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Q Junior was the son of Q and Miss Q . He was conceived during the Q Civil War as a way to help restore the status quo of the Q Continuum and end the conflict. Shortly after his birth, Captain Kathryn Janeway agreed to be his godmother , based on the fact that she had supported and encouraged Q during the civil war. ( VOY : " The Q and the Grey ")

• 2.1 Appearances
• 2.2 Background information
• 2.3 Apocrypha
• 2.4 External links

History [ ]

Though his parents had great hopes for their child as the "savior" of the Continuum, the high expectations had a dramatic effect on the young child's attitude. Junior became obnoxious, spoiled and disruptive and lacked the kind of qualities that could inspire the much needed peace and compassion in the Continuum.

Frustrated with his son, Q sent him to the USS Voyager , hoping that Janeway's "vaunted Starfleet ideals" would rub off on the boy. However, Junior became even more disruptive, such as propelling Voyager into the path of three Borg cubes , fusing Neelix 's mouth shut when he tried to help him out and removing Seven of Nine 's clothing to stare at her naked body. Fed up with his son's misbehavior, and inspired by Janeway's suggestion that he make his son realize that his actions would have consequences, Q stripped him of his powers and left him on Voyager for a week under the guidance of Captain Janeway. If he did not behave himself, his father warned him that he would not hesitate to turn him into an Oprelian amoeba .

Initially, Junior's lessons on Voyager were a dismal failure. He plagiarized an essay on the Q Continuum from Icheb and secretly reprogrammed a holodeck simulation so that the solution could be achieved more easily. However, when Janeway threatened to cut off his lessons and return him to his father, Junior resolved to behave more appropriately. He became fast friends with Icheb, whom he nicknamed "Itchy" – and who in turn nicknamed him "Q-Ball" – and finally began putting some effort in his assignments and his character.

His father was not very satisfied with Junior, however, as he felt that he did not live up to what was expected of him. Angry that apparently nothing he did was good enough for his father, Junior stole the Delta Flyer and took Icheb with him to a joyride to the Clevari system . During his stunt Icheb was seriously injured when a Chokuzan vessel opened fire on the Flyer . The Doctor was unable to treat Icheb without knowing more about the weapon that had caused his injuries. Junior realized that the only option left for him was to return to the alien ship and surrender in exchange for information about the weapon they used. When the Chokuzan decided to blame and punish Janeway as guardian, Junior defended her and insisted that only he be punished for his misdeeds. After this selfless act the truth finally came out: the whole incident was a set-up by Q to test his son's character.

The Continuum, however, was not impressed by Junior's progress, and initially re-sentenced him to become an amoeba . After some consideration on Junior's self-sacrifice for Janeway, the Continuum changed his sentence to remain in Human form, but stripped of his powers. They only acquiesced when Q vowed to stay with him and take responsibility for his son for all of eternity.

Grateful for her assistance in teaching him, Junior filled Janeway's ready room with roses as a parting gift. ( VOY : " Q2 ")

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " The Q and the Grey "

Background information [ ]

Q Junior was portrayed by the two infant brothers Brett and Nolan Donahue . Their costume was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1] They filmed their scene on Monday 16 September 1996 on Paramount Stage 8 and are listed as "2 Babies (Donahue Twins)" on the call sheet.

In the episode "Q2", Junior was played by Keegan de Lancie , who is the real-life son of Q-actor John de Lancie . The older de Lancie once remembered, " My agents called me and said, 'By the way, I don't know if you know this, but they are casting for the character of your son. Do you want me to submit Keegan?' 'I don't know. Let me ask him.' I said, 'Keegan, would you like to be in Star Trek ? Obviously, you have to audition for it.' So he went in, auditioned and got past station number one. He had to audition two or three times and I believe they hired him because he did a really great job. I had nothing to do with it. " ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 168 , p. 50)

His name came from dialog, where he was referred to as "junior" by his father. In the script, he is identified as "Q2", which was the name previously given to the character played by Corbin Bernsen in " Deja Q ". ( Star Trek Encyclopedia , 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 190)

Apocrypha [ ]

In the Q Continuum novel trilogy, Junior, while still an infant, visits the USS Enterprise -E with his parents when Q attempts to halt a Federation experiment to penetrate the galactic barrier using an artificial wormhole . During their time on the ship, Junior's mother reflects on her own fears about motherhood, but is slightly consoled by Doctor Beverly Crusher . Junior is briefly captured by an insane Betazoid scientist who has been enhanced by the barrier's psychic power and subsequently "possessed" by Q's old enemy/mentor 0 , the scientist intending to test Junior's capabilities in various ways, but he is released thanks to his mother. In the novel, he is referred to exclusively as q , in lowercase.

In the Star Trek: New Frontier short-story "Q'uandary" in No Limits , Doctor Selar was recruited by the Female Q during the Continuum's civil war as a midwife to take care of Junior.

In The Eternal Tide , Q works with Kes to resurrect Admiral Janeway after she was assimilated by the Borg and killed in the battle to save Earth when he becomes convinced that she is needed to stop a threat that was stopped by Voyager in the timeline before Janeway's other self changed history. He is subsequently forced to sacrifice himself to stop the Omega Continuum whose release could annihilate the entire universe, crediting Janeway with inspiring his decision.

In Star Trek Online Junior took on the role of his father (even donning the robes worn in " Encounter at Farpoint "), interacting with the player in a mission where he sends them back in time to the Battle of Wolf 359 to prevent the death of Benjamin Sisko at the hands of an unknown enemy, which sent a number of the Borg back in time to the USS Saratoga . Junior also features prominently at Spacedock One and Qo'noS during the yearly anniversary celebrations of the game and the yearly winter holiday celebrations. He took credit for changing the Earth Spacedock into the design seen in the films and Star Trek: The Next Generation from the previous design that had been similar to the one seen in Star Trek . He also maintains the Captain's Table, a cross-faction neutral ground space station accessible to lifetime subscribers.

External links [ ]

• Q (Junior) at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Q at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Calypso (episode)

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS7E17QTwo

Recap / Star Trek: Voyager S7 E17: "Q2"

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This episode provides examples of

• Added Alliterative Appeal : Q tells his son that it's " s ingle- c ellular c ity" for him if he doesn't shape up to be the ideal Q within a week on board Voyager .
• Aesop Collateral Damage : Q states that if Icheb has to die to teach Junior a lesson, so be it.
• Badass Fingersnap : Subverted - Q Junior learns that he's been Brought Down to Normal when he snaps his fingers and nothing happens.
• Brick Joke : The episode starts with Icheb delivering a verbal history essay that has Janeway on the verge of falling asleep . Later on, when Q2 delivers a history essay to Janeway, she quickly recognizes it as Icheb's work instead of Q2's.
• Brought Down to Normal : Q Jr. is stripped of his powers as a punishment.
• Obviously, to " The Q and the Grey ", when Q Junior was born.
• Junior himself makes a few when suggesting fun things to do. "We could fly into fluidic space and fight Species 8472 . Or we could detonate a few Omega molecules ."
• When presented with a holodeck simulation of a diplomatic crisis, Junior's solution is to reprogram the simulation to make it easier to win .
• Junior's deciding to give the replicator a personality (that sasses Janeway) is a Mythology Gag harking back to " Tomorrow Is Yesterday " in the original series, in which some alien women were convinced that the Enterprise 's computer needed a personality, and so decided to give it one (that proceeded to flirt with Kirk).
• Apparently, this is no longer the winning solution that it was in Kirk's day. note  Then again, Kirk did so against a simulation specifically meant to be unwinnable, and in the Kobayashi Maru novel (and the 2009 film), it's shown he did so with panache rather than trying to slip it past the testers.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu : From Q himself: "If the Continuum has told you once, they've told you 1000 times— DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG! "
• "Groundhog Day" Loop : Not seen onscreen, but Q's son temporarily traps the crew in a never-ending loop of repeating the same 30 seconds over and over so he could speak alone to the Captain.
• Heel–Face Turn : Janeway's ultimatum to Q's son gets him to start turning his life around.
• Hope Spot : In universe, Junior was supposed to symbolize the ending and post-Q Civil War peace (as was intended back in "The Q and the Grey"). Unfortunately, he quickly dashed those hopes by turning into an absolute little shit .
• Humanity Ensues : Junior gets turned human as a punishment.
• I Hate Past Me : Q is clearly experiencing this in combination with Parental Hypocrisy , as Q Junior's antics reflect his own history as a cosmic troll. For instance, who else can we think of that once amused themselves by provoking the Borg or been sentenced to sensitivity training sans powers ...
• I Kiss Your Foot : Q tries to kiss Janeway in the tub, but Janeway blocks him with her foot, so he kisses it instead.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl : One of Q's son's antics has him attempt to annoy Seven by using his powers to remove her clothes, but she simply ignores him and continues working unfazed.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual : After Q Junior is turned into a human, Janeway removes his captain pips.
• Insult of Endearment : Q's son calls Icheb "Itchy" and he gets called "Q-ball" in return.
• Intrigued by Humanity : Q says that Junior was always fascinated by his stories of humanity but Junior admits to finding them boring after spending 20 minutes with them.
• Ironic Echo : Q Junior claims that he doesn't have to listen to Janeway because she doesn't have "unlimited control of space, matter, and time." Later, after he's turned human, Janeway reminds him that he no longer has "unlimited control of space, matter, and time."
• It's All My Fault : Q's son realizes it's his fault that Icheb was nearly killed and is willing to take full responsibility for it when he and Captain Janeway confront the alien that he attacked.
• Landing in Someone's Bathtub : Q does this to Janeway after he tries her suggestion and finds out that it didn't work .
• Laser-Guided Karma : Played for Laughs —after Q's son loses his powers and Neelix gets his voice back, he proceeds to be as annoying as possible around the teenaged Q.
• Misapplied Phlebotinum : A powerless Junior was able to create a " spatial flexure " (a sort of wormhole that's implied to be able to take them anywhere) by messing around with the Delta Flyer's deflector array. This is never mentioned again and nobody considers using it to get Voyager home.
• A Mommy To Her Crew : Why Q feels that Janeway is a better parent than he is.
• Naked Freak-Out : Q's son tries to invoke this with Seven by making her clothes disappear. It fails, because she is an Innocent Fanservice Girl (more accurately, naked freak-outs are irrelevant).
• The Nudifier : Junior making Seven's clothes disappear.
• Our Wormholes Are Different : The Spatial Flexures Junior creates by manipulating the Delta Flyer's deflector array.
• Parental Hypocrisy : Q reprimands his son for placing Borg cubes in Voyager ' s path. Q is responsible for the Federation making First Contact with the Borg in " Q Who ".
• Plagiarism in Fiction : When Janeway assigns Junior an essay on the Q Continuum, Icheb offers to give him a few notes on a PADD. Cut to Junior turning an essay in to Janeway... Janeway: Insightful, informative. I'm impressed. Too bad you didn't write it. Junior: What do you mean? Janeway: I'd recognize Icheb's style anywhere. Junior: He gave me a few notes on my first draft, that's all. (Janeway gives him a Death Glare that says "Yeah, right")
• Pleasure Planet : The Clevari System. Junior suggests swimming with mermaids and challenging a warrior goddess to a grappling contest.
• Also an unintentional case, as John De Lancie is noticeably older than his previous appearances, despite the Q's immortality.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia : Janeway is stunned when Q smooches her on the mouth without permission.
• Power Perversion Potential : Q's son at one point uses his reality warping abilities to strip Seven of her clothes by making them disappear.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis! : "If the Continuum’s told you once, they’ve told you a thousand times… DON’T. PROVOKE. THE BORG! "
• Put on a Bus : Q's wife in the interim since "The Q and the Grey". See Screw This, I'm Outta Here for more details.
• Race-Name Basis : The younger Q addresses Neelix as "Talaxian".
• Reality Warper : Both Q and Q's son.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here : The status of Q's wife in the interim since "The Q and the Grey". She's been so humiliated by her son's behavior that she's disowned him, leaving her husband to clean up the mess.
• Secret Test of Character : Q arranges one when his son steals the Delta Flyer and effectively kidnaps Icheb.
• Sequel Episode : To Season Three's " The Q and the Grey " and completing the Q-VOY Trilogy that began with Season Two's " Death Wish ".
• Teens Are Monsters : Especially one with unlimited control of space, matter, and time.
• Took a Level in Kindness : Q's son, and boy did he need it.
• Took a Shortcut : Q rewards Janeway with a datapad that has information that'll shave a few years off their journey home. What it actually tells her to do is never specified.
• Toplessness from the Back : Seven after Q2 disappears her catsuit.
• Tranquil Fury : Janeway is quietly pissed when Q2 tries to cheat his way through the tests, especially since he thinks he can fool her. Janeway: We may be common bipeds, but we're not stupid.
• Vengeful Vending Machine : Q's son magicks the replicators so that it sasses Janeway when she asks for a coffee. Captain Janeway: Coffee, black. Replicator: Make it yourself. Janeway: ("WTF?" expression)
• Wild Teen Party : Q's son turns Engineering into a 24th century rave , which disrupts activities going on until he restores everything to normal.
• Wipe That Smile Off Your Face : Not only does Q's son remove Neelix's mouth to get him to shut up, he also removes his vocal cords.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside : Q agrees to spend some quality time with his son. Janeway is relieved to get rid of him for a while, but he turns up in her bath a short time later. Well, it was a long time for a Q! Janeway: You've been gone for 10 minutes! Q: On your temporal plane, maybe! But in Q Time, we've spent years together!
• You Talk Too Much! : Q's son says this to Neelix right before zapping his vocal cords and sealing his mouth .
• Star Trek Voyager S 7 E 16 Human Error
• Recap/Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: Voyager S7 E18: "Author, Author"

