Q-Less

The best part of what is really not that good of an episode is when Sisko punches the irritating Q and knocks him down. Q is the reason I don't like this episode. I couldn't stand the character on TNG and liked him less when he turned up on DS9 and Voyager. At least he never showed up on Enterprise, which would have made a bad show even worse. I'll never understand Star Trek's need for mere mortals to defeat supposedly omnipotent beings. For a guy who claimed religion was passe, Roddenberry certainly loved using god like characters.

I remember watching this episode way back when it first aired in the 90s. I remember wanting sisko to punch out Q during that mock fight and he did. I still get a kick out of that.

The one thing I could never understand about Vash is why does she (a human) need money? I can see maybe some other species but humans in the 24th century (according to star trek) have no need for financial wealth anymore. In an earlier episode of TNG picard says to a passenger that they have no need for personal wealth anymore and they can simply "manufacture these items ourselves". ( he was speaking of precious diamonds and jewels). And what drives humans is "we now work to better ourselves".

The only thing I can think of is maybe to travel and live throughout the galaxy, she needs to have certain currency of different worlds.

All in all , still a pretty ok episode. This first season, just like TNG has it's growing pains but eventually work itself out.

John De Lancie and Jennifer Hetrick reprise their TNG roles as omnipotent cosmic pest and ethically-challenged archaeologist. Vash arrives on a ship which appears to be experiencing inexplicable problems. Soon, Q shows up and DS9's crew thinks they've found the explanation for the problems. But it seems that Q has only one thing in mind - convincing Vash to return to his sidecar. As Q becomes more frustrated in his attempts at persuasion, DS9 begins to experience inexplicable problems as well.

The plots seems a bit disjointed and - more than once - one has to question the intelligence of the station's safety protocols. But the real purpose of this episode seems to have been to lend DS9 some ratings through the appearance of a popular TNG character (Q) and to resolve the Vash story arc without doing another dull romance between her and Picard.

De Lancie's performances have always been heavily dependent on the script he is presented with. This DS9 episode presents Q as the intergalactic trickster, not the child-like god which he typically plays in the heavier TNG Q episodes. The dialog here is written well and both Hetrick and De Lancie do well with their roles.

Although I like Vash's risky personality and Jennifer Hetrick's smile, I have to point out - as a professional archaeologist - that it is unlikely that Vash would be permitted to exist for any length of time in a lawfully constituted government, let alone being accepted into a major scientific think-tank. As cool as she may be, she's as much of a looter as Indiana Jones.

This episode is pretty much terrible. The appearance of Q seems forced in the first place and the writing is just inconsistent; for instance, is Q omniscient or not? How'd he not spot O'Brian, and so on. The acting throughout is pretty terrible from Dr. Bashir's opening monologue to his corny ending joke line. In between, we have a silly story arc that just isn't very captivating. This entire cast seems to lack charisma and verisimilitude. Even when his entire station is at risk, Cisco barely even seems to get his blood pressure up. I feel like the director should have been shouting, "People, your lives are supposed to be at stake!". Even the auction feels like a high-school production instead of a prime-time TV show and resembles in no way a convincing real-life auction.

So many reviewers slamming this episode! The god-like Q (John DeLancie) makes a visit to DS9 via the wormhole accompanied by his mortal love-toy Vash (Jennifer Hetrick). Q was the nemesis of Captain Picard in TNG and Vash and the captain had an infatuation until Q lured Vash away with the promise of archaeological adventures.

Q is either a character you enjoy or find annoying.

The story here weaves around power loss on the station and everyone is going to die unless the crew figures out the problem. This episode is very similar to a Next Generation season 1 episode (anyone remember flying Manta Rays???).

Q is always good for slapstick or twisted humor. Commander Sisko does something to Q that Picard would never have done -which was freaking hilarious.

I didn't hate this episode but it will not end up in my top 10 for the season either.

Vash's use of her feminine wiles to try to always get what she wants is an overused writers device for her character.