What do You Think of Q?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by dougiezerts, Jul 13, 2014.

  1. I am not Spock

    I am not Spock Commodore Commodore

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    The poster who said Q is like the Doctor is right on the money. The Q Continuum remind of Star Trek's version of the Time Lords. Watching and judging over humanity. Are they heroes? Are they villains? Neither, really. They're neutral
     
  2. Last Redshirt

    Last Redshirt Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Q episodes, at least in TNG, were always a treat.

    In his other appearances, not so much....
     
  3. bbjeg

    bbjeg Admiral Admiral

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    John De Lancie is great. Q is a pain, a godly pain. Yes, he's taught humanity quite a bit but he put humanity on trial (not sure what his guilty verdict would have led to), cost lives in 'Q Who' (he could have sent the ship back the same way it got there before lives were lost), and he self appointed him himself Judge because he could but that never sat right with me and you'd think he would have gotten being a godly douche out of his system by TNG's time.

    Now don't get me wrong, when John De Lancie is in an episode, I know awesomeness is about to happen, but Q is a dick and a lesson to Starfleet and every species in the universe that dicks exist.
     
  4. ReedEnterprise

    ReedEnterprise Captain Captain

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    Nicely said and sums up my feelings. Love John as an actor but Q.....eh
     
  5. at Quark's

    at Quark's Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Cruel, yes. Malevolent, no. The kind of cruelty that is easy to pick up (I suppose) if you've been (almost) omnipotent for aeons.

    I'd consider Q more of an 'amoral trickster' as someone else put it, and even then he might only appear amoral in our eyes . Most of the time Q does anything, it ultimately seems to have a good effect on the main characters or the Federation as a whole, even when the acts seem "evil" at the time itself (Q who, tapestry). Of course, we're led to believe that this is because 'our heroes' made the best of it, but I always got the feeling that this was the intention of Q all along. Picard with his 'holier than thou' attitude, for example, really could use the kick in the rear he got from Q every now and then. Of course, that doesn't explain all his evil acts away, such as 'tormenting the Calamarain', but still.


    Well, that is considering the TNG Q at least. When VOY Q came along, I really got the feeling we were dealing with a supposedly omnipotent entity who didn't actually have the slightest clue as to what he was doing. In that respect, VOY spoiled Q for me, even though he was still fun to watch in those eps.
     
  6. Kobayshi Maru

    Kobayshi Maru Commodore Commodore

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    I think the big problem with Picard is that he's humorless, pompous and self-important, not to mention self-righteous. His character really needs someone like Q to take him down a peg. Q is actually good for Picard as demonstrated in Tapestry for example.
     
  7. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

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    Generations would have been too soon but I fully expected Q to show up in a movie.
     
  8. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Oh, I wish I had that power for about five minutes.

    Cause all pollution to diappear, no fossil fuel left on the planet, every fossil dug up and placed on display--instant zoos filled with every possible animal, and Mars and Venus made habitable. All missiles disappear. All diseases cured, etc.
     
  9. Kobayshi Maru

    Kobayshi Maru Commodore Commodore

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    It's likely that no one has that power. That's why life took three billion years to evolve man and not one sec...
     
  10. Makarov

    Makarov Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Q is great, and perfect in All Good Things and most of his TNG appearances. When they start adding more detail to Q, then I don't quite like it as much. I'm not really a fan of the whole "Q tries to give someone powers, and they reject it" thing that happens from time to time.

    And as for Voyager I'm not really a fan of the whole "lets represent the continuum as some period piece." Makes it feel like some kind of holodeck thing.
     
  11. Pondwater

    Pondwater Vice Admiral Admiral

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    At first I didn't like him. As I got older, he became strangely likeable.
     
  12. VST

    VST Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Not all the Q episodes were great, but John de Lancie was never less than entertaining - he deserves a lot of credit because he really took what could have been a horribly annoying character & made him a likeable 'Loki'.

    It's a shame he softened a bit though as time went on, because in 'Encounter at Farpoint' he's quite a nasty bastard!
     
  13. bbjeg

    bbjeg Admiral Admiral

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    ^Well said.
     
  14. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Why Q had to "soften" as time went on, I don't know. Maybe they felt they had to tone down his attitude to keep him likeable, but that's just stinkin' thinkin'! Q's at his best when he's right and he knows it and he shoves your nose in it - like a dog's in shit. Maybe it's just boredom on everybody's part? Especially after Q started showing up on VOYAGER - ha! - that was it. He was a comic relief element who was there to try to sell us on Janeway being the most desireable woman in the whole galaxy! Nice try ... after that, he just wanders off into the sunset with Junior as a single parent ... not good. I didn't care for that kind of closure for the character, at all. Q should've been a bad boy and that's it. Maybe the advertisers were to blame. When was his last appearance? Like ... 20 years ago? Times were different then, that's for sure.
     
  15. LMFAOschwarz

    LMFAOschwarz Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I started to tire of him, too. It seemed like his stories were getting...I don't know how to put it..sillier?

    But at least in The Next Generation, his last couple of appearances seemed to be skewing him back more towards his original characterization.

    I was really intrigued by his speech to Picard in All Good Things, about "discovering the limitless possibilities of existence". It sounded like they had neat things planned...

    Bah.
     
  16. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    I didn't like the second story Q was in, but I thought he was a great addition to the series as he often was the one that held up a mirror to the TNG gang and told them "You guys really aren't all that."

    John de Lancie though rocked it in every appearance, though.
     
  17. LMFAOschwarz

    LMFAOschwarz Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yet, in contrast, the second appearance is what sold me on DeLancie. I really liked his enunciation in his monologue in the tent. "Shall it be a test of strength? Meaningless, since you have none. A test of intelligence? Equally as meaningless! But it needs risk...something to win...and something to lose."
     
  18. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I have to agree with this. John de Lancie is very much in league with Sir Patrick Stewart and was the perfect choice at playing as a foil to Captain Picard. Gene Roddenberry had a knack for perfect casting ...
     
  19. Kobayshi Maru

    Kobayshi Maru Commodore Commodore

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    Plus, he's a very talented actor.
     
  20. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Indeed, he is! TNG does not get enough credit for having such great talent on the show. John de Lancie is a good case in point ...