1155. Collision Course / Frozen Boyhood / Oaths / Honor / Dangerous TimesPUBLICATION: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Special #1, Malibu Comics, August 1995
CREATORS: Phil Crain / Bruce Costa / Terry Pallot / Christopher Pelton / Joe Fielder (writers), Rod Whigham and Scott Reed / Keith Conroy and Aubrey Bradford / Rob Davis and Terry Pallot / Moose Baumann, Anne Timmons and Scott Reed / Rob Davis and Bruce McCorkindale (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (between Defiant and Fascination) / Dangerous Times takes place just before or after Explorers (Sisko's beard)
PLOT: In Collision Course, an asteroid from the Wormhole threatens to destroy Deep Space 9, but luckily, Quark's new Klingon partner is smuggling explosives and despite his objections, O'Brien pilots his ship right into the asteroid, beaming off at the last second. In Frozen Boyhood, as an older Jake listens to his girlfriend drone on and on, he remembers how his father got him a baseball recording from a sleeper ship found near the station. In Oaths, Bashir struggles to find a cure for a little girl in a coma. Her condition is like that of Bajoran monks who used to lock themselves into a circuit thanks to a drug, one that can no longer be found. Quark introduces him to a Maquis agent who found some of the drug on a Cardassian ship, but he's delayed by Odo who wants to arrest the Maquis. They lock horns, but Bashir wins and saves the girl. In Honor, Jake and Rom cure Nog of his second thoughts about joining Starfleet Academy by faking a secret message and a vial of a compound reputed to be able to destroy the entire Cardassian race. He passes the "test" with flying colors. In Dangerous Times, someone tries to capture Odo and fails. When interrogated, he reveals that there are those who are ready to do what must be done to protect the Federation in ways Starfleet doesn't want to. In the end, there is a break-out and he escapes the station.
CONTINUITY: In Collision Course, the Defiant is absent following the events of "Defiant". Jake's girlfriend in Frozen Boyhood is Bajoran, which goes with his tastes as revealed in The Visitor. Honor features Nog and Rom. Dangerous Times has cameos from Garak, Nog and Morn.
DIVERGENCES: Honor mentions "Cardassian Prime" (typo).
PANEL OF THE DAY - Watch the traffic.
REVIEW: A disappointing special, with none of the stories feeling in any way "complete". Some of them have better than average art, but lack any kind of meaningful character development (like Collision Course), while others are attempts at character development, but lack a coherent story (the rest). Oaths is particularly lame, with Odo almost preventing Bashir from saving a life for no good reason. Frozen Boyhood creates a ridiculous coincidence in the 4-hour CD of the very same Giants game Jake was just playing in the holosuites. Honor ends with a "we'll tell you later" element. And Dangerous Times is just the prologue to something else (later in the comics series?). Started off with a nice explosion, but then fell into talkiness before omitting any kind of resolution. A very dull mix.
Comments