Welcome
back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek
episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by
most. Sometimes an episode will have some really great ideas in it…none
of which go anywhere! We go back to Season One TNG to look at a perfect
example of this. This is :
Gonna tweak my format a tad for this one. So can even John De Lancie save this one?
Premise:
On the way to a rescue mission the Enterprise is diverted by Q. Q claims to have an interest in Riker, and offer him the power of the Q
Riker rejects the power at first but when Q puts the entire Bridge crew in jeopardy, he uses the power and realizes what good it can be. Picard tries to warn him that absolute power corrupta absolutely but Riker doesn’t listen.
After the mission is over Riker meets with the whole Bridge crew and offers to fulfill their fondest wishes with his powers. However none are interested in participating and Riker soon sees the folly of his way. Having failed, Q flees the Enterprise.
(yeah, a left a lot out. We’ll get to it).
What I Liked:
There is a scene between Yar and Picard alone on the Bridge which is a nice, if pointless, moment. Especially considering her fate on the show, I’ll take a tender moment with Tasha in any episode I can find it.
The one thing that really works in this episode, and future Q episodes, is the relationship between Picard and Q. They have great banter and this episode features one of the best dialogues between the two. Since there is no way for me to do it justice, here is a clip I found.
Troi isn’t in the episode. In season one, that’s a really good thing.
What I Hated:
I started this by talking about missed opportunities. So let me explain what I meant by going through this plot point by plot point.
Q stops the Enterprise on their way to a rescue mission, and tells them he has business. When Picard says they don’t have time for games, Q whisks all but Picard off to play a game. Ok, the idea of a bunch of characters having to play a game for a superior power is sure nothing new but maybe they do something with it. What happens?
The game stuff lasts about one act and goes pretty much nowhere. Q and Riker talk and the rest just stand around waiting for the lame attack. And that’s all this “game” is, defending themselves from an attack. What? Pretty sad when you can say G.I.Joe did it better!
When Tasha protests, Q sends her to a penalty box. He says that if anyone else merits a penalty, then Tasha will be gone. Ok, that’s not bad it adds some stakes and tension. What happens?
Tasha appears on the Bridge where we get an emotional scene with her and Picard which is good but pointless. The penalty is quickly removed by Q a second later, and nothing more about it ever comes up again.
About half way into the episode, we get to why Q is here. He has seen something interesting in Riker and wants to enlist him to be a Q. Riker is given the power, and at first he refuses to it but then he does to save his friends (when the lame attack finally starts). Ok this is an ok idea, we can see all the conflicting feelings Riker has as he has this new power.
Nah, Riker and Q just talk about it and then when Riker still refuses he brings everyone back to the planet, again, forcing Riker to use his powers.
So back on the ship Picard and Riker agree to not use this power. During the rescue mission Riker then refuses to help a girl they’v found the in the wreckage. Ok this is good conflict. Now we can see Riker’s progression from not wanting the power to being power hungry.
Nope, it takes two scenes for Riker to go from agreeing with Picard not to use the power to him being a jerk and yelling at Picard.
Finally that whole final scene which feels drawn out, everyone refuses Riker’s gifts and he realizes what a fool he’s been. I guess, if they say so anyway. I mean, what a jerk trying to give his friends their hearts desire! Man they’re right, power really does corrupt! Next Riker will want to save even more people!
Yeah, you get the idea. There were good ideas here but the episode is all over the place. And the whole “absolute power corrupts absolutely” stuff falls flat when Riker doesn’t really do anything with the power except try to please his friends. It’s basically equivalent to someone saying that drugs are bad, and giving absolutely no proof or evidence of why.
Finally, there is some other season one silliness. Like when Worf describes the attacking enemies as “animal things”, these “animal things” are so lame they make the Gorn credible. that bit when Data refuses to describe these animal things to Picard saying he may find it aesthetically displeasing, Riker is even more annoying here with his over jubilant personality going nuts (thank the lord Jonathan Frakes toned this down when Riker got his beard, something Q notices in a later episode), Riker tries to please Worf by giving him a female Klingon (Why? Hell if I know), and when Picard is wandering the Bridge he calls for help from Turbolift Control. What the hell is that???
Fast Forward Moment:
The whole episode is a fast forward moment, nothing goes anywhere!
Final Thoughts-Thank god for John DeLancie, what else can I say? If not for some great dialogue between Q and Picard this episode would have very little going for it. It’s not the best Q dialogue, see “Q Who” for that, but it saves the episode. Though Q doesn’t even seem likable in parts, especially toward the end. And to be fair this isn’t the worst Q episode either. For that see “Q-Pid” or two of the three Voyager episodes he was in.
