Deja Q, the fourth episode of TNG to deal with the beloved antagonist Q. While the last Q episode dealt with the introduction of the Borg, this episode decides to take things on a lighter note by having Q lose his powers and being stranded on the Enterprise. Question. Were TV censors so goofy back in the day that producers were only allowed to show one whole butt cheek instead of two? I only bring this up because, in what I can only describe as sheer coincidence, next week's episode will also be showing us a naked woman with only one butt cheek exposed. It's weird.
It took me a long time to realize this, but the idea of taking Q's powers away couldn't have happened at a better time since this is exactly what he was willing to go through in the last episode "Q Who". He said he wanted to join the crew to the point where he would renounce his powers to be equal to them, but was rejected. Now with this episode his powers truly are gone and he's experiencing what he originally proposed he would do in that last episode, and he HATES IT! That to me is what I call a happy coincidence since I'm sure that wasn't the intent of the writers. I just found it rather fitting and appropriate.
What's nice about an episode like this is that everyone of the main characters gets a chance to interact with Q in a way that's never been done before. I really like how this episode was able to accomplish that. I guess the only disappointment when it comes to Q interacting with a certain character is Guinan. Would have been a nice opportunity to know more about their past "dealings" with each other that have made them so bitter at each other.
While doing some reading up on this episode on Memory Alpha, there was a quote by Melinda Snodgrass regarding the portrayal of Q that I found quite interesting.
"I always think of Q as Loki. He's chaos. Maury Hurley always thought Q was here to teach us a lesson, to guide and instruct us. I can understand that to some extent, but I really see him as a mischief maker. He really just wants to foul Picard's head."
Now that's awkward. Not only does Maruice, the man who I've taken many, MANY shots at in these episode of the week posts, think that Q's portrayal in these episodes is best done when Q is teaching Picard a lesson, but Melinda Snodgrass thinks the exact opposite. I understand what Melinda is saying, but haven't we seen Q done both ways? Even in Tapestry Q fools around with Picard's head, yet Picard still comes out of it knowing something about himself that he never realized before. It just surprises me that she looks at these two portrayals that work well with each other as things that shouldn't. Isn't an adversary more effective if they are capable of changing our heroes in ways we don't expect them to? I guess I'm more sad and confused about agreeing with Maurice than Melinda.
I think my favorite part has got to be the end when Q appears on the bridge with the mexican band. It's so fun seeing Q happy and bragging about being omnipotent and wanting to share his joy with the crew. I love how he points out that women hanging around Riker didn't use to bother him before he had the beard. Data laughing is also a nice moment, but not so much that it makes it my favorite since Data dealing with human emotions is more the norm than the exception.
CONCLUSION: While the premise of Q losing his powers isn't the most original idea in the book, the execution more than makes up for it. It's also a good episode for visual effects since we get to see the Enterprise not only trying to deflect a huge asteroid away from a populated planet, we also see the Enterprise entering the said planet's atmosphere and seeing the shields protect the hull from burning up. Definitely a nice all around fun Q episode.
STINGER:
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