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The Untold Truth Of Q From Star Trek

He's an enigmatic, seemingly omnipotent being who manipulates people like they're chess pieces. He's a mischievous trickster who can go anywhere and be anything in our three-dimensional space. He's Q — no other name necessary — and he's proven himself to be both a  great ally and antagonist within the Star Trek franchise .

Played by classically trained actor John de Lancie, Q is easily one of Star Trek 's most iconic creations — even though he's only appeared in 13 episodes to date in multiple Star Trek television series. Nevertheless, it sometimes seems Q is everywhere, thanks to all the Star Trek novels, comics, audio books, and video games he's popped up in.

With John de Lancie set to reappear as Q in  season 2 of Star Trek: Picard , now's a perfect time to get up close and personal with this omnipotent trickster and find out what makes him tick. Be warned though: de Lancie himself has claimed that Q, much like the infamous English poet Lord Byron, is "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." With that in mind, let's delve into the many secrets of Star Trek' s Q.

Q is named after a Star Trek fan

At first glance, Q's name seems ridiculously simple. It's just one letter — how hard could it have been to come up with? But according to the 4th edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the story behind Q's designation has a curious link with the Star Trek fandom.

Q was named by none other than Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who chose the unusual alias in honor of his friend Janet Quarton. A  long-time Star Trek fan , Quarton was the president of the Star Trek Action Group (STAG), an early Star Trek fan club. She also helped publish  Star Trek fanzines and organize Star Trek conventions in Britain. Her involvement in the Star Trek fan community caught the attention of Gene Roddenberry who corresponded closely with Quarton over the years.

Later, when Roddenberry helmed Star Trek: The Next Generation, he decided to name the new series' first antagonist after the last initial of his friend — and John de Lancie was dubbed "Q" for the series' pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint." Given how much future Star Trek fandom would embrace the superbeing, it seems only appropriate that a fan helped name him.

He's not the only Q

John de Lancie may be the face of Q for Star Trek fans, but the truth is he's not the only member of his species — nor do all members of the Q act like him. Over the years, fans have seen many different "Q" entities who all belong to the "Q Continuum," an extra-dimensional plane of existence.

Where de Lancie's Q comes across as a trickster figure, other Qs are more benevolent. In the  Star Trek: Voyager season 2 episode "Death Wish," the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager encounters a Q who's been subtly influencing human society for the better — making sure an apple fell on Sir Isaac Newton's head to inspire his theory of gravity and saving Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes)'s ancestor during the Civil War. Other Q members prefer to live quietly, including a couple who disguised themselves as humans and had a daughter,  Amanda Rogers (Olivia d'Abo) , in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 episode "True Q."

In fact, in "Death Wish," it's revealed that most of Q society is bored with their immortality and power, which helps explain why de Lancie's Q likes hanging out with human beings so much — they're much more fun than his own people.

Q is very similar to a classic Star Trek antagonist

When Gene Roddenberry first came up with the idea to put Q in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, other members of the writing team hated the character and advised him not to use him in the pilot.

Why? According to the Star Trek reference book, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years — From the Next Generation to J.J. Abrams, the team saw Q as a copy of Trelane, a character who appears in the original Star Trek season 1 episode "The Squire of Gothos." In the story,  Captain Kirk and his crew encounter a powerful alien named Trelane (William Campbell) who makes the Enterprise crew his playthings. Although Trelane appears all-powerful, we learn he's the child of two other omnipotent beings who make him stop bothering the U.S.S. Enterprise.

While similar to Trelane, both Roddenberry and de Lancie worked to make Q a unique entity. Nevertheless, fans continue to see the parallels and non-canon Star Trek media makes links between the two. In his novel Q-Squared, writer Peter David reveals Trelane is, in fact, another member of the Q Continuum. Then in the Star Trek comic book storyline "The Q Conflict," Q assembles a team of omnipotent beings including Trelane to make multiple Star Trek crews battle in a cosmic-level game.

Q can make other people omnipotent

Q's powers are immense, which he's repeatedly demonstrated throughout his appearances throughout the Star Trek franchise. With a snap of his fingers, Q can teleport himself and anyone else to any place or time. He can rewrite the very fabric of our universe — moving asteroids or even creating pocket realities. And he's nearly omniscient, claiming in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3 episode "Deja Q" that he has "an IQ of 2005."

And thanks to his powers, Q can give anyone the abilities of a god — which he does to  Commander William Riker in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episode "Hide and Q." Riker gains the ability to transport his crew mates anywhere he wants without relying on their usual transporter technology. He resurrects Worf (Michael Dorn) from the dead, ages teenager Wesley Crusher (Will Wheaton) to an adult, and even gives blind Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) natural vision.

However, every member of the Enterprise rejects Riker's "gifts" (although Worf does get to stay alive), causing Riker to reject his new powers. And it's a good thing too. Q only gave Riker god-like abilities as part of a bet he had with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). By choosing not to be a Q-level entity, Q is forced to leave the Enterprise alone — although he does find enough loopholes to make multiple return visits.

Q isn't all-powerful

While Q might appear to be an all-knowing and all-powerful god to some, the truth is he doesn't have limitless powers. Other members of the Q Continuum can overpower Q or even strip him of his powers, as they did in the episode "Deja Q" by turning him into an ordinary human being with back problems.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4 episode "Qpid," Q transports the Enterprise crew to a pocket reality where Picard becomes Robin Hood, his crew becomes his Merry Men, and Q himself adopts the guise of the Sheriff of Nottingham. As he explains the rules of his new game, Q reveals that he's given this reality a life of its own and not even he can predict what will happen. This shows that Q is not omnipotent or omniscient, as a truly all-powerful being could not create something capable of overpowering or outsmarting him.

Indeed, this quasi-omnipotence may be the one saving grace for the Q, as involving themselves in games of chance gives them the thrill of not knowing what will happen next.

Star Trek's Q once became super-omnipotent

Q may have been at the mercy of the Q Continuum in many of his early appearances, but a non-canonical comic book storyline shows that he once became super-omnipotent — thanks to  J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot .

In the IDW Star Trek story "The Q Gambit," Q journeys to the Kelvin timeline of the Abrams' films where the younger alternate versions of Captain Kirk and Spock are having their own adventures. Q transports the crew forward into the future where they meet alternate versions of Benjamin Sisko and the crew from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

Although this seems to be another one of Q's games, the trickster later reveals the Q-Continuum is in a war against another extra-dimensional race, the malevolent Deep Space Nine  villains, the Pah-Wraiths, whose power allows them to fight the Q. To stop them, Spock engineers a situation where Q merges with a member of the Pah-Wraiths' ancient enemy The Prophets. Q evolves into a supremely powerful being who eliminates the Pah-Wraiths with a wave of his hand, and then pops back into the Prime Star Trek universe to show off his super-godly powers to Jean-Luc Picard.

Let's be real: Q is in love with Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard may treat Q with annoyance, but Q has a unique affection for Picard. In "Deja Q," Q admits, "in all the universe, you're the closest thing I have to a friend, Jean-Luc." Data (Brent Spiner) also observes in the  Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale "All Good Things..." that, "Q's interest in you has always been very similar to that of a master and his beloved pet" before hastily adding, "That was only an analogy, Captain."

However, in the season 6 episode "Tapestry," Q indicates his interest in Picard goes beyond mere fondness when he  shows up in Picard's bed and wakes him with the words, "Morning, darling." The same episode has Q transport a dying Picard back to his Starfleet Academy days so the captain can gain a better appreciation for the mistakes of his past. This indicates Q views himself as Picard's guardian angel, albeit an impish one, who has a special love for the one he calls "Mon Capitane."

Screenwriter Ron Moore agrees, noting in Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection #90 that, "Q was in love with Picard, for some reason. That was the underpinning of the relationship... The weird love affair that he had going with Jean-Luc made that whole thing work."

Q is a lousy boyfriend and father

Sadly, when it comes to showing affection, Q's ego inevitably gets in the way of his relationships. In the Star Trek: Voyager season 3 episode "The Q and the Grey," Q's girlfriend "Lady Q" (Suzie Plankson) shows up when Q flirts with Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). The two have been a couple for four billion years, but Q emphasizes, " I never said it was exclusive " while bragging that he uses his omnipotence to seduce females across the galaxy.

In the episode, Q and his girlfriend are on opposite sides of a Q civil war, causing their relationship problems to threaten the universe with multiple supernova explosions. Q's idea to end the war is to impregnate Janeway and adding human DNA to the Continuum — an idea the Voyager captain roundly rejects. However, Janeway convinces Q to have a child with Lady Q instead, leading to a truce between the two factions.

Unfortunately, Q turns out to be a lousy father and in the Star Trek: Voyager season 7 episode "Q2," his son "Q Junior" (played by de Lancie's real-life son Keegan de Lancie) becomes a juvenile delinquent who starts wars, tampers with gene pools, and punches holes in space time. To get him to reform, Q strips Junior of his powers and dumps him on Voyager, where Junior makes friends and learns to value life. While this is good for the universe, it shows Q still tries to get other people to solve his problems instead of dealing with them himself.

Q really hates the Enterprise's bartender (and she hates him back)

Q's antics have earned him plenty of enemies across the universe, but oddly enough, one of the people who hates him the most is the  Enterprise's beloved bartender Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) . One of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's most serene and level-headed characters, Guinan reveals in "Q Who" that she has had "some dealings" with Q during the 22nd century that left them enemies. Q himself dislikes Guinan, calling her an "imp" and warning that wherever Guinan went, trouble follows.

