Q Who

Two recurrent entities share this particular Star Trek TNG episode. John DeLancie the scamp of the Universe known as Q whisks Patrick Stewart away from the Enterprise for a bit of heart to heart. He warns them of unknown and unimaginable dangers and when Captain Picard is back on the Enterprise, DeLancie hurls the Enterprise 7000 light years away where they encounter the relentless and monolithic Borg for the first time.

It's quite an encounter with this square shaped space ship handled by a crew of half carbon based humanoids and half robotic all part of the same mind and obeying one will. All the Borg want is technology. To try it, absorb it and absorb those who have it in their singular collective.

This was the first of many encounters with the Borg in this and subsequent Star Trek franchise series. Memorable it is.

Despite the illogical Borg costumes and having to tolerate Whoopee Goldberg, I like this one. I've always like the episodes that feature John de Lancie as the 'Q' character. I found it very humorous when Riker opened a drawer and found a baby Borg, complete with tiny skull cap and implants on the Borg ship !

The rest is just filler -- I'm done.

A wonderful series This is an interesting, thought provoking, and most of all entertaining series. Gene Roddenberry not only gave us a "Wagon Train to the Stars," but he gave us interesting stories reflecting the great values our society holds as truths. I know that "some" episodes were not that good, but that can be said of any series that has a long history. For the most part this program exceeds the mark of excellence in writing and entertainment. The delivery of the writing by Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner et. Al. Truly brought the Star Trek future to life. The casting of this program is wonderful!

While "Q" drives me crazy (because of his omnipotence stealing free will from the Enterprise), this episode is still quite startling. John Delancy's character shows up demanding to be made part of the crew. Picard can see nothing positive about this. He rejects the great one's offer and the next thing we know, the ship is sent 700 light years from there, into another quadrant that should not have been explored for years. Q continues to taunt the crew and Picard holds firm. It's probably that he sees the reality that if he relents, there is no purpose any more. The sad thing is that the Enterprise now meets the Borg, one of the most creative entities produced in fiction. They, of course, are a bee-like culture where there is a collective rather than individuals. They act in concert rather than alone. They are also a humorless juggernaut, beyond reason, whose sole purpose is to absorb other species and add this information to their collective. When attacked and damaged, they move quickly to repair and move on their insidious journey. Unfortunately, in the process of investigating this thing, a number of crew members are killed. Picard is largely responsible and must look inward to see if his ego was central to this loss of life. This is a pivotal episode, setting up an amazing series of encounters that will take place along the way.

Q wants to be part of the Enterprise crew and attempts to force Captain Picard into admitting he is needed.

This is a memorable episode with a strong introduction to an important villain for the franchise and a number of great performances.

The plot involves Q making an appearance and using his power to prove a point to Picard. This is the best of the Q episodes so far in TNG as it isn't the standard Godlike being v Enterprise as it involves a different main antagonist.

There are memorable moments for characters like Picard, Q, Riker and Guinan who all have important contributions to the story.

The visuals are fantastic, particularly the ship designs, sets and make-up effects. I enjoyed the lighting on the space shuttle scenes and during other interior locations. Also the scene where Guinan notices something isn't quite right is done well.

All performances are strong but for me Patrick Stewart is excellent as ever. John de Lancie as Q and Caryn Johnson as Guinan give the next best performances with charisma levels almost on par with Stewart.

The episode starts with a nice misdirect in the form of Ensign Gomez, a clumsy proto-Barclay who is new to the ship. You expect the episode to be about someone integrating into the crew, but instead Q shows up.

While we never really got to know who or what Guinan was, her interactions with Q are always fun and she was interesting and 'powerful' in a different way. Here she is used mostly to deliver exposé, which works really well. Whoopi might be a terrible person but she did a fine job here.

The Borg themselves are fantastic. Sure, they are somewhat derivative of the Daleks and Cybermen from Doctor Who, but they transcend both. Some people think they represent the threat of Communism, with their lack of individuality. In the episode itself they are ironically called the ultimate consumers, who absorb who and what they want.

Their design is fantastic, with their weird ship and their odd implants. Having seen Voyager it is easy to forget how menacing they originally were, especially because they methodically study the Enterprise and practically ignore the crew - even when they're boarded! Now humans have become the new life that is sought out.