Why didn't Q appear in any of the TNG films?

[Squiggy]

The Dominion wrote:

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I don't think so, both TNG's pilot and finale already centered around him.

Probably this.

[Christopher]

Ghrakh wrote:

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Yeah, VOY didn't handle him well at all (or DS9 for that matter). Q was a TNG character more than anything because of his chemistry with that crew, particularly Picard.

I think VGR's "Death Wish" was one of the best Q episodes ever. "The Q and the Grey" was a bit sillier, but still interesting, and DeLancie and Mulgrew (close friends in real life) had fantastic chemistry together. The only VGR Q episode that was genuinely a dud was "Q2."

Or, dump the Nexus and have Q bring Kirk into the TNG timeline.

Too much backstory that would've needed to be explained to the new viewer. And too arbitrary. In GEN, Kirk ended up where he did through his own efforts to save lives. He chose to go to the deflector room rather than taking command, and thus got zapped into the Nexus. He chose to leave the Nexus with Picard rather than indulging his fantasies, and thus ended up in the 24th century. He chose to climb back onto that rickety bridge to get the remote, putting himself back in danger so Picard could stop the launch, and thus he sacrificed his life. It was his own positive acts, his repeated choices to put his self-interest aside and take action for the good of others, that drove his arc through the story, and that's a good way to portray him. Having him just be a passive pawn of some frivolous superbeing's whims would've been a disservice to the character.

[Dukhat]

The Overlord wrote:

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Why didn't Q appear in any of the TNG films? I think an adventure with Q would have made for a better final story for the TNG crew then Nemesis did.

Because Q really isn't a villain. Sure, he was cast that way for the first couple of seasons of TNG, but ever since then he'd been more of a comic relief character at best, and a nuisance at worst.

[Therin of Andor]

Trek Survivor wrote:

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Mind you, John De Lancie's resume hardly suggests he's incredibly picky...

Investing big money on a screenplay with a featured guest role that can only be played by one particular (unsigned) actor is never a good idea, no matter whether he has been picky in the past or not.

[JarodRussell]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Investing big money on a screenplay with a featured guest role that can only be played by one particular (unsigned) actor is never a good idea, no matter whether he has been picky in the past or not.

Though it wouldn't be the first time they changed an actor for a role.

[BriGuy]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Easy. You don't write a major motion picture script hoping you can coerce your anticipated main guest star to participate. Since TNG fans would only accept one actor as Q, John de Lancie's agent would have Paramount over a barrel as regards salary.

And it would be different from Generations, when they needed Shatner for the "cross-over" movie... how?

I think Q should have been in a TNG movie, too. Another missed opportunity.

[Therin of Andor]

JarodRussell wrote:

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Though it wouldn't be the first time they changed an actor for a role.

But the whole point of doing a Q story would be to feature John de Lancie.

"Audiences, please note that, in today's performance, the role of Q will be played by..."

Well, that certainly goes back to de Lancie's "Days of Our Lives" roots.

BriGuy wrote:

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And it would be different from Generations, when they needed Shatner for the "cross-over" movie... how?

They secured Shatner's participation early, IIRC. It was his seventh ST movie for Paramount. They did write barely-more-than-cameo roles for Nimoy and Kelley on spec before securing their participation and they turned them down. So their parts had to be (barely) rewitten for Doohan and Koenig.

[Brutal Strudel]

I also get the impression that John deLancie is a pretty decent guy. He'd have jumped at the chance.

[Therin of Andor]

Brutal Strudel wrote:

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I also get the impression that John deLancie is a pretty decent guy. He'd have jumped at the chance.

I've heard him speak at several conventions. He felt that "All Good Things..." finalized his TNG arc and wasn't expecting to be offered a TNG movie. He's also a very busy guy, with lots of projects on the boil at any one time. Nothing to do with being "decent".

[Ghrakh]

Christopher wrote:

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Too much backstory that would've needed to be explained to the new viewer. And too arbitrary.

I think that could apply to the whole cast. After the EntB sequence, the first scene is on the holodeck, which would be a head-scratcher to a person unfamiliar to the series, and the crew are already quite familiar with each other...so there's unseen backstory already. But assuming a new viewer was already familiar with the crew but not the show, what about Khan in TWOK? For GEN, how about Guinan? People unfamiliar with TNG probably thought hey, there's Whoopi, she's... a "psychic" bartender who ends up in the nexus (voluntarily) telling Picard all about it! Uh, what?

