Star Trek 1146: Lapse

1146. Lapse

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #13, Malibu Comics, August 1994

CREATORS: Charles Marshall (writer), Leonard Kirk and Bruce McCorkindale (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (between Playing God and Profit and Loss)

PLOT: Just before a security exercise in which the crew must find Odo without the aid of internal sensors, Bashir inoculates him for the Bajoran flu. This makes him go crazy and he believes he's being hunted by enemies. Eventually, he's shapeshifted so much, he reverts to a gelatinous state and Bashir cures him.

CONTINUITY: Odo's flashbacks include his people, the Denorios Belt, Dr. Mora Pel and Dukat.

DIVERGENCES: Odo shapeshifts into a convincing Quark.

PANEL OF THE DAY - It's "Let's switch make-ups" Day.
REVIEW: It's another Charles Marshall script and it's a lot like the previous two. The story is slight, not much more than a chase before the pages run out and he has to plug in an easy resolution. On the up side, each character gets a set piece, and there's at least an attempt at flashing back to an important moment. On the down side, the premise is ridiculous, with Bashir pumping drugs into Odo despite the fact he admits to knowing nothing about his psychology - and Sisko ordering it! In previous issues, this seemed to be done in the name of comedy and turned out to be pretty silly. Played for straight here, it's just stupid.

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