Gonna tweak my format a tad for this one. So can even John De Lancie save this one?
Premise:
On the way to a rescue mission the Enterprise is diverted by Q. Q claims to have an interest in Riker, and offer him the power of the Q
Riker rejects the power at first but when Q puts the entire Bridge crew in jeopardy, he uses the power and realizes what good it can be. Picard tries to warn him that absolute power corrupta absolutely but Riker doesn’t listen.
After the mission is over Riker meets with the whole Bridge crew and offers to fulfill their fondest wishes with his powers. However none are interested in participating and Riker soon sees the folly of his way. Having failed, Q flees the Enterprise.
(yeah, a left a lot out. We’ll get to it).
What I Liked:
There is a scene between Yar and Picard alone on the Bridge which is a nice, if pointless, moment. Especially considering her fate on the show, I’ll take a tender moment with Tasha in any episode I can find it.
The one thing that really works in this episode, and future Q episodes, is the relationship between Picard and Q. They have great banter and this episode features one of the best dialogues between the two. Since there is no way for me to do it justice, here is a clip I found.
Troi isn’t in the episode. In season one, that’s a really good thing.
What I Hated:
I started this by talking about missed opportunities. So let me explain what I meant by going through this plot point by plot point.
Q stops the Enterprise on their way to a rescue mission, and tells them he has business. When Picard says they don’t have time for games, Q whisks all but Picard off to play a game. Ok, the idea of a bunch of characters having to play a game for a superior power is sure nothing new but maybe they do something with it. What happens?
The game stuff lasts about one act and goes pretty much nowhere. Q and Riker talk and the rest just stand around waiting for the lame attack. And that’s all this “game” is, defending themselves from an attack. What? Pretty sad when you can say G.I.Joe did it better!
When Tasha protests, Q sends her to a penalty box. He says that if anyone else merits a penalty, then Tasha will be gone. Ok, that’s not bad it adds some stakes and tension. What happens?
Tasha appears on the Bridge where we get an emotional scene with her and Picard which is good but pointless. The penalty is quickly removed by Q a second later, and nothing more about it ever comes up again.
About half way into the episode, we get to why Q is here. He has seen something interesting in Riker and wants to enlist him to be a Q. Riker is given the power, and at first he refuses to it but then he does to save his friends (when the lame attack finally starts). Ok this is an ok idea, we can see all the conflicting feelings Riker has as he has this new power.
Nah, Riker and Q just talk about it and then when Riker still refuses he brings everyone back to the planet, again, forcing Riker to use his powers.
So back on the ship Picard and Riker agree to not use this power. During the rescue mission Riker then refuses to help a girl they’v found the in the wreckage. Ok this is good conflict. Now we can see Riker’s progression from not wanting the power to being power hungry.
Nope, it takes two scenes for Riker to go from agreeing with Picard not to use the power to him being a jerk and yelling at Picard.
Finally that whole final scene which feels drawn out, everyone refuses Riker’s gifts and he realizes what a fool he’s been. I guess, if they say so anyway. I mean, what a jerk trying to give his friends their hearts desire! Man they’re right, power really does corrupt! Next Riker will want to save even more people!
Yeah, you get the idea. There were good ideas here but the episode is all over the place. And the whole “absolute power corrupts absolutely” stuff falls flat when Riker doesn’t really do anything with the power except try to please his friends. It’s basically equivalent to someone saying that drugs are bad, and giving absolutely no proof or evidence of why.
Finally, there is some other season one silliness. Like when Worf describes the attacking enemies as “animal things”, these “animal things” are so lame they make the Gorn credible. that bit when Data refuses to describe these animal things to Picard saying he may find it aesthetically displeasing, Riker is even more annoying here with his over jubilant personality going nuts (thank the lord Jonathan Frakes toned this down when Riker got his beard, something Q notices in a later episode), Riker tries to please Worf by giving him a female Klingon (Why? Hell if I know), and when Picard is wandering the Bridge he calls for help from Turbolift Control. What the hell is that???
Fast Forward Moment:
The whole episode is a fast forward moment, nothing goes anywhere!
Final Thoughts-Thank god for John DeLancie, what else can I say? If not for some great dialogue between Q and Picard this episode would have very little going for it. It’s not the best Q dialogue, see “Q Who” for that, but it saves the episode. Though Q doesn’t even seem likable in parts, especially toward the end. And to be fair this isn’t the worst Q episode either. For that see “Q-Pid” or two of the three Voyager episodes he was in.
