Theory: Q prepared Picard in "Time Squared" for the final test in "All Good Things"

[Unimatrix Q]

I always had the feeling from the way of Jonathan Frakes acting in the scene that Riker wasn't Riker but Q impersonating him in the following dialogue and possibly also at the end of the episode. Maybe he was preparing Picard with this anomaly for the final test in "All Good Things"

"PICARD: What force or phenomenon could cause the shuttle to be thrown back in time?

RIKER: None that we've encountered. In theory, accelerating beyond warp ten.

PICARD: Using the gravitational pull of a star to slingshot back in time. Is that what happened here?

RIKER: The shuttle doesn't have warp capability.

PICARD: No. So some external force was needed.

RIKER: We've never encountered a natural force that powerful. Why only six hours? Why not a day? Or a year?

PICARD: Are you saying there was some conscious mind at work here?

RIKER: There's no evidence either way.

PICARD: The Traveller moved through time using the power of his mind. RIKER: I don't think that's the case here.

PICARD: No. And Manheim's experiments with gravity and time were rudimentary, and uncontrollable.

RIKER: Captain, I think this is one instance where you should suppress your natural tendencies.

PICARD: Oh, really?

RIKER: One of your strengths is your ability to evaluate the dynamics of a situation, and then take a definitive pre-emptive step, take charge. Now, you're frustrated because you not only can't see the solution, you can't even define the problem.

PICARD: Go on.

RIKER: What we're facing is neither a person nor a place. At least not yet. It's time.

PICARD: You're saying I should just sit down, shut up and wait.

RIKER: I wouldn't have put it exactly like that.

PICARD: Not something I do easily.

RIKER: Your Persian flaw.

PICARD: Yes, perhaps it is. (There's a nasty noise)

WORF [OC]: Captain to the Bridge. "

Interestingly there's not a single mention of Q in the episode, even if he should have been one of the major suspects for causing the events.

It's like he tried to prevent the crew from realizing that he might be pulling the strings and testing the crew again...

 

[Timo]

We need an extra definer for the Like button here, for specifying that one Likes a thousand times.

Of course, we now know "Time Squared" was originally written as a Q story, the first half of a two-parter where the big revelation would come after Picard wholly counterintuitively dove straight into the threatening anomaly. And it works splendidly as one no matter what. I do wonder if Riker's big scene here wasn't in fact written for Q and then at most minimally rewritten.

In any case, it's a good example of well-working early technobabble/continuity porn. The heroes name-drop previous adventures in a coherent manner, it amounting to both enjoyable professional banter and relevant laying down of the rules on what the characters will be doing next. It's not hyperspecific, either, so we don't need to get stuck on thinking that all shuttles lack warp drive (Riker might be saying this one was broken) or that Manheim's handiwork can be positively identified by the E-D sensors etc. We just get the impression that our heroes know their stuff and for that reason don't do what we might instinctively decide on (say, alter course).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Qonundrum]

"Time Squared" was originally a Q story?! I never knew that, until now. That explains the potential, and it's also a good thing that Q didn't have a reference. But I liked Unimatrix Q's putting it together as a test, regardless.

The dialogue Unimatrix Q posted about Picard's strengths does have something of a Qish vibe to it, but Frakes manages to make it feel like authentic Riker instead.

Yet the story mentions the Traveler from season 1. What if the Q were not stated outright because "Q Who" was coming up in a few weeks? Which brings up a fun tangent, TNG has put out multiple Q and yet we only refer to the DeLancie incarnation. Then again, how many rogue Q might there be? One is a curiosity if not special, but a thousand? That would diminish the Q very quickly. (in other words,"Time Squared" a wordless if not unintentional example of one of season 2's running themes?)

 

[Unimatrix Q]

After thinking a bit more about it, i found a good in-universe reason, why Q didn't reveal himself to the crew. In "Hide and Q" he promised Picard to not appear on the ship again. That's also the reason why he kidnapped Picard and kept him on the shuttle, at the beginning of "Q Who".

Another reason might be the importance of the trial in "All Good Things". If Q returned as himself in "Time Squared", Picard wouldn't be receptive to anything what he was trying to teach him and would just be venting his anger at Q for the testing and the breaking of his promise.

Maybe when Q was about to whisper something in Jean Luc's ear at the end of "All Good Things", he wanted to tell him about what happened in "Time Squared" but decided against it.

 

[JesterFace]

After thinking a bit more about it, i found a good in-universe reason, why Q didn't reveal himself to the crew. In "Hide and Q" he promised Picard to not appear on the ship again. That's also the reason why he kidnapped Picard and kept him on the shuttle, at the beginning of "Q Who".