Guinan gets a chance to strike back at Q in the season 3 episode "Deja Q" when the Q Continuum strips Q of his powers and renders him a mere human. Taking the opportunity to taunt the powerless Q, Guinan takes a fork and stabs him in the hand. Shortly after, one of Q's other enemies, the Calamarain, attacks him. As he screams in pain, Guinan only smirks and comments, "How the mighty have fallen."

Q gave Starfleet a head start against the Borg

Q once put the  U.S.S. Enterprise through a hellish experience that, strangely enough, turned out to be a favor in disguise. After Picard arrogantly tells him that his crew is prepared to deal with any dangers the universe might hold for them, Q transports the Enterprise into an uncharted sector of space where they encounter  the Borg, a powerful cybernetic race intent on assimilating all useful life and technology into its collective consciousness.

Unable to adequately counter this advanced form of life, Picard loses eighteen members of his crew to the Borg and admits his crew's shortcomings to Q, who transports the Enterprise back to the Alpha Quadrant. While Q's actions appear cruel and vindictive, Picard later realizes that the trickster gave Starfleet a "preview" of one of the biggest threats they would soon face — granting the Federation time to prepare an adequate defense. it seems appropriate that the Federation is one of the few galactic societies to have successfully fought back the Borg time and time again — probably due in part to Q giving humanity a glimpse at the threat the Borg would eventually pose.

Q has been out-debated by Spock

If there's one Star Trek character who's the antithesis of Q, it's  Spock — the cool, logical Vulcan immortalized by actor Leonard Nimoy . While Spock and Q were introduced in two separate series, they get to spend some time together when Nimoy and John de Lancie teamed up to produce the audiobook Spock vs. Q . Recorded in front of a live audience, the performance sees Ambassador Spock attempt to warn humanity of an approaching asteroid, only to be stopped by Q who believes humanity is not worth saving.

The two get into a lively debate over humanity's strengths and flaws, with Spock's clever logic ultimately triumphing over Q's chaotic ego. In the end, the Vulcan manages to convince the trickster to push the asteroid away so it'll hit Earth a several years later, buying humanity enough time to work together and stop it when it finally does arrive.

The audio drama proved popular and was followed by a sequel, Spock vs. Q: The Sequel . Weirdly, in this new story, Spock and Q switch personalities, causing Spock to become goofy and silly while Q gains a more logical perspective. More of a comedy routine than a debate, this audio performance ends with the two realizing there are higher powers in the universe than the Q.

Q appears in five different Star Trek shows

While Star Trek fans may love Q, the producers and writers tend to use him sparingly, arguing that the super being is more effective when he only appears every now and then. Nevertheless, Q has managed to appear in four separate Star Trek television shows — and will appear in a fifth when season 2 of Star Trek: Picard comes out.

Unsurprisingly, most of Q's appearances are in Star Trek: The Next Generation where he manages to annoy or threaten Picard and the Enterprise crew on eight separate occasions, including in the series pilot and the series finale. Q also appears in the  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 episode "Q-Less" where he meets (and boxes with) Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks).

Q is reimagined in the three Star Trek: Voyager episodes he appears in, which portray him as a reluctant family man as well as a representative of the Q Continuum rather than a wandering rogue. His most recent appearance is an extremely brief cameo in the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1 episode "Veritas," where he shows up just to poke fun at (who else?) Jean-Luc Picard.

Given all the different ways Q has been portrayed over the years, it's anyone's guess how de Lancie will play the trickster in Star Trek: Picard. Considering that Q's main appeal has always been his unpredictability, here's hoping his next appearance will show us some new truths of the enigmatic Q.

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Star Trek: Voyager

“Q2”

Air date: 4/11/2001 Teleplay by Robert Doherty Story by Kenneth Biller Directed by LeVar Burton

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

"He worked so hard on that paper. The least you could've done was tell him you were proud of him." "But I'm not." — Janeway and Q

Review Text

In brief: Yawn. Not nearly funny enough to make up for the woeful lack of imagination and utterly wrong-headed use of the Q.

I suppose we're supposed to laugh at the fact omnipotent beings are asking parental advice of Captain Janeway. Unfortunately, the joke isn't all that funny — nor is much of "Q2" in general — so if it's not a comedy it can only be a pretty lame excuse for a Q episode.

The best Q comedy was TNG 's " Deja Q ." That was a show with chemistry and wit ... and a premise that at least made Our Favorite Q (John de Lancie) into a human, such that he had no choice but to experience human behavior firsthand. But "Q2" — aside from its ripped-off "Deja Q"-like elements — is unfortunately the sequel to " The Q and the Grey " from four years back, an episode that went about as wrong as a Q story could. "Q2" only takes that wrongness further; omnipotence apparently means you have the ability to do anything physically, but have the intellect and ambitions of an American teenager.

Basically, the problem is that we have humans teaching lessons to the Q instead of the other way around — which is absurd and simply a waste of the Q as a story device. When you have beings who can do anything, why put them through the shenanigans of sitcom-level teenage rebellion? In TNG 's " All Good Things... " Q was trying to help Picard understand larger issues about the nature of the universe. In Voyager 's " Death Wish " we had a Q who wanted to die because knowing everything had rendered his existence pointless. Those were interesting, larger-thinking shows.

Now? We get High Concept 101: "A teenage Q." And Higher Concept 102: "Let's have John de Lancie's real-life son (Keegan de Lancie) play the part of Q's son!" Well, great. It's an okay starting point and I'm sure fun for all the actors, but there has to be a story here for it to be worth our time.

Alas, there's not much to be said for the story that is "Q2." It's featherweight at best, and the lessons rehashed here are straight from Chapter 1 of the Star Trek Human Lessons Textbook. I wish I could say there was anything here resembling Q-worthy thought on the writers' behalf, anything that could put it more in the vein of "All Good Things..." or "Death Wish," but there isn't. "Q2" is simply a gag show starring the Q, with their super-duper powers as the tools for the gimmicks. There's no evidence this show even wanted to be thoughtful; it's dumbed down by design.

Q arrives on Voyager to ask "Aunt Kathy" (an amusing title, I'll grant) to help him teach his out-of-control son (born as a result of "Q and the Grey") some responsibility. Why Q cannot do this himself is a question that, if answered, would reveal the entire foundation of the episode as the sham it is. Apparently being omnipotent doesn't afford you any parenting skills. (Omnipotence just isn't what it used to be.) If we're to accept the can-of-worms premise of an out-of-control Q, at least make it seem like there's some urgency.

Instead, the idea of an out-of-control teenage Q quickly paves the way to a series of routine comic gimmicks. Gimmicky Q hijinks are a hallmark of Q stories, even in good ones like "Death Wish," but without a story to eventually grab our attention they just tire here.

Gimmick #1: Turn engineering into a dance club. "It's a party," explains Q Jr., with beverage in hand. Is it non-alcoholic? I hope so, because he's most definitely underage and that would mean Voyager needs more competent bouncers. For that matter, a drunken Q could be dangerous: Alcohol and altering the space-time continuum don't mix. Janeway rolls her eyes here for what won't be the last time.

Gimmick #2: Make Seven nekkid. This looks like one of those things the studio must've loved when they heard about. I can almost picture the people who cut together the episode trailers smiling with glee: Here's an easy workday! Plus, it can be justified as plausible ! What heterosexual teenage male wouldn't wanted to see Seven without clothes? Nothing like a little realism in your Trek . Of course, Seven is too superior to be embarrassed or do any Janeway-style eye-rolling, so she simply uses the ignore-the-pest tactic.

Gimmick #3: War games. Q Jr. starts a war between two societies simply to watch their ships shoot at one another on the viewscreen. Somebody needs to go out and buy this kid a PlayStation or a DVD of Star Wars (the latter of which I'm guessing might actually be available by the 24th century, but no promises).

Gimmick #4: Make Neelix mute. Hey, this is actually a pretty good idea. Q Jr. fuses Neelix's jaw shut and makes his vocal cords disappear. Poor Neelix — he had his lungs extracted way back in " Phage " and now he has his vocal cords taken away. There's no justice in the world. Or come to think of it, maybe there is.

Such zaniness is setup for the actual premise, which is that Q suspends all of Q Jr.'s powers, and gives his son one week to shape up under Janeway's tutelage. If he hasn't shown great improvement, the Q Continuum will transform the unruly brat into an amoeba. The lesson: Actions Have Consequences, especially when your actions can rearrange entire worlds. I'd just like to know why Q can't conjure up some sense for this kid when he has the power to transform him into an amoeba. For that matter, I'd like to know if the writers actually thought any of their "intellectually immature superbeing" plot was fresh, seeing as TOS did " Charlie X " roughly 35 years ago.

The middle passages of the show are bland moments of Janeway trying to whip this kid into shape with lay-down-the-law threat tactics and then lessons that double as Meaningful Dialog Scenes. Eventually we're watching as Q Jr. writes a paper on the Q Continuum, which is hopelessly inane; apparently the great Continuum really is too much for my feeble mind to comprehend ... or for television writers to do any justice.

Then we have Q Jr. stealing the Delta Flyer because he apparently didn't learn anything from all this. His excuse for theft and joyriding? Boredom. He goes flying through alien territory with unwilling partner-in-crime Icheb, opening fire on an alien ship when they try to detain him for trespassing. Icheb is injured, Q Jr. escapes and returns to Voyager where he gets the usual dressing-down by Janeway. Icheb lies dying, with Doc going on about how he needs to know more about the weapon in order to save Icheb's life. (Yes, in sci-fi you can treat someone who has been run down by a car as long as you know what make and model the car was.)

The final act is so underwhelming it plays more like a parody on humanism than a satisfying ending. Q Jr. decides to accept responsibility for his actions by returning to face the music at the hands of the aliens he shot at. But, surprise! The alien was actually Q, who engineered the encounter as a test to see if Q Jr. would own up to the consequences of his mischief. Icheb is really okay. Then we get a quick trial of Q Jr. by Continuum judges, who, after all this, find that Q Jr.'s actions don't indicate acceptable levels of progress.

My point is more along the lines of Q's complaint — that Janeway has turned Q Jr. into a human with Federation values and, well, what good is that for the Continuum? They're judging Q Jr. on an incident and actions that have about as much cosmic relevance as what I ate for breakfast this morning.

LeVar Burton, who has directed excellent episodes like " Timeless ," is saddled with a banal script that thinks small when it should be thinking big. The closing scenes give us a trial and a guilty verdict only for it to be reversed with a bunch of Q's off-screen (non)arguments. What, if anything, is all of this saying? It's clunky and abrupt along the narrative line.

My, how the Q have fallen. Amazingly, it would seem Voyager has managed to bastardize the Q even worse than the Borg. Who could've guessed that the beings who put humanity on trial back in the TNG days would be reduced to the sort of family sitcom where a son whines to his father about being too pressured about living up to expectations? Let's be real here: Do we want to see the Q as a metaphor for emotionally abandoned teenagers and/or fathers?

I'd have told the kid: Hey, you're omnipotent . With your talents I'll be damned if I'm going to let you end up working at Burger King. Stop screwing around and put that galaxy back where it belongs.

Next week: Doc's unauthorized Voyager biography. Some names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Previous episode: Human Error Next episode: Author, Author

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Comment Section

73 comments on this post, grumpy_otter.

If it were possible to give negative stars, this episode should get them. I must admit, I have never understood the appeal of the Q--Omnipotent beings really have nothing better to do than toy with weak little bipeds? Yes, I love to sit around and poke at anthills, and pour water on them, and disturb their nests, and smush a few. Really? Dull, dull, dull.

