Missed Opportunity with Q?

[marlboro]

I don't dislike season one's "Q-Less" but it always felt too much like an unused TNG script that got dusted off. Not bad, but maybe a bit pedestrian.

Anyways, I can't help but think you could have done a more DS9 style episode. For instance, you have an entire planet of people who worship space aliens/prophets - how would they react to a God like being like Q? Would they think he is a false god? Would some worship him? What would he have to say about the Prophets? How would the Emissary deal with a God vis-à-vis the Bajoran's perspectives on religion? How would Q interact with Kai Winn, Dukat and some of the other recurring characters? What would Garak or Quark say when confronted by a god? What kind of questions could Odo ask him?

Or maybe something completely different. I don't know. It just seems like their could have been a deeper episode than what we got.

 

[The Wormhole]

Why would any Bajorans worship Q and why would his existence challenge their own beliefs in the Prophets? Just because they see an advanced entity doesn't mean they're automatically going to assume their religion is false.

Though as it turns out, IDW's Kelvin Timeline comic series did do a story arc in which the Pah-Wraiths did pose a threat to the Q Continuum and Q had to form an alliance with the Prophets to defeat them. If anything, that would only reinforce the Bajorans' faith in the Prophets.

But, no, I don't think Q had any place on DS9, or anywhere outside TNG.

 

[BobR]

I don't know. I can imagine some Q snark, interacting with Sisko over his Emissary role - whether the Q accepted the reality, power, and position in the universe of the Prophets and Pah-Wraith or not. But I'll admit that alone is darned thin to wrap a story around. Maybe the Mirror Universe could be another thing Q might weigh in on. For that matter I'd think the Q might have things to say about the Founders, especially considering that TNG more or less established they have a common ancestry with all humanoid races (TNG S6E20 "The Chase").

 

[trekfan39]

Why would any Bajorans worship Q and why would his existence challenge their own beliefs in the Prophets? Just because they see an advanced entity doesn't mean they're automatically going to assume their religion is false.

Though as it turns out, IDW's Kelvin Timeline comic series did do a story arc in which the Pah-Wraiths did pose a threat to the Q Continuum and Q had to form an alliance with the Prophets to defeat them. If anything, that would only reinforce the Bajorans' faith in the Prophets.

But, no, I don't think Q had any place on DS9, or anywhere outside TNG.

Agreed Voyager ruined the character completely although I did like his DS9 episode.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

"Q-Less" is an episode I can take or leave (though The Sisko's punch is always worth a watch), but am so glad that Q never returned--he was an element from TNG that was obviously used in S1 to attract viewers from one show to the other, but just didn't fit with DS9.

 

[marlboro]

Why would any Bajorans worship Q and why would his existence challenge their own beliefs in the Prophets? Just because they see an advanced entity doesn't mean they're automatically going to assume their religion is false.

Why did people follow David Koresh? Joseph Smith? Muhammad? Jesus? Each new prophet found followers from other religions. I'm not saying all Bajorans would. What I am asking is would some of them? What effect would that have on society? Could Sisko make the argument that Q is "only" an alien without undercutting the faith that the people have in the worm hole aliens?

I would be interested in seeing a Q who tested people's moral and religious beliefs. You could ask a lot of questions about faith and God etc with a character like him, imo. Instead of the the more meaningful Q who is testing humanity, we ended up with the Q who recreates Sherwood Forest for a laugh type episode. Still kind of fun, but nothing new or particularly interesting about it.

Edited to add; The religion angle was just the first thing to pop into my mind. I'm sure there are more ways to have written a Q episode that was more in tune with the themes of Ds9 than what we got.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

you have an entire planet of people who worship space aliens/prophets - how would they react to a God like being like Q? Would they think he is a false god?

The Bajorans worshiped the Prophets as gods because they had in an historical relationship in which the Prophets helped the Bajorans. It was not because they were perceived as all powerful.

If Q were to challenge the Prophets, he would have to start helping the Bajorans. That would be out of character.

Or maybe something completely different. I don't know. It just seems like their could have been a deeper episode than what we got.

I agree that it was unsatisfying, but the problem was that Q on DS9 was a square peg in a round hole. Q worked well as a foil for Picard and the type of evolved human introduced in Farpoint. By season one of DS9, that vision had already been modified quite a bit, and DS9 had more characters that weren't human. Notice that there is only one time that Q was shown interacting with the whole of another episode, and that was perfunctory?

 

[The Wormhole]

Why did people follow David Koresh? Joseph Smith? Muhammad? Jesus? Each new prophet found followers from other religions.

Those people were actually preaching something and seeking followers. Q showing up on Bajor and pulling a few pranks isn't going to cause the faithful Bajorans to think "oh hey, he's more deserving of my worship than the Prophets."

Could Sisko make the argument that Q is "only" an alien without undercutting the faith that the people have in the worm hole aliens?

Yes. Just because they consider the Prophets to be gods doesn't mean they're automatically going to assume any and all energy beings are also by extension gods. Besides, as Emissary, Sisko technically speaks for the Prophets, so if he said Q isn't a god, devout Bajorans would take him at his word without question.

I would be interested in seeing a Q who tested people's moral and religious beliefs. You could ask a lot of questions about faith and God etc with a character like him, imo.

Eh, there's not really much to do there. Q would undoubtedly know the truth behind all religions, whether or not the god or gods worshipped exist or ever existed. Not that it would make a difference, because religious people would either outright ignore him or come to the conclusion that whether the stories of the religious mythology are literal or not, the lessons they teach are still relevant towards being a good and decent person, and so on.

Honestly, there's not really much to go on for a story. Q does not really wish to be worshipped, if he did there are plenty of primitive civilizations he could easily enthrall as opposed to messing around with an agnostic starship captain in a technically advanced society. And there's nothing about him or his existence that would cause a warp-capable society to question or abandon their own religious beliefs.

 

[Xhiandra]

DS9 could've done so much more with Q and the Bajoran religion both, but I don't think they wanted to.
It's pretty clear that they went into it from a manichean perspective: you've got your basic "prophet"-worshippers and, later on, the cartoony cult of the pah-wraiths (muh satanic worship!)

The Bajorans should've had more than one religion (and a score of atheists - we show up in any society, even very highly religious ones), and a lot more sectarian violence (not nearly enough Bajorans blowing each other up over who follows the real path of the prophets), but I suspect the DS9 writers were more after propaganda than realism.

And yes, Q showing up and being worshipped by a small group of Bajorans would've been an interesting situation. The government's and church's reactions would've been interesting.
A religious conflict where one side isn't marked as worshipping the "evil gods" (from the camera's perspective, of course believers of the other religions probably would've thought so) would've been infinitely more satisfying than that pah-wraith nonsense.

 

[shapeshifter]

To me, Q's primary purpose for appearing in TNG was to save the universe from Picard's mistake at the anomaly he creates in AGT's.
Beyond that his future appearances were unnecessary.

A story about Bajorans hearing of and thinking him some kind of Anti-Prophet causing doomsday panic to erupt might have been interesting, for a minute.

 

[Tosk]

To me, Q's primary purpose for appearing in TNG was to save the universe from Picard's mistake at the anomaly he creates in AGT's.

The anomaly that he wouldn't have created in the first place without Q?

 

[tharpdevenport]

The Jem'Hadar meet the Borg thanks to Q. The war is over.

 

[JesterFace]

Q and Picard relationship was something that could not have been matched in any other series.