Q (Star Trek)
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 Q in the guise of "God" in "Tapestry" |
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| Species | Q |
|---|---|
| Home planet | N/A; originates from the Q Continuum |
| Portrayed by | John de Lancie |
Q is a fictional character who appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as in related products. In all of these programs, he is played by John de Lancie. The name "Q" also applies to all other individuals of the Q Continuum.
Q is said to be omnipotent, and is continually evasive regarding his motivations. His home, the Q Continuum, is accessible to the Q and their guests, and the true nature of it is said to be beyond the comprehension of "lesser beings" such as humans so it is only shown to humans in ways they can understand.
Beginning with the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Q became a recurring character, with pronounced comedic and dramatic chemistry between himself and Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He serves as a major antagonist of TNG, although in the finale, "All Good Things...", he ultimately becomes an ally to Picard helping him collapse an anomaly that would have destroyed humanity. Gene Roddenberry chose the letter "Q" in honor of his friend, Janet Quarton.[1][2]
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[edit] Behavior
Q is a mischievous, slightly threatening, purportedly omnipotent being who has taken an interest in humans. Q's power is thus far limited only in that he cannot overcome others in the Q Continuum. He can apparently stop death, create life, travel through time, stop time, multitask/create multiple versions of himself and create entire worlds effortlessly. He can change a person's mind or make them take any action.
Q's mercurial personality switches between camp joking and deadly threats. While boastful, condescending, and threatening, he arguably has humanity's best interests at heart, as seen in The Next Generation series finale, "All Good Things...", in which he causes Jean-Luc Picard to shift through chronological periods, giving him a chance to save humanity. In his portrayal of Q, John de Lancie used Lady Caroline Lamb's description of Lord Byron as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" as his inspiration.[3] Q most often appears as a white human male dressed in a period correct Starfleet uniform with the rank insignia of Captain.
[edit] Overview
In his debut, "Encounter at Farpoint", Picard and the Enterprise crew are put on trial arguing that humanity is a dangerous race and should be destroyed. However, by saving the life of a kidnapped alien species, the crew proved humanity's worth. His next appearance was later in the first season in the episode "Hide and Q", where he wanted to have a human enter the Continuum, settling on Picard's first officer, Commander Riker (the reason being that humanity had the potential to one day evolve beyond the Q and Q wanted to understand how), but Riker remained human. Q also lost a wager he made with Picard, detailing that if he failed to turn Riker, then he has to stay out of humanity's path – forever.
After this he appears in "Q Who?". He offers to divest himself of his powers and guide humanity in its quest into uncharted territories and prepare it for unprepared threats. When Picard argues that humans are capable of dealing with anything, Q whisks the U.S.S. Enterprise to the system J-25 for what is presumably the first human encounter with the Borg. Picard resorts to asking for Q to save the ship. Surprised, Q brings the Enterprise home and tells Picard that other men would rather have died than ask for help. It is implied in the episode and later stated in the Star Trek TNG Companion that the Borg already knew about Earth and were already en route, Q's actions actually giving humanity an early warning. It is possible that the Borg had already attacked both Federation and Romulan outposts, which bears the signatures of their attack style, in the first season finale "The Neutral Zone".
This is later proven true in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration" Somewhat ironically, this is the result of Q's sending the Enterprise to system J-25, which then intensified the Borg's interest in humanity, prompting them to make a much more intense effort to capture the Federation's capital world (Earth). Their interest is such that they would go back in time, causing the alteration of the events of First Contact, and then encountering the Crew of the NX-01 Enterprise during Regeneration, and enabling the Borg of the 24th Century to become aware of Earth in the first place. Q's actions created a stable time loop within the Star Trek Universe, explaining why the Borg were making their way to Earth by showing how they 'first' became aware of the Federation. The actions Q took in sending the Enterprise D to System J-25— and thus maintaining the time loop, are expanded upon in the Star Trek novels as being partially (though indirectly) the reason for the existence of the Mirror Universe, explaining that Zefram Cochrane attempted to warn Earth and the worlds that would become part of the Federation about the Borg after First Contact. In one reality, the one in which the regular continuity takes place, Cochrane's warnings go either unheeded or not understood at all.
