What About Q?

[Curios_Gelatin]

I've always watched Star Trek on my own, so I haven't had much exposure to the fandom or fan creations of any kind (aside from my own, haha) until recently.

Something I noticed right away of course is Q's popularity. So I've been wondering, what's the general consensus on Q fan works? Tired, overdone? Often badly done? Or are they just the opposite, and everyone loves them? I'm curious for peoples opinions!

Personally I feel Q's character is one that could be easily written badly, although I do wish they had featured him in a few more episodes of TNG, or even DS9! Perhaps even DS9 especially, because things felt so much more chaotic during that one episode he was there.

 

[The Wormhole]

Q was great on TNG, not so much on the other shows. DS9 realized this and never bothered with him again after Q-Less. Voyager, is somewhat meh. Death Wish was actually a pretty decent episode, while The Q and the Grey and Q2 had room for improvement.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Q is my favourite recurring character. He's just so mischievous and fun! The Q And The Grey and Q2 weren't great episodes but I was very entertained.

 

[Melakon]

If Q had been in the hands of a less capable actor, he likely wouldn't have been as loved. John de Lancie seemed to work best bouncing off Patrick Stewart. There's a bit of it with Janeway, but possibly because he and Kate Mulgrew were already personal friends and hadn't worked together.

 

[Destructor]

Also I think they realized early on in TNG's run that Q was more interesting when his infinite power was used to explore philosophical ramifications, rather than as a trickster god as he was more used in his first two episodes. His character stayed the same but he was put to better use.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Personally I'm not a fan of Q and so love Sisko's approach to him, if only Picard and Janeway had done the same thing!

 

[T'Girl]

Never cared for Q.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Q was great on TNG because of his reparte with Picard. Q and the Grey and Q2 were awful though due to basic premise issues. The idea that the crew could hold a Q at gun point just because they are holding a metaphorical representation of a Q weapon was an absurd stretch. The whole idea of the civil war theme was pretty stupid. But it's pretty ridiculous that the crew could successfully affect Q politics by force.

 

[Curios_Gelatin]

Q was great on TNG because of his reparte with Picard. Q and the Grey and Q2 were awful though due to basic premise issues. The idea that the crew could hold a Q at gun point just because they are holding a metaphorical representation of a Q weapon was an absurd stretch. The whole idea of the civil war theme was pretty stupid. But it's pretty ridiculous that the crew could successfully affect Q politics by force.

Yeah I wasn't too fond of Q on Voyager... It felt like they humanized the Q way too much. I liked them as this mysterious super being race we will never quite grasp- but Voyager pretty much reduced them to 'the only thing we can't comprehend is their appearance.'

Although I like the implication of Q judging the human race, I prefer the happy go lucky easily manipulated trickster Q.
It's why I really love the Spock vs Q and the sequel. Q not as a god but as a force of nature who lives on his whims. As Q put it in the sequel, he'd lived millions of years without a care and only had about ten minutes of introspection that made him feel a great self-pity.

 

[Drone]

Yeah I wasn't too fond of Q on Voyager... It felt like they humanized the Q way too much. I liked them as this mysterious super being race we will never quite grasp- but Voyager pretty much reduced them to 'the only thing we can't comprehend is their appearance.'

Sounds an awful like what a number of folks feel that Voyager rendered of the Borg.

 

[Curios_Gelatin]

Yeah I wasn't too fond of Q on Voyager... It felt like they humanized the Q way too much. I liked them as this mysterious super being race we will never quite grasp- but Voyager pretty much reduced them to 'the only thing we can't comprehend is their appearance.'

Sounds an awful like what a number of folks feel that Voyager rendered of the Borg.

I feel that way too to be honest. I didnt really like the idea of a Borg Queen or a Borg with any kind of individual status, or sense of culture/military.

I loved them as a 'fallen' species. A species that somehow became a shell of their former selves and now roam the galaxy without mercy or conscience, sort of like a metaphorical cancer of the Milky Way.

 

[at Quark's]

I generally liked Q in TNG.

If you can do anything you want, aeon after aeon, what would that do to your sense of morality? Was he just bored when he came along to bother the Enterprise's crew, or did he have an agenda with Picard and/or humanity all along? Those are questions I still can mull over when watching TNG. I especially like Q in All good things.

Perhaps they never should have introduced him on VOY. Deathwish is still quite good, but Q ending his career there asking parental advice to a woman who never even had children of her own :S

 

[Terok Nor]

I love Q. John de Lancie has wonderful comic timing. His putdowns of the crew are still some of my favourite TNG moments. I'm fond of most of the Q episodes but he wasn't used very well on Voyager. That said he did work well with Janeway and I enjoyed Death Wish. I liked the DS9 episode only because it was basically a sequel to a TNG episode. Again de Lancie played wonderfully with his co-star Vash. I really enjoyed seeing Sisko punch him too. For me though it's the Stewart/de Lancie pairing that works best. The bickering was always hilarious. By the end of TNG I think Jean-Luc had grown fond of Q despite himself. Jean-Luc was Q's only friend in the entire universe and he knew it.

 

[Arpy]

Outside of VOY's "Deathwish," I can't say I enjoyed Q much outside of TNG. I think the performances started to drag more too as de Lancie got older. Q's an omnipotent chaos god of sorts; he should be terrifying with spry aplomb.

Still a favorite character though. I even read I, Q! Scenes here and there post-TNG were nice as well.

 

[JesterFace]

Like Jonathan Frakes said: John de Lancie is a monster of an actor.

 

[Greg Cox]

FYI: De Lancie is appearing on tomorrow night's new episode of THE LIBRARIANS.

Judging from the trailer, he's quite possibly playing . . . the Devil?

Works for me.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Personally I'm not a fan of Q and so love Sisko's approach to him, if only Picard and Janeway had done the same thing!

That would've gotten old real quick. Sisko punching Q once = unexpected & funny. Sisko or any of the other Captains doing it again = How hum, seen this before... What else is on? It's much more interesting to see different characters react to Q in their own ways.

 

[Sector 7]

FYI: De Lancie is appearing on tomorrow night's new episode of THE LIBRARIANS.

Judging from the trailer, he's quite possibly playing . . . the Devil?

Works for me.

I am anxious to see it.