bit about the Academy, everything is the same as the episode as far as I recall.   The art is quite good, although Pine-as-Kirk's lips get big and weird, and kinda feminine.  

Galileo Seven, on the other hand, departs from the episode, and it's all compliant with what has happened in the movies.   It's a nice surprise, and stays quite true to the episode itself.   Some scenes - and by some I mean 'many' - are lifted directly from the episode itself.   The art gets kind of funky, though, and it distracted me.   The characters change appearance slightly, and Spock is a little more puffy cheeked than Quinto.   It's where the minus half star went, actually.   Rand gets really weird at some parts in this, too!   

Overall, good fun that stays true to the spirit of the original series, while being Nu!Trek compliant.   I had a couple hours to kill in a Barnes and Noble, and this was a great way to spend half of that time.