Do you agree with the concept of the Q?

Since Q was created for Encounter at Farpoint and the earliest inklings of the Borg were in the season one finale, I'm going to say that the creation of the two had nothing to do with one another. Plus, the only time we see Q and the Borg in the same episode is Q, Who?

 

Indeed, the first concepts of the Borg were thought up near the end of the first season as a result of the Ferengi not being as threatening as originally intended. The Borg had nothing to do with Q's creation.

 

And weren't the Borg originally supposed to to be a insect species? When they were altered into cyborg slaves, TPTB kept the "hive mind" aspect of the insects.

 

They were both in Q2 as well. But that episode does deserve forgetting.

 

In Q2, Q screams at his son not to provoke the Borg, implying even the Continuum has some fear of them.

 

That a Voyager episode?

 

Someone said GR originally intended Q to be a V'ger virus or one of Decker and Ilea's new race if not them himself or maybe he was a Starship Captain that breached the barrier and became godlike like Mitchell almost did. He's certainly not entirely Human if at all.

 

Yes, Q2 is an episode from Voyager's seventh season. Q seeks Janeway's help in teaching responsibility to his teenage son.

 

I always got the impression that it was less a fear and more an annoyance that The Borg would probably go ape shit trying to find out what just happened i.e when the Enterprise-D managed to travel back to the Alpha Quadrant so quickly and escape The Borg, which caused the first invasion of the Federation by The Borg.

As for the Q, I liked them. Like with most things though, Voyager ran them in the ground and ultimately ruined them. I thought it was neat that the Q were interested in humanity like they were, and that Q sort of liked them. I mean, he basically saved their bacon in the long run by introducing them to The Borg. People can say it's a little silly that they're interested in humans, but whose to say a Q wasn't in another galaxy giving it the same to another species?

I think the ant colony analogy is good, though people perhaps take it a little too literally.

 

Well put.

I like this idea...

 

Regarding Voyager's use of the Q, I thought Death Wish was a good episode, but the other two were awful.

 

The concept of Q is just bad writing.

John DeLancie is a good actor, and he did an exceptional job with what he was given.

It's just a shame that Picard was repeatedly pitted against a character in multiple episodes that Kirk would have made a laughing stock in 43 minutes.

Don't get me started on Voyager.

 

There's no saying what behaviour would fit an omnipotent race with an intelligence far beyond our own. Surely they would not be constrained by our notions of responsible or mature behaviour, or by what we consider to be goals worth striving for. For all we know even their seemingly most childish pranks could have motives far beyond our understanding

There's even some real life precedent for Q's behaviour in the sense that there are some 'spiritual masters' reputed to be enlightened that claim that their 'immature' behaviour cannot be judged by conventional standards. (Then again, the majority of those cases are most probably frauds. As the Q could be.) I don't mean to say that I believe those masters are real, just that from within the viewing points of such spiritual communities, there is an explanation for seemingly strange behaviour. As star trek is fiction, what is only a rationalization of aberrant behaviour in such communities could be reality here.

Interpreting Q as some kind of 'enlightened' being that plays with Picard, in order to show him that he takes himself, his own life and the lives of his shipmates, and even the ideals of his Federation far too seriously in the grand scheme of things, and that perhaps he is stuck within his own perceptions and convictions would not necessarily be inconsistent with all the pranks he plays.

I'm disregarding the pitiful 'please help me to be a good parent!' voyager stuff, though

 

Yup. My fanwank of the Q Continuum was they were a bunch of near-telepaths who became Gary Mitchell Gods.

This would explain how they are omnipotent but are lacking in humanitarian skills.

Later eps of course make this impossible.

 

No, I do not.

MacGuffin-as-Character. When the writers needed to stir the pot they could cart him in as a daemon ex machina.

Q's Human Moments Were Redundant. A favorite story is that of the alien who must grasp with what it means to be human. But Trek didn't need yet another turn of this wheel since it has always had characters like Spock and Data as members of the crew. Listening to Q gripe about needing to eat makes for light comedy, but sheds no light on the human condition.

The Message of Q's Character Was Redundant. We learned from Gary Mitchell and Trelane (and how many other characters in TOS?) that power corrupts. We didn't need a slightly older version of Trelane.

Ridiculously Overpowered Characters are Not Interesting. Superman suffers from this problem and has occasionally had his powers scaled down from time to time to keep things interesting. Q, however, is more powerful than most comic book characters.

The Character Does Not Project Evolution of a Species. Q is not more intelligent than humans. He claims a dubiously high IQ, but gets outwitted by Picard on a regular basis, so he's no super-genius. In terms of EQ, Q is far behind the humans he torments. In actuality, the ability to process the amount of data he claimed to be able to process - and by process I mean directly cognize it - he directly apprehended his knowledge (unlike humans who grind out correct answers from calculators) of the universe. A creature like this would see patterns (historical, emotional, moral, mathematical) that no mere human could ever hope to see. Such a creature would have such a sublimity and nuance in thought as a result. And yet the writers imagine that such a power of intellect would only mean (1.) You would get a spoiled brat, (2.) and or a power hungry egomaniac looking to rule the whole universe. Yes, the next big step in evolution on Star Trek is always a big step back, because - as always - power simply corrupts. And Q is absolute power, so how could he be anything but corrupt?