Did the Q judge the borg too?

[Makarov]

Just something I was thinking about. Lots of questions about it come to mind. TNG is all about humanity on trial by the Q, but what about the borg? If humanity was borderline wiped out by the Q then surely the borg must not be looked at very kindly by them either.

Would Q intervene if the borg had actually assimilated everything, or had they already been intervening? Was warning the enterprise about the borg part of a plan to eventually stop the borg?

If Q actually put the borg queen on trial the same way as Picard, I don't think they would have passed his tests.

 

[Orphalesion]

I think a lot of species in Star Trek would not have passed Q's test: The Cardassians, the Kazon, the Klingons, the Ferengi, the Krenim, the Hirogen, the Founders. Why is no one putting them on trial for being violent/cruel/genocidal/irrational/warmongering/self-obsessed and all the other things Q accuses humanity of.
He really didn't make a whole lotta sense....

Do I like your idea of Q possibly using humanity as a way to stop the Borg. Perhaps all that "trial of humanity" shtick was really a disguise for Q to slowly groom humanity into a weapon against the Borg...

 

[Romulan_spy]

I know it was a really bad one but in the Voyager episode "Q2", Q tells Junior not to mess with the Borg, almost implying that the Q are somewhat scared of them. Perhaps the Borg had become such a powerful species, not powerful in a sense of being a direct threat to the Q but powerful enough that interfering with their development could have drastic consequences on the galaxy as a whole. So Q preferred to leave them alone. Humanity, on the other hand, was an easier target to pick on. Plus, it was implied in that TNG episode that Q feared that humanity would some millions in the future, become like the Q. So, Q would have had a definite interest in studying humanity.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Q seemed to view the Borg as just a Fact of Life. He seemed to have already made whatever judgement he'd made of the Borg and left it at that ...

 

[Romulan_spy]

Q seemed to view the Borg as just a Fact of Life. He seemed to have already made whatever judgement he'd made of the Borg and left it at that ...

Q probably already determined that the essence of the Borg would never change. Whereas humanity had great potential to evolve beyond their original state into something greater.

 

[FormerLurker]

That's a good way to look at it. "Don't mess with the Borg" because doing so makes it more difficult to groom humans/whoever into a more evolved state where the Q can have more enlightening metaphysical discussions or something.

 

[borgboy]

I'm pretty sure the novels say that Q's interference with the Enterprise and Voyager at times was geared towards using them to take down the Borg. Q introduced the Enterprise to the Borg, and then later pushed Voyager forward into Borg space.

 

[Spectral]

I was always under the impression the Q took such an interest in humans was because the Q saw potential in the species. Which the Borg almost certainly did not show them. The trial and all Q's tricks and games were part of the test and for the Q's curiosity, as well as just being plain fun for Q.

As far as Q's dealing with the Borg, it seems to me the Q had the power to stop them themselves if they really wanted or needed to. But since the Borg posed no direct threat to the Q, why bother? They seemed more to just have an interest in moving things around so other races could test their ability to defend against or overcome the Borg.

I think the Q might have had their own sort of version of the Prime Directive, though obviously not nearly as strict. They had an interest in seeing how beings in the universe developed and interacted. Whether this was more for altruistic reasons or more for their own entertainment, who knows? Probably some of both. I never thought of the Q as being without some share of benevolence.

 

[tafkats]

I don't think it's the Q that judges humanity -- just Q. The Q seem to be more content to stay aloof. And Q's interest in humanity probably has less to do with a grand plan than with feeling like humanity would be fun to screw around with ...

 

[Melakon]

And Q's interest in humanity probably has less to do with a grand plan than with feeling like humanity would be fun to screw around with ...

This. What we've learned about Q through various episodes is his favorite past-time seems to be screwing with species who give him amusement.

 

[bbjeg]

^Yeah. A lot of people in this thread are forgetting that Q is just a dick. He didn't judge the Borg, or the Klingons, or the Cardassians, or whomever because it wouldn't be as fun as messing with Picard and Janeway.

He thought Sisko would be fun too until Sisko punched him in the face. You'd think that would have sealed humanity's fate if anything.

 

[T'Girl]

I know it was a really bad one but in the Voyager episode "Q2", Q tells Junior not to mess with the Borg, almost implying that the Q are somewhat scared of them.

There's also the VOY episode with the Q named Quinn, in which he reveals that the Q are not nearly as powerful as they make themselves out to be.

Q certainly had a degree of fear of Guinan.

The Q might have a very limited ability to do anything with (or about) the Borg.

 

[Makarov]

Surely the Q could kill the borg if they wanted to with an All Good Things style paradox. Just lead them to all scan the same spot in 3 different periods in a way that blows them up

 

[Triskelion]

The Q needed the Borg in order to get humanity to rise to the occasion of defeating them. "Don't provoke the Borg!" could have been a warning not to mess with humanity's development & humanity's adaptations....or just Aunt Kathy's. Q could have snapped the Borg out of existence, and he could have snapped Voyager home - but for him, his priority lay in keeping things the way they were - resulting in Janeway's destruction of the Borg in Endgame. The question is, why did Q want that outcome?

 

[Trekker4747]

I think The Q were only interested in humans because humans seemed like the most "capable" species, a species that could at some point reach The Q's level of understanding and power and by that metric they were measuring humans' development and maybe out of fear even trying to stem it some.

The other species in the galaxy? The Q likely weren't concerned about them as their development likely showed the hallmarks of either self-destruction or just not quite "there yet" in terms of developing past their current state and showing promise of something else.

Humans had achieved something few other species had, and we could argue this even extends to Vulcans, and that piqued The Q's interests and had them watch over humans and provide these tests and "judgments." (But remember, Q only "judged" humans based on Picard's "suggestion.")

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

I believe what irritates the Q is self-righteousness, that's why he's constantly on Picard's case because Picard is arguably one of the most self-righteous people of the whole ST franchise, if not THE MOST.

 

[xvicente]

>, if not THE MOST.

He is. Gods in Star Trek are more humble than him.

 

[bbjeg]

... but for him, his priority lay in keeping things the way they were - resulting in Janeway's destruction of the Borg in Endgame. The question is, why did Q want that outcome?

He was bored.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Remember that alien on TNG that wiped out an entire species in a single fit of anger? That's exactly what the borg need.

 

[Makarov]

Q isn't actually just a jerk though, he saves humanity by helping out Picard a lot in All Good Things. It seemed like the other Q wanted to destroy us and he stepped in to help.