Could Q have saved the TNG film franchise?

[darkshadow0001]

If Q would have been in a TNG film, could it have saved TNG from obliteration? I always thought Q was an excellent TNG bad guy, always clowning around and getting the crew into trouble. Just imagine what they could of done in a future film... and it would of been a great way to bring back Kirk!

darkshadow0001

 

[mythme]

At the end of "All Good Things", Q was about to whisper something into Picard's ear but stopped. I always assumed that I might be the basis for a film somehow.

Writing a 2 hour screenplay with Q would be tricky business. It would be a balancing act between comedy and real consequences, without a cop-out reset or ex-deus mechania ending. However, if done right it might have been wonderful. Q is arguably the most beloved non-regular of the all the "new" series combined.

 

[darkshadow0001]

I thought the same thing. When he said "see you out there" I always thought that meant he was going to be in one of the films. It's too bad that never happened, it could of worked out for TNG, I think...

 

[Kirkman1987]

I love Q, but I don't know if it would work. After the first few seasons of TNG, Q wasn't very threating. most of the time, Q wasn't even a bad guy. Is allowing picard to relive his past ala tapestry really that evil. in Q Who, the borg are the real threat, Q is just a guide.......

Q is great for TV but I doubt his ability to hold a movie together.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

^Agreed. Unless the Film decided to "re-cannonlze" Q for the big screen, which would suck, IMHO!

 

[CaptainStoner]

I don't think so either. Contrary to popular opinions, I think the TNG films fizzled out largely due to oversaturation than the quality of the stories. INS and NEM were fairly consistent with FC, and with the series at large, and the major nitpicks are consistent with the series as well. There was just so much Star Trek at that time. I also think the Two Towers was a factor in Nemesis numbers.
I think they really covered the ground with Q between Farpoint and AGT, especially AGT, but I do think the character could have been used again - just not as the antagonist, not as a "Q episode" where Q controls the whole scenario. It might have been interesting to see that character in passing, where he's not even involved with the main plot and it's not all centered around him.

 

[roliver]

I think Q would have sunk the films. I found most Q episodes to be quite boring. Omnipotent villains that can do anything aren't terribly exciting or dramatic.

 

[nx1701g]

I don't think so either. Contrary to popular opinions, I think the TNG films fizzled out largely due to oversaturation than the quality of the stories. INS and NEM were fairly consistent with FC, and with the series at large, and the major nitpicks are consistent with the series as well. There was just so much Star Trek at that time.

Exactly. If you watch the documentary on the Seventh Season DVD they say that TNG was essentially ended because of the question "Why would people watch the film if they could see it on TV for free?"

 

[Therin of Andor]

If you watch the documentary on the Seventh Season DVD they say that TNG was essentially ended because of the question "Why would people watch the film if they could see it on TV for free?"

Yep. One of the huge draws of TMP was that it was a reunion movie, after an absence of ten years. There'd been TOS in prime time re-runs, each time 'round gaining brand new fans, plus TAS, which gathered up new young fans. By the time TMP premiered, ST fans were hungry for more and the general movie-going audience was more than curious to check out the big fuss.

TNG, on reflection, maybe should have gone to an animated format after its seven year run. Certainly, most of TNG's cast have done animation voicework since TNG ended. Animated versions of TNG were proposed to Rick Berman several times, but he always resisted. DS9, VOY and ENT played first-run way too late at night to draw in new, young fans and whole families.

A first reunion TNG movie might have been "must see" about now.

 

[SiorX]

I don't think a Q film would have worked dramatically.

To be honest, there were times in the show when Q seemed little more than a ridiculous narrative device. Episodes like Q Pid and even Tapestry were fun as lighter pastiche-style episodes slotted in between more general Trek fare, but even at episode length the premises are too patently ridiculous for one ot ever see Q as a real threat. It's no surprise, I think, that when a fanfic author wants to play with a ludicrous premise they so often play the Q card, because Q needs no real motivation to bring in the Hillarious Consequences.

I think a whole movie of Q's capricious fanservice would have been simply exhausting.

 

[Xelo]

Q was always one of my favorite characters. I think he would have been great in a movie, but only in a quick cameo, not as a main antagonist. Maybe a chance encounter with the Enterprise in the middle of a battle, etc.

 

[Dayton3]

I always hated the idea of Q, the character of Q in the series, and John De Lancie's horrendous acting.

He was playing exactly the same personality he made famous in Days of Our Lives.

I'll never understand Star Trek fans liking for the character.

That part of ST:TNG, DS9 & Voyager should be burned, buried with a shovel, then bury the shovel.

 

[Sector 7]

I always hated the idea of Q, the character of Q in the series, and John De Lancie's horrendous acting.

He was playing exactly the same personality he made famous in Days of Our Lives.

I'll never understand Star Trek fans liking for the character.

That part of ST:TNG, DS9 & Voyager should be burned, buried with a shovel, then bury the shovel.

Then pour concrete over the graves...
Seems that whenever ST fans needed to be jarred out of the status Quo, Q-know-who would appear in an episode as some ridiculous plot device.
John De Lancie redeemed himself somewhat with his role in Stargate SG-1, but I kept waiting for that character to pull a "Q".

 

[Lynx]

First of all. I like Q. I find him a good character in many ways.

As for Q saving the TNG film franchise, Maybe he could. I think that a movie with Q could have been more interesting to the fans than "Nemesis".

I think that the problems with the TNG movies were that they came so close after the end of the series and at a time when we still had DS9 and Voyager on air or, as with "Nemesis", just ended. I guess that the Trek ovekill we had for a while may have caused some of the problems.

Add to that, the rather weak "Insurrection" and the too dark scenario in "Nemesis" where Trek did a silly attempt to adapt to more "dark" science-fiction which did drag the whole francise down.

I must also add that the TNG movies could never really capture the atmosphere in the different episodes of the series and sometimes I do have a feeling that Star Trek works better as a series project than a movies project.

 

[Saxman1]

I think Q could have worked in a TNG film if shown maybe 3/4 of the way in as the one controlling/manipulating whatever the ENT crew was going through (another trial, whatever).

As many have said, what really helped sink the TNG films was Trek oversaturation thanks to Parmount/Viacom's greed. Again, as previously mentioned, if the first TNG film were being filmed right about NOW, it would be a hit and there would be rejoicing in the streets!

 

[RandyS]

I don't think so. Putting Q in the movies would have been seen as an blatant attempt to bring back a popular character and therefore a blatant attepmt to bring in the Trekkies and therefore increase the auidence.

 

[Kegek]

Q is virtually omnipotent. He could have saved the franchise any time he chose, he just wasn't that inclined to.

But seriously? Given a good script, absolutely. Q was a fun character and a Q movie - with its emphasis on Picard and Q's verbal sparring - would have made a very different Star Trek picture. I would have liked to see a good Q movie over any of the TNG movies we got.

But this said, I was very satisfied how the Picard/Q relationship concluded in "All Good Things...", so I'm not losing any sleep over this.

 

[StolenThunder]

Moving to Trek Movies.

 

[Maurice]

Nah, because if he's not the villain they'd have felt compelled to have another villain, and you get into the who Batman films with three badguys problem. Honestly, the only times I thought Q worked as anything but a joke were Q Who and AGT, and even then he was playing condescending adult to teach humans a lesson.

 

[Zeppster]

No because he aged too much. Look at him in the Voyager episodes he did and he was too old. And he's not an a true villain. He's more comic relief half the time.