Another reason might be the importance of the trial in "All Good Things". If Q returned as himself in "Time Squared", Picard wouldn't be receptive to anything what he was trying to teach him and would just be venting his anger at Q for the testing and the breaking of his promise.

Maybe when Q was about to whisper something in Jean Luc's ear at the end of "All Good Things", he wanted to tell him about what happened in "Time Squared" but decided against it.

I like different Q theories.

 

[Jedman67]

It wasn't Q; but I can live with the "meta" theory that perhaps Q was subtly influencing Riker, and Picard as well. Replacing Riker in the episode as actually Q in disguise doesn't really work for me.

 

[Phoenix219]

I really don't want to make anyone mad or get this thread closed, but I'm on a Season 2 rewatch, and I really want to understand how this was supposedly going to be connected to Q Who and the shuttlecraft scene there, and how the plots of the two episodes were going to be connected, beyond just that it was another Q test. Great episode either way.

 

[Dukhat]

I really don't want to make anyone mad or get this thread closed, but I'm on a Season 2 rewatch, and I really want to understand how this was supposedly going to be connected to Q Who and the shuttlecraft scene there, and how the plots of the two episodes were going to be connected, beyond just that it was another Q test. Great episode either way.

It wasn't. It was just the OP's wild hypothesis that somehow Q took Riker's form, which wasn't the intent of the scene.

 

[Mojochi]

It certainly seems Tapestry was a preamble to his final test too, giving him some temporal powers that hit a little closer to home

 

[Phoenix219]

It wasn't. It was just the OP's wild hypothesis that somehow Q took Riker's form, which wasn't the intent of the scene.

Roddenberry had them remove the Q connection. The OP hypothesized a connection to All Good Things, but there is a recorded connection to Q Who that I am extremely curious about.

According to Memory Alpha:

Hurley intended this episode to lead into "Q Who". He explained, "The way it was originally designed, is that three episodes later they're going through space and all of a sudden Picard finds himself stuck in a shuttlecraft in a flash, and he sees the ship falling in to the top of the vortex and exploding. He thinks he's lost his mind; he doesn't know what's going on. Q appears and says, 'Hey, how ya doing?' Picard says, 'You caused that and all these other things?' Q says, 'Ah, well, surprised you didn't put it together earlier. Oh well, you are slow. Just a kind of calling card, something to do. Interesting, wasn't it?'" (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 178) The idea was nixed by Gene Roddenberry. Hurley complained that it added confusion to the ending. "Why would going into the vortex's center save you? It doesn't make sense. But it does if Q is pulling the strings." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (2nd ed., p. 82))

but i am still curious to how it would have actually slid into the borg story, or if it was going to actually be a 2 parter, or is the vortex what would have sent them out to the Borg, or was it just minor background plot points that slowly filled in a bigger picture. Just really intrigued all the way around with the concept of a semi-serialized TNG S2. Its one of the things that I love about S1, and the serialized stories at one point could have gone through coming of age, conspiracy, the neutral zone, time squared, q who, etc. Just super fascinating for me.

 

[Dukhat]

I will say this: when Riker is talking about Picard’s natural tendencies, it does sound like Riker is speaking out of character, almost as if those lines were meant for someone else in comparison to the rest of Riker’s dialogue throughout the episode. So perhaps this is a remnant of an earlier script which had Q in it. Do I think it’s Q taking Riker’s form for the thirty seconds of dialogue he shares with Picard? No. But I’ll admit there’s a possibility of a script change.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

I will say this: when Riker is talking about Picard’s natural tendencies, it does sound like Riker is speaking out of character, almost as if those lines were meant for someone else in comparison to the rest of Riker’s dialogue throughout the episode. So perhaps this is a remnant of an earlier script which had Q in it. Do I think it’s Q taking Riker’s form for the thirty seconds of dialogue he shares with Picard? No. But I’ll admit there’s a possibility of a script change.

For an in-universe explanation, Q influencing Will's mind and behaviour would also be a working option.

 

[Dukhat]

Well, the end result is that anything having to do with Q was shelved, so there’s no explanation needed other than Riker all of a sudden being a little more introspective about Picard.

 

[cgervasi]

I think this episode is about when you made a mistake in the past and don't even want to look at it.
PICARD: Are you still convinced he's me?
TROI: Yes, but you're not convinced.
PICARD: Not in the slightest. Except for his features, there is nothing about him that I find familiar.