

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

Q is seeking asylum on the Enterprise after he has been thrown out of the Continuum and stripped of his powers.

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Summary

Teaser

The USS Enterprise-D is called to Bre'el IV to help them with their moon that is falling out of orbit and threatening the planet. As they are trying to find a way to get the moon back into its orbit, Q suddenly tumbles from mid-air, completely naked, onto the deck of the bridge.

Act One

Picard and the crew are convinced that Q is responsible for what is happening to the Bre'el. However, Q insists that he had nothing to do with it and that he has been stripped of his powers and was given the choice to be turned into anything he so desired, as long as it was mortal. He chose to be Human and was sent to thebecauseout of all the beings in the universe he considers " Jean-Luc " the closest thing to a friend he has. When a desperate Q practically begs to know what he can do to convince the crew that he is mortal and has lost his powers, Worf succinctly suggests that he dies.

Counselor Troi confirms that she can sense emotions from Q which reveal that he is terrified. Data scans Q with a tricorder and tells the captain he is reading Human life signs from him. While not believing Q entirely, Picard has Worf throw him into the brig for safekeeping. Moments later, broadband emissions illuminate the Enterprise until they shrink down to sneak into the brig, where Q has fallen asleep.

Act Two

Picard is suspicious of Q's motives and keeps asking him to stop torturing these people and get their moon back. Q insists that he has nothing to do with it. Q complains about how ordinary it is to be Human. For instance, not realizing what "sleep" is, he describes it as suddenly feeling weak and being no longer able to stand. Q finally convinces Picard that he can help return the moon to its natural orbit with his immense knowledge of spatial phenomena from all over the universe. Picard, still deep in doubt that Q is Human, releases him from the brig and assigns Data to keep him out of trouble.

In engineering, Q is not very helpful. He suddenly develops a back pain. Data calls for medical assistance. While Dr. Crusher is en route, Q complains mainly about his limited abilities as a Human and makes suggestions that no one on the Enterprise with their current level of scientific knowledge can follow. Still thinking as a Q, he suggests to Geordi La Forge that he merely change the gravitational constant of the universe, thereby altering the mass of the moon. That suggestion is quickly dismissed as impossible. Dr. Crusher arrives to treat Q, vocalising that she is not particularly sympathetic. She diagnoses back muscle spasms and treats him, not particularly gently, leading to Q grumbling about her bedside manner. La Forge realizes that they could wrap a low-level warp field around the moon, thus reducing its gravitational constant, making it lighter so they can push it. Q replies that he is glad he could help. . Once Dr. Crusher has treated him, he starts to complain of a noisy stomach that, as Dr. Crusher tells him, is probably a sign that he is hungry.

Data takes Q to Ten Forward to get something to eat. Q asks Data what he eats and since Data doesn't "eat" in the traditional sense, he suggests something chocolate to Q, as it is Deanna Troi's favorite food when she's in a bad mood. Q orders ten chocolate sundaes; Data notes that's likely excessive, but Q says he is in a terrible mood, and reasons that since he has never consumed food before, he must be hungry enough to eat it all. Guinan enters, which gives Q a sense of uneasiness as this is not a moment he was looking forward to. Guinan had already heard the news that Q was exiled from the Continuum. Data explains Q's transformation to Guinan and tells her the crew is not entirely convinced Q is truly Human. Guinan then calmly stabs his hand with a fork to test if he's really mortal. Q reacts in excruciating pain. Guinan responds that Q seems human enough to her.

Q protests Picard making Guinan a member of the crew instead of him, calling her dangerous. Guinan recounts how Q used to be omnipotent and terrorized countless species for his own amusement. She recommend that Q now learn how to be a mortal, citing Data as someone to learn from. Guinan calls Q a pitiful excuse for a human, and that the only way he would survive is on the charity of others. The encounter with Guinan understandably causes Q to lose his appetite, so he is unable to enjoy his huge chocolate treat.

At the same time, the Enterprise sensors pick up a cloud of energetic plasma, noted to have a highly organized structure. The ship's computer picks up a signal from it, proof of intelligence, but is unable to translate.

While Q sulks miserably in Ten Forward, the Calamarain, a species Q tormented in the past, tries to kill him to return the favor. The crew is able to repel them and Q screams for help, while Guinan looks down on him lying on the floor and says, "How the mighty have fallen."

