"Only A Dream" is the 31st and 32nd episodes of Justice League. It originally aired on October 11, 2003.
Plot
Part I
John Dee has a grandiose daydream in which he single-handedly defeats the entire Justice League with an enormous robot. He snaps out of the dream and returns to reality: he is a convict in Stryker's Island Penitentiary. He has been volunteering as a guinea pig for experiments with the Materioptikon, a device that gives its subject extra-sensory perception. He is eager to try an increased dose, but the scientists say that would be dangerous.
Dee is told that he has been turned down for parole; more bad news comes when his wife, Penny, says she is leaving him for another man. His chance comes when a prison riot breaks out and several dangerous inmates escape. During the riot, he breaks into the laboratory and turns on the Materioptikon to maximum. After the riot is quelled, Dee is found in the lab in a catatonic state.
The League springs into action to recapture the escapees: Solomon Grundy, Copperhead, Volcana, Firefly, and Luminus.
Batman and John Stewart capture Volcana and Firefly, and return them to Stryker's. Batman yawns, explaining that he has gone for three days without sleep. While there, they are told that Dee has escaped the prison infirmary, now littered with the bodies of other men in similar catatonic states. Lantern leaves to join the others, while Batman determines to track down Dee.
That night, Dee is watching the house Penny shares with her new man. Through telepathy, he appears in her dreams, adopting a new, terrifying appearance and the name "Dr. Destiny." Asleep, Penny begins to scream, and her man is unable to wake her.
Superman, Flash, Hawkgirl, J'onn J'onzz, and Lantern are able to capture the remaining escapees. (Hawkgirl nearly breaks down inside a trap made of shrinking walls conjured by Luminus, showing that she is claustrophobic). The League decides to call it a night, except for Batman, who tracks down Penny in a hospital, and J'onn, whom Batman calls in. J'onn probes Penny's mind, but is unable to bring her out of her delusional state. He also gleans Dee's new persona, and that he wants revenge against the League.
As the rest of the League falls asleep, Dr. Destiny's soft laughter can be heard in the background.
Part II
Batman quickly calls the other members, but they are already asleep. In their dreams, each of them lives out their worst nightmare:
- Hawkgirl is trapped in a coffin and buried alive.
- Flash is trapped in a world where he's moving so fast that everything and everyone around him appears to be moving so slowly that they are practically motionless.
- Superman's powers increase beyond his ability to control them, and he accidentally causes massive destruction and kills all those he loves, including Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White.
- John Stewart is trapped in a world where everyone is afraid of him, and he is unable to understand their language or make himself understood, and the energy of his ring is consuming him from the inside.
Batman determines to track Dee down, reasoning that he has probably chosen someplace familiar as a hideout. J'onn takes the other Leaguers to the Watchtower for medical attention. Hearing a news report that Penny has died as a result of Destiny's torture, J'onn decides that he has to risk entering his teammates' minds.
Batman searches Dee's house and his regular haunts, but his lack of sleep is threatening to catch up with him before he can find Dee. His computer tells him that Dee was a low-level LexCorp employee arrested in a warehouse for guarding a supply of smuggled weapons, after a sweep by the League.
One by one, J'onn meets his teammates in their dreams, and brings them out of their delusions, mainly by telling them they can control their power. For Flash, he simply had to slow his heartbeat. Dr. Destiny attempts to fight them, appearing as a giant in one dream world. Although they defeat him, Hawkgirl is still trapped, and Destiny focuses all his energy on blocking off her mind from J'onn's telepathy.
Batman tracks Dee down at the warehouse. Dee is close enough that he can enter Batman's mind even though he's awake, but Batman keeps him out by humming “Frère Jacques” over and over again. Relying partly on projecting telepathic illusions, Dee attacks Batman hand-to-hand, trying to stab him with a syringe containing a sedative. In the fight, Dee accidentally injects himself, and falls unconscious.
Hawkgirl awakens and sees the rest of the League gathered around her, smiling – except for Batman, who is snoring in a nearby chair.
