Deja Q

Q is ejected from the continuum and transformed into a human.

This is a solid episode with a fairly interesting story, great visuals and an entertaining performance from John de Lancie.

It is a humorously intended character transformation story with Q learning about humanity to make him a better omnipotent being.

How much you enjoy the Deja Q depends on how interesting you find the concept and whether the comedy works for you. For me it is refreshing to see him on the receiving end of the torment, but the jokes, albeit hilarious in very short doses, are (for my own sense of humour) not hugely consistent. Q has a brief exchange with Worf that is particularly memorable.

There is a decent sci-fi element to the episode with the sub-plot regarding the decaying orbit of a moon being an interesting idea and the detail that goes with it feels plausible.

I like the notion of Q as an observer and frequent judge of humanity, but this is the point where the character lost a lot of mystique for me in the grand scheme of the show. I think it stems from the number of scenes we see where the character whines about his predicament. As a stand-alone story it does work very well though I have to admit.

I do not wish to take anything away from John de Lancie's performance which is as excellent and charismatic as ever. His banter with Enterprise characters is always engaging and great for generating humour, but with it comes a loss of awe around such a powerful character. Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn and Patrick Stewart play off him particularly well.

Visually this is an impressive episode with some superb effects, editing and strong cinematography.

For me it's a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.

This is far from the best episode of TNG, but it is riddled with some of the very best lines. Especially John De Lancie, and his delivery of:

"Eaten any good books lately?", "Please don't feel compelled now to tell me the story of The Boy Who Cried 'Worf'.", "Simple. Change the gravitational constant of the universe.", "You weren't like that before the beard.", "Ah, Dr. Crusher. I see Starfleet has shipped you back into exile." "Your bedside manner's admirable, Doctor. I'm sure your patients recover quickly, just to get away from you!"

This is what Roddenberry allegedly told De Lancie after his Q audition, and I totally concur. It is a good summary of De Lancie's amazing performance as Q.

The episode itself has a few good storylines: Q's fall from grace, Data's "humanness", and how people can learn and develop. It's a good sci-fi/philosophical funny episode. However, as a stand-alone episode to someone who is not familiar with the Star Trek characters it might appear a bit plain.

The very first "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode, "Encounter at Farpoint" wasn't particularly good. The show's first meeting with Q was, to put it bluntly, pretty dull stuff. Fortunately, the more times this supreme being appeared in the show, the better these meetings became--and "Déjà Q" is exceptional.

When the show begins, Q makes his most memorable entrance ever! While the ship is trying desperately to save a planet below, Q arrives and expects everyone to drop everything and welcome him. As usual, however, he's made to feel about as welcome as an outbreak of herpes! In an odd twist, Q is now mortal--turned into a human by the Collective. Why exactly is uncertain--all you know is that Q is very whiny and hates the prospect of living out life this way.

Although the Q plot is diverting, the crew really must work on stopping the moon from leaving its orbit and destroying the planet, so much of the time Q whines and everyone but Data ignores him. As for Data, his conversations with Q are awfully funny. Bizarrely, despite Q's immense knowledge, no one considers asking him to help save the planet. Still, despite this, Q does manage to save the day! How and why? Well, see the show.

This episode has a lot of fun moments and just goes to show you that the humans on the show are pretty dumb and NEVER are the least bit grateful for his help--and he IS quite helpful here despite himself. Well worth seeing and memorable...and a sign of continual improvement in the Q episodes.

Responding to a distress call from Brial IV, the Enterprise is faced with an uphill struggle to save the planet when its moon's orbit threatens to collapse. Things gets even more complicated when an apparently exiled Q appears, stripped of his powers and condemned to exist as a mortal human.

De Lancie is always an entertaining guest star but this might be his best episode yet. It's a wonderfully fun and enjoyable episode that combines a sci-fi mystery with ruminations about the nature of being human, led by a strong performance from Spiner as Q's unlikely ally. While the ending isn't really in doubt, stay for the closing scenes which are brilliantly insane and sees Dorn struggle to contain his laughter as de Lancie's goofy godlike Q gets as crazy as he possibly can.