TNG was a very popular series so the movies definitely relied on some audience familiarity with the series, and most if not all would have known about Q.

And I don't think it gets any more arbitrary than the Nexus...

Christopher wrote:

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Having him just be a passive pawn of some frivolous superbeing's whims would've been a disservice to the character.

It didn't seem have that effect on Picard. And it wouldn't have to be handled like some of the episodes where Q's playing some kind of game of his making...AGT for example.

Dukhat wrote:

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Because Q really isn't a villain.

No he isn't. I don't think it's necessary that he would have to be the villain to be in a TNG film. In fact, there are many TNG episodes that don't have a villain at all.

Why must a movie have a villain?

[Herbert]

Each appearance of John de Lancie as Q is a delight.

[Brutal Strudel]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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I've heard him speak at several conventions. He felt that "All Good Things..." finalized his TNG arc and wasn't expecting to be offered a TNG movie. He's also a very busy guy, with lots of projects on the boil at any one time. Nothing to do with being "decent".

I doubt he'd hold them up for his participation. That is entirely about decency: I can see him not doing it for artistic reasons (but with a good enough script--though what TNG movie, even FC, had that?) but I don't see him ransoming the project.

[Christopher]

Ghrakh wrote:

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I think that could apply to the whole cast. After the EntB sequence, the first scene is on the holodeck, which would be a head-scratcher to a person unfamiliar to the series...

That's true, and I've always felt it was a serious mistake not to give a decent establishing shot of the Enterprise-D until quite late in the film. It was an example of the TV producers not being successful enough at breaking their TV habits.

and the crew are already quite familiar with each other...so there's unseen backstory already.

That's true of any story, even with a completely new cast. Look how much backstory "The Cage" had.

But Q's background and his history with the crew are a bit more complicated than just "These guys have served together for years and are friends."

But assuming a new viewer was already familiar with the crew but not the show, what about Khan in TWOK?

That was explained pretty well in the dialogue. First we see Chekov reacting to the name Botany Bay with fear, and that serves to build mystery and suspense for the new viewer. Then Khan shows up and gives the exposition in a rather long speech that fills in the new viewer quite nicely.

Sure, maybe they could've done the same with Q, but I think it would've been more awkward to justify. As I said, the idea behind Q might've been too fanciful for a lot of moviegoers to accept. (Hell, it's too fanciful for me to accept easily.)

It didn't seem have that effect on Picard. And it wouldn't have to be handled like some of the episodes where Q's playing some kind of game of his making...AGT for example.

You're taking that sentence out of context. I'm saying that, if the specific goal was to bring Captain Kirk into the TNG era, it's preferable to do that by having it be the result of his personal choices than to have it be just a whim of Q's. It gives him more agency in the story that way, and feels less gratuitous.

[xortex]

As I said elsewhere, I would have liked to see Q show up to explain how Guinen got trapped in the nexus and survived and the terrible choice Q who I saw as a V'ger baby, had to make that created the borg to begin with with Guinen even having to agree with that choice reluctantly as Piller sugested the Q continuum is Earth around the turn of the century where Guinen got trapped in Time's arrow. I would have liked to see Decker come back as he was only listed as missing, avoiding the creation of the Borg this time though. Cris, if you can make something out of that, youcan have it. My plate of ideas is full.

[BriGuy]

I think it's backwards to think a Q movie could not have been done because DeLancie would say no, or demand too much because he's the only one who can play Q.

I'm sure he'd want an agreeable script, and compensation. The challenge would've been to come up with the script, and for the parties involved to agree to his pay. The issues probably would not have been insurmountable; to presume they would've been so therefore that's why it wasn't worth attempting is just wrong.

Of course, we all would want DeLancie for Q.

I never saw All Good Things as the perfect finale others have and apparently do. It was just another time travel story to me. But a thread was left with Q's "see you out there" comment. And I doubt Q would go away.

Of course, the story would have to advance Q, advance the relationship in some way. We're not going to see the same Q we saw in the series. And there would have to be some other story that Q was or became involved with.

And of course, any growth or change to the Q character is likely to piss off some portion of the fanbase, just as the Borg Queen did in First Contact.