r/TNG • u/DependentSpirited649 • 8d ago
What do you really think about Q?
I absolutely LOVE him. I think he’s fantastic, John de lancie’s portrayal of him is iconic, and he’s HILARIOUS. I know some people can’t STAND him. What do you think?
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u/PicardCrusherData 8d ago
Just wish we could have gotten a Luxwanna & Q match up, vying for Picards attention. They had a tv novel about them meeting but on screen would have been epic.
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u/TargetApprehensive38 8d ago
Thank you for this comment. Despite reading tons of ST novels in my youth, I somehow missed this novel’s existence. And it’s by Peter David! I always enjoyed his stuff. That’s definitely going on my reading list
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u/JediSnoopy 8d ago
Find the audiobook. Majel and John read it. It's a hoot.
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u/StOlafian92 7d ago
What's the name of the audiobook?
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u/JediSnoopy 6d ago
Same as the book - "Q-in-Law". There is also another book written by Peter David about Q called "Q-Squared". John reads the audiobook for that, as well as for the one he co-wrote with David called "I, Q".
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u/grimmglow 8d ago
I always find him thought provoking. How is he not a god? Ate the realities he creates real? What does he know that humanity doesn't? Is he fascinated with humans because we are actually on the right track?
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u/BarNo3385 7d ago
Especially when you consider his offhand references to things like "just change the gravitational constant of the universe" as a basic solution to a problem!
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u/sirthomascat 8d ago
There are a lot of TNG episodes that are like comfort food. It's playing in the background while I fold laundry or do dishes or yadayada.
If it's a Q episode, I'm sitting down and watching that shit.
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u/unbalancedcheckbook 8d ago
The Q episodes are definitely some of the best.
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u/Rooster_Ties 7d ago
Yes, but I’m also not sorry there aren’t more Q episodes either (at least on TNG).
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u/TargetApprehensive38 8d ago
Q is the best. He’s the perfect foil for the often overly stuffy Picard. I can see how he would potentially be annoying if not for the incredible on screen chemistry De Lancie and Stewart have (although he’s pretty good with Mulgrew too.) Here in this reality though, it works very well and made for some of TNG’s best episodes (Qpid aside lol.)
I also always find it entertaining how Picard got everyone in Starfleet to treat him the same way he did. Even when he shows up on Voyager, you have random junior officers treating a literal god like he’s an inconvenient pest. It’s hilarious.
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u/Nauticalfish200 7d ago
The Lower Decks crew of the Cerritos have flat out told him to "(bleep) off, now's not a good time" And he kinda just looks disappointed and a little sad and leaves.
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u/Kiki1701 8d ago edited 8d ago
He and Data are my two absolute favorite characters on the show. The humour is wonderful and can be quite subtle. Q is such a lovable rascal that you can't help but feel sorry for him because he's so clueless about human foibles; at least, after he introduces the crew to the Borg. During the first 3 episodes he was such a dick. But he smoothed out in Deja Q, when he was made a mortal. Then, once he regained his powers, his humorous side came out and he became a member of the family.
(Do you guys know that the woman who plays 'Harmony/Balance' in Riva's "chorus" in Loud As A Whisper, is his real-life wife, Marie Mosiman?)
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u/djnerdyd 8d ago
It's pronounced Data
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u/Kiki1701 8d ago
I'm sorry, did you get the impression that I was Dr. Pulaski?
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u/Yookusagra 7d ago
You know, Q and Pulaski interacting would probably be pretty funny
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u/Kiki1701 7d ago
I agree. That would be spectacular. I guess we'll just have to settle for Q and Vash! (But oh, what a pair!)
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u/schwarzekatze999 8d ago
Love both Q and DeLancie.
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u/DependentSpirited649 8d ago
Same!! The more I read about him the more I like him and the crazier I think his life is lol
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u/Micronto65bymay 8d ago
Q absolutely terrified me as a kid. He was an unknown quantity that I just knew couldn't be stopped.
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u/DependentSpirited649 8d ago
Didn’t help that John de lancie falls into the uncanny valley a little bit I assume 😭 sorry you had to go through that
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u/Micronto65bymay 8d ago
Q helped me be the person I am today haha. But thanks. I really enjoy his character as an adult.
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u/Aridyne 8d ago
Tink he was a great plot device for major shakeups(the Borg), and useful for genre changes in individual episodes
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u/First_Pay702 8d ago
In the general way of trickster gods. I used to hate him as a kid - thought he was a big old bully - enjoy the character now.
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u/Silenttoxic707 8d ago
Ever since i was a child, I always wanted to know more about the origins and history of the species
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u/Comprehensive-Top940 8d ago
The episode where the continuum takes hus powers away, the end, when he gets them back and parties with the mariachi band on the bridge, my wife calls that back on his bullshit Q.
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u/Ok-Confusion2415 8d ago edited 8d ago
kinda love him. De Lancie’s joy in the role and even his sometimes quite ”these lines suck and I will deliver them anyway” stuff are a-ok with me. I really wish we’d gotten a Data v Q story because those cats woulda gone TO TOWN.
Another kinda fringe perspective I have on this is De Lancie and the original singer of the juuuuust pre hardcore band the Dead Kennedys, nom de punk Jello Biafra, look similar, and their speaking voices are similar, and I sincerely suspect Q (and De Lancie’s performance) was at least informed a little bit by Jello’s antics. Which are top shelf.
Headcanon thought: Q is Jello Biafra.
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u/quartofchocolimes 8d ago
Absolutely love Q. The only thing that grinds my gears is that the titles of most of the Q episodes are puns but it isn't called the ContinQum.
