Wil Wheaton wrote the other day about a very early experience in his life that helped spark a fascination with and love of the vastness of outer space. It’s beautifully written and brought a tear to my eye. (And hey, congratulations on having an asteroid named after you, Wil! Super cool!)
Wil makes a throwaway reference to “listening to Star Trek Power records on my portable plastic record player” and boy, did that bring back memories! I also had a little portable record player and listened to Power Records book and record sets on it, including a Star Trek one, “Passage to Mouav.” I listened to it, reading along with the record, so many times, it was probably more firmly embedded in my brain as *Star Trek* than any episode of the original series. But until Wil mentioned it in his post, I hadn’t thought about it in many, many years.
Looking at the book now, I’m not surprised it made an impression on me, with terrific art by an amazing trio of artist, Russ Heath, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano, and a story that could easily be an episode of the TV series (and is a damn sight better than the worst Trek episodes, like “The Omega Glory” and “The Way to Eden”). Plus, cats!
Confession: even thought it would be years before I hit puberty, the Caitian communications officer Lt. M’ress made me feel “funny” inside, in the same way Julie Newmar’s Catwoman in the Batman TV series did.
“Passage to Mouav” was an early source of my growing love of science fiction–and imaginative fiction in general–and my growing fascination with space exploration and the dream of space travel. Finding it archived online makes me buzzy with happiness.
Except…seriously, what the hell is up with black Sulu and white Uhura? That’s messed up.
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