I loved Q on TNG but I think all his appearances on Voyager (and the one on DS9) were terrible. He's always some kind of male chauvanistic pig and it just goes downhill from there. Ugh. In this ep especially, he looks tired, old, bloated and bored, just like his character at this point.

I actually enjoyed his DS9 appearance basically because of his nice interactions with the DS9 gang. However, his Voyager appearances made him basically a copy of that uncle on Bewitched, unlike the character he established on TNG, which was much more complex & interesting.

What happened to Q Jr's "technology" trick that opened a rift directly to such-and-such a place? Why couldn't Voyager use the logs from the Delta Flyer to do the same thing and take themselves home? Why, further, does this omnipotent, lazy Q know more about their technology than they do even when he "won't stoop to use it" and doesn't seem to have any other relevant knowledge?

Q is the archetypal Loki, the trickster. At least he was used properly in this vein in TNG, constantly tormenting humanity, and daring them to go beyond their limits, and them punching them in the nose when they would do so. His one appearance on DS9 was totally lame, and a stunt, I suspect, on the part of the DS9 production staff to net curious TNG viewers during DS9's first season. His appearances on VOY were absolutely egregious, and serve only to diminish the interesting aspects that his character originally conveyed. Bah. Humbug.

I think I like your reviews of bad episodes the best.

I have now seen all of Q's appearances on Voyager. I have not seen his DS9 appearance yet so cannot comment on it. I enjoyed "Death Wish", Q's first appearance on Voyager, and I also enjoyed (and I may come under fire for this, but everyone's entitled to an opinion) the Q and the Grey, but I thought this episode was just a lame excuse to shoehorn Q into Voyager at the last minute. Did he really need to come back after his last appearance?

It's obvious that the Q exist beyond time, because in the four years between deLancie's last appearance and this one, he seems to have aged at least ten.

"You know what, Talaxian? You talk too much. [Welds Neelix's lips shut and removes his vocal cords.]" AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!! God, if only this kid had been around in the first season, he could've spared us from Neelix altogether! The rest of the show is risible and, Jammer, you shouldn't have graced it with more than a couple of lines. It's funny at times though, sometimes in a stupid way. I'd give it two stars...

Guess I'm the odd one out, I kind of enjoyed it. It wasn't "what could've been" but after 7 seasons of Voyager I think I've accepted it for what it is because it was never going to live up to its potential. So expectations of un-Voyager-y things cast aside, I found it to be fun and light hearted. I especially liked the replicator saying "make it yourself!", referring to Neelix as the "pet Talaxian" and acknowledging how annoying his character is, in this case by sealing his mouth :). (poor guy, his heart is in the right place. But he IS annoying) Not an ideal end to Q (seeing as there were no more 24th century Trek series and John de Lancie was already looking a bit old for the part of an immortal) but I didn't find it offensive. 2-2.5.

Can we retroactively rename this series, "Star Trek: Unused Potential"? First, Voyager pissed away it's initial premises. The Starfleet/Maquis conflict amounted to next to nothing, and the Kazon years -- which I think were actually the series' best -- were too ham-fisted and not consequential enough. When it was evident things weren't working, Bernman and the gang brought in Q for one of the series' best episodes ('Death Wish'). And, honestly, I thought the 'Q and the Grey' was better than Jammer and others did. But THIS episode on the heels of that one -- plus the watering down of the Borg and even an episode that totally neutered the Klingons -- showed that Voyager didn't just waste its own potential. It wasted the potential it inherited from TNG. DS9 wasn't a perfect series, but at least it made its own storylines and premises. Voyager tried that, failed and then corrupted two big parts of the TNG legacy.

TNG Q is more daunting and complex but at the same time Loki-like. VOY in this ep is all Loki-like. Either way the episode was very funny to my husband who is NOT a trekkie and got him interested in Trek a lot more. Previously all his interest is making fun of sisko's and janeway's voice, and poking fun about how reversing the polarity and recalibrations saves the day (he thinks the writers of VOY are lazy that they can't imagine a new science-talk and just kept repeating themselves). Either way it's interesting how non-trekkies look at this ST world. Q had so much potential to bring in more fans if done right -I wished TNG made 1 movie regarding Q.

Awful. DeLancie JR can't act and big daddy Q looks more tired and bloated than Riker post-First Contact. A shameful sendoff for a once great character.

BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH!!! And Voyager's raping of TNG's glory is now complete.

I actually think this was the best of the 3 Q voyager episodes. by far the most entertaining. but not one of my favorite episodes. 2 star

Watching the reruns

I agree with all the criticism about the potential of Q being just pissed away (my limited human brain can't imagine what an immortal omnipotent being would actually do, since they have probably already done everything) but ... I did like the actor playing the charming little sociopath (Q2), a true chip off the old block (Q), and what a hoot it is to discover that the two are actually father and son! Light frothy fun, so long as you skim along the surface and don't try to think more deeply about it.

Jo Jo Meastro

A decent, entertaining effort even if it is apparent that Q stories deserve to amount to a lot more. Part of what makes it forgivable is that there are plenty of smirk inducing gags and all of the actors involved make much more mileage out of the material than there really should be. Q Junior could have easily descended into Jar Jar Binks territory, but thanks to the actor portraying him; he's actually amusing, quirky and has a certain charm. It must be difficult to nail a role were you must be irritating to every character yet loveable to the audience. A few instances did hold it back. Even for a story that's meant to be light-hearted, some gags just didn't work and despite what the writers think; we don't want Seven reduced to shameless bait for adolescent male viewers. Plus some of Qs' human lessons were redundant. Making him write essays was dull and useless, as the episode proved a few Acts later. In the end I did hope for but I laughed more than I sighed, so it gets a moderately enjoyable 2.5 stars.

Someone didn't research the years very well...Icheb had Kirk finishing his first 5 year mission in 2207, well before he was even born.

Epilogue: Q then gets bored of humans and decides to go and be a pony-dragon-thing instead. Fluttershy > Janeway 1000 times over :)

Even though I think Janeway is an idiot in most of them, she wasn't half bad here. I could be biased though, I love any episode of any Trek that has Q. lol He's my favorite guest star of all time. The kid who plays his son, is actually his son in real life too, so that was pretty awesome as well. - pepsiadikt

Wow, I'm surprised this one is so hated. It's definitely not my favorite, but I didn't find it offensive (except for the female sexploitation moments). I didn't like Death Wish (moral objections), and thought Q and the Grey was a little boring, so I guess this one would be the best Voyager Q episode in my book. Once again I agree with azcats. I think the reason I found endearing is that I'm a parent, and so I could relate to a lot of the parenting plotline. I didn't take it as a grand Q Continuum story, but rather a metaphor for human parenting. A lot of the time that's what Star Trek is – a metaphor for our own times.

Q was originally a brilliant character. His chemistry with Picard was excellent, and he was played to perfection. But then, towards the end of Generation and for the entirety of Voyager, the character was destroyed by brain dead and simplistic writing.

I liked this episode...when it was TNG's "True Q". Bleah. Voyager ruined the Q even worse than they ruined the Borg.

Besides the fact that the Voyager writers didn't seem to get what made Q a great character in TNG, Keegan de Lancie's terrible acting didn't do this episode any favors. And ha ha, sexual assault played as a joke? Classy stuff.

I liked the ep, with the exception of Keegan's acting and / or the sudden change of mind forced upon his character by the writers. 2.5 stars.

Proper from Gunnerkrigg

I didn't like how the judges dressed just like Q did in TNG, it cheapened the concept. (PS. I'm an idiot and a liar.)

This episode almost made me puke. In fact, give me a moment and I’ll be right back… Zero Stars – Stop destroying our favourite characters!!! I personally love Q episodes. Almost every week, the writers try to piss us off in some way. My only guess at this point, is that the writers for Voyager are actually Star Wars fans, who hate Star Trek. There’s always been a bit of rivalry between those who like Star Wars, and those who like Star Trek. They infiltrated us. Get ‘em. When Q said "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Don't provoke the Borg!!!", I could actually sense his fear. What the hell? Even Janeway isn't afraid of the Borg. She willingly chooses to get assimilated, she raids Borg cubes, etc... Voyager has now castrated the Q. Can it get any worse? DS9’s Q appearance was OK. It reminded me of “Encounter at Farpoint”, as it was another Alien that was being held captive. Again, they were being tested, to see if they would figure it out in time, and set the alien free. It wasn’t as good as “Encounter at Farpoint”, but they didn’t change the Q character like in this sack of crap. As Q’s favour to Janeway, he should have left Neelix mute. Q could have just winked at Janeway, said “You’re Welcome”, then snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Diamond Dave

Just desperate. Even as someone who has only rarely enjoyed a Q episode, this is a new low. I think that what gets my back up most is that Junior takes on all of Q's most irritating traits, magnifies them by 100, and makes a character unlovable enough that his conversion matters not a jot. It also doesn't help that the conversion is so jarring, with a wildly swinging tone, and that it follows right out of the Sesame St trite lesson school. I've said before that Q worked best as a vehicle for something else in my mind, such as introducing the Borg in Q Who. This is the other extreme, a Q episode that seeks nothing but to introduce a bigger, badder Q for nothing more than its own sake. "Can I help you, kitchen rat?" indeed. 1 star.

Yeesh. When they decided to make a sequel to the not so great Demon, they took that contrived, uh, contrivance and used it to make a unique and interesting episode. And when they decided to make a sequel to the awful Q and the Grey, they took that bad concept and doubled down on it, creating this mess. For starters, the episode doubled down on the absurdity of Qs acting like humans. Remember, Q had absolutely no experience with being a human in Deja Q, despite appearing like them and knowing all about them. He openly admitted he would have appeared as a woman if he had realized before it could have distracted Picard. So why, pray tell, is little q acting like a horny fifteen year old? Why on earth would he care about techno-music and what any alien girls look like? Why would he want to party or see Seven naked? He wouldn't. But I guess the writers think we like this kind of juvenile humor. Well, I certainly don't. And even if others do, it isn't worth butchering the Q for it. V mentioned that her husband, not a fan of Star Trek, liked the show. Well, sorry, but that's not a good justification of it. Part of the joy of a continuing franchise is the word "continuing", or continuity. We like seeing characters and concepts and cultures developing out over time, and seeing those characters and concepts and cultures in a new light. But it requires those characters and concepts and cultures to show a connection to what came in the past. Sure, it may be possible to create a good comedy with a bumbling, incompetent legendary king in a fantasy world. But if it was Aragorn, and an official sequel to Lord of the Rings? It'd be a slap in the face of all the fans who became emotionally connected to him in the far more serious LOTR. It doesn't fit the setting. Any quality in the book would be offset by the massive disconnect it would have with the intended audience. Same here with this farce of a Q. Now, Trek is huge, and things have definitely been retconned at times, and for good reason. I don't mind that the Trill in The Host are nothing like the Dax family, because some things that work in a one-off episode wouldn't work in a deeper exploration. I don't mind that the Ferengi were retconned after their dismal initial showings. But Q was beloved. Q was at the beginning and end of TNG. Q was a well developed concept by this point. Why are we throwing away some excellent concepts for a cheap farce and juvenile jokes? Who thought this would be a good idea? Except that it was prevalent in all three Voyager Q shows. The stupid flirting with Janeway. This teenage PG-rated rebel here. Why??? If you wanted to have a story about a magical being who didn't know what it was like to be a parent, create a new magical being. Sure, it would probably be too TOS-like and still probably be dumb, but at least you aren't embarrassing a beloved actor and beloved character. Ugh, but anyway, it wasn't just that, even if it is the most egregious. Q tells Janeway to teach q how to be a Q, without actually letting her know what that entails. He still thinks humans are stupid; shouldn't he see the obvious contradiction in that? And so Janeway has q work on a term paper and learn how to be a human? OK, in fairness, Q gave her no direction on what to do, but gave her a very strict deadline. I'm pretty sure a term paper isn't going to impress anyone. I'm pretty sure any training program has more value than that... Meanwhile, q apparently doesn't know how to write a paper, doesn't know how to pilot a ship, but does know how to reprogram holodecks and open random wormholes (and hey, shouldn't Kim or Seven be able to reverse engineer whatever he did based on the Delta Flyer's logs?). Just what constitutes knowledge that is beneath value for a Q and what doesn't? The answer is apparently whatever the plot requires. Which is definitely a sign of a problem in the plot... Oh, and "Don't provoke the Borg!"? Hey, Q, what did you do back in Q Who? Oh, right, provoked the Borg. Guess he belongs to the "do as I say, not as I do" school of parenting. As for the ending, and it's obvious parallels to Deja Q, well, I'm of two minds on that. On the one hand, it kinda makes sense that Q would set that scenario up. After all, it was what got HIM reinstituted into the Q Continuum, so maybe it should work for q as well. So logically, I can see the reasoning. But the execution just fell flat. Besides the obvious retread and the obviousness that the alien was Q (c'mon, the coincidences of everything were way too high), the emotional connection just wasn't there. That said, I did like the scene where Q callously refused to save Icheb. One of the very few scenes where he actually felt like the character he really was. This was an episode we really didn't need, and wasn't worth it even if we did. Poor Q, he deserved much better than this.