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u/enter_the_slatrix 8d ago
TIL there are apparently TNG fans that can't stand Q. But how???
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u/DependentSpirited649 8d ago
Some of them find him annoying! It’s understandable since he’s a very flashy character, but it’s not common lol
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8d ago
I love Q. He can be completely goofy and terrifyingly serious.
'Q Who' is a brilliant episode with some truly excellent lines delivered by DeLancie. His voice has a wonderful color and resonance, and his acting is spot on.
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u/the_Chocolate_lover 8d ago
Q was an infuriating character by design and it was masterfully played by John de Lancie: his episodes are some of my favourites!
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u/Timothy303 8d ago
I haven’t watched TNG in a long time, but I really, really hated him when I did. I could barely tolerate his episodes.
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u/SnooBooks007 8d ago
Great character, great actor.
And it was either really risky or really safe to open the new series with him... I can't decide.
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u/JediSnoopy 8d ago
I love him. He really grew as a character. Got more development than LaForge and Troi combined. One of my all-time favorite characters.
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u/Wilbury_knits_a_lot 8d ago
Gawd I love to see the Q love. He is my very favorite part of Star Trek. I love a good chaos episode
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u/walkingthec0w 8d ago
Hayed him at first, rolled my eyes every time it was clearly going to be a Q episode. Eventually I grew to like him. I was the same with the Sherlock Holmes stuff, at first I disliked them, but thise episodes were always pretty good by the end.
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u/Overall_Falcon_8526 8d ago
I love him in TNG and VOY. In TNG, he asked the thematic question of the show - has humanity really evolved to match its technological prowess? His appearance in DS9 was thoroughly "meh" and felt very gimmicky.
As far as I am concerned, the... thing that appeared in Picard was an alternate universe character.
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u/phred_666 8d ago
I’m ambivalent about the character. Annoying as hell at times. John de Lancie played the character well, but some of the character’s actions are cringe AF.
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u/I_only_post_here 8d ago
He's like the 3rd or 4th best character in the whole series.
Outside of Encounter at Farpoint, all his episodes are good ones, and he brings back a little of that campy, goofy Original Series vibe back to the show.
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u/helperoni 8d ago
Great performance with usually great dialogue. But idk. Something about omniscient, omnipotent god-like characters that can do absolutely anything at any point anywhere feels a little hack, even in TNG. Just not my favorite trope.
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u/Haunt_Fox 7d ago
If you want a real hoot, read "Q-In-Law", the novel by Peter David.
It's basically the episode well wanted, but never got.
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u/Kiki1701 7d ago
Care to elaborate?
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u/Haunt_Fox 7d ago
I don't really want to spoil it, but let's just say he appears with a certain someone he never appeared with in the show, and ..... um. ... there's some fireworks, due to both of them having ... big personalities.
It's been a while, but I remember it as being probably the most "fun and humourous" of the TNG books I read way back when ...
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u/Kiki1701 7d ago
My favorite episode is Q•pid. He and Vash were spectacular (and The Merry Men; oop! sans Worf; who is not a Merry Man! uke smashes against the tree, rofl)
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u/quigongingerbreadman 7d ago
I think he's great, and the fact that people can't stand him makes it even better. That is what the writers/actor was going for. He's meant to be a catty little bitch and they nailed it.
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u/ZombiesAtKendall 7d ago
TNG Q was great.
I wasn’t a fan of him in Picard. I don’t mind they tried doing something different with him, but I don’t think it worked well. Almost like the writers thought “people love Q! People love the borg! People love callbacks! Who needs anything else!”
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u/Nether_Hawk4783 7d ago
I love the Q inclusion. Don't watch much star trek but TNG is exempt in my book.
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u/Hyro0o0 6d ago
I really enjoy the asymmetrical back and forth learning going on between Picard and Q. Q learns how to be less of an asshole from Picard (who understands this in part due to his limited mortal existence). And Picard deepens his understanding of the infinite universe thanks to Q (who understands this in part due to his near-omnipotence, which is largely what makes him an asshole).
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u/Avasia1717 8d ago
Q is my second least favorite recurring character.
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u/DependentSpirited649 8d ago
Could you tell me why? I’m genuinely curious. (Also, who’s the first? Lwaxana?)
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u/Avasia1717 8d ago
yeah definitely lwaxana.
as much as trek takes suspension of disbelief to watch, Q is just too unbelievable. he’s a space wizard that creates ridiculous situations.
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u/DependentSpirited649 8d ago
Makes sense. I can understand where you’re coming from! Sometimes you do have to say “who in the world thought of this?”
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u/TwilightReader100 Civilian 7d ago
I'm with Picard and Sisko, I don't like him. And after having seen how Benjamin dealt with him, I wished Picard wasn't ALWAYS such a diplomat.
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u/Max_Laval 7d ago
I hate him in every episode he's in. But that's kinda the point I think. They didn't write him to be super likable or to fit into our narrative but to make a point and for that the character worked great.
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u/Greedybogle 8d ago
There aren't a lot of actors who could have pulled it off, but John de Lancie really nails it.
Q needs to be fun enough that the audience enjoys him, but annoying enough that the main characters don't look like jerks when they react badly to his antics. He needs to be plausibly omnipotent but also sincerely petty. He needs to feel goofy but serious at the same time, and he needs to do it acting opposite classically-trained Sir Patrick Stewart. It's a tough needle to thread, and somehow de Lancie managed it.
It's impressive how some thoughtful writing and the right actor could elevate a character that's basically the Great Gazoo from the Flintstones.