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Has Anyone Read Q-Squared?

the likes of Melora bored me to tears. I'd say that's more because I just cannot stand the character...

The only negative response I've had to Melora was the slow-moving "Gemworld" novel duology, but that was the storyline, not the character. I like the actress and her feisty character. Loved how a character originally intended to be a series regular was recycled for a guest appearance.

That episode was when I pretty much tuned out of DS9 for a long time. Couldn't stand the character or the actress, made Nana Visitor look like Meryl Streep.
 
I'm going to say this much I read it when I was 12 thought it was amazing. exept the part when trelane shows Jack, Picard sleeping with Beverly. the whole fact she cheats on him is wrong.
When I finally got to the end I really had to think. Several times I also had to reread certain parts since it was sometimes had to get.
 
Q-Squared was the first Star Trek novel I read and it remains one of my favorites to this day.
 
Just curious - what is it about Melora that bothers you so much ?

She bores the hell out of me, I dislike the wanky holographic avatar part of Destiny where Ra-Havreii spends more than one chapter lusting over her like she's the greatest woman in the galaxy! He goes to all that effort just to get laid essentially, that's just insane!

I hate when male characters in any kind of fiction do this because it's straight out of a Mills and Boon novel. Melora was annoying as hell in "Melora" and I was glad that she never became a series regular.

But like I said before, in Destiny the momentum is somewhat ended when the story moves to Titan because a good chunk is focused on Melora and Havreii. The Picard/Crusher relationship stuff is far superior as a romance subplot because it deals with Picard struggling to face the Borg with his wife and unborn child at his side.
 
He goes to all that effort just to get laid essentially, that's just insane!

On the contrary -- a vast amount of human invention and effort has been driven by the desire to get laid. Freud would say it's the underlying drive behind all creativity.

Although to reply more seriously, you missed the point if you thought it was just about having sex. Ra-Havreii has no trouble finding people to have sex with. He was so strongly motivated to help Melora because he was falling in love with her. One could make a case that love is technically a form of insanity, but it's hardly an uncommon one.
 
I'm going to say this much I read it when I was 12 thought it was amazing. exept the part when trelane shows Jack, Picard sleeping with Beverly. the whole fact she cheats on him is wrong.

Hadn't Jack and Beverly been divorced for ages in that timeline?
 
On the contrary -- a vast amount of human invention and effort has been driven by the desire to get laid. Freud would say it's the underlying drive behind all creativity.

Most of Freud's psychoanalysis theory revolves around the concept of sex, but that doesn't mean anything when applied to the creativity drive. What about those that use their creativity to make a difference or provide a service to others, rather than for any element of personal pride? The anonymous artists from the Pre-Renaissance era?

What about your creativity, does any of that come about as part of a drive to get laid?

He was so strongly motivated to help Melora because he was falling in love with her. One could make a case that love is technically a form of insanity, but it's hardly an uncommon one.
I don't think somebody can really love someone in that situation unless the other person loves them back. It's just an advanced crush and whenever someone develops a crush on somebody else they pretty much become that person's slave.
 
I'm going to say this much I read it when I was 12 thought it was amazing. exept the part when trelane shows Jack, Picard sleeping with Beverly. the whole fact she cheats on him is wrong.

Hadn't Jack and Beverly been divorced for ages in that timeline?

Yep.

Wesley of "Track A" died when he was a toddler and that's why Jack and Beverly split. She was even going by her maiden name when she applied for duty on the Enterprise.

In fact...and I admit I may be misremembering this...didn't Jack of Track A initially say that he didn't *mind* if Beverly slept with Picard? AFAIK, it was only because of Trelane's goading that Jack snapped.
 
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Most of Freud's psychoanalysis theory revolves around the concept of sex, but that doesn't mean anything when applied to the creativity drive. What about those that use their creativity to make a difference or provide a service to others, rather than for any element of personal pride? The anonymous artists from the Pre-Renaissance era?

What about your creativity, does any of that come about as part of a drive to get laid?

What about your sense of humor? Did you miss the part where I said I wasn't being particularly serious?


He was so strongly motivated to help Melora because he was falling in love with her. One could make a case that love is technically a form of insanity, but it's hardly an uncommon one.
I don't think somebody can really love someone in that situation unless the other person loves them back. It's just an advanced crush and whenever someone develops a crush on somebody else they pretty much become that person's slave.

Well, maybe you didn't notice, but she does love him back. It's not like these things happen instantaneously. What you saw was an early stage of the process of them developing deeper feelings for each other.
 
This is one of the dozen or so Trek novels I've read. I liked it. It takes a talented writer to make something multitudes of fans were hungering for,
the death of Wesley Crusher
, a poignant moment.
 
^ Yep. You mean this one, right?

Tasha of Track A, who was very similar to the Tasha we knew from the show, encounters the Tasha of Track C which was a downer version of the "Yesterday's Enterprise" timeline. Tasha-A starts freaking out and going "What kind of a haircut is that? I look like a boy!" :guffaw:
 
He was so strongly motivated to help Melora because he was falling in love with her. One could make a case that love is technically a form of insanity, but it's hardly an uncommon one.

I don't think somebody can really love someone in that situation unless the other person loves them back. It's just an advanced crush and whenever someone develops a crush on somebody else they pretty much become that person's slave.

:wtf:
 
What about your sense of humor? Did you miss the part where I said I wasn't being particularly serious?

No, I just thought I'd also leave out any obvious signs that I was joking - such as a smiley face or an exclamation mark! ;)

Besides, I'm just clutching at straws in order to provide a reason as to why I dislike the character of Melora. In here it seems that you cannot just dislike a character without providing adequate reasons.
 
Besides, I'm just clutching at straws in order to provide a reason as to why I dislike the character of Melora. In here it seems that you cannot just dislike a character without providing adequate reasons.

You can, it's just that if you say you dislike a character, others will be curious to know why, because we're interested in having conversations and finding out about one another. It stands to reason that if you mention something on a discussion board, people will assume that it's intended as the beginning of a discussion about that topic.
 
It stands to reason that if you mention something on a discussion board, people will assume that it's intended as the beginning of a discussion about that topic.

Absolutely, it's just that I disliked the live action characterisation of Melora and felt that the romance subplot involving her in Destiny really brought the momentum of the story crashing down. Those are two of the reasons I don't like the character and it seems that a lot of posters might be unwilling to accept them as valid reasons for disliking a character.

It's all about personal preference - for instance, I prefer the way you write for Picard than the way David Mack does and I prefer the way that Greg Cox writes for Q than the way Peter David does.
 
I've owned it forever, but I've never read it.

Rectify this immedaitely. You'll be glad you did. It's Star Trek. It's a story about parrllel universes. Either by themselves gives you a good time. You put the two together, and you're in for a GREAT time.

I read this book when it was new and loved it. I should probably read it again one of these days.
 
It's probably been ten or more years since I read it, but I recall liking it. I doubt it would do quite as much for me now because when I've gone back and reread other Peter David Trek novels some stuff that struck me as clever or funny the first time around struck me the second time as fan wanky, but it was well enough executed that it didn't ruing the books for me. If you have a decent tolerance for that kind of thing, it's a book worth reading.
 
One thing I found fascinating is that "Q-Squared" implies that the second TOS pilot, "Where No Man..." actually took place in one of the other time tracks - hence the different crew, modified sets, slightly different uniforms and James R. Kirk.
 
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