THE PLOT
The Enterprise is on a mercy mission, attempting to divert a moon that is falling from its orbit toward the heavily-populated planet below. The cause of this anomaly is unknown, and Enterprise on its own seems unlikely to be able to generate enough power to divert the moon from its course. Picard calls for help from Starfleet... but by the time help arrives, all that the other ships will be able to do is assist with the relief efforts.
Into the middle of this dilemma, wild card is dropped: Q! He appears on the bridge, naked and powerless. He tells Picard that he has been exiled by the Q Continuum, stripped of his powers and made mortal. Picard doesn't believe him, but reluctantly accepts Q's offer to use his knowledge to assist with efforts to divert the moon. A remark of Q's does give Geordi an idea with a chance at working... but then a new player enters the game: The Calamarain, a truly alien force of immense power. It has come for Q, and has no compunction about destroying the Enterprise, or dooming the planet below, to get to its enemy!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: One of the keys to this episode's success is in Picard's reaction to Q: He is absolutely, utterly devoid of sympathy toward him. He distrusts him. Even when he believes Q is probably telling the truth, he still dislikes him and has little use for him. He does protect Q to the best of his ability, but he very quickly puts together that this protection - rather than some vague and unlikely feeling of friendship - is why Q requested he be exiled to Enterprise.
Riker: When they are discussing what to do about the Calamarain's pursuit of Q, it is Riker who is the voice of pragmatism: "Let them have him." It's an option at least worth consideration, given that Q's life is in effect being measured against the lives of millions on the world below. Riker's response to Q is echoed by Geordi ("He's not worth it")'s and Dr. Crusher's coldness toward the former superbeing.
Data: Finds it ironic that Q's punishment is being made human, the unattainable dream for Data. Despite this, and his own lack of emotions, Data is the one being on the Enterprise to actually show compassion toward Q. He doesn't take offense at Q's arrogance, instead trying to point out to him the way in which his behavior will not serve him well on a starship. He also speaks in Q's defense when Riker advocates throwing him off the ship, pointing out that Q did give Geordi an idea to deal with the decaying moon. As Q observes, the unemotional Data is "a better human than" he is.
Guinan: By contrast, she has no compassion toward Q at all, and in fact delights at his powerless state. After Q is first attacked by the alien, and lies on the floor croaking, "Help me" to no one in particular, she stands with her arms folded, looking down on him and smugly declaring, "How the mighty have fallen." This actually fits well with what we saw of their interaction in Q Who? We don't know exactly what Q did to Guinan and her people, but I'd make some guess that he was involved - either as an observer or a participant - in the Borg's devastation of her people. She should despise him on sight, and the episode earns points for having her be so unrelenting in her hostility toward him, even if her hostility probably makes her less likable to the audience.
Q: May not make a very good human (though honestly, we all know worse), but he does make an entertaining one. Troi senses immediately how terrified he is - a fear he attempts to cover with his usual arrogant sniping at everyone, particularly entertaining when he's trading barbs with Worf ("Eat any good books lately?"). Q may not have his powers, but he does possess millennia of accumulated knowledge, and is able to assist Geordi even around his pettiness. The bond Q strikes up with Data works very well, and Q's "parting gift" to Data is a wonderful grace note for both character and episode. Added points for Worf seeming a lot more receptive to Q's gift of two girls than Riker, and for looking a bit perturbed after Picard gets Q to take the girls away again.
The Enterprise is on a mercy mission, attempting to divert a moon that is falling from its orbit toward the heavily-populated planet below. The cause of this anomaly is unknown, and Enterprise on its own seems unlikely to be able to generate enough power to divert the moon from its course. Picard calls for help from Starfleet... but by the time help arrives, all that the other ships will be able to do is assist with the relief efforts.
Into the middle of this dilemma, wild card is dropped: Q! He appears on the bridge, naked and powerless. He tells Picard that he has been exiled by the Q Continuum, stripped of his powers and made mortal. Picard doesn't believe him, but reluctantly accepts Q's offer to use his knowledge to assist with efforts to divert the moon. A remark of Q's does give Geordi an idea with a chance at working... but then a new player enters the game: The Calamarain, a truly alien force of immense power. It has come for Q, and has no compunction about destroying the Enterprise, or dooming the planet below, to get to its enemy!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: One of the keys to this episode's success is in Picard's reaction to Q: He is absolutely, utterly devoid of sympathy toward him. He distrusts him. Even when he believes Q is probably telling the truth, he still dislikes him and has little use for him. He does protect Q to the best of his ability, but he very quickly puts together that this protection - rather than some vague and unlikely feeling of friendship - is why Q requested he be exiled to Enterprise.
Riker: When they are discussing what to do about the Calamarain's pursuit of Q, it is Riker who is the voice of pragmatism: "Let them have him." It's an option at least worth consideration, given that Q's life is in effect being measured against the lives of millions on the world below. Riker's response to Q is echoed by Geordi ("He's not worth it")'s and Dr. Crusher's coldness toward the former superbeing.
Data: Finds it ironic that Q's punishment is being made human, the unattainable dream for Data. Despite this, and his own lack of emotions, Data is the one being on the Enterprise to actually show compassion toward Q. He doesn't take offense at Q's arrogance, instead trying to point out to him the way in which his behavior will not serve him well on a starship. He also speaks in Q's defense when Riker advocates throwing him off the ship, pointing out that Q did give Geordi an idea to deal with the decaying moon. As Q observes, the unemotional Data is "a better human than" he is.
Guinan: By contrast, she has no compassion toward Q at all, and in fact delights at his powerless state. After Q is first attacked by the alien, and lies on the floor croaking, "Help me" to no one in particular, she stands with her arms folded, looking down on him and smugly declaring, "How the mighty have fallen." This actually fits well with what we saw of their interaction in Q Who? We don't know exactly what Q did to Guinan and her people, but I'd make some guess that he was involved - either as an observer or a participant - in the Borg's devastation of her people. She should despise him on sight, and the episode earns points for having her be so unrelenting in her hostility toward him, even if her hostility probably makes her less likable to the audience.
Q: May not make a very good human (though honestly, we all know worse), but he does make an entertaining one. Troi senses immediately how terrified he is - a fear he attempts to cover with his usual arrogant sniping at everyone, particularly entertaining when he's trading barbs with Worf ("Eat any good books lately?"). Q may not have his powers, but he does possess millennia of accumulated knowledge, and is able to assist Geordi even around his pettiness. The bond Q strikes up with Data works very well, and Q's "parting gift" to Data is a wonderful grace note for both character and episode. Added points for Worf seeming a lot more receptive to Q's gift of two girls than Riker, and for looking a bit perturbed after Picard gets Q to take the girls away again.
THOUGHTS
It had to be just a little bit daunting for the writer of the next Q episode after Q Who? After the decent-but-flawed pilot and the watchable-but-significantly flawed Hide and Q, the superbeing's third appearance finally used him effectively. He wasn't the threat of the episode. He was the catalyst, bringing the regulars into contact with the threat and then providing commentary on their attempts to deal with the situation. Q is weak as an active villain, but quite strong when providing an outsider's perspective on a situation.
It's that strength that is used, albeit in a much different way, in Deja Q. Q is once again the outsider. It's just that this time, it's his dilemma that's the focus of the episode. John DeLancie does a splendid job as usual, portraying Q's defiant arrogance and boredom in such a way that we can sense them as a cover for his fear. There's a subtle difference between his performance in the bulk of the episode and his performance at the very end, when Q has his powers back and triumphantly announces that fact to Picard and the bridge crew. Q's arrogance is no longer a defiant (and therefore tense) cover, but the relaxed arrogance of a being who knows he is invulnerable to anything - except, perhaps, to the other Q.
The three plot layers - Q's powers, the moon, and the alien - are interwoven with skill. Q's presence helps Geordi get an idea for the moon crisis. Q also attracts the alien, which complicates efforts to execute the plan to stop the moon's decay. In this way, the disparate elements never jar. The problem some episodes have, of one plot strand feeling like part of a different episode than the other, never becomes a problem here, and the way in which one strand complicates the others keeps the momentum building.
A rare, thoroughly successful Trek comedy episode. Judging it as a comedy episode, I can't help but award an excellent rating.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
Search Amazon.com for Star Trek: The Next Generation
Review Index
To receive new review updates, follow me:
On Twitter:
On Threads:
No comments:
Post a Comment