Do You Consider Q a Villain?
- Thread starter indycar
- Start date
Yeah, they weren't in a holodeck, if someone died in Sherwood they'd be dead.
If Q hadn't done what he did in Q Who the entire Federation would have been destroyed. QPid was just entertainment for Q.
I'd agree with what most of the posters have already said.
In early TNG (and in All Good Things...), he's very villainous. He threatens humanity outright and endangers the crew just to make a point. The one major exception is Tapestry, where he seems to less endangering or harming Picard as opposed to intellectually challenging him and mentoring him.
But after TNG, he's more of an entertaining plotpoint - a jester, someone fun to watch.
In early TNG (and in All Good Things...), he's very villainous. He threatens humanity outright and endangers the crew just to make a point. The one major exception is Tapestry, where he seems to less endangering or harming Picard as opposed to intellectually challenging him and mentoring him.
But after TNG, he's more of an entertaining plotpoint - a jester, someone fun to watch.
This is exactly what I was thinking... people always stealing my thoughts.
Seems to me they could have avoided a lot of the problems they had with Q (but not all) if they'd been a little more diplomatic with him. Perhaps Q had something equally devious up his sleeve if he'd been taken up on his offers, but the events of QPid and Q Who apparently could have been avoided if they'd taken Q up on a seemingly innocent offer. Let Q pretend to be part of the crew or go visit some ruins. Q was like a kid who wanted attention, and when they refused to give it to him he'd throw a little tantrum. Picard was always so rigid and insistent that Q get off his ship that it never occurred to him to just humor the guy (because he's going to do what he wants anyway) and maybe things would go a bit smoother. Maybe Picard thought that doing so would only encourage him to show up more, but discouraging him from boarding the Enterprise never got them anywhere. If anything I think that's what kept him coming back.
I see him as someone with good intentions, but "villainous" methods of going about them.
Q-Who is the perfect example of that. Humanity needed that bloody nose to get their act together with the Borg. He didn't have to kill anybody to make that point, though, but the message was to make everybody stronger in the long run.
Q-Who is the perfect example of that. Humanity needed that bloody nose to get their act together with the Borg. He didn't have to kill anybody to make that point, though, but the message was to make everybody stronger in the long run.
I dont think's hes a villain, purely because he's toying with them mostly. It struck me while rewatching the first episode "encounter at farpoint" that its as if Q gives the crew (and especially Picard) a reason to prove themselves. I like to think that Picard has to view everything he does with Q's Judgement in mind.
Q is kind of the anti Picard, which makes the philosopher Picard shine.
Q is kind of the anti Picard, which makes the philosopher Picard shine.
I don't, but the next-episode voiceover guy did: "The evil Q returrrnsss...!"
I did consider him a villain until season 3's Deja Q. Every episode afterwards he was at least sympathetic to, if not actually helping Picard indirectly.
Such a shame we didn't see Q in a movie.
Such a shame we didn't see Q in a movie.
To go back to how I saw it in mid-89, without the hindsight of later episodes about both characters, but implying a lot from the way Guinan and Q react to each other in Q Who (in particular, the way she seems to be about to fight him off with equal powers for a moment, which got forgotten about later on):
They both know about the Borg. Guinan hasn't warned the Federation about them. Q does, though in a very brutal manner. In that sense, he is possibly the good guy in that episode.
Q was a wildcard character; he could be a villain one week, a good guy in another month, and a teacher the following year on TNG. DS9 borrowed him for one episode which was fun because we had Vash back.
Then he was completely ruined when Voyager hijacked him, like the Borg, for all of the worst Q episodes ever written. As most of Voyager's episodes I try to ignore, and those Q episodes were within the bunch.
I wanted Q to return for a film to support my theory Picard was still trapped in the Nexus. I was hoping it could explain how Guinan originally met Q, and the Nexus was actually a gateway through the Q continuum. I got the idea when Picard met Guinan in the Nexus, then he saw a flash-like spark in one of the ornaments. Then I saw the moment Kirk rides with Picard into the flash which was similar to Q's teleporting, flash transition.
Then he was completely ruined when Voyager hijacked him, like the Borg, for all of the worst Q episodes ever written. As most of Voyager's episodes I try to ignore, and those Q episodes were within the bunch.
I wanted Q to return for a film to support my theory Picard was still trapped in the Nexus. I was hoping it could explain how Guinan originally met Q, and the Nexus was actually a gateway through the Q continuum. I got the idea when Picard met Guinan in the Nexus, then he saw a flash-like spark in one of the ornaments. Then I saw the moment Kirk rides with Picard into the flash which was similar to Q's teleporting, flash transition.
I've always wondered if the writers thought of Q as a slightly more matured Trelaine, the TOS Squire of Gothos. Humanity is to him toys or pets. But oddly fascinating ones. Kind of like a child with a fish tank.
I never thought of Q as a villain. Unfortunately, though, I never quite bought into his concern about Humanity, in this series. His suggestion to Guinan, for example, that Humanity was progressing faster than it should. He even implied that our species has the potential to eventually become like Q. ... Ha!!! To me, Q was mainly there as a concerned citizen. And when you're concerned about something, it becomes important to you. You care about it. This is definitely true of the Q character.
He cared about Humanity, just not in the way that Humans wanted him to. This was compounded by the fact that he was possessed of limitless power. You couldn't bargain with the bastard. But he'd always let Picard (especially) and crew have their say. This was what sets him apart from a villain, in my book, anyway. A villain is out to get you, without knowing when to quit and is capable of doing great harm, all without having Q powers.
He cared about Humanity, just not in the way that Humans wanted him to. This was compounded by the fact that he was possessed of limitless power. You couldn't bargain with the bastard. But he'd always let Picard (especially) and crew have their say. This was what sets him apart from a villain, in my book, anyway. A villain is out to get you, without knowing when to quit and is capable of doing great harm, all without having Q powers.
Maybe he did. About just how dangerous the Borg are as opposed to the more conventional alien foes the Federation has dueled with.
Not a villain, mostly a troublemaker messing around.
Sometimes he just seemed like someone who wanted to have a little fun with the D crew. (Qpid)
Sometimes it got more serious, like in 'Q Who' where crew members were lost.
But... Picard said in the end of the episode that maybe Q did the right thing for the wrong reasons, to warn humanity what is out there...
Sometimes it got more serious, like in 'Q Who' where crew members were lost.
But... Picard said in the end of the episode that maybe Q did the right thing for the wrong reasons, to warn humanity what is out there...
I agree with the first sentence as that sums up how I see him too. However he's one of my favourite characters personally speaking, in fact I'd say he's my favourite guest star character (though in fairness it may be more due to the fact that I think the actor did a great job rather than the character himself).
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