Act Three

While elaborating about the Calamarain, Q is forced to admit that for all his protestations of friendship, his real reason for being on the Enterprise is protection. He insists that he did not do the Calamarain any injustice, that they are intelligent beings, even if flighty. Riker accuses him of having tortured the Calamarain and hence they are after him. Riker supposes that since Q has made many enemies over his lifetime as an omnipotent being, the Enterprise would spend all its time fighting off the enemies of Q, which is not the job that Riker or Picard signed up for.

Nonetheless, his knowledge is still useful in the task of moving the moon. When Q gets to engineering, he thinks that because he has knowledge of how to move the moon, he is in charge. Obviously this is not the case and when La Forge tells him what to do, Q tells La Forge that he will not take orders because he has never taken orders. Data tells him that it would be his wisest course of action to listen to La Forge, as he is in charge. During their attempt to surround the moon in a warp field, the Calamarain attack again, nearly killing Q. Data intervenes at great peril to himself and though he saves Q from being pulled through the hull, he himself is nearly electrocuted.

Act Four

In sickbay, Dr. Crusher works on fixing Data noting that if he'd been Human he'd be dead. The crew then reprimand Q, who is still concerned only for himself for not even caring that Data saved his life and kick him out of sickbay. Later, Picard and La Forge discuss the situation with the moon… La Forge confirms that their recent attempt has bought them another orbit, and can try again when the moon reaches its perigee. Riker, though, realizes that they have the same dilemma of protecting Q or helping the people on Bre'el IV. At this point, La Forge is ready to throw Q to the proverbial wolf. Q talks to Picard, who is drinking a cup of tea in his ready room, and admits that he cannot understand why Data would risk sacrificing himself. Going over the incident in his mind, Q is forced to admit that if the positions had been reversed and he had to endanger himself to save Data, he wouldn't have and that makes him feel deep shame. Picard gives Q short shrift, reminding him that all he ever did was bring misery and torment to the crew and he still isn't convinced Q isn't just playing some grand joke. Q insists that the joke is on him, and comes to the conclusion that being Human has made him a miserable coward.

After, Q goes back to sickbay to check on Data. Doctor Crusher is still repairing him and Data is unable to speak. Q tells Data that for all as much as he covets Humanity, he's missing nothing… but regardless, Data makes a better Human than he does. Q figures the ship and planet will never be safe as long as he is on board the Enterprise, so he takes the Type 7 shuttlecraft Sakharov and leaves the ship to distract the Calamarain.

The Enterprise see Q is being chased again by the Calamarain but (against their better instincts), try to save him. However all attempts of trying to beam him back on board, extending the shields to the shuttlecraft, and putting a tractor beam on it fail (Picard claims that their actions have more to do with saving the shuttle than Q). The Calamarain seem to be catching up to Q in his shuttlecraft.

Act Five

All attempts to rescue Q fail as Q2, who had Q stripped of his powers and was watching him to see how he reacted, disables the Enterprise's tractor beam, transporters, shields, etc. He pops in to see Q and says that his display of selflessness has convinced him to give Q's powers back so long as he behaves himself. Q2 says he cannot go back to the Q Continuum and tell the others that Q was selfless right before he died because it would take too much effort and a very long time. So he gives Q his powers back; Q is about to seek revenge on the Calamarain, but Q2 pops in again with a warning, so Q puts the Calamarain back, blowing them away like a candle.

With no sign of the Calamarain, or the shuttle, the Enterprise crew assumes they are dead, and Picard suggests that they had seen the last of Q. However, Q then appears on the bridge as a trumpet-player with a mariachi band, making cigars appear in Picard's and Riker's mouths, and materializing around Riker a pair of scantily-clad women to celebrate. After Riker denounces Q's materializing the scantily-clad females, Q tells him he wasn't "so stolid" before he grew his beard. Q then transfers the women to Worf instead. Picard snaps at him to stop everything and Q protests that he "feels like celebrating", while Picard retorts "I don't!". Q does away with both the scantily-clad females and the mariachi band, leaving only himself, wearing a uniform identical to Picard's (complete with captain's pips), much to Picard's frustration.

