Underrated Trek:Q-Less (DS9)

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. Q was such a popular character on TNG it only made sense to have him pop up in the spin-offs. On paper anyway, because it was clear the writers on DS9 had no idea what to do with him. Not all the Q episodes were great, Q-Pid (the episode this is a sequel to) was awful and The Q and the Grey on Voyager was even worst. So, where does this fit episode fit in? Today I give you:









DS9 was so good I forget sometimes how awful the first season was, so different from the rest of the series. TNG had an excuse, but the creators for this show should have known better. Not that all the episodes were bad, just check out “Duet”. Let’s see where it went wrong here.







Plot Synopsis:Dax returns to the station with a few passengers, including Vash who Chief O’Brien recognizes. Unbeknownst, Q has also stowed away. While the station experiences power drains, Q appears to Vash who wants nothing more to do with him.

Quark has arranged an auction of various items Vash found in the Gamma Quadrant most notably an unknown crystal. O’Brien has spotted Q and warms Sisko. As the power drain gets worst, Sisko blames Q who responds by creating a boxing arena for the two fight in. To Q’s surprise, Sisko flattens him.

As the auction continues it soon become clear that crystal itself is the cause of the station’s trouble. The crystal is beamed into space before it can destroy the station, and once outside, it reveals itself to be a mysterious life form and travels into the wormhole.

Gust Stars:John DeLancie as Q of course, and Jennifer Hetrick makes her final Star Trek appearance as Vash. She first appeared in the awful “Captain’s Holiday”. Is it me or is every episode she is in bad?

Episode Pro’s:

Q is always fun, even if the script is weak. And the scene where Sisko punches him was clearly designed to show the difference between him and Picard. I guess I can allow that since this was only the 6th episode. That scene is the one bright spot in the episode as we see Q taunting Sisko.

The scenes between Quark and Odo were always great and this episode is no exception. In fact Quark is the only interesting character, the rest of the cast just kind of stand around wondering what to do.

Thanks to Q, Bashir is absent for the majority of the episode. Trust me in season 1 that was a blessing.

Episode Con’s:

Let’s start with the common complain of the episode. That the main characters become supporting characters for Q and Vash. And, yeah I can see that. We get more with Vash and Q than anyone else, and except for that one scene Q hardly interacts with the DS9 crew at all. There is another seen in Opps but that’s it.

But for me this episode has a bigger problem. The plot is just dumb. As soon as we see that crystal we know that it somehow is responsible. There is absolutely no mystery. And the fact that the crystal is in fact a life form is nothing new either. In fact the alien looks very similar to the one’s in Encounter at Farpoint. Nothing like recycling old ideas. And why have Q if he has nothing to do with the problem? It’s a shame they wasted John DeLancie on such a lousy script.

How come O’Brien recognized Vash from her one time on the Enterprise but had no idea about her involvement with Q? Well in the start because after Q is revealed suddenly O’Brien is aware they were an item.

As the situation deteriorates the crew automatically assumes Q is responsible. Even though he has never made any threats of any kind. Even Picard knew that just because Q was around doesn’t guarantee he is involved. Why does the script turn the characters into idiots?

Fast Forward Moment:

The stupid opener where we see Bashir hitting on a woman. This was when he was plain  insufferable and his hitting on every woman was really grating.

Final Thoughts-Decent TNG episode, to bad this is DS9