This really has nothing to do with this episode except that I am rewatching some of Voyager and this episode reminded me of my story. . . I got to meet John deLancie! AND I made him chuckle. He's VERY tall, AND very handsome, which actually surprised me, because I have never found Q attractive in the least. His wife is BEAUTIFUL, and I seriously kicked myself for not googling before the event so I would have known that she is the actress who played the female voice of Reva in "Loud as a Whisper." Just like in that episode, her voice is lovely. She was also very nice--I was chatting with her for a while without realizing until later who she was. So anyway, this was at a dinner during the Reason Rally, and John deLancie was seated right behind me. After dinner, people got up and began mixing and chatting, and the organizer requested over the microphone that all the "main stage speakers come to the annex room for a group photo." John apparently didn't hear, because he turned to me and asked what they had said. I repeated it, then said, "I thought you were supposed to be omniscient!" He chuckled and replied, "Oh, I've NEVER heard that one before!" But he said it with a smile and wink, so I think it was okay. I at least refrained from falling at his feet in admiration, so it worked out well. :-)

Nice grumpy_otter :-) Voyager had used Q so well. Then this episode came about. All because Janeway is a female. Never liked this one and never will. By far Season 7's worst effort. .5 stars because there was some humor in there.

George Monet

Maybe I'm just a terrible person, but I really liked this episode the first time I saw it and I still like it. I haven't seen a Q episode I didn't like except the one in TNG where that girl gives away her Q powers rather than saying thank you and then just not using them.

Voyager finally did it. first they neutered the Borg and now they've broken Q (*)

I didn't mind it. I've liked all the Q episodes to some degree, mainly for John deLancie. He's just got such great comic delivery. Pity his son doesn't rise to his standard... "kitchen rat" cracked me up. It was "Bar rodent" in one of the other voyager Q episodes. Both great Neelix insults. 2 stars.

Torres says that if Q doesn't stop the light show in engineering, that the warp core is going to breach. Wut? All it takes is some strobe lights and the ship blows up? That's some bad engineering. 1/2 star. And only because I like John de Lancie. Otherwise 0.

No wonder why Star Trek went off the air in 2005. It wasn't that Enterprise was so bad, it's because many of its so-called fans love to hate on it. This episode was a thoroughly amusing hour of television. It didn't need to be an intellectually challenging episode. Voyager had plenty of those too. It's also just fun to watch an episode like this which is meant to be quite whimsical. Lighten up Star Trek watchers.

Did anyone else notice Kate Mulgrew's toenails are a sickening diseased orange at the end of the tub scene in this episode?

Bote For Lalo

Ugh. As mentioned earlier in this comment thread, Q is classical "trickster" figure, like Loki. And he's basically omnipotent and eternally bored, which makes him a dangerous annoyance to all non-Q he comes into contact with. Thankfully, John de Lancie and Patrick Stewart had great chemistry together. Thankfully, de Lancie is a charismatic actor who, scenery-cheweing aside, is fun to watch. The kid playing Q Jr. just plain sucked; and while he was written to be obnoxious and annoying, I didn't help his acting performance, and it pulled down the entire episode. Even with badly written material, de Lancie can at least turn lemons into lemonade and make his performance interesting. This kid had no chance, and for my money it's the worst Q episode I've ever suffered through. A very disappointing 1 star.

Mads Leonard Holvik

A complete farce! Makes fun of original TNG Q episodes. Cheap scores. What kind of complete morons would make a script like this, much less sanction it? And why did Levar Burton say yes to direct it??

Prince of Space

This episode turned me into a newt!!!!

I got better.

De Lancie is a fine actor, but the whole Q thing is utter BS.

On the one hand, it's very sad for this to be the last Q appearance, but on the other, the alternative is that The Q and the Grey is the last Q appearance. This one fares worse than The Q and the Grey if only because there's less of John De Lancie and there's also no Suzie Plakson; that episode managed to at least have a lot of charisma from the guest leads, even if it was profoundly stupid. I like Death Wish but I think it probably would have been better to keep Q on TNG, with All Good Things as a perfect send-off to the character. The novelty of De Lancie's actual son playing q wears off quickly and we are left with a plodding mess; almost shocking is that we are apparently meant to take q's boring book report on the Q Continuum as some sort of great achievement. Q's assertion that he's not proud of his son is about the only life we get here. Anyway, the Q valuing self-sacrifice isn't totally unprecedented, because of Deja Q, but even in that episode there was a twist to it (Q did admire Data's self-sacrifice, but wasn't particularly hoping to replicate it, and the second Q basically gave Q a pass for fun). The weird multiple endings with the Q jury, dressed in Q's Encounter at Farpoint/All Good Things robes which, let's recall, were based on Earth judge outfits Q was using to mock Picard, contribute to the worn-out schlockiness of the whole affair. On the plus side, by this point I find Icheb fairly engaging (if a bit dull when his only role is to play straight man to an I'm-so-crazy non-rebel like q), and I actually do like the idea that Janeway gets some legit responsibilities as godmother. And I dunno, there is still a bit of pop to seeing De Lancie (Sr.) even if he looks tired. So it's not a total loss, but it's close to it. 1 star and I think the worst of the season.

Startrekwatcher

1 Star I’m not a big Q fan. I’m not a VOY Q fan for sure I hate comedies on Trek. And I really hate low brow comedies on Trek. This was awful. Dumb. Juvenile. Pointless This is what happens when you let writers for Xena come write for Trek

Entertaining. Mulgrew and DeLancie Sr are funny together. DeLancie Jr was not the world's greatest actor, but he sufficed. I liked Icheb having a friend. I liked Seven's total shamelessness. I liked the follow up on baby Q. Mostly lighthearted fluff.

1.5 stars is too harsh. Deserves at least an extra star for the excellent fun performance from John De Lancie's real life son. Come on, the guy now helps refugees for the UN!

Jeffrey Jakucyk

Yeah this one is not very good. DeLancie didn't even try to save it, not that he could have. He's all too happy to go camp, which just doesn't work. At least the snarky replicator was fun.

Wow. I've been reading these comments for the last year or so while rewatching the syndicated series. I have to say that it seems a lot of people don't understand that Q is always testing humanity, even when he, it, or they, act like they aren't. If you saw the last episode of TNG you should realize this. If you saw the end of this episode where Janeway says " I appreciate this but It will only save a couple years..." And Q earlier saying "don't mess with the Borg," you may realize he basically tested Janeway and gave her all she needed to get home a few episodes later. Yes, it was a test. Am I the only one who sees that? It had nothing to do with Q Jr. That was just a ruse. It was still decent though.

Here's an episode that never should have been made. I could barely make it through the hour. What has VOY done to the Q?? Far worse than what it did to the Borg. This takes it to an all-time low. Nothing funny in this idiotic episode that loosely seems like a beggar's version of "Charlie X". The whole premise makes no sense -- that omnipotent beings would come to Janeway to straighten out their offspring. This is not sci-fi -- it's garbage. Just an attempt to get one more de Lancie / Mulgrew outing (since they are both good actors) -- not that that helped "The Q and the Grey" work well. What really bugs me about the episode is that just when there might be some albeit trite lesson for Q Jr. and therefore some kind of moral or real consequence, the episode basically resets. In the end, Q Jr. isn't stuck being a human, he gets all his powers back and the Q Continuum is made to look like a farce. What was the point? Did Q Jr. really grasp the self-sacrifice thing? Also, the usual stupid Q tricks are very old. And making 7 naked is just "Threshold" -level bad. The first half hour was cringeworthy and the second half hour wasn't much better. The Icheb character had a chance to act outside its box but it was more stiff acting. 0.5 stars for "Q2" -- like I said, this episode never should have been made. The only redeemable thing here for me was Mulgrew/Janeway acting the right way given the terrible script -- she was convincing in trying to do her part to help Q Jr. even though the whole premise is ludicrous. What has the Q Continuum become... There are good Q episodes, bad ones, and this ugly one.

"There are good Q episodes, bad ones, and this ugly one." This was indeed a fistful of stupid.

2.5 to 3 stars. This was a lighthearted comedy, not intended to be serious drama or examination of the meaning of what it would mean to encounter an omnipotent being, and you people are judging it as if it were the latter. That is an absurd category mistake. The Q storyline was always meant to be funny. There is no way you could take any of it seriously in any of the series. It would have been great if Voyager had been written to be a serious drama like BSG or even DS9, but since it wasn’t, you should take it for what it was and judge it episode by episode. Some episodes were meant to be taken seriously and some were not.

I realize that the vast majority of people who frequent this site think ST-TNG is nothing short of perfection and that ST-Voyager is nothing but its ‘red-headed step child’ but you all are really chucking spit balls into the wind! This episode was fun. Period. It wasn’t a grandiose statement about anything but fun. Seriously. Stop taking yourselves so seriously. And, we get it. TNG— nothing short of excellent. Voyager— nothing but spittle from the mouth of all that is good and Picardish....🤦🏼‍♀️

The most interesting aspect of this episode is Q Sr handing Janeway a tablet with course adjustments on it that she looks at and turns to him and says “not that I don’t appreciate it but this will only take a few years off our journey, why not send us all the way?” One expects in the next scene to see Voyager warp off — no doubt on an adjusted heading. But we do not. It sits stationary in space for the long pause. Therefore, Q Sr apparently knows of Endgame, and the rollback of the Universe, and even no Starship Relativity interference for a TPD violation.

Hate it when people show up and say things like "This is a light-hearted comedy, not SERIOUS DRAMA!" to excuse terrible writing. Comedy episodes can be just as good as the serious episodes, this one sure as FUCK wasn't.

Agree with Ben, JB, and Mom. Plus, I liked the kid’s acting. He cracked me up when he still had his powers. You really need a good sense of humour to appreciate how great this show was. Loved every Q episode in Voyager. In TNG I couldn’t stand the character. Love the chemistry Mulgrew and DeLancie had together. I haven’t come across a bad episode in season 7, yet. “Muses” was the last bad one and I see that that was season 6.

