The novel is Q squared, I think its implied that Trelane was Q’s son.
What I always enjoyed about Q is that it would have been so easy to use him as a deus ex machina, but they never really did. On Voyager, in particular, he could have easily sent them home, although that would obviously have ended the show. In almost every appearance, it was human ingenuity that saved the day, not an omnipotent finger-snap. Even where he did “fix” something, either he was just undoing something he did in the first place or (rarely) someone asked for his help.
I liked Q… he made me laugh and yet made me think, and he was one of the most multidimensional characters on TNG.
ST confession time: my first crush on a lady was on Dr. Crusher. She was so pretty.
Q was the real highlight of TNG and Voyager for me, not one episode of his was bad and actually is often in the top 3 of each season, indeed if I were to do a top ten star trek episodes Q would feature at least three or four times. When I was working through the DVD box sets the first time I could often get everyone on my corridor to come watch with the mere phrase “this disc has a q episode,” (we were all discovering trek)
Speaking of great episodes though I recently discovered that during the watching of all 7 seasons in one term (what a term) I had managed to miss a disc which had “Data’s day,” on it, well having thought Id seen all TNG new material was good enough but an episode as good as data’s day, well I was a happy guy that day.
I saw John de Lancie and Robert Picardo narrate a symphony concert of “The Music of Star Trek” with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra a while back. They introduced each piece with a little background anecdote for each one. For example, I was not aware before seeing the concert, that the original theme had lyrics for it written by Roddenberry himself:
Beyond the rim of the starlight,
my love is wandring in star flight.
I know he’ll find
In star clustered reaches
Love, strange love
A starwoman teaches.
I know his journey ends never.
His Star Trek will go on forever.
But tell him while
He wanders his starry sea,
Remember,
Remember me.
John de Lancie was very entertaining.
Ugh, yes. GR wrote lyrics that he knew would never be sung onscreen so that he could legally be entitled to 50% of the royalties from the theme music. God forbid he should gracefully share money or credit with anyone else – Star Trek was “his” baby and his alone, of course (ahem, ahem).
I’ll be a Trekkie till the day I die, but every fan should read Inside Star Trek by Solow and Justman – a real eye-opener.
I am re-watching Voyager right now and he was on a few weeks ago. I always liked him and thought he and the Borg were the best elements Gene came up with. THey carry well through all the versions of the show.
I absolutely deny any knowledge of such an event.
Did Gene come up with the Borg? Really? I had not heard of him taking credit for that.
Wasn’t he already dead when the Borg appeared?
Oh and by the way, I have read only a small number of Trek behind-the-scenes-books, but I’m totally with everybody here - the Great Bird certainly made himself eternal by creating Star Trek, but he seldom accepted other people’s ideas about his vision and the show certainly profited from shoving him aside to an advisory position-as sad as that sounds.
I don’t believe he was dead when the Borg first appeared, no, but I am also quite sure they weren’t his creation. I know he said something at one point about maybe the machine planet V’Ger found in ST:TMP being the Borg homeworld, but that was something said after the Borg had been introduced.
Yes, Trek definitely improved after Roddenberry’s absence. No shame in honoring his “sin que non” creation of the show and also acknowledging that others handled the show better in future years. Now if we could just break with continuity entirely and have a real honest-to-goodness reboot with the JJ Abrams movie, maybe Trek could endure for another four decades at least.
It’s really hard for me to imagine there could be a “new Trek” just like we have a “new BSG” and that people are going to talk about “my” Star Trek as the “old Star Trek”
Some of us have already been through that, youngling. 
Yeah, and I’m not denying that the expansion of the franchise from TOS to TNG wasn’t hard for people who grew up with the original show, but it was all still one continuity. This is something else, though, this is total retcon, this is erasing the history that has been written over a space of forty years. Star Trek needs to move forward, not do it all over again. I’m predicting riots and hunger strikes!
Let them eat Tribbles.
I used to advocate this position, but after a while, continuity becomes baggage and has to be jettisoned for the greater good. This happens in comics all the time, and it can be done poorly or well, and not all people will always be satisfied – but I’d much rather have a cleary-defined “Continuity 2.0” started for us to play in. Then we can choose “1.0” (TOS and following, all the way through ENTERPRISE) and “2.0” (Abrams film and everything following) and even build up to a “Crisis in Infinite Treks” kind of event! 
But seriously – who can keep 40 years of continuity straight? TNG couldn’t even always keep 20 years straight. On the whole, it fits in admirably – but there are errors. The TNG-and-forward folks couldn’t eventually even keep their own continuity straight (anyone remember Picard’s offhand line in the episode “First Contact” – not the film – about how a disastrous first contact with the Klingons led to the Prime Directive? Well, “Broken Bow” didn’t have a disastrous first contact, Archer and crew saved the day).
Give us a mostly clean slate and let’s move forward in that way.