Are you a fan of "Q"?

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Trek
#1

All this talk about the one true god, Baltar as the cylon god, and the Head crew being the cylon god got me thinking about the mischeiveous, omnipotent Q.

Q was introduced in ‘Encounter at Farpoint’. Originally that episode was meant to be an hour long, introduce the crew, and focus on the issue at Farpoint. The execs called for a two hour pilot and Roddenberry added the Q element. To be honest, Q made the premiere for me.

Some of my favorite moments of TNG involved Q. Q and Guinan square off in ‘Q Who?’. The crew dressed as Hood’s band of merrymen in ‘Qpid’. In ‘Tapestry’, Picard meets Q in the afterlife and Q says, “You’re dead, this is the afterlife, and I’m God.” In the finale when Q proclaims, “The trial never ends.”

The actor who portrays Q, John de Lancie, is a riot.

So, are you a fan of Q?

#2

Q is awesome. Yeah, looking back, the Q character was a brialliant character to add to the TNG mix–a great character in both the humor and the dramatic tension he added.
Q’s impish, carelessness was such a direct contrast to Picard’s ultra-responsible seriousness.
I loved the episode where, as a punishment, Q is made human: “I feel weak, like I’m going to pass out!!” says Q. “That’s called getting sleepy,” replies Dr. Crusher.

And the episode were that young woman discovers she’s a Q and Q must teach her what it means to be a Q.
Great stuff.

#3

Q is one of my favourite charachters. The episodes that he is in were generally pretty good.

#4

Q is so darn frustrating and annoying. You HAVE to love him!

#5

I really liked Q. I’ll admit that his first appearance threw me a bit, it wasn’t exactly in keeping with the traditional ST character…but about halfway through the the show I began to settle down and buy into it. And I really enjoyed all his subsequent appearances a lot. He always reminded me of Eddie Haskell from the old Leave it to Beaver in a way…show up, stir up the sh*t, disappear ! But Q, a really fascinating character as we began to know him more, and a lot of that goes to the great job John de Lancie did in making the character likeable and fully formed.
Q gets my nod as ‘Cool Character’.
As an aside, does de Lancie do the convention circuit thing ? That’d be a fun picture to get !

#6

I liked Q a lot, yes, especially in his menacing aspects as judge (“Encounter at Farpoint,” “All Good Things…”) and seemingly omnipotent tormentor (“Q Who?” – it is his fault, after all, humanity met the Borg when it did!). I like the comedic aspects of Q, too, but only when they are not broad and over the top – e.g., “Qpid” doesn’t do it for me, nor Q showing up in the smoke of Picard’s cigar. I admit I have not seen Q’s appearance on DS9, and I did not at all care for how “Voyager” used Q – but I cared for very little about “Voyager,” so that is not surprising. :slight_smile:

Any fan of John de Lancie’s will want to check out the “Alien Audio” productions that he, Nimoy, Shimerman, McFadden and other Trek actors did adapting classic sci-fi to radio drama, by the way. Highly recommended.

#7

Some would argue that Q didn’t introduce the Borg to the Federation but warned the Federation of the Borg. He prepared them for what was coming. Not as bad as a time paradox, but this omniscient mothering makes me head hurt.

#8

I absolutely ADORE Q, and yes, Jon De Lance is HILARIOUS!

#9

Yes, that is true. Although then Voyager came along and frakked up all the Borg continuity with the Raven and Seven of Nine’s biological family. Mumble grumble…

However you look at it, Q did not do what he did out of an altruistic “mothering,” of course. As Picard acknowledges at the end of “Q Who” (never could make sense of that title), “Perhaps he did the right thing for the wrong reasons.” It is one of my all time favorite episodes.

#10

I think it’s a play on YooHoo. Y’know like, “Yoohoo, over here!” Should that be, You Who?

#11

Perhaps.

Also, I was disappointed there was never an on-screen, canonical explanation of the relationship between Q & Guinan, hinted at in that episode. I bet a Trek novel has dealt with it somehow, but I would’ve liked an “official” exploration at some point. Alas…

#12

…edited for being overly negative…

I am not a fan.

#13

Yeah, like when Guinan was squaring up to fight Q, she must of thought she could have won.

#14

i also enjoyed when they put him on other shows during “sweeps”.

Q = ratings

#15

John DeLancie was the guest at the only Star Trek convention I ever went to. During the “Q”&A (bud-dum-ching!), I asked him how he as an actor dealt with having to work with special effects, and he rabbit-trailed into a story of dripping goo onto a stagehand’s head during takes of the scene with Picard and Q on primordial Earth (in “All Good Things…”). Then the lights all flickered for a moment, and when they came back on, he said, “I did that.”

So yeah, he’s a lot of fun.

Solai, I missed your post pre-edit. Why don’t you like Q? In more diplomatic language, perhaps.

#16

I would also like to hear. The only thing I can think of is Q tends to take you out of the show. It ceases to be TNG and becomes the “Q” show. In a way I think that’s brillant since Q is an omnipotent being not restricted to our universe. What better way to express his character than to take the viewer out of his/her element?

#17

Meh. I liked him better as Trelane.

#18

I always enjoyed the Q episodes. Back when I was a little tyke my mother watched Days of Our Lives and he was on there as a kind of comic relief character. So I recognized him right away on TNG. I must have been in high school when it first aired on TV. I instantly loved TNG and weird black goo monster that killed Tasha Yar aside…I enjoyed every episode, especially the Q ones. Sigh, I guess Solai and I will have to agree to disagree. :wink:

-K

#19

LOL .

#20

There’s some Trek novel I read a waays back where it relates Trelane and Q. I forget whether Trelane is Qs father or Q is Trelane’s—or maybe it’s some weird infinite cause/effect loop.