I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. I liked it quite a bit. They even managed at the very end to answer the question I was thinking the whole time which was why Janeway didn’t just make Q agree to send Voyager to Earth if she helped his son. With only 6 episodes left in very much doubting I will be seeing Q or Q2 again so this was a nice goodbye. I wouldn’t have mind if this episode aired a few years prior so that there would have been time to get another Q2 visit.

Generally speaking, The Next Generation is a better show than Voyager. But I'm tired of people who always repeat the mantra, "TNG good, Voyager bad," and apply it to every episode. Q's first appearance in TNG in the series premiere was a thoroughly mediocre show. In fact, TNG's whole first season was pretty lame. In contrast, Death Wish was pretty great. Even this Q2 episode was better than Encounter at Farpoint, as uneven and nonsensical as Q2 sometimes was. So stop saying that Voyager "ruined" Q, and ruined everything else as well. Voyager had some great episodes, and TNG had some lousy ones.

@Mark - VOY had some great episodes, no doubt. But people feel that VOY ruined things because they fleshed things out that maybe worked better without being fleshed out. I would argue that the Borg and the Q worked better when you knew less about them, even if Death Wish was clearly far better than Encounter at Farpoint.

Even "Death Wish" borrows a lot of good faith we have from the franchise thanks to TNG. I mean it guest stars not one, but two TNG characters to help give it credibility. Say what you will about Farpoint, but it was an original concept that created a popular recurring character and theme for the franchise.

This episode actually made me miss Wesley Crusher. 1 star.

Ten years later and I actually enjoyed this one a lot. The first thing that got me engaged was the introductory premiss: Q. Jr. getting bored. Many would just gloss over that but it got me to thinking about how eternal life, promised by many religions, would actually be highly undesirable. Eternal existence--even as some "higher," "spiritual" beings--would become supremely boring and worthless after a while, and this show broaches that idea in an admittedly clunky manner. It made me sit up and pay attention though. Otherwise, and maybe I'm in a particular melancholic mood but Junior's transformation--very quick though as it was--was moving, especially his newfound appreciation of friendship, personal responsibility, mutual support, etc. It's as if he learned, the hard way, that it's the deeper things in life that matter, rather than superficial "fun" and instant gratification. That's always commendable. The humor was good, too. A solid 3 stars for my money.

EventualZen

@MikeyZ I think the concept and consequences of eternal life was covered far better in VOY "Deathwish". Having said that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable episode - 8/10. Q Junior learned the value of responsibility and friendship, there was suspense when we were led to believe Icheb was dead, and humour "Coffee, black" , "Make it yourself". Even though eternal life seems undesirable as much as impractical, I would want to live for a thousands in good health (with a young person's body) as long as my loved one's lived that long too. How long would you guys want to live for and why? PS: My name actually means the eventual peace and end of suffering that we will all attain once we die.

How long and why. For me I only want to see if humanity will destroy itself or not. So either until humanity ends or until humanity ends itself. I also don't think that you achieve peace through death. Nothingness is not peace. I guess you favor the Buddhist view. If you are right then we will find out when we die, if I'm right then we will never know. End of suffering is quite nice, though.

TNG wasn’t perfect, and I think Voyager’s seventh season is much stronger than TNG’s seventh. I watched a fair amount of Voyager first run, but less and less because it mostly felt like reheated TNG leftovers. This is one of many I skipped because it sounded blah. I think it helps with the separation of years and knowing Voyager’s weaknesses. I actually liked it. Kegan de Lancie does a great job, and I liked that his form of teenage rebellion became being super responsible. The anti Q Q. But before that, his gags were funny. Turning the warp core into a disco light was good, and is a mild meta poke at the show itself, because of course the prop is just a giant light. And of course it’s about to breach. Starfleet warp cores after the Excelsior class tend to explode if you sneeze in engineering. I didn’t at all like the Q civil war and the notion of Q having a baby would fix it and blah blah, but given that background, this was fine, and yes it was funny and charming that little Q called Janeway Aunt Kathy. Oddly, I didn’t even guess the probably obvious twist. Though, no doubt because most times I watch TV these days, I’m on my phone too.

Not the best Q episode, but not the worst. I found it amiable and fun, honestly. I enjoyed the friendship between Q junior and Icheb, who hasn't had anyone his age to spend time with since his introductory episode. And it was honestly nice to see the Q and the Gray followed up on. Yeah, something serious and grand and dramatic might have been preferable to Q jr hijinks, but what we got was fun and entertaining, so I can't complain. And since we now know that Q is turning up in Picard, this will soon no longer have the distinction of being the final Q episode. That might elevate it, depending on how the Picard writers handle the character.

Michael Miller

Anyone that complains that teens are a nuisance and troublesome should watch this episode was be grateful!

I enjoyed this episode. Tbh I like all the Q episodes to date and hopefully Star Trek Picard will continue that trend. DeLancie is a great actor and nails Q every time and his own son playing his own characters son (genius) actually works really well as the chemistry is all their on screen and the (then) young actor pulls off a pretty good performance IMO.

What a throwaway of an episode so close to the end of the series. I am not a fan of Q in general (although DeLancie has been very funny over the years), so I admit my bias. This episode was a complete mess from start to finish. The kid goes from complete brat to great kid in about 2 minutes without any transformative incident. He then builds a great friendship with Icheb, and I actually feel sorry for the kid when Q dissed his essay. We start to see that Q may be part of the problem. And then it implodes. Instead of the kid bonding more with Janeway and Icheb after being letdown by his dad, and instead of Janeway schooling Q on being a crappy father, he goes right back to his old ways and steals a shuttle. He basically wiped everything he accomplished. His redemption is unsatisfying and the ending just horrible. Icheb is his only friend, but he is out of the picture after the sick bay scene. No final moment between the two of them where Q Jr. apologized and thanked Icheb for being a friend. It was a loose end that needed to be tied and the writers failed big time.

A total mess of an episode, but after seven seasons of Voyager I'm willing to give this one a pass. Compared to some of the dirge that has come before this is... Ok. At least it's energetic. Two stars

This is a popcorn episode. You just need to turn off your brain. If you turn on your brain, there are glaring problems. Why is Voyager supposedly capable of teaching Q Jr yet omnipotent beings can't? Why is Q Jr an archetypal heterosexual adolescent male? Why is he into corporeal females? Why does he want to see Seven naked? Why is there a dance club with exotic female dancers? Can the male gaze get anymore ridiculous in the writing? Why does he like seeing ships blow up? It seems to insane and such a waste of Q. They are supposed to be tricksters who always tell the truth and try to help lesser species along in their understanding of the universe. Q sets up the test for Q Jr that involved Icheb getting injured. Well, why didn't Q just do something that in the first place?

@Robert I agree that they anthropomorphized the Q a lot in this episode, why would Q Junior be embarrassed to be seen with his parents? But still with it's flaws, I maintain that this is an 8/10 episode.

Really enjoyed this episode. A lot of the above comments are just plain mean. I'm afraid that Jammer set the tone. Very glad that Star Trek is NOT a drama like BSG as someone on this thread suggested. After a good setup, I found BSG unwatchable: depressing, nihilistic, and it completely trashed the Starbuck character.

I'm obviously in the minority (although Cloudane said he liked it), but I actually like this episode. Yes, the central premise - that beings as advanced as the Q would need help from humans, is far-fetched. But would you put that aside, I think this is episode is pretty good, though not great. I would give it 2.5 stars.

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Star Trek’s 12 most Q episodes, ranked by chaotic energy

A Q for every mood

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Decades before the letter “Q” gained a sinister political connotation (and during a rare fallow period for the James Bond film franchise), the alphabet’s most quizzical consonant became synonymous with Star Trek . Portrayed by actor John de Lancie, the omnipotent trickster god Q debuted in the series premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 and developed into the show’s signature antagonist, the perfect foil for disciplined, steadfastly moral Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Q has remained one of the most popular guest characters in the Star Trek franchise, appearing across five series including the new season of Star Trek: Picard .

Q owes his longevity as a character to de Lancie’s magnetic performance and to the multiple ways he can be employed in a Star Trek story. Q is an all-powerful authority, casting judgment over humanity and enforcing the cosmic status quo of the Q Continuum, but he’s also a cartoonish agent of chaos who takes delight in befuddling straight-laced Starfleet Captains . Most of the best Q episodes find a balance between Q’s two extremes, depicting him as part bully, part teacher, and part comic relief.

In recognition of the delicate chemistry that goes into creating a good Q episode, Polygon’s scientists have developed the Q Scale, a method of measuring the ratio of Authoritative Q to Chaotic Q in a given story. Like the pH Scale, the Q Scale starts at 0 (Fully Authoritarian) and ends at 14 (Fully Chaotic), with the median 7 representing a healthy neutral between the two extremes.

Excluding his cameo in the Lower Decks episode “Veritas” (which is too slight to include here) and his recurring role in Picard ’s second season (which shouldn’t be judged until it’s completed), we’ve ranked every appearance of Q based on where it sits on the Q Scale, ​​in ascending order of chaos.

12. “Encounter at Farpoint”

The Next Generation season 1, episode 1

In the series premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Q forces the crew of the Enterprise to stand trial on behalf of all of humanity. He introduces himself as a representative of a godlike ruling body who has determined that our species is too savage and violent to be permitted further expansion across the galaxy. The episode contains the seeds of the flamboyant, hedonistic Q of his later appearances — namely, his love of playing dress-up — but most of what makes Q pop in “Farpoint” comes from John de Lancie’s performance rather than from the script itself. de Lancie was hand-picked by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry for the role based on his ability to elevate the material, and future appearances would be written with his theatrical strengths in mind.

Q Level: 1 (Wholly authoritarian)

Q Fact: The character of Q was a late addition to the script for “Encounter at Farpoint.” Writer Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana had been instructed to write a script for a 90-minute series premiere, and when the episode was expanded to two hours, Roddenberry wrote a 30-minute “envelope” story to pad out the episode, adding the “trial for humanity” subplot. Fontana and fellow Trek writer David Gerrold later theorized that Roddenberry did this in order to deliberately pocket what would have been Fontana’s contractual bonus for writing a double-sized episode.

11. “True Q”

The Next Generation season 6, episode 6

In this Next Generation episode, young Enterprise intern Amanda Rogers (Olivia d’Abo) discovers that she’s actually a Q, born on Earth to two outcasts from the Continuum who chose to live as humans. Now that her powers are emerging, the Continuum sends our Q to retrieve her, but Captain Picard demands that she be allowed to determine her own fate. Once again, we see Q operating as an unquestioning agent of a higher authority, though this is also his sixth appearance on TNG and his familiarity and fondness for Picard has made him more amenable to compromise. Q attempts to sway Amanda by claiming that the point of being Q is to do whatever you want, but this doesn’t hold water given that he also threatens to kill her if she doesn’t cooperate with the Continuum. Notably, this is also Q at his least fun, as he spends most of the episode being a creep to a teenage girl.

Q Level: 2 (Highly authoritarian)

Q Fact: Writer René Echevarria tried to name the young Q “Samantha” after the protagonist of the 1960s sitcom Bewitched , but executive producer Rick Berman caught the reference and nixed the idea.

