Star Trek Just Made a Classic Episode Way More Disturbing With an Unexpected Reveal

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lore War #1!

Star Trek just made the title of an Original Series episode even more disturbing with a surprise reveal. Both parts of “The Menagerie” are rightfully regarded as one of the classic Star Trek’s finest hours. It is a story of courage and the nature of friendship, but in Star Trek: Lore War #1, the term “menagerie” takes on an even darker connotation thanks to the evil android Lore.

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.

Lore Has Re-Created the Star Trek Universe In His Image

Lore Keeps a "Menagerie" of Prisoners, Including Apparently, a God

IDW’s Star Trek: Lore War is the endgame for the publisher’s Trek line, which launched over two years ago. Since Star Trek #400, the line (consisting of the adjective-less Star Trek as well as Star Trek: Defiant) has told a cosmic story grand in scope, and draws from all corners of the franchise. In addition to being fun and action-packed stories, IDW’s Star Trek comics keep with the franchise’s motif of exploring inner space as much as outer space. IDW’s Trek comics have explored the relationship between humanity and their gods.

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Now, in Lore 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 the Star Trek universe 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 the Star Trek universe 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.

Lore Is Aping A Classic Star Trek Alien Race: the Talosians

Lore Has Put His Own Spin on the Talosian's "Menagerie"

The term “menagerie” holds a specific meaning in the Star Trek universe. The only two-part episode in the classic Star Trek’s run, “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.

The references to “The Menagerie” throughout Star 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 to Deep Space Nine’s final 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 the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: Lore War #1 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!