Star Trek 1280: By a Sleep to Say We End

1280. By a Sleep to Say We End

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation - Perchance to Dream #2, Wildstorm Comics, March 2000

CREATORS: Keith R.A. DeCandido (writer), Peter Pachoumis and Lucian Rizzo (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: Thanks to Worf's quick action, Starfleet security takes down the sniper aiming at the new Damiano governor. The humiliated moralist faction takes stronger measures by placing a telepathic weapon inside a Vulcan security officer's mind. It is meant to torment key personnel around her with dreams, memories and eventually, hallucinations drawn from the most maddening places in their minds. Worf soon starts to suffer from bad dreams and visions, until one of them knocks him out, leaving the way open for the moralists to shoot the governor at close range...

CONTINUITY: Worf dreams about the boy he killed in a soccer match (Let He Who Is Without Sin...) and hallucinates both Marla Aster (The Bonding) and a canister falling on him (Ethics). Deanna calls herself Worf's Par'machai (All Good Things...).

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - World's most boring fight
REVIEW: A much better issue - Worf's dreams are more interesting than Data's, though they are strictly drawn from established continuity and not at all surreal - but I think I may have put the finger on what disturbs me about the art. It's the Damiano. It is very hard to follow the political story at times when all the characters look alike. Each is a combination of breasts, beards and different horn configurations, and because a female face may be associated with a male body, we lose one of the frames of reference we're used to. And they all dress pretty much alike. I found it difficult at times to differentiate one from another. The strengths of the mini continue to be in the character moments, though again, a bit too concerned with referring to continuity. The match that's decided by a single throw is a great Worf moment, as is the interrogation scene where he promises political payback from the Klingon homeworld for having been fired upon. He generally comes off quite well in this issue. I do wish we'd see more of the Worf-Troi relationship, especially if Deanna is gonna throw around terms like Par'machai. Here, he barely gets the same pinched shoulder Data did in the previous issue.

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