TNG/DS9: Divided We Fall

Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection #23

by John J. Ordover, David Mack, Andrew Currie (Artist)

The crew of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine meet in the wake of a political conflict and they need to join forces to stop a small group of extremists.

For Dax, having a symbiont is an honor, but some others of her kind do not agree. Verad, who has stolen Dax’s symbiont before, is now a member of a group claiming that these creatures are taking control of Trill society. Veron plots an attack that could affect all the Trills.

The miniseries features the TNG cast after the events of STAR TREK: INSURRECTION and the DS9 crew from the Pocket Books relaunch novel series, from after the final episode What You Leave Behind.

Genres: Star Trek, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

144 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2017

Reviews

[Ellen Schoener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic.
This would have made a really great episode.
We get an exciting thriller with tons of action and lots of character drama.

[Lois Merritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally something that isn't the mirror universe or the borg or whatever else that it just feels like I see so much of whether it's the new or older stuff in Star Trek. Something that combines the TNG and DS9 crew with a straightforward story about Trill and the symbionts. And the story itself was pretty good too!

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review available at https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/star-t...

All my DS9 reread reviews are indexed in the following post, for easy reference: https://www.tor.com/2021/03/10/star-t...

[Jameson · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book two Starfleet captains have learned there’s good reason to believe Trills are an enslaved people with global Stockholm Syndrome and they do nothing about it except destroy dissent, maintain the status quo, and agree to cover it all up. This sounds more like 2020 Star Trek to me!

This era of Trek, though, is actually set right after all the TNG-era shows and movies end—good ST doesn’t see near enough action. And this era of Trek comics is pretty decent, too. Serviceable art and storylines for the most part. This book could have been interesting but fan service or editorial interference or just bad writing ruined it. Let me explain.

Divided We Fall has a great setup—Trill rebels have learned that the symbiotes are actually alien invaders who conquered the Trill and now lord over the unjoined; it’s a real shame this meaty problem’s feet are cut off before it can run. It’s hobbled—not handicapped—by the editorial edict or fan service-y idea to install the batty Vwhateverhisnameis as the rebel leader. (He’s that annoying Trill from the DS9 episode in which he wanted to steal Dax from Jadzia.) The whole idea of the symbiotes as invaders is horrifying and unjust, but also it’s such an old and established custom “too big to fail” that it really could make for a great philosophical Trek story. This ain’t that. Vwhateverhisnameis is tainted goods. This whole argument is moot if the leader is this jackass. (At least for a four issue limited series; having the uncomfortable allegations made by a sketchball would actually enrich the story possibly but the idea would need much more page space to be developed.)

Which makes the handwaving away of this problem thornier than necessary. Captain Picard actually doesn’t even listen to Vwhateverhisnameis’s argument. He literally mutes him. This makes Picard a tool of the oppressor, quelling discontent with a push of a button. He also blocks Vwhateverhisnameis’s from being broadcasted to any other Trill, except for the President, a very powerful and probably joined Trill, I might add, and to boot he even agrees to keep quiet about it all! This is egregious and not at all righteous.

Not that it was all bad but another problem is for a TNG/DS9 crossover you don’t see much interaction between the crews except the strictly professional kind. All the personal stuff is confined the each crew.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I haven't read a ton of Star Trek comics/graphic novels but this one seemed a bit of a mess in my opinion as it seemed to flip back and forth between the TNG/DS9 storyline until they converged. I realized I should have read this before or around the Relaunch novels so with the way Mission Gamma ended I am surprised that both stories tied so close to Trill. I didn't find the art that great and had to really examine who was who sometimes and the pips seemed tiny and at other times huge on their necks. The story seemed kind of shallow and although Perim was on the Enterprise she seemed under-utilized as a Trill and only got brief mentions. I thought they could have involved her in the story more. I liked seeing Vaughn in action as he's a great character and I wish they used him more. It seemed odd to not have Prynn there but I am guessing she wasn't introduced or quite fleshed out yet at this point. It was a neat little story with some action and a decent use of Troi but I really don't know what was going on with Geordi at the end there. It just seemed out of place.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about this series on Memory Beta and was glad to finally get my... eyes on it to read it. Having read some of the DS9 "Season 8" I had a lot of new characters in my mind's eye, but it was pretty cool to see them, at least one artist's rendering, across a four-issue comic series. There were plenty of action and/or emotional scenes for the main characters of both the Enterprise E and Deep Space Nine's Defiant in this tale that picked up a loose thread (a Trill symbiont) from both Beverly and Dax's past. Fans of the series and the post-series continuing adventures will want to find this fun little tale and feast their Star Trekkin' eyes upon it.

[Apostolos · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art style is definitely of its period in comic books, but the story was rather enjoyable. It gives us a look within Trill society, and what happens when the unjoined Trill look upon the worm-trills as parasitic and controlling of a society (definitely some stargate overtones here). It would be interesting to get to learn more about Trill society and the joining at some point in the Star Trek Lore.

[Jordan McKinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m just not into comics, and that’s ok. I think that’s why I’m rating this the way I am.

However, as far as DS9 stories go, I’m glad I went back and read this one (I missed it by accident after Section 31: Abyss in the DS9 relaunch stories. Interesting that I read this after finishing Lesser Evil, which planted the seeds for a conflict with an old TNG-era baddie and the Trill, because that thread definitely started in this comic.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il crossover tra TNG e DSN che non hanno mai avuto il coraggio di fare al cinema o alla televisione. La storia è un poco complicata, poteva essere scritta meglio, nel senso di dare un maggior equilibrio alla divisione di azione e dialoghi tra i personaggi. Ma è un piacere comunque leggerla. Allo stesso modo i disegni non sono perfetti, ma restano buoni.
3 stelle piene.

[Vic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one contrasted nicely against Revenant by Alex White. Both stories focus on Dax and how the Trill symbiont managers are real bad at transparency. The more I learn about this world, the more it sounds like a pretty clear caste system that should get them booted from the Federation. But then, I suffer the flaw of binary judgement, and there’s probably some nuance there to consider.

[Debra Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Enterprise helps DS9 and Trill stop a madman from killing all joined trills.

[Zee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only gave 3 stars because I haven't read enough Star trek comics to fully appreciate the story arc

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally with the possibility of reading this comic, I found it very interesting and entertaining! ASAP a review in my blog about Star Trek!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a comic guy, but wanted to keep the storyline straight. Good stuff.