The Traveler is an offshoot of the Q, just like the Romulans are of the Vulcans.
Q
- Thread starter Cpt. Chris Pike
- Start date
Non-canon there are beings more powerful than the Q.
Canon-wise I think the only things we have seen remotely comparable to them are the Organians, the Dowd, and Nagillum.
Canon-wise I think the only things we have seen remotely comparable to them are the Organians, the Dowd, and Nagillum.
There's an inherent contradiction as to how Q was treated by writers. The 'Encounter at Farpoint', 'Tapestry' and 'All Good Things' Q is the omnipotent, omniscent, arrogant but wise immortal being. And it's a very fascinating character. Other times he's just a comic relief as you say, and it's extremely amusing albeit a bit less intimidating.
I like to think that Q treated seriously what he considered as serious matters, but sometimes he liked to just be about and annoy everyone. I think he too is a very bored Q, who's seen and done everything, so his only comfort is playing with inferior species. When things get serious, though (like in the aforementioned episoded) he too can put aside his ribaldry and get serious.
Funniest Q moments
When he defines Chakotay as a "big oaf". And more importantly, when it's said that on the planet Bras he's known as "The God of Lies", hahaha! It makes me think of Q appearing there and pestering an entire civilzation just for kicks, to the point of entering their mythology!
I prefer the serious/committed/holier-than-thou Q, but I wouldn't trade his funny moments with any other in the series.
This is non-canon, right?
By the way, I don't think we have seen other beings who are nearly as powerful as Q. They can alter matter and time with their thought, relentlessly and without limits. I think that the Prophets, the Organians etc are extremely powerful beings, but they're not even close to the omnipotence of the Q.
Now a question: Q stated that the Q had always existed. This is hard to believe, so was he playing once again on their God-like features? Picard also mentions in another TNG episode that the Q once were similar to humans, which raises the question: were the Q an ordinary species which then evolved as we know them now?
Yes, what I said about the Traveler is non-canon. It's my opinion. I apologize for being ambiguous.
Are you talking about more powerful than an individual Q or the entire Q continuum? I'm pretty sure the Continuum has never really been challenged as a whole.
Didn't Q mention that the human race has the potential to become equals of the Q in one of the episodes? And I know in one of the books that involved Q and the multi-verse, another Q mentioned that humanity could even surpass Q.
The Q weren't born as Q. They became Q, from something similar to us.
In the TNG novel Q&A there is a race of beings called Them. They created the universe and in the novel are going to destroy it. They are depicted as being much more powerful than the Q.
Yes, an evolutionary process. I wonder whether it was entirely natural, or if highly advanced genetic engineering helped them.
These 'Them' sound a bit like a bag of arse, don't they? I don't want to sound judgemental but it's because of guff like that that I generally stay away from non-canon literature...
As I said before - the Q are supposed to be us. The clues are all there.
Maybe I wasn't very clear what I meant...
Q says as much when he hints that we will one day become like or even surpass them. We eventually evolve into them. We become omnipitent and one of us (Q) starts pestering our unevolved selves many years in the past, before we evolved into omnipitent beings. They are therefore our future studying their past. Kind of like if I had a time machine now and went to study hominids 2,000,000 years ago. Then I started teasing them for amusement.
I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this very well. I think Picard finally understood it in All Good Things.
Maybe I wasn't very clear what I meant...
Q says as much when he hints that we will one day become like or even surpass them. We eventually evolve into them. We become omnipitent and one of us (Q) starts pestering our unevolved selves many years in the past, before we evolved into omnipitent beings. They are therefore our future studying their past. Kind of like if I had a time machine now and went to study hominids 2,000,000 years ago. Then I started teasing them for amusement.
I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this very well. I think Picard finally understood it in All Good Things.
This is mindblowing, for me. I never even gave this a thought. This is a very interesting theory but, part from speculation, what 'proofs' do you have? Can you back this up? Because as many times as I've seen the Q-episodes, I never perceived them as being future humans, nor has anybody else that I know of.
^ I don't think Humanity was ever in any real danger. The whole thing I think was just Q trying to stop Picard being such a stick in the mud for the rest of his life (and it worked IMO, for example if he ever does marry Beverly in canon, he'll have learned from his mistakes and it'll be less likely to end in divorce, etc).
It is more "my interpretation". Art, even film, is subjective and open to many interpretations.
The only "proofs" I have is that line from Q about Humanity one day becoming like them. If we become "like" them, then we would exist at the same time Q exists, ie forever, and we would be existing in that evolved state at the same time he's bothering Picard. Do you see what I mean? It is the only line of reasoning that makes any "sense" to me.
As for All Good Things, we've seen Q create illusions on several occasions as part of his "tests" and there's nothing to suggest that this is anything different. In fact you could explain away the continuity mistakes by it being a Q illusion!
I do realise I've probably thought about it in much more depth than the writers ever did
Actually not really, you kind of lost me there. Why can't two omnipotent races co-exist side-by-side? I believe Q also said humans may evolve beyond the Q. And then there was Q's whole idea of mixing human DNA into the Q. Your idea sounds fun to play with, but you'd have to flesh it out a lot more to be really convincing.
You're right, there's nothing to say they could not be existing side-by-side. But if they were seperate races, surely the "evolved-humanity super-race" would prevent Q's meddling with their past-selves, otherwise they may never come to be. An analogy might be Picard travelling back in time to prevent the Borg destroying Homo-Erectus before they could evolve into Homo-Sapiens.
Who knows, Q's line about us one day surpassing the Q may have been borne out by his mixing Human DNA with the Q's, sending them on their next evolutionary step. He fulfilled his own prophecy.
There're all kind of temporal mechanisms involved here and it can hurt my head!
Who knows, Q's line about us one day surpassing the Q may have been borne out by his mixing Human DNA with the Q's, sending them on their next evolutionary step. He fulfilled his own prophecy.
There're all kind of temporal mechanisms involved here and it can hurt my head!
Of course you all realize that the producers probably never gave this a thought so there may be no logical explanation.
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