Why didn't Q appear in any of the TNG films?

[xortex]

'Jaws' to me is a person.

 

[Therin of Andor]

'Jaws' to me is a person.

Yeah, in the James Bond movies.

 

[Dukhat]

'Jaws' to me is a person.

Then let me set you straight: Jaws is most definitely not a person.

By that logic, the dikironium cloud creature from TOS's "Obsession" was a person too.

 

[Herbert1]

I guess that they could have scratched out Q in the script and replaced it with Trelane. I presume that they could have gotten William Campbell to reprise Trelane if John DeLancie wasn't available. ;-)

 

[Maurice]

While villain can be used to describe a person or thing (the villain in the mass extinction was the asteroid), I think in common usage villain is used to refer to a person. One could argue that the shark in Jaws is the problem that needs to be solved, whereas the antagonist/villain is the mayor who refuses to close the beaches.

 

[JarodRussell]

'Jaws' to me is a person.

Then let me set you straight: Jaws is most definitely not a person.

By that logic, the dikironium cloud creature from TOS's "Obsession" was a person too.

 

[xortex]

Maybe alive is a better way to rephrase it and not just a circumstance.

 

[Broccoli]

^But the only thing that makes Q work is John DeLancie.

True, but I guess I need to clarify. What I mean to suggest in my earlier post was writing a draft that didn't have Q in it and another that did. Depending on how Q was used and whether or not he could be altered to a different character if needed.

We all know scripts go through several drafts and changes before they get to the filming stage. I'm sure if they wanted to use Q, they would try to sign the actor as early as possible. If DeLancie decided not to do it, they could easily do a rewrite to alter it without Q. Obviously I'm talking in general terms.

For example, look at the early drafts of Insurrection when compared to the final product. Very similar in theme and general outline, but very different in the details.

However, in the end, this is all speculative. The likely truth is that TPTB didn't want to make a movie with Q. If they did, I am sure they would have found a way to make it happen.

By itself, it's a silly, cartoony idea.

Q is no more silly or cartoony than any of the other stuff in Star Trek.

 

[xortex]

Yea, they could have kept writing him in and out until his price came down to nothing. I had a girfriend do that to me last year.

 

[Therin of Andor]

they could easily do a rewrite to alter it without Q.

Bang goes the budget.

 

[JarodRussell]

they could easily do a rewrite to alter it without Q.

Bang goes the budget.

I just think your theories of absolute certitude regarding these things is unrealistic.

Sigh. "Absolute certitude". That must be the "hidden agenda" I'm always accused of. What's the point of anyone asking questions like "Why didn't Q appear in any of the TNG films?" if the only answer can be "We don't know"?

Of course I'm speculating. We all are. We aren't Sherry Lansing or Rick Berman and we can't know what went on in their heads unless they give an honest answer in an interview. Please note the statement in my sig under every post I make:"(Entire post is personal opinion)". Not sufficient, apparently.

Why are my posts interpreted as "absolute certitude", but everyone else can speculate wildly?

Well, I guess you should see above and realize why.

 

[Christopher]

they could easily do a rewrite to alter it without Q.

Bang goes the budget.

I don't know why you'd think that. Scripts get rewritten constantly and to excess in the feature film business. Script drafts are considered as disposable as tissue paper.

 

[BriGuy]

It just seems to me you're assuming DeLancie would have turned it down or demanded too much, and that's why a movie with Q couldn't be done and wasn't done.

No, I gave that as one example. I was discussing that movies aren't usually made that way in Hollywood. The possibility of the one actor who can play the main guest role turning down the script - for any reason: illness, other film work, fatigue, stage commitments - opens up the studio to unnecessary financial risk and delay. Add to that that Paramount's ST movies were often quite frugal compared to other blockbusters of the times.

Then how do you explain when a project gets initiated specifically with one actor in mind? That is done and has been done. Roles in certain TV shows and movies are written with an actor in mind - entire TV shows and movies are birthed to be "vehicles" for a particular actor. Sometimes they don't get them and abandon or go to someone else, but things are created with one person in mind.

 

[BriGuy]

It does make it very difficult to place the characters and/or the U.S.S. Enterprise in jeopardy in the story when a character who is omnipotent is included in the story.

Q has lost his powers, and restrained or refused from using his powers. He also has "superiors."

And what if there's something out there stronger than he? What if the continuum faced a threat?

If I was in a meeting where a Q movie was being discussed, I'd start at what Q said to Picard at the end of AGT - that his future lay not in cataloging planets and what not, but in exploring the "limitless possibilities of existence," and then he went to tell him something, but stopped... what was he going to tell Picard, but didn't?

 

[Christopher]

It does make it very difficult to place the characters and/or the U.S.S. Enterprise in jeopardy in the story when a character who is omnipotent is included in the story.

Q has lost his powers, and restrained or refused from using his powers. He also has "superiors."

Been done.

And what if there's something out there stronger than he? What if the continuum faced a threat?

A story where the primary threat is to a guest star rather than the leads? Might fly in the series, but not a movie.

 

[RyanKCR]

And what if there's something out there stronger than he? What if the continuum faced a threat?

A story where the primary threat is to a guest star rather than the leads? Might fly in the series, but not a movie.

Unless that threat to the guest star has even greater repercussions to the leads.

 

[Broccoli]

they could easily do a rewrite to alter it without Q.

Bang goes the budget.

I don't know why you'd think that. Scripts get rewritten constantly and to excess in the feature film business. Script drafts are considered as disposable as tissue paper.

Exactly. And the way the TNG movies were done, the writer pretty much stayed with the project the entire way through doing rewrites (at least, according to Michael Piller).

Plus, if they were worried about actor availability, they probably would have signed DeLancie after a first or second draft was completed.

And what if there's something out there stronger than he? What if the continuum faced a threat?

A story where the primary threat is to a guest star rather than the leads? Might fly in the series, but not a movie.

For Q to work in a film would be to place him in a role not too different than what his role was in "Encounter at Farpoint", "Q Who", or "All Good Things" where he wasn't the star or central antagonist, but rather there to propel the characters on whatever else is going on. Just my two cents.

 

[Python Trek]

Given that we had movies about heaven, time-traveling zombies, the fountain of youth, and a pair (a pair!! I still can't believe it!!) of evil twins, I don't think having Mr Mxyzyptlk in a TNG film would've been a deal-breaker.

Good grief, you're right -- not that Q should've been in a movie, but that he essentially is Mr. Mxyzptlk in every major respect. Wow, as if I didn't already think he was a silly enough concept...

I find sarcasm to be sexy. What's your phone number?

 

[Christopher]

I wasn't being the least bit sarcastic. Q is Mxy. I never quite realized just how identical they are.

 

[Python Trek]

I wasn't being the least bit sarcastic. Q is Mxy. I never quite realized just how identical they are.

Ooops! Sorry! I'm so used to snark on the 'net, that I can't even spot sincerity anymore.