In the other, the Federation becomes the tyrannical empire first seen in the Original Series episode Mirror Mirror. However, the Star Trek Novels are largely non-canonical, and the veracity of the idea that the time loop created/maintained by Q, and that Cochrane attempting to warn others of the Borg may have created the Empire is dubious at best, as Paramount has not made any statement verifying the concept in any form of official documentation. However it is known that Cochrane did canonically attempt to warn what would become the Federation and Starfleet of the Borg, as established in Regeneration, so whether or not Q can be held responsible for the existence of the Mirror Universe is thrown even further into doubt.
In "Déjà Q", Q is punished by the Q Continuum by being made mortal; his committing of an uncharacteristically selfless act (sacrificing his life so that a race attacking him won't destroy the Enterprise) garners the return of his powers. In the same episode, Q says that Picard is "the closest thing in this universe that I have to a friend." Toward the end of The Next Generation, Q is less antagonistic toward Picard, even, in "Tapestry", apparently saving Picard and helping the captain better understand himself (although whether Q actually appeared in this episode or was merely a hallucination Picard experienced during surgery is deliberately left ambiguous). In the series finale, "All Good Things...", Q gives Picard a "helping hand" in saving humanity by helping him figure out what is causing "anti-time" to flow into the universe which will invariably stop humanity from ever being born.
Picard thinks of Q as an annoyance, and Q often is surprised by Picard and the other humans he encounters.
In the DS9 episode "Q-Less", Q at one point goads Commander Benjamin Sisko into a bare-knuckle boxing match, all the while belittling and insulting him. When Sisko loses his temper and knocks Q down, an astonished Q says, "You hit me! Picard never hit me!" Sisko counters frankly that "I'm not Picard." Q responds with a smile, saying "Indeed not...you're much easier to provoke." However, he also gives hints to help the crew keep their station from being destroyed.
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Q enjoys goading humans, Klingons, and others to display their savage side. This seems to be just a game for Q, however, and when characters show genuine compassion or restraint, he will usually admit to being impressed.
Later, during the series run of Voyager, Q starts a war among members of the Continuum in a campaign for individual freedom. This was started in the episode "Deathwish" when a rogue Q requests asylum in order to commit suicide.
As the war goes badly for his side, Q comes to the conclusion that the birth of a new member of the continuum could revitalize the Q. In Voyager's episode "The Q and the Grey", he first seeks Captain Janeway to be the mother of his child. She, however, refuses, and Q eventually reproduces with a female Q(referred to in Star Trek novels as 'Lady Q') he had been involved with, for four billion years or so according to her.
Their progeny is born conscious and with all the power of any other Q, although lacking adult maturity. Q's son (played by Keegan de Lancie, who is John de Lancie's actual son) causes trouble for the Continuum and Q turns to Captain Janeway for help. In his first appearance, Q invites Janeway to be godmother to his son (referred to in the Star Trek novels as 'Little Q'), which she accepts, and eventually they agree that the boy will remain on Voyager, without his powers, and either learn how to be a responsible, productive inhabitant of the cosmos, or spend eternity as an amoeba.
Eventually the young Q comes around, but the Continuum is not entirely convinced, so in negotiation with Q, they come to an agreement. Q must eternally guard, observe, and accompany the boy to ensure his proper behavior.
It is to be noted that the Q character bears more than a passing resemblance to Trelane, the alien encountered in Star Trek episode "The Squire of Gothos". The abilities of Q and Trelane are very similar, a point made explicit in Peter David's novel Q Squared, which (non-canonically) establishes that Trelane is a member of the Q Continuum.
[edit] Appearances
Television episodes and novels featuring Q often have titles that play on the letter "Q".
1No audiobook version available. |
[edit] References
- ^ BBC Online
- ^ Star Trek Creator - The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry by David Alexander page 536
- ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD, disc 7, extras
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Star Trek |
- Q at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- Q Continuum at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- Q at the Internet Movie Database
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