Weekend Trek “Deja Q”

Jimmy and Tom both generally enjoy appearances by Q.  He’s smug, witty, and seems to exist only to cause problems for everyone else without caring who gets hurt.

So, what happens if he’s reduced to the level of a mere mortal?  He probably wouldn’t take that very well as Jimmy and Tom found out.

“Deja Q”

Q returns to the Enterprise, but he says he lost all his powers!

jimmy:  Corbin Bernsen was probably a huge get at the time.

tomk:  Yeah, but as a friend pointed out to me…you never know how good someone is in a role until you see someone else play it, and Bernsen proves how good John De Lancie is.

jimmy:  I didn’t think he was so bad. You?

tomk:  He was OK, but he also played the role very broadly.

Like, De Lancie really knows how to do a condescending sneer.

jimmy:  He was great in this episode as usual. Makes me wonder why we never see him in anything else (that I can think of)?

tomk:  He did a few episodes of Breaking Bad.

jimmy:  Man, I don’t remember that at all.

tomk:  He was Jane’s father, the air traffic controller whose grief after Walt let his daughter die of a drug overdose allowed a major air