Dee lies in the infirmary at Stryker's, catatonic, humming "Frère Jacques" over and over again.
Continuity
- During Superman's dream, he flies to Smallville and J'onn finds him on his parents' farm, hiding in the garage locker where his spaceship was stored in Superman: The Animated Series, "The Last Son of Krypton."
- Destiny does not reappear until Justice League Unlimited, "I Am Legion," in which he had adopted a costume to match his terrifying dream appearance.
Background information
Home Video Releases
Production Inconsistencies
- Dana Delany and David Kaufman are credited for Part I, but do not appear in it; Clancy Brown and Mark Hamill are credited for Part II while only appearing in Part I.
Trivia
- In his dream, Dee refers to the ESP machine as the Materioptikon. In mainstream DC Comics, the Materioptikon is the mystical stone that grants Doctor Destiny his powers in the world of dreams.
- It is revealed in "Starcrossed" that Hawkgirl, like all Thanagarians, has a strong resistance to telepathy. This explains why J'onn J'onzz was unable to enter her dream in this episode.
- The entire League appears, except for Wonder Woman (though she does appear in a dream sequence at the beginning of Part I).
- Several villains, including Lex Luthor, The Joker, Shade, Star Sapphire, Gorilla Grodd, Deadshot, Ultra-Humanite, Cheetah, and Copperhead cameo briefly in John Dee's dream sequence.
- In the comics storyline Sword of Azrael, Batman uses a similar technique to resist a truth serum, reciting children's nursery rhymes. He explains that it was one of many skills he learned while training in his youth.
- The use of "Frère Jacques" by Batman to keep Dee out is somewhat a joke which pokes fun at Destiny's powers. The reason behind this is the translation of “Frère Jacques” from French to English is roughly: Are you sleeping, Are you sleeping, Brother Jack? Brother Jack? Morning bells are ringing, Morning bells are ringing. Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.
- The scene where Flash is trapped in his dream and tries to escape by using a pay phone may be a reference to the film The Matrix.
- Volcana and Firefly's brief team-up was echoed a short time later in a last-season episode of Frasier, in which man-hungry Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) defends her decision to accept a date with an ex-convict: "The man made one little mistake. Besides, I don't know any guy who's not a little fascinated by fire."
- Upon seeing Jimmy, Superman refers to him as "my pal," a reference to the comic series "Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal" (and the episode "Superman's Pal").
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Maria Canals | Hawkgirl Bat-computer (uncredited) |
| Kevin Conroy | Batman |
| Phil LaMarr | John Stewart |
| Carl Lumbly | J'onn J'onzz |
| George Newbern | Superman |
| Michael Rosenbaum | Flash |
| William Atherton | John Dee/Doctor Destiny |
| Fairuza Balk | Penny Dee |
| Clancy Brown | Lex Luthor |
| Dana Delany | Lois Lane |
| Peri Gilpin | Volcana |
| Nicholas Guest | Doctor |
| Mark Hamill | Solomon Grundy Joker (uncredited) |
| David Kaufman | Jimmy Olsen |
| Richard McGonagle | Warden |
| Jason Marsden | Snapper Carr Kid (uncredited) |
| Mark Rolston | Firefly |
| Jose Yenque | Copperhead |
Uncredited Appearances
Quotes
Green Lantern: Look, whatever he is, he's sure not in the same league as Grundy and the others. He's a nobody. |
Copperhead: (jumps on Hawkgirl's back) You're flying me out of here now, lady! |
(after Grundy crashes) |
Batman: Don't worry. I'm used to late hours. |
Batman: (Barging into a coffee shop) Give me a triple. Now! |
(Batman hums the 'Frere Jacques' tune in his head) |
Dr. Destiny: Coming here was the mistake of your life. You see, the closer I am to someone, the stronger I get. I'll be able to go into your brain even if you're wide awake. |
Dr. Destiny: You don't have any special powers! |
Dr. Destiny: Adrenaline rush wearing off? Good. The doctor will see you now. |
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