10. “Death Wish”

Voyager season 2, episode 18

After The Next Generation concluded, Q began guest starring on its subsequent spin-off, Star Trek: Voyager . His first Voyager episode, “Death Wish,” is undoubtedly his best, and the most successful attempt at exploring the internal politics of the Q Continuum. In “Death Wish,” Voyager encounters a second Q (who calls himself “Quinn” to avoid confusion) whose desire to become mortal has made him a political enemy of the Continuum. When Quinn applies for asylum aboard Voyager, the powers that be dispatch our old familiar Q to represent their interests in a hearing to determine Quinn’s fate. “Death Wish” is the best of the more authoritarian Q episodes, not only because it explores a complex moral dilemma in the classic Star Trek tradition, but because it interrogates the duality of Q’s character. Quinn forces Q to look at himself and realize that he’s lost his sense of mischief and sold out to The Man.

Q Level: 3 (Skeptically authoritarian)

Q Fact: John de Lancie and Kate Mulgrew ( Voyager ’s Captain Janeway) have been close friends since long before Star Trek, which no doubt contributed to the pair’s chemistry on screen.

Voyager season 7, episode 18

In Q’s final appearance on Voyager , we get acquainted with his son, Q (or “Junior,” played by John de Lancie’s real-life son Keegan). Since Junior is the first child born in the Continuum, the inexperienced Q ditches his unruly adolescent offspring with Captain “Aunt Kathy” Janeway in the hopes that she can teach him some discipline. The Continuum expects Junior to help maintain order in the universe and threatens him with severe punishment if he fails to shape up, but Q himself plays only a minor role in turning his son’s life around, letting the Voyager crew set the example for responsible behavior. When Q does finally participate, it’s by staging a cruel costume drama that tricks Junior into believing that he’s put his new friend Icheb’s life in danger. Q scares Junior into becoming more responsible by way of his classic hijinx, staging elaborate tests and deliberately annoying a Starfleet crew.

Q Level: 4 (Nominally authoritarian)

Q Fact: This is Keegan de Lancie’s final acting credit. He currently works for the US State Department .

8. “All Good Things…”

The Next Generation season 7, episode 25

The series finale of The Next Generation resumes the trial that began in “Encounter at Farpoint,” returning Picard to the scene of his first conflict with Q as well as showing him a glimpse of a possible future. As it turns out, Q has been directed by the Continuum to put Picard through one more deadly test that will either prove humanity’s potential or destroy all organic life in the galaxy. Q follows his orders, but also obtains permission to appear to Picard and occasionally drop subtle hints as to the nature of the deadly puzzle. After seven years of observing and pestering Picard, Q is now less interested in controlling or passing judgment over humanity and more invested in seeing us grow to our full potential.

Q Level: 5 (Barely authoritarian)

Q Fact: “All Good Things…” is, to date, the fourth and final Star Trek episode to win the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation . Twenty-five movies and episodes have been nominated between 1966 and 2018.

7. “Tapestry”

The Next Generation season 6, episode 15

In “Tapestry,” arguably the best Q episode of all time, Captain Picard dies after suffering damage to his artificial heart. Q greets Picard in the supposed afterlife and offers him the chance to relive a key moment from his reckless youth, the bar fight that resulted in his cardiac replacement. Q acts as Picard’s guardian angel on a time-bending journey painted with shades of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life , teaching Picard to value the wilder parts of himself, the traits that he just happens to share with Q. Q finds the exercise amusing, sure, but he seems motivated primarily by the desire to help his “pet” human learn a difficult lesson, and to save his life in the process. Picard is permitted to make his own choices throughout the entire experience, and while he does encounter a cruel twist, it’s one of his own making and Q provides a way out of it.

Q Level: 6 (Benignly authoritarian)

Q Fact: Writer Roland D. Moore considered using “Tapestry” to visit more than one pivotal moment in Picard’s life, including the never-seen death of his best friend Jack Crusher aboard the USS Stargazer.

The Next Generation season 4, episode 20

Feeling he owes Picard a debt after their previous adventure, Q insists on doing Picard a favor in return. Since Picard refuses to offer any suggestions apart from “Go away,” Q decides to interject into Picard’s love life, forcing him to confront his feelings for the rogue archeologist Vash (Jennifer Hetrick). Q traps Picard, Vash, and the rest of the Enterprise senior staff in a recreation of the legend of Robin Hood. Once in motion, the fantasy is beyond even Q’s own control, and Picard and company have mere hours to storm Nottingham Castle and rescue Vash/Maid Marian from her scheduled execution. Q devises all the rules of this deadly game, but he also abides by them, and Picard, Q, and Vash all get something out of the experience.

Q Level: 7 (Equally authoritarian and chaotic)

Q Fact: In the episode’s climactic battle, all of the male Enterprise crew members draw swords while Dr. Crusher and Counselor Troi smash vases over the heads of their opponents. Ironically, Gates McFadden and Marina Sirtis were the only members of the ensemble with fencing experience (save Patrick Stewart, who has been stage fighting since the 1970s ).

5. “Hide and Q”

The Next Generation season 1, episode 10

In his second appearance, Q endows Commander Riker with powers identical to his own and dares him to use them, while Picard insists that he resist the temptation. While Q is still acting on the authority of the Continuum and in the interests of better understanding humanity, “Hide and Q” doubles down on John de Lancie’s whimsy, casting Q even more like a tempestuous child who plays with the fates of individuals and entire species for his amusement. Q devises a high-stakes contest for the crew that is, by his own admission, “entirely unfair.” When his attempts to woo Riker to godhood fail anyway, the Continuum forces Q to abide by the conditions of his own game and leave the Enterprise alone.

Q Level: 9 (Noticeably chaotic)

Q Fact: An earlier draft of this episode would have established that there were only three members in the entire Q species .

4. “The Q and the Grey”

Voyager season 3, episode 11

Inspired by his experience with Quinn, Q leads a revolutionary movement that launches the Continuum into a civil war. Q seeks to upset the status quo he once upheld by fathering the first new Q in eons, and he wants Captain Janeway to be its mother. (This episode ignores the existence of Amanda Rogers.) Q’s maturity level swings wildly between adulthood and adolescence throughout the episode. His goal is to strike down the old order and establish a new one that is less restrictive to individual freedoms and more receptive to new ideas, but his plan hinges on some pretty wild assumptions, namely that a half-Q, half-human baby will be greeted as a messiah and that reproducing with one of his own, like his longtime “associate” Q (Suzie Plakson), would be impossible. His buffoonish attempts to seduce Janeway are embarrassing to watch.

Q Level: 10 (Actively chaotic)

Q Fact: Prior to playing a Q, Suzie Plakson portrayed Vulcan Dr. Selar the Klingon Ambassador K’Ehleyr on The Next Generation . There are winks to both of these roles in her dialogue in “The Q and the Grey.”

The Next Generation season 2, episode 16

On the outs with the Continuum, Q arrives on the Enterprise and offers to join the crew, even to renounce his powers if necessary. Picard declines, deciding that Q is too dangerous to trust. Q handles this rejection by shoving the Enterprise deep into unexplored space, where they encounter an enemy too powerful to confront without his help — the Borg . Q proves his point all too well, as the Enterprise makes first contact with a species that would threaten billions of lives and change the face of the Federation over the next 15 years. While there’s still plenty of “teacher Q” in this action, it’s also an impulsive, unilateral decision with massive repercussions that he barely seems to consider. So long as he’s properly shaken Picard, he’s satisfied.

Q Level: 11 (Maliciously chaotic)

Q Fact: Writer Maurice Hurley initially intended for the big bad revealed in Season Two to be a race of insects , but that idea proved too expensive. The Borg retained the hive mind of the original concept, but were portrayed as humanoid cyborgs instead.

2. “Deja Q”

The Next Generation season 3, episode 13

Embarrassed by his clownish antics and galaxy-spanning reputation for wanton cruelty, the Continuum casts Q out and drops him on Picard’s doorstep. Trapped in a human body, Q must now depend on the mercy and kindness of the Enterprise crew to survive when one of the civilizations he once tormented catches wind of his newfound mortality and comes looking for revenge. While he can’t get up to much trouble in his human form “Deja Q” is the first episode to depict Q as a liar and cheater who’s spent eternity tormenting weaker beings for sport. Much in the way that “Death Wish” makes Q second-guess his authoritarian bent, “Deja Q” challenges his desire to wreak havoc and force-feeds him some of his own medicine.

Q Level: 13 (Proudly chaotic)

Q Fact: In the teaser for this episode, the de-powered Q arrives on the bridge of the Enterprise totally naked. After director Les Landau struggled to find a way to achieve the desired effect via camera trickery, John de Lancie decided to simply perform the scene in the nude .

1. “Q-Less”

Deep Space Nine season 1, episode 6

Q makes a single appearance on TNG ’s first spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , in an episode that serves as a sequel to “Qpid.” After two years exploring the galaxy as Q’s companion, archeologist Vash catches a lift back to Federation space via the Bajoran Wormhole and arranges to spend some time aboard the show’s titular space station. Vash attempts to make a clean break from Q, but he refuses to leave her alone and spends most of the next week using his powers to harass her and any member of the DS9 crew who gets in his way. In “Q-Less,” Q has no goal beyond stalking a woman who’s rejected him, and has no involvement or interest in an existential threat to the station that rears its head during his visit. He’s purely there to goof off and make mischief. While the episode does offer one classic moment in which Sisko loses his patience and clocks him in the jaw, Q proved to be an ill fit for the setting and tone of DS9 and never returned.

Q Level: 14 (Bugs Bunny chaotic)

Q Fact: According to the Deep Space Nine Companion , John de Lancie was dissatisfied with the depiction of Q in this episode, feeling that “skirt-chasing” was a motivation unworthy of his character.

Star Trek: Discovery tore itself apart for the good of Star Trek’s future

Star trek: discovery boldly goes where no trek has gone before by saying religion is... ok, actually, star trek: discovery is cracking open a box next gen closed on purpose.

Den of Geek

Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Post-Voyager Q Explained

Q is back in Star Trek: Lower Decks, but why does he seem to be the Q we know from The Next Generation rather than Voyager?

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This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains minor spoilers for “Veritas.”

The voice-cameo of Jon de Lancie as Q in Episode 8 of Lower Decks is easily the series’ biggest callback to Star Trek: The Next Generation yet. In fact, the way Q appears in this episode is very reminiscent of how we think of him in TNG , down to his iconic judge’s robes, and his taunts about “testing humanity.” But, on some level, it feels like Q has actually regressed a bit. He’s still hilarious, but wasn’t he slightly more responsible the last time we saw him in canon? Chronologically, the last time we saw Q was in Voyager Season 7 and, at that time, he’d just become a father, and was willing to help out Captain Janeway and the gang. So what’s up with Q? Did he go back to being a jerk? Or is he actually more fun now than ever?

In the year 2378, just two years before the events of Lower Decks , we saw Q in the Voyager episode “Q2.” In this episode, Q has a son (the titular “Q2” or “Junior”) and basically goes to Voyager to teach his kid about what humans are like. This doesn’t go well, but the overwhelming point of the episode is that Q does feel some level or responsibility about his son and, even though he’s flippant and annoyed, the episode ends with the idea that Q is trying to set a good example for his son. Q Junior’s brand of chaos was irresponsible, whereas Q viewed his version of screwing with humans as a series of tests.

Prior to all of that, in 2373, Voyager was briefly sucked into the Q Civil War, in which “our” Q was in favor of keeping the galaxy the way it was, rather than having everything descend into chaos. The crew of Voyager were basically bystanders in this, but again, these storylines demonstrated that on a very basic level, was interested in keeping the galaxy stable, not tearing it apart. 

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Is this different than how he was in TNG ? Well, probably not. Q has always been interested in keeping the galaxy and the universe “safe” and together, it’s just his attitude toward humans has softened. Though he appears in his judges robes in Lower Decks , it feels unlikely that Q is “really” putting humanity on trial again. In “All Good Things..” he told Picard that the trial of humanity never ends, but in this episode of Lower Decks , it seems like he’s more interested in messing with the Cerritos than anything. In other words, Q’s games don’t always have to have a point.

It’s also possible that this Q is from the future , at least relative to the Lower Deckers. He says he’s bored with Picard making wine all the time. In 2380, Picard isn’t making wine yet! It feels like Q is referencing Jean-Luc in the 2385-2399 range, in the series Picard . Of course, Q exists outside of all time and space, so some of this doesn’t matter to him, but if he’s seen the bleaker future for Jean-Luc and the Federation in 2399 (which of course he has, he’s Q) then it stands to reason he’s back in 2380 to hang out in a more playful time. In other words, Q, like Trekkies everywhere, is probably nostalgic for this time in the 24th century. Who can blame him?

Lower Decks has two episodes left in Season 1. Those air on CBS All Access on Thursdays.

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

• The Inventory

The A to Z of Star Trek 's Q

Star Trek ’s galaxy is filled with mysterious alien races, unexplained phenomena, and incomprehensible technology that our Starfleet heroes would love to explore and understand. And then there’s the Q Continuum, a group of beings that a lot of those Starfleet officers wish would leave them alone instead.

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But you can’t keep a good omnipotent being down, and now that the Q are coming back—well, a Q, our Q , if you will—with John de Lancie’s arrival in the second season of Star Trek: Picard , here are the ins and outs of what you need to know about one of Star Trek ’s most enduringly silly godlike species, and its most iconic self-named member.

First introduced in The Next Generation ’s debut episode—the two-parter “Encounter at Farpoint”—John de Lancie’s Q was cut from the same cloth as similarly mysterious, powerful (and, on occasion, very camp ) figures like Trelane in the original Star Trek . An essentially godlike being with a puckish taste for putting our heroes in absurdist scenarios to test everything from their morals to their patience, Q stories are a whirlwind of de Lancie chewing as much scenery as he possibly can and wild stretches of danger and comedy, putting Captain Picard and his crew through their paces.

But Q himself also had a hugely important role to play beyond his iconic relationship with Picard—a sort of gentleman’s agreement in so much as a god and an ordinary (and usually very annoyed) human being can have. It’s Q that introduced the Federation to the Borg, in a manner that can either be perceived as him smashing together two powerful civilizations to watch the chaos that ensues or an early warning about one of the galaxy’s most dangerous presences. It’s Q that would eventually go on to help Voyager shave years off their long journey home. It’s Q, metatextually, that would go on to starkly differentiate Benjamin Sisko from the shadow of his predecessor: his sole appearance in Deep Space Nine highlighted by Q staging a boxing match between himself and Sisko, only for it to be cut short by Sisko promptly decking Q (“You hit me! Picard never hit me !”).

Aside from the laughs brought about by a cheeky superbeing with the power to do whatever the hell he wanted with a wave of his hand, Q’s appearances across The Next Generation and Voyager are likewise defined by the morality plays at their core. While Voyager in particular would go on to define the backstory of the wider Q society and the moral and ethical implications of a group of all-powerful beings, in TNG, Q’s games were tests of character. He’s introduced by literally putting humanity on trial for its history of violent, cruel transgressions, forcing the crew of the Enterprise to prove the species’ capacity to grow and change into a better society for all. He pushes Picard constantly, offering temptations and tricks to get the Captain to stand his ground and embrace both his very best aspects and his moments of failure.

But what are the Q themselves? Well, suitably so, we know a lot, and yet also nothing.

Most of our understanding of Q society in Star Trek is framed through Q himself—who has been exiled from it, re-introduced back into the fold as a stabilizing force, and, occasionally, starting civil wars within the Continuum (not just a name for the Q race but their plane of existence). But over the wider franchise, we have met other members of the Q to help further flesh out the Continuum as an entity beyond “our” Q’s impish behavior; from Amanda Rogers (Olivia d’Abo), a Q raised on Earth as if she were a human being to help explore the concept of giving a Q a moral code, to Quinn, an exiled Q in the Delta Quadrant encountered by Voyager , to even Q’s own son.

Not even the Q can agree on where and when the first immortal members of their species manifested, other than the general number of “billions of years ago.” It took centuries of evolution, but members of the Continuum mastered the ability to manipulate reality. Any Q could shift their own form and perception, create or destroy matter and energy, change time, and shift the very nature of existence on a whim, either by moving galaxies and solar systems or even creating alternate timelines. This le d to two things: first, an attitude that the Q believed themselves to be the most elite beings in the entirety of existence, having attained a knowledge and hyperintelligence beyond that of any other known species. Secondly, the Q promptly using their abilities to explore every facet of that existence thoroughly. It didn’t take long for them to understand and explore all of it in totality and then promptly get very, very bored with it.

This also meant that Q society very quickly stagnated which, alongside their amoral leanings, lead to rogue elements like our own Q. He had a history of calamitous galactic upheaval and a few minor bits of warmongering even before he first encountered humanity in the 2360s, poking and prodding at civilizations to provoke conflict on a whim, or reshaping parts of the universe with his powers. But even his own brand of chaos aside, this state of dormancy—where the Q shut themselves off in their own plane, not even communicating with each other because they believed all possible interesting conversation about anything had already happened—also lead to other members of the Continuum similarly rebelling.

One Q we meet in Star Trek: Voyager , a philosopher named Quinn (Gerrit Graham), attempts to commit suicide, but fearing the chaos such an act could cause within his society, the Continuum collectively sentences him to exile and imprisonment within a comet. After being accidentally freed by the Voyager on its journey through the Delta Quadrant, Quinn was granted asylum aboard the ship by Captain Janeway against the Continuum’s wishes, only to indeed, die by suicide. This event sparked a civil war within the plane of the Continuum, where a faction advocating for individual freedoms among the Q compared to the stagnancy of its status quo broke off. They created devastating superweapons that couldn’t just render Q beings mortal, but were capable of irrevocably damaging subspace beyond the Continuum’s plane—not only depowering Q who had left their home but threatening to undo reality itself.

After intervention by Voyager on Q’s behest, the civil war—which played out in front of the Starfleet crew’s eyes as the American Civil War—was brought to an end with a result we may ultimately see the ramifications of in Picard ’s second season. Q and a f emale Q chose to do something no member of the Continuum had considered in their long existence: procreate, giving birth to the first actual child of the Continuum. Nicknamed Junior (Keegan de Lancie), this Q did briefly bring about stability to the Continuum’s moral crisis, but, like his father before him, he was kind of a spoiled brat. After eventually being kicked out of the Continuum and nearly having his powers revoked, a brief stint aboard Voyager convinced the Continuum to re-accept Junior... as long as his father cleaned up his interstellar messes.

Aside from a brief trip over to the first season of Lower Decks , that was the last time we’d seen a Q in decades. But, of course, a few decades is a blink of an eye to a Q.

Now that Star Trek is returning to the Continuum next year, it remains to be seen what more we’ll learn about not just our Q, and maybe even his son, but the status of the Continuum itself. Hopefully something a bit exciting—after all, it’s not really a Q appearance if something a bit zany isn’t going on.

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Star Trek: Q Episodes In Order

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Encounter at farpoint.

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation

3. Star Trek: The Next Generation

4. Star Trek: The Next Generation

5. Star Trek: The Next Generation

6. Star Trek: The Next Generation

7. Star Trek: The Next Generation

8. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

9. Star Trek: The Next Generation

All good things....

10. Star Trek: Voyager

11. Star Trek: Voyager

The q and the grey.

12. Star Trek: Voyager

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Effets du cannabis sur la conduite, bien voyager avec son chien, qui doit s’immobiliser aux voies ferrées? : les conseils de la semaine

CAA-Québec recommande d’utiliser une grande cage ou un harnais pour empêcher votre chien de gêner les mouvements du conducteur. (Olga Yastremska, New Africa, Afr/123RF, liudmilachernetska)

Q On connaît les effets que l’alcool a sur la conduite, mais est-ce moins grave de conduire sous l’effet du cannabis?

R Ce n’est pas un concours! Le cannabis diminue la capacité de conduire et augmente les risques d’être impliqué dans un accident, c’est un fait prouvé par la science. Lorsqu’on mélange le cannabis et le volant, la coordination est plus floue, le temps de réaction est plus long, la concentration plus ardue, la prise de décision plus difficile et l’évaluation des distances plus confuse. De plus, le cannabis peut s’avérer plus sournois que l’alcool parce que ses effets peuvent durer jusqu’à 12 heures!

La prudence est de mise et les petites quantités à privilégier, surtout pour les nouveaux consommateurs. À l’approche des festivités estivales, bals de finissants, vacances et rassemblements, n’hésitez pas à engager la discussion avec vos proches afin de les sensibiliser aux dangers de conduire ou de monter avec quelqu’un qui a consommé de l’alcool, du cannabis ou pire : les deux.

Q On parle beaucoup de vaccins et d’exigences particulières aux douanes américaines lorsqu’on voyage avec son chien. Qu’est-ce que je devrais savoir?

R Il est vrai qu’à partir du 1er août 2024, seuls les chiens de six mois et plus et portant une micropuce seront admis aux États-Unis. Vous devrez détenir un certificat de bonne santé délivré par un vétérinaire 30 jours ou moins avant votre voyage, puis montrer un formulaire du Centre de contrôle et de prévention des maladies que vous aurez rempli avant de traverser la frontière. Nous vous suggérons aussi de garder le carnet de vaccination de l’animal à portée de main, parce que les autorités seront particulièrement soucieuses de prévenir le retour de la rage aux États-Unis.

Sachez que la nourriture destinée aux animaux de compagnie doit se trouver dans un emballage commercial d’origine canadienne ou américaine, toujours scellé. Toute nourriture pour animaux contenant de l’agneau, de la chèvre et du mouton est interdite.

Nous recommandons d’utiliser une grande cage ou un harnais pour empêcher votre chien de gêner les mouvements du conducteur. Nous suggérons aussi d’arrêter aux trois heures pour lui permettre de faire ses besoins, de boire de l’eau et de se dégourdir les pattes. Veillez aussi à ce que votre animal ne sorte pas la tête par la fenêtre, car le vent pourrait endommager ses oreilles et ses yeux, sans compter le risque qu’il soit projeté hors du véhicule lors d’un arrêt brusque.

Enfin, repérez les cliniques vétérinaires près de votre lieu de vacances et prévoyez des mesures de rechange en cas de retour précipité au pays.

Q J’ai vu une fourgonnette s’arrêter complètement au passage d’une voie ferrée, même s’il n’y avait pas de feu-barrière. Je croyais que seuls les autobus scolaires devaient faire ça. En fin de compte, à qui s’adresse cette obligation?

R La fourgonnette en question était probablement aménagée en minibus pour transporter 15 occupants. Comme les autobus et les autres véhicules de transport en commun, ces fourgons sont obligés de s’immobiliser à tous les passages à niveau, qu’il y ait présence ou non d’une barrière, de clignotants ou d’un panneau d’arrêt. Lorsqu’il n’y a pas de barrière, le conducteur doit immobiliser son minibus à au moins cinq mètres du passage à niveau.

Le Code de la sécurité routière considère comme un minibus un véhicule équipé de cinq rangées de sièges ou moins pour le transport de plus de neuf occupants à la fois. Un minibus peut être équipé de dispositifs d’immobilisation de fauteuils roulants. Pour le conduire, une personne doit détenir un permis de conduire de classe 4B.

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