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• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Feb 3, 1990

Much to Picard's displeasure, Q reappears on the Enterprise, claiming to have been ejected from the Q Continuum, and therefore, lost his powers. Much to Picard's displeasure, Q reappears on the Enterprise, claiming to have been ejected from the Q Continuum, and therefore, lost his powers. Much to Picard's displeasure, Q reappears on the Enterprise, claiming to have been ejected from the Q Continuum, and therefore, lost his powers.

• Gene Roddenberry
• Richard Danus
• Ronald D. Moore
• Patrick Stewart
• Jonathan Frakes
• LeVar Burton
• 21 User reviews
• 9 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Doctor Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Commander Data

• Wesley Crusher
• (credit only)

• Crewman Nelson
• (uncredited)

• Enterprise Computer

• Crewman Martinez
• Ten Forward Waitress

• Enterprise-D Ops Officer
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia After several unsuccessful attempts by director Les Landau to film Q's nude scene without forcing the actor to actually be naked, a frustrated John de Lancie finally asked anyone offended by nudity to leave, stripped down, and filmed the scene in one take.
• Goofs The crew attempt to adjust the moon's orbit at perigee (closest approach). If you are attempting to adjust the altitude of a body's perigee (in this case to avoid a collision with the planet), the best time to do it is to wait until it reaches apogee. This will change the elevation of perigee the most with the least amount of energy. Changing a body's velocity at perigee only changes the elevation of apogee and does nothing to change its perigee. If they were trying to avoid a collision, the crew chose the worst time to do it.

Capt. Picard : Return that moon to its orbit.

Q : I have no powers! Q the ordinary.

Capt. Picard : Q the liar! Q the misanthrope!

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

Lieutenant Worf : Die.

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

• Connections Featured in Atop the Fourth Wall: Superman and Wonder Woman: Tandy Computer Whiz Kids (2011)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 21

• Jan 16, 2017
• February 3, 1990 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 46 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The A to Z of Star Trek 's Q

Star Trek ’s galaxy is filled with mysterious alien races, unexplained phenomena, and incomprehensible technology that our Starfleet heroes would love to explore and understand. And then there’s the Q Continuum, a group of beings that a lot of those Starfleet officers wish would leave them alone instead.

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But you can’t keep a good omnipotent being down, and now that the Q are coming back—well, a Q, our Q , if you will—with John de Lancie’s arrival in the second season of Star Trek: Picard , here are the ins and outs of what you need to know about one of Star Trek ’s most enduringly silly godlike species, and its most iconic self-named member.

First introduced in The Next Generation ’s debut episode—the two-parter “Encounter at Farpoint”—John de Lancie’s Q was cut from the same cloth as similarly mysterious, powerful (and, on occasion, very camp ) figures like Trelane in the original Star Trek . An essentially godlike being with a puckish taste for putting our heroes in absurdist scenarios to test everything from their morals to their patience, Q stories are a whirlwind of de Lancie chewing as much scenery as he possibly can and wild stretches of danger and comedy, putting Captain Picard and his crew through their paces.

But Q himself also had a hugely important role to play beyond his iconic relationship with Picard—a sort of gentleman’s agreement in so much as a god and an ordinary (and usually very annoyed) human being can have. It’s Q that introduced the Federation to the Borg, in a manner that can either be perceived as him smashing together two powerful civilizations to watch the chaos that ensues or an early warning about one of the galaxy’s most dangerous presences. It’s Q that would eventually go on to help Voyager shave years off their long journey home. It’s Q, metatextually, that would go on to starkly differentiate Benjamin Sisko from the shadow of his predecessor: his sole appearance in Deep Space Nine highlighted by Q staging a boxing match between himself and Sisko, only for it to be cut short by Sisko promptly decking Q (“You hit me! Picard never hit me !”).

Aside from the laughs brought about by a cheeky superbeing with the power to do whatever the hell he wanted with a wave of his hand, Q’s appearances across The Next Generation and Voyager are likewise defined by the morality plays at their core. While Voyager in particular would go on to define the backstory of the wider Q society and the moral and ethical implications of a group of all-powerful beings, in TNG, Q’s games were tests of character. He’s introduced by literally putting humanity on trial for its history of violent, cruel transgressions, forcing the crew of the Enterprise to prove the species’ capacity to grow and change into a better society for all. He pushes Picard constantly, offering temptations and tricks to get the Captain to stand his ground and embrace both his very best aspects and his moments of failure.

But what are the Q themselves? Well, suitably so, we know a lot, and yet also nothing.

Most of our understanding of Q society in Star Trek is framed through Q himself—who has been exiled from it, re-introduced back into the fold as a stabilizing force, and, occasionally, starting civil wars within the Continuum (not just a name for the Q race but their plane of existence). But over the wider franchise, we have met other members of the Q to help further flesh out the Continuum as an entity beyond “our” Q’s impish behavior; from Amanda Rogers (Olivia d’Abo), a Q raised on Earth as if she were a human being to help explore the concept of giving a Q a moral code, to Quinn, an exiled Q in the Delta Quadrant encountered by Voyager , to even Q’s own son.

Not even the Q can agree on where and when the first immortal members of their species manifested, other than the general number of “billions of years ago.” It took centuries of evolution, but members of the Continuum mastered the ability to manipulate reality. Any Q could shift their own form and perception, create or destroy matter and energy, change time, and shift the very nature of existence on a whim, either by moving galaxies and solar systems or even creating alternate timelines. This le d to two things: first, an attitude that the Q believed themselves to be the most elite beings in the entirety of existence, having attained a knowledge and hyperintelligence beyond that of any other known species. Secondly, the Q promptly using their abilities to explore every facet of that existence thoroughly. It didn’t take long for them to understand and explore all of it in totality and then promptly get very, very bored with it.

This also meant that Q society very quickly stagnated which, alongside their amoral leanings, lead to rogue elements like our own Q. He had a history of calamitous galactic upheaval and a few minor bits of warmongering even before he first encountered humanity in the 2360s, poking and prodding at civilizations to provoke conflict on a whim, or reshaping parts of the universe with his powers. But even his own brand of chaos aside, this state of dormancy—where the Q shut themselves off in their own plane, not even communicating with each other because they believed all possible interesting conversation about anything had already happened—also lead to other members of the Continuum similarly rebelling.

One Q we meet in Star Trek: Voyager , a philosopher named Quinn (Gerrit Graham), attempts to commit suicide, but fearing the chaos such an act could cause within his society, the Continuum collectively sentences him to exile and imprisonment within a comet. After being accidentally freed by the Voyager on its journey through the Delta Quadrant, Quinn was granted asylum aboard the ship by Captain Janeway against the Continuum’s wishes, only to indeed, die by suicide. This event sparked a civil war within the plane of the Continuum, where a faction advocating for individual freedoms among the Q compared to the stagnancy of its status quo broke off. They created devastating superweapons that couldn’t just render Q beings mortal, but were capable of irrevocably damaging subspace beyond the Continuum’s plane—not only depowering Q who had left their home but threatening to undo reality itself.

After intervention by Voyager on Q’s behest, the civil war—which played out in front of the Starfleet crew’s eyes as the American Civil War—was brought to an end with a result we may ultimately see the ramifications of in Picard ’s second season. Q and a f emale Q chose to do something no member of the Continuum had considered in their long existence: procreate, giving birth to the first actual child of the Continuum. Nicknamed Junior (Keegan de Lancie), this Q did briefly bring about stability to the Continuum’s moral crisis, but, like his father before him, he was kind of a spoiled brat. After eventually being kicked out of the Continuum and nearly having his powers revoked, a brief stint aboard Voyager convinced the Continuum to re-accept Junior... as long as his father cleaned up his interstellar messes.

Aside from a brief trip over to the first season of Lower Decks , that was the last time we’d seen a Q in decades. But, of course, a few decades is a blink of an eye to a Q.

Now that Star Trek is returning to the Continuum next year, it remains to be seen what more we’ll learn about not just our Q, and maybe even his son, but the status of the Continuum itself. Hopefully something a bit exciting—after all, it’s not really a Q appearance if something a bit zany isn’t going on.

For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @ io9dotcom .

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John de Lancie Talks Reprising Q on ‘Star Trek: Picard’: ‘You Can Never Go Back’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

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When John de Lancie was first cast as Q on the pilot of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” his expectation was that he was only supposed to play the wily omnipotent being — who challenges Capt. Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) with proving humanity’s worthiness — for that single, two-part episode. But three days into shooting, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry took de Lancie aside.

“He said to me, ‘You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,'” de Lancie says. “And oh my god, was he right.”

De Lancie reprised his performance as Q on seven more episodes of “TNG,” including the series finale, when Q promised he would visit Picard again “from time to time.” Despite appearances as Q on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star Trek: Voyager” (as well as a brief cameo on the animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks”), however, Q never did drop in on Picard for another verbal tête-à-tête.

That is, until Monday’s announcement that de Lancie would return as Q in Season 2 of the Paramount Plus series “ Star Trek: Picard ,” which will premiere in 2022.

Popular on Variety

A prolific character actor in TV, film and theater, de Lancie’s played everything from “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” as the voice of the villain Discord to “Breaking Bad” as Donald Margolis, the distraught father of the heroin-addicted Jane (Krysten Ritter).

But for many, Q is de Lancie’s signature role. His episodes of “TNG” remain some of the most beloved in the series’ seven-season run from 1987 to 1994, and the news that he would be playing the role again lit up Trekkie Twitter in celebration. In this exclusive conversation with Variety , de Lancie explains his reaction to the news that he was being invited to return to “the dinner party,” as he puts it — and his reservations about reprising a character he hasn’t played since 2001.

When “Star Trek: Picard” was first announced, did that cause you to wonder, “Oh, what if Q could come back?”

Well, it’s interesting. Terry [Matalas], one of the executive producers, when I met with him, he said, “Oh, of course, you knew you were going to be coming back.” And I said, “You know what, Terry, ‘Star Trek’ has done a lot of movies and other shows without me. So I did not assume that that was going to be the case.” I just sort of discipline myself as a professional over the years to go, “look, it’s somebody else’s dinner party. You cannot spend your time worrying about whether you’re getting invited. Just take it off the radar. You get invited or you don’t get invited, that’s all.”

So when were you first invited back to this dinner party?

Well, I want to say, six months ago. This whole COVID year has been disjointed, but it was after their first season.

How did that feel to know that they were interested in bringing Q back?

You know, it was, and is, a little bit of a mixed bag. One of the issues that I have is you don’t want to fall into the trap of re -creating. I was obviously a little concerned — very concerned — about the issues having to do with, well, excuse me, this is 20 years later. I’m supposed to be immortal and I certainly look very mortal. There were issues about all of that. I was flattered. Of course, I said yes. I didn’t have to think about that part. And then I wondered, where are they going to go with this?

Did the producers talk with you at that point about what was planned for Q, or was this more of a mystery to you?

There was generalized talk, which intrigued me. One of the things that’s sort of unusual, having played a character that has had such a long history — I’ve only done, I think, nine episodes [of “Star Trek”], between the three shows. [ Editor’s note: It’s been 12. ] I’ve always thought of it as being kind of a diamond in the rough, and having new facets of that stone that’s going to be cut. So here it is, many years later, we’re still cutting that stone. There will be elements of that stone which have already been cut, and they will simply need to be burnished up. And then there will be elements of this stone that will be newly cut, for which there will be people who go, “Oh I always thought you would go in that direction,” and then others, “Oh, I like him the way he was before!”

It solved one major problem for me, and that is I feel very strongly about the whole thing of, you can never go back. Dare I say, how often have we gone back to meet with old girlfriends or boyfriends or what have you and you go, “Oh, I think it would have been better just keeping this in my imagination!” Here, we are not, in fact, going back. We are taking what we have and we are moving forward. And to me, that’s exciting.

Have you shot anything yet?

How did it feel to act against patrick stewart again.

It was fun. My own issues have always been the same. I have to put in a lot of homework because I’m very dyslexic and I just have to work really hard to get all of that into RAM, as it were. And then once that’s done, I’m there to play . And so it was just fun. That type of preparation has paid off and you’re just ready to rock and roll.

Did you pay any attention to the way that the announcement of your return was received?

I saw the little trailer, which I thought was really well done, where there’s a playing card that disappears and then you just see the Q. I felt that that was very befitting this character. This is thin ice for all of us: There are expectations . In the case of that little announcement, I thought they exceeded expectations on that. It was a really nice little morsel of, “Here he comes!”

“Star Trek” fans are notoriously picky, but I have not seen negative reactions to Q’s return — it’s been quite enthusiastically received. How does it feel to have people be so interested in seeing you continue to play this role?

Well, as you were saying that just now, what I felt was mostly was, Oh shit . [ Laughs ] The pressure is on! That’s how I feel about it. I find that to be a challenge. I hope that I can match it. I hope that we all can match it, and more to the point, exceed it. [ Laughs ] This is one of the reasons I stay away from all this stuff. I kind of just have to stay in the world of what can be done, and what cannot be done, and not to get too pressurized in all this.

One common reaction I’ve seen is people saying, “oh, thank god, I can feel good about the letter Q again.” Obviously, in the last few years, the letter Q has taken on a much different connotation with the rise of the QAnon conspiracy cult. How strange has that been for you, given how identified you’ve been with the role?

[ Sighs ] I’m really grateful for that character that I played — and I have become protective of that, of what Q means and all that. Certainly with this other thing, I’ve chosen not to dumpster dive into it. I don’t want to bring those two elements together in any way whatsoever. There’s a part of Q that I’m playing that is frankly more real and more positive and more life-affirming than the [ pause ] ridiculousness that I hear about this other stuff.

Since we’re talking about reprising one of your most memorable roles, I did want to ask — given that “Better Call Saul” is a prequel series for “Breaking Bad,” have you ever wondered if Donald Margolis would pop up on that show?

I would have loved for that character to have continued. Through my career, I was always hired to play the very aggressive, wordsmith-y sort of character, which ironically is difficult for me because I just tend to work seemingly twice as hard as anybody else. That character allowed me to just relax a little bit, and to just feel , as opposed to trying to dominate or bulldoze. But again, you brought it up and I appreciate it and I take it as a compliment, but I just don’t think about it ever. I just can’t.

Let me just tell you, it’s very interesting what different characters can do for somebody. In this case, just imagine a 22-year-old, shy, kind of strung out kid who comes up to me and says, “Hey, are you Jane’s father?” And I go, “Uh yeah.” And he’s looking at me kind of askance, and he goes, “Yeah, well, now I guess I know what my parents went through.”

I’m sure his parents did everything to try to keep him from, you know — “Please, you can’t keep on doing this, you’re going to ruin your life.” And he couldn’t hear any of it, but he could be affected when he saw it in a story. So I’m really happy to have played that role.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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As a pursuing hostile, Q achieved Warp 9.9 - although that might have been designed to tease the humans; he has since showed capability for instantaneous travel within both space and time within this dimension and perhaps others. The subject Q claims to have an Intelligence Quotient of 2,005 and to be ageless.

The Q being, usually taking the form of a human male, is known to have confronted the El-Aurian native Guinan around 2166, a century before the Borg scattered her people and over 250 years after she first encountered Captain Picard and his crew when they were time-traveling in old San Francisco. Q and Guinan consider each other enemies.

He first appeared to the mainstream Federation when attempting to limit humanity's ongoing advance in the galaxy, charging humans as being a "grievously savage race" and putting Picard's crew on trial as all humanity's representative. Later that year, with the Continuum intrigued by humans, Q tried to tempt Picard's first officer Riker with Q powers so the Continuum would have a human to study. Losing a bet with Picard that Riker would accept them, Q had to promise he'd leave humans alone.

Recalled home for that incident and cast out to wander the galaxy, a bored Q offered to renounce his powers and sign on as a "guide" through the unknown upon reappearing in 2366. Picard's refusal angered him into hurling the ship 7,000 light-years beyond explored space into the initial confrontation with the Borg, where the U.S.S. Enterprise escaped only with his help. Because of such ongoing meddling, Q was reportedly stripped of all his powers by the Continuum and banned again circa Stardate 43539, choosing human form in refuge aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to hide out from all his enemies. But after selflessly offering himself to the Calamarain to save the starship, his powers were restored.

Captain Picard has reported that Q returned a year later, claiming to still harbor guilt over the unreturned gratitude while arriving unannounced amid a personal matter involving a romantic affair. To apparently learn more about this new vulnerability in Picard, he placed the couple and the ship's senior staff in a Sherwood Forest reality as the legendary Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the Merry Men - with himself as the Sheriff of Nottingham. After its resolution, the woman, the rogue archeologist Vash, accepted Q's offer for hosted adventures about the universe.

It was this encounter which prompted Starfleet Command to schedule a major service-wide briefing on Q in 2367. Despite his departure with Vash and a year's seeming absence, Q turned up again in Picard's life twice within a few months in 2369, to claim a Q female raised up as a human and to steer Picard on his deathbed through an alternative view of his own life. The busy alien also turned up on Deep Space Nine that year, where he taunted Commander "Benjy" Sisko and his staff.

A year later he sent Picard on a time-slipping trek into three key timelines to help decipher a poser the Continuum had raised to illustrate humanity's future.

Q has called 24th century Earth a "dreary place" and "mind-numbingly dull," preferring it a thousand years earlier with the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and - shrinking his own time lag by 400 years - Watergate. However, it was that same boredom that drove him to mischief in the first place.

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2, Episode 10 Recap: Q’s Last Gift

The “Picard” crew tries to find its way home.

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By Sopan Deb

Season 2, Episode 10: ‘Farewell’

So after all that, all the Jurati-Borg Queen combination had to do was show up earlier and none of the this season’s craziness would’ve happened?

A very funny moment comes when an Excelsior crew member, during the “Picard” finale’s climax, wonders what happened to Rios, who was left behind in the 21st century. Picard snaps, “Stay on task, helm. That’s an order.” That’s essentially how the show’s writers have treated the audience for most of its two-season run. Don’t worry about the things that don’t make sense. Just focus on where the story is going.

In this case, what the story reveals to us is that Q, in his dying moments, wanted to let Picard know that his mother’s death wasn’t his fault. (Why is Q dying? Of what? It’s never explained.) And that the first step to Picard finding love was for him to love himself. It’s a wonderful lesson, except, as Picard points out, there were innocent people who died along the way for a life lesson.

Not that Q cares. And neither does Picard, it turns out, because Picard gives his soon-to-be-deceased tormentor a hug. It’s a touching moment. The thing is, everything we’ve seen in “Picard” has taught us that what is dead will never die. There is no reason to believe that Q is actually dying, in the traditional sense, because no major character dies in this show. This includes even the ones who do, because they’re just brought back later — sometimes with a literal snap of a finger, like our old friend Elnor. (If I was Picard, I might have asked Q for some other people to be brought back to life. “Hey, while you’re at it, instead of bringing back Elnor, whom I’m not that close to, would you mind bringing back Data? Or Tasha Yar?)

John de Lancie did a wonderful job as Q, as he normally does. But the way the character was written this season felt off. If all this was to teach Picard forgiveness, why did Q seem so angry and vindictive earlier in the season? Recall his previous conversations with Soong, where he seemed to imply he wanted to get revenge on Picard.

Odds and Ends

So after all the talk about shifting the timeline with the slightest use of futuristic technology, Rios ends up staying behind in the 21st century with Teresa with centuries worth of knowledge in his head. We find out from Guinan that he didn’t use much of that knowledge. Rios is a better man than me. If I went back in time 400 years and stayed there, I would be known as the inventor of cars, the iPhone, electricity and Twitter.

That was a really lovely return from Wil Wheaton as the Traveler formerly known as Wesley Crusher. I have no idea if this is a one off, or if he’ll factor into next season, when the “Next Generation” cast returns. But Wesley was a character who generally got the short end of the stick in the original “Next Generation.” (The last we saw of him — when he was spotted at Riker and Troi’s wedding in “Nemesis” — he seemed to have returned to Starfleet.)

Soong pulling out the folder labeled “Project Khan” gives us a hint of what next season will be about. We know Soong is an expert in genetics and that the greatest villain in all of “Trek,” Khan Noonien Singh, was a result of genetic experimentation. This looks like a precursor to the Eugenics Wars. Should be fun!

Alison Pill has already said she’s not coming back for Season 3 of “Picard,” and with Rios now dead in the past, I’m wondering how much of the “Picard” crew comes back, if at all. Maybe next season will really be a “Next Generation” season.

What’s up with the transwarp conduit that Jurati-Borg Queen want to find out about? That could also be a hint for Season 3. There are just so many questions about what the Borg have been up to in the past 400 years. Were they hiding from the Evil Borg? Did the previous assimilation attempts not happen? Stay on task, helm! That’s an order!

A farewell to the Watcher, Tallinn, who stays away and watches until she doesn’t. Who had special powers, except for when she didn’t.

Finally, what happened to the F.B.I. agent, Martin Wells? Imagine working your whole life to find out if aliens exist, having your theory confirmed and then … what?

Sopan Deb is a basketball writer and a contributor to the Culture section. Before joining The Times, he covered Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign for CBS News. He is also a New York-based comedian.  More about Sopan Deb

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Published Aug 18, 2022

Q and the Crew

While Q appeared across various Trek series, his relationship with the crew of the Enterprise-D was especially key.

StarTrek.com

Welcome back to the Star Trek Villain Showdown as it continues on through the semi-finals!

We previously looked at Gul Dukat’s twisted impact on the crew of Deep Space Nine . Now, we’re talking all things Q , namely his impact on Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later in Star Trek: Picard . This trickster started off as the first antagonist faced by the crew of the Enterprise-D , and grew into a beloved opponent and figure throughout the show’s seven seasons.

Firstly, let’s talk about Q’s relationship with other Starfleet officers. He expressed shock when Sisko didn’t have time for any of his shenanigans (“Picard never hit me!” “I’m not Picard.”). He tangled with Janeway a few times during her journey through the Delta Quadrant , even roping her into raising his son with her “vaunted Starfleet ideals.” When he appeared on the U.S.S. Cerritos , Ensign Mariner dismissed him, knowing he was planning on testing humanity once more with her and her friends.

[ RELATED : Everyone Loves Q (But Which One?) ]

The mysterious representative of the Q Continuum found the most eager audience for his schemes in the crew of the Enterprise-D . On the first mission with Captain Picard at the helm of the Enterprise , he appeared to put humanity on trial to see if they deserved a chance to continue to grow. Picard, with his sense of diplomacy and philosophy, saved the human race and Q disappeared… for a while.

Q would pop up throughout the run of TNG to provide tests and tomfoolery to see how the crew reacted. Be it teleporting them to Sherwood Forest or turning to them when he had no powers (and then, promptly teleporting a mariachi band to the Bridge once said powers returned to him), he was involved in many excellent Enterprise adventures.

[ RELATED : PiQard - Q's Influence on The Captain ]

Throughout his appearances, Q was fascinated with Picard himself. In one poignant episode, “ Tapestry ,” Q appeared to a dying Picard to give him an It’s A Wonderful Life -style chance to see what his life would’ve been like had he never learned to take risks. This helped guide Picard into accepting his past, especially the risks he took during his youth, as he realized he wouldn’t be where and who he was today without those wild years. This was a key moment for Picard’s psychology, with Q’s presence instrumental to that journey.

In the TNG series finale , Q appeared once more to test Picard and humanity, placing them on trial again. With the aid of time travel and a few stirring speeches, Picard proved humanity was worthy of saving, prompting Q to vanish. That marked the last time Picard would cross paths with Q until the Season 2 events of Star Trek: Picard .

In Star Trek: Picard , a dying Q wanted to afford Picard the opportunity to release some of his past traumas while allowing him to grow close with someone. He did this in typical Q fashion, of course, by sending Picard into an alternate timeline in which the Federation fell and an evil Confederation had taken its place. Picard and his allies, along with the Borg Queen , had to time travel back to present day Los Angeles to try and fix the timeline. They were even aided by a young Guinan !

[ RELATED : The Trial Never Ends: Q’s Approach to Advocacy ]

However, Q’s main goal was simple — he wanted to free Picard from the trauma stemming from his mother’s death. Nearing the end of his life and realizing he was alone, Q didn’t want Picard to suffer the same outcome. However, in a twist of fate, upon opening up to Picard, Q did not die alone. He was able to reconcile with his friend and opponent Jean-Luc; marking his final moments with a rather noble act.

While Gul Dukat was a force of evil throughout his entire journey on Deep Space Nine , Q alternated between enemy and ally throughout his run across the Star Trek universe. Do his acts of good counter-balance his acts of mischief?

John de Lancie on Creating a Star Trek Icon

Let us know @StarTrek on social media what your favorite Q moment is, and continue to vote to see who’ll face off against Khan in our final showdown! And if you need more Q in your life, brush up on his major appearances across the Star Trek universe.

Julian Gardner (they/them) is on the editorial team for StarTrek.com

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Q On Star Trek: Voyager Vs. TNG Real Difference Explained by John De Lancie

• Q's first appearance on Star Trek: Voyager delved into deep philosophical issues like assisted suicide, showing a more introspective side of his character.
• Voyager intentionally changed Q's storytelling by focusing on how events affect him, different from TNG where he drove the action.
• Voyager continued to develop Q's character in subsequent appearances by keeping him part of the storyline, enriching Star Trek lore.

This article contains brief references to suicide.

John de Lancie, who played Q in multiple Star Trek series, explained the real difference between the character in Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation . Q has become one of the most important and recognizable recurring characters in the Star Trek timeline since his debut in TNG 's pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint." An omnipotent god-like being with a wicked sense of mischief, Q has been alternately friend and foe to the main characters of shows like TNG , Voyager , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and Star Trek: Picard .

Although Q is best known for his episodes on TNG , he had a memorable arc on Voyager starting with season 2, episode 18, "Death Wish." The episode's plot revolved around Quinn (Gerrit Graham), a member of the Q Continuum who wished to end his own life rather than continue to face immortality. When Quinn sought asylum with Voyager's cast of characters , Q was sent to bring him back, leading to a trial for Quinn's right to become human and fulfill his wish to die. "Death Wish" showed a very different side of Q from TNG , and for good reason.

How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order

John de lancie explained the real difference between q in star trek: voyager and tng.

In an interview with The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine , issue 6, John de Lancie discussed how Q's storyline on Voyager was intentionally made different from his appearances on TNG . De Lancie discussed how the showrunners on Voyager were concerned with making Q's arc distinct enough from how he was used on TNG to be engaging, and clarified how this new style of storytelling and the events of "Death Wish" changed Q as a character. Read de Lancie's full quote below:

"One of the things Michael [Piller] had said was that he wanted to do a Q story, not a story about how Q affects other people, but how the story affects him, and that he goes from his usual flamboyant self to someone much more introspective. You see that he's truly troubled by a philosophical and unresolvable problem."

Up until "Death Wish," Q was almost always the driving force behind an episode's action. The formula on Star Trek: TNG was that Q would show up and create a problem for Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D that they would spend the entire episode trying to get out of. "Death Wish" allowed audiences to see a new side of Q while still keeping what made him so enjoyable . Q's mischievous nature and " flamboyant " personality were still on full display, but seeing him struggle with big issues like assisted suicide made him vastly more interesting.

Voyager Continued Its Q Story Trend With Q’s Other Series Appearances

Although Voyager could have returned to Q's original episode formula, it chose to stick with the new trend. Q appeared twice more during season 3, episode 11, "The Q and the Grey," and season 7, episode 19, "Q2." Both appearances not only dealt with the consequences of the events of "Death Wish," but also continued to have Q be part of the storyline rather than causing it . Even "The Q and the Grey," which seemingly started out with the TNG formula, turned into a plot where Q was just as much at the mercy of events as Voyager's crew.

This not only helped to create a cohesive story arc for Q's Voyager appearances but also changed the character significantly from how he had been on TNG . Voyager went a long way to showing that Q was more fallible than he seemed, and the episodes he was in expanded the lore of the Q Continuum much further than previous series' had , enriching the franchise exponentially. Ultimately, Star Trek: Voyager did more for Q's character development than TNG , even if he continues to be more well-known from his original appearances.

All episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation are available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine , issue 6

Star Trek: Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before. 

Cast Jennifer Lien, Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, Robert Duncan McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo

Release Date May 23, 1995

Genres Sci-Fi, Adventure

Network UPN

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Michael Piller, Rick Berman

Showrunner Kenneth Biller, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Brannon Braga

Rating TV-PG

Q Continuum

• View history

The Q Continuum, as made perceivable to Humans

A symbolic representation of the Q's existence

The Q Continuum was an extra-dimensional plane of existence inhabited by a race of beings known as the Q . The term could also refer to the Q society itself.

As a race, the Q were immortal, but not absolutely omniscient or omnipotent (according to Quinn ). They possessed the ability to alter, create, or destroy virtually any form of matter or energy , and to affect time in essentially any way they chose. Their apparent abilities included moving entire asteroid belts and stars , creating alternate timelines , and affecting universal states of nature such as the gravitational constant . Q , when discussing the dangers of allowing Amanda Rogers to develop her abilities without supervision, offhandedly remarked that she would be capable of destroying the entire Milky Way Galaxy by accident. In fact, the only time a Q was seen as un able to do something was during a period where their powers were reduced or revoked by the Continuum. ( TNG : " Deja Q ", " Tapestry ", " All Good Things... ")

The Q claimed to have always existed, and their origins (if they had any), are unknown. ( VOY : " The Q and the Grey ")

Based on descriptions by numerous Q, including the Q later known as Quinn, as well as Amanda Rogers (the child of two Q in Human form), the Q Continuum was a very highly ordered society, though it was also a virtually stagnant one.

In the beginnings of what Quinn called the "new era", the Q engaged in constant dialogues of discovery and other universal issues. However, eventually, the Q came to realize that they had experienced, observed, or discussed literally everything imaginable. This resulted in the virtual shutdown of the Continuum as a society, as the immortal beings simply saw no point in even conversing with one another anymore. This resulted in one of the Q, Q, deciding to simply use his powers to stir up trouble and cause chaos, simply because there was nothing else to do. As a result of Q's rebellious behavior, Quinn, a respected philosopher in the Continuum, decided that he wanted to shake things up even further by committing suicide , as he not only saw no purpose in continuing to exist, but wanted to break the monotonous stagnation afflicting the Continuum. The Continuum, however, stopped him from doing so because they were unable to predict what sort of societal chaos might result in the Continuum as a result of a Q committing suicide.

Quinn was imprisoned on a rogue comet for eternity to prevent him from ending his own life, until he was accidentally released by the crew of the USS Voyager in 2372 . In a courtroom hearing to determine his right to political asylum , Quinn described the Continuum as a lazy, old way station along a deserted desert road – he argued that the road could take them to anywhere in the universe, but the Q had already been everywhere. In addition, everything both old and new had already been discussed, and so the roadhouse was silent – there was nothing left to say. Therefore, Quinn argued that being forced to remain alive was a continued burden to him, a burden that he did not want to continue to bear. Q argued that the death of a Q would create chaos in the Continuum. Voyager captain Kathryn Janeway ruled in Quinn's favor, granting him asylum. A day later, Quinn committed suicide. ( VOY : " Death Wish ")

As a result of Quinn's action, the Continuum was plunged into a massively destructive civil war that set the " Freedom Faction " against the traditional Q. The two factions were able to construct weapons that could even compromise the immortality of a Q. When these weapons were fired in the Continuum, this resulted in massive damage to subspace , causing some stars in normal space to go supernova . Eventually, it damaged subspace to such an extent that Q outside of the Continuum lost their powers and immortality.

Q had the idea of mating with Janeway to produce a being with the powers of a Q, and to put the morals of a Human to use in order to end the war. The crew of Voyager flew through a supernova into the Continuum with help from a female Q , who had lost her powers and could not return without Voyager 's help. Voyager 's crew quickly overpowered the Q by using Q weapons. A ceasefire was called. Q mated with the female Q instead of Janeway and the damage to subspace was restored. ( VOY : " The Q and the Grey ")

Later on, the new Q became an intergalactic troublemaker. He started wars between innocent races, knocked planets out of orbit , detonated Omega molecules , and created havoc in every way he could. His mother disowned him, humiliated by his actions. Q, however, followed him, cleaning up all the damage.

Under advice from Janeway, Q implemented punishment on the boy. Q dumped him on Voyager , and, with the help of the "Q government", took away his powers. Q Junior , as he was called by his father, had one week to become a good citizen, or he would be sentenced to eternity as an Oprelian amoeba . Junior did well for the first few days, until he stole the Delta Flyer . After his friend Icheb was injured, however, he returned to Voyager . Janeway made him apologize to the ship he attacked, which was in fact Q, who masqueraded as a likely target to test his son's attitude.

When Judgment Day came, Junior was still found unworthy of being a Q, but was good enough to be a Human. After this sentence, Q threatened to leave the Continuum unless his son was allowed to stay. After further pleading, the Continuum agreed to grant the young Q's powers back to him on the condition that his father act as his guardian and supervisor in perpetuity , or at least until he could prove himself worthy. ( VOY : " Q2 ")

By 2399 , Cristóbal Rios and at least one of his ship 's holograms knew of the Q Continuum. The hologram in question, the ENH , described Jean-Luc Picard as the "Chief Contact" with the Continuum. ( PIC : " The End is the Beginning ")

The last known contact between the Federation and the Q Continuum was in approximately 2590 . In 3190 , Federation Security considered the Continuum as a possible candidate for Unknown Species 10-C , the creators of the Dark Matter Anomaly ; however, they were not considered likely candidates, as there had been no contact with them for 600 years and the DMA was unlike anything the Q had done before. ( DIS : " The Examples ")

Appendices [ ]

Apocrypha [ ].

The history of the Q Continuum is explored in the Q Continuum series , which features flashbacks to Q's "youth", including him being sentenced to safeguard Earth as punishment after his actions released a powerful entity known as " 0 " into the universe when Earth was damaged in the last stage of the war with 0 and his allies, which included Gorgan and the Beta XII-A entity . The conclusion of the trilogy sees 0 briefly return to this universe, achieving a level of power temporarily beyond even Q himself as his insanity from millennia of solitude allows him to warp reality at a fundamental level that Q would never be able to do without risking damage to himself. The series revealed that the Continuum was responsible for the creation of the Galactic barrier and for the imprisonment of the entity they knew as The One on the planet dubbed " Sha Ka Ree " by Sybok . This barrier was weakened as a result of the civil war in the Continuum, which was what allowed 0 to make his return, but later repaired after 0 was exiled yet again.

In The Eternal Tide , it is revealed that the Q Continuum manifested as a creative force to "oppose" the destructive potential of the Omega Continuum after it was disrupted and the decay of the universe accelerated. Voyager is later able to slow down the decay to a more tolerable level – shortening the universe's lifespan by a few million years rather than by trillions – as the only way to completely halt and undo the disruption would have erased the Q Continuum from existence as their creative force was no longer "needed". Eternal Tide also reveals that there are at least six rules that the Q must obey, with number six being "Don't bring the dead back to life", as the consequences of such an action can be problematic as not even the Q fully know what happens after death.

In the Star Trek: Ongoing story arc The Q Gambit , it is revealed that the higher species are at war and the Q Continuum is on the verge of defeat. Galvanized by their victory over the Prophets , the Pah-wraiths have turned on their other neighbors. Not even the Q can stop their onslaught because in spite of all the power the Q wield in the three-dimensional universe, they are as powerless and clueless as humans in their own realm. Unable to find a path to victory, Q left to seek the counsel of Picard on what action to take. But when he couldn't get an answer, Q left for the alternate reality , intended to instead seek the counsel of James T. Kirk for his experience in triumphing over no-win scenarios .

External link [ ]

• Q Continuum at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)