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Q (Star Trek)

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This page is about the character Q, for the race please see Q Continuum.

Template:Star Trek character

In the fictional Star Trek universe, the most notable member of the Q Continuum is played by John de Lancie, a mischievous Q who, having taken an interest in humans, periodically harasses the crews of starships and space stations. He also has a flair for the dramatic, whisking away the crew to exotic locations, engaging in elaborate speeches, and snapping his fingers to engender many of his manifestations. He has a highly mercurial personality, switching rapidly between a joking, camp style and a much more ominous and even dangerous manner. While he is very boastful, condescending and occasionally threatening, he arguably seems to have humanity's best interests at heart. This Q was apparently something of a rebel within the Q race, and his antics occasionally got him into trouble with his fellow Q and served as an inspiration for the Q that the Voyager crew would know as Quinn, who admired his restlessness and inquisitiveness. Quinn eventually became a rogue Q who demanded to be allowed to commit suicide.

Q is one of the most beloved recurring characters on Star Trek: The Next Generation, in large part because of the comedic and dramatic chemistry between actors de Lancie and Patrick Stewart (who plays Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D). Data characterized the relationship between the two much like that between a master and its pet. Q served as something of a foil to the sometimes high-flown idealism of Picard: "Really, Jean-Luc, I think the only reason I come here is to listen to those wonderful speeches" he says once. Not surprisingly, even though Q's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager appearances were less appreciated by many people, he remains as one of Star Trek's most beloved and timeless characters.

Q often manifests himself wearing a Starfleet Captain's uniform, particularly to annoy Picard.

Overview

Template:Spoiler Q began the series as a villain, who threatened all of humanity with annihilation. In later episodes he became more of a trickster, although there was always a reason for his presence. Q evolved over time into a sympathetic, and sometimes even pitiable character. In one Season 3 episode, "Déjà Q", Q is punished by the Continuum by being turned into a mortal, in this case (by his own choosing) a human on board the Enterprise.

Toward the end of the Next Generation series, Q is less antagonistic toward Picard, even, in the episode "Tapestry" apparently saving Picard's life and helping the captain to understand himself better. In the final episode of the series, "All Good Things...", Q seems to have reverted to his previous villainy, ruling the human race inferior and threatening their destruction, but he does give Picard a "helping hand" in saving humanity, something for which Picard expresses thanks. This unchanged attitude by Q may be explainable by what he said in "All Good Things...", "The trial never ended, Captain. We never reached a verdict. But, now we have: you're guilty...of being inferior." This would seem to indicate that from Q's point of view, the two episodes were contiguous.

In Q's later appearances on Voyager and DS9, he is less concerned with humanity as a whole, and is more of a comic relief character, mainly there to annoy the crew members. In the DS9 episode "Q-Less", Q at one point goads Commander Benjamin Sisko into a 1800's-era style bare-knuckle boxing match, all the while belittling and insulting him. When Sisko finally loses his temper and knocks Q down, an astonished Q says "You hit me! Picard never hit me!" Sisko counters acidly that "I'm not Picard." and Q responds with a grin and saying "No....you're much easier to provoke." The Voyager episode "Death Wish" (of Star Trek: Voyager) featured the first recorded visit by outsiders to the Q Continuum – the Q were surprised at this, as they usually do not get visitors. The native appearance of the Continuum is completely unknown to outsiders, as most non-Q would be unable to perceive or understand it. Upon such visits by humans, the Continuum decided that reinterpretations would be used to make it comprehensible.

File:Q (Star Trek).jpg
Q in a Starfleet uniform.

The relationship between Q and Picard is complex. They don't completely hate each other; in fact in the episode Déjà Q, Q said that Picard was "the closest thing in this universe that I have to a friend." Some fans have come to believe that Q was somehow attracted to the stoic captain, and it could be argued that there is something flirtatious in the way Q teases Picard. (When Picard struggles with his feelings for the human woman Vash, Q remarks that he would've first appeared to Picard as a female if he'd known that was the way to get under Picard's skin. In "Tapestry," Picard spends the night with a woman, but when he rolls over in bed the next morning, he encounters a smiling Q beside him.) Picard often thinks of Q as a child-like trickster, often barking at Q to stop playing around and go away. But he gradually develops a grudging respect for Q, who sometimes displays a surprising wisdom mixed in with his tricks. Conversely, Q is often surprised by Picard and the other humans he encounters. In the episode Q Who?, Picard is attempting to show that humanity is capable of dealing with anything, so Q whisks the Enterprise away to the Delta Quadrant to meet the Borg. Picard learns that he is very wrong and asks Q for help. Surprised, Q brings the Enterprise home and tells Picard that most men would have never asked for help; they'd have rather died. Q enjoys goading humans, Klingons and other races to display their savage side, and when they refuse he dismisses them as no fun; 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 that their "tiny human minds" were capable of such actions.

Later, on Voyager, Q has started a civil war among the continuum in a campaign for personal freedoms. The war goes bad for his side however, and Q comes to the conclusion that the creation, or birth, of a new member of the continuum could revitalize the Q. Q first seeks Captain Janeway to be the mother of his child but she refuses and eventually Q concedes to procreate with a female Q he had previously been involved with. The child is born entirely conscious and with all the powers of any other Q. As could be imagined, such power in the hands of an immature child goes terribly wrong. Q's son causes no end of trouble for the continuum and Q turns to Captain Janeway for help. Eventually they agree that the boy will remain on Voyager, without his powers, and either learn how to be a responsible, productive citizen of the cosmos, or spend eternity as an amoeba. Eventually the young Q comes around but the continuum is not entirely convinced, so in negotiations with Q, they work out an agreement. Q must eternally guard, observe, and accompany the boy to ensure he behaves. The two set out together with a much better relationship, and do Janeway a favor by showing her how to cut a few years off their trip back to Federation space. However, Q will not whisk them home immediately, as it would send a bad message to his son.

Trivia

  • In his portrayal of Q, John de Lancie used as his inspiration a description attributed to Lord Byron: "Mad, bad and dangerous to know."
  • The letter Q was chosen for the character/race name by Gene Roddenberry, in honor of his friend Janet Quarton.
  • In his first appearance - Encounter at Farpoint, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Q briefly assumes the uniform of a U.S. Marine. Q's Marine uniform and insignia are identical to the uniform worn by a real Marine - Oliver North.
  • In All Good Things..., Q became the first Star Trek character ever to use the word "trek" in reference to humanity's travels through the stars(a form of meta-reference).
  • Episodes featuring Q often have titles based on wordplays (for example, "Q-pid")
  • Q sensationally claims to have an I.Q. of 2,005.
  • While the Q are an immortal race, no mention is ever made of the fact that De Lancie ages visibly over the years; he never even attempts to conceal his thinning hairline. As Q can appear however he wishes, perhaps he has decided to age his appearance to keep pace with the other characters (much as he likes to wear a Starfleet captain's uniform). However, in the TNG series final "All Good things", Q does not appear to age when he is in the future timeline, alongisde the elderly crewmembers of the Enterprise.

Episodes featuring Q

File:STQalien.jpg
Q as judge, in the episodes Encounter at Farpoint and All Good Things...
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