Q, understanding that he has (once again) overstayed his welcome, declares that, as a Human, he was "ill-equipped to thank you; but, as myself, you have my everlasting gratitude." However, before he leaves, he decides to give Data a gift to thank him for saving his life. Data, believing Q is about to make him human, is about to refuse but Q assures android he would never inflict the 'curse' of humanity upon him but just wishes to give him a little "going-away present" – Q then disappears, and a few seconds later Data is overcome by a burst of uncontrollable laughter, much to the bridge crew's surprise (and, in a couple of cases, amusement). After several seconds, it stops, and while Data doesn't know what he was laughing at he states it was still a wonderful "feeling". Just then, a grateful message comes in from Bre'el IV, thanking a stunned Picard for saving them. Picard has Worf and Data confirm that the errant moon has been returned to its correct orbit – and, the captain, knowing it was not the Enterprise who accomplished this, says there may be a residue of Humanity left in Q. A visage of Q appears in the smoke rising from a lit cigar that had materialized in Picard's hand – and tells Picard not to bet on it.

Log entries

Memorable quotes

"Q."

"…Red alert!"

- Picard, when Q appears on the Enterprise bridge nude



"… in all the universe, you're the closest thing I have to a friend, Jean-Luc."



- Q, followed by "the look" from Picard



"Human or not, I want no part of you!"

- Picard, to Q



"Return that moon to its orbit!"

"I have no powers! Q, the ordinary!"

"Q, the liar! Q, the misanthrope!"

"Q, the miserable! Q, the desperate! What must I do to convince you people?"

"Die."

"Oh, very clever, Worf. Eat any good books lately?"

- Picard, Q and Worf



"HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"How the mighty have fallen."



- Q crying helplessly on the floor in Ten Forward while Guinan looks on



"As I learn more and more what it is to be Human, I am more and more convinced that I would never make a good one. I don't have what it takes… without my powers I'm frightened of everything. I'm a coward… and I'm miserable. And I can't go on this way."



- Q, talking to Picard in his ready room



"Who does he think he is giving me orders?!"

"Geordi thinks he is in command here. And he is correct."

- Q and Data



"Sacrificing yourself for these Humans? Do I detect a little selfless act?"

"You flatter me. I was only trying to put a quick end to a miserable existence."

- Q2 and Q



"I've been keeping track of you."

"I always felt you were in my corner."

"Actually, I was the one who got you kicked out. You know, you're incorrigible, Q. You're a lost cause. I can't go to a single solar system without having to apologize for you, and I'm tired of it!"

- Q2 and Q



"Now you and I both know that the Calamarain would eventually have destroyed the Enterprise to get to you, and that's really why you left, right?"

"It was a… teeny bit selfless, wasn't it?"

"GRRR! Yeah, and there's my problem! See, I can't got back to the Continuum and tell them that you committed a selfless act just before the end! If I do there's gonna be 'questions', there's gonna be 'explanations' for centuries!"

- Q2 and Q



(to the Calamarain in the palm of his hand) "If you think I tormented you in the past, my little friends, wait until you see what I do with you now."

"Q?"

"I was just seeing if you were…still watching." (gently blows the Calamarain away)

- Q and Q2



"Au contraire, mon capitaine! HEEEE'S BAAAAACK!"

- Q, just after he appears on the bridge with a mariachi band



"I'm immortal again! Omnipotent again!"

"Swell."

- Q and Riker

"Q!!"

"But I feel like celebrating."

"I DON'T!"

- Picard and Q

"Perhaps there is a… residue of Humanity in Q after all."

"Don't bet on it, Picard."

- Jean-Luc Picard and Q, who mischievously causes a lit cigar to materialize in Picard's hand

Background information

Production history

Story and script

Michael Piller recalled, " Our first take on it was that Q lost his powers, came on board and we developed a whole story about how we were about to come into a war with the Klingons. It turns out that Q didn't really lose his powers after all, he was just playing with us and pulling our strings just so that he could make himself a hero, become an officer and prove his value. It wasn't a bad story, but ultimately we sat down with Gene and Rick, and Gene said, 'If you're going to do a story – Godlike and brought to Earth – then do it. Do a story about what it's like to lose everything that you are and having to discover your own humanity.' He kind of threw cold water on us and suggested we do it straight forward and that's what we did. We made it a comedy, we made it fun, but I think it has some extraordinary things to say about humanity. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 191)

" ( , p. 191) Melinda Snodgrass remarked, "I always think of Q as Loki. He's chaos. Maury Hurley always thought Q was here to teach us a lesson, to guide and instruct us. I can understand that to some extent, but I really see him as a mischief maker. He really just wants to foul Picard's head." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 191)

Production

Props and costumes

Music

Continuity

Reception

Awards

This episode was nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production (Robert Lederman) and for Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects.

Video and DVD releases

Starring

Also starring

Guest star

And special guest star

Co-stars

Uncredited co-stars

Stunt doubles

Stand-ins

References

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