Quì invece l'intervista in cui Byrne parla del progetto:
NRAMA: Was “Assignment Earth” one of your favorite Star Trek episodes?
JB: Top ten, maybe top five.
NRAMA: The original TV episode had been the Season Two finale for TOS and was intended by Gene Roddenberry as the pilot for a spin-off series that never came to pass. What drew you to interstellar time traveler Gary Seven and his Earth-born assistant?
JB: As a kid, I just thought it was really, really neat. First, I was a Robert Lansing fan, from his other work. Also, I am a sucker for time-travel stories (which the ongoing AE would not be, but the TOS episode was). And Teri Garr was so darn cute!
NRAMA: Did you pitch this to IDW?
JB: Sort of. Chris handed me carte blanche and I said "How about?"
NRAMA: Issue #1 would start in 1968 and then each issue after that would jump one year ahead, right? What sort of stories will you be telling with each issue?
JB: There is no set timeline. I will cover a number of years -- toward the end I want to touch on Nixon's visit to China, which was in 1972 -- but I am not going to be setting clear dates. Anyone who is not familiar with those years might well think all the stories take place in the same year, same week, even. The main indicator of time passing will be Roberta having a different hairstyle in each issue. Possibly a different hair color, too, playing off the Beta V's comment that her hair was "presently tinted honey blonde".
NRAMA: Will there be cameos by Kirk and crew?
JB: Yes. (How's that for cryptic?)
NRAMA: You've not hid from the fact that the reason that you've shunned away from comics based on licensed properties was because you did not want to have to worry about getting actor likeness approvals. In saying that, would Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, and Isis resemble the original actor/actresses, namely, Robert Lansing, Terri Garr, and Vioctoria Vetri, respectively?
JB: We don't have permission to use Teri Garr's likeness. Robert Lansing is, alas, dead, so no one has to approve his likeness. Victoria Vetri/Angela Dorian was so heavily made up as Isis, there is really no issue of a likeness to capture.
"...Maybe, just maybe, Benny isn't the dream... we are. Maybe we're nothing more than figments of his imagination. For all we know, at this very moment, somewhere, far beyond all those distant stars... Benny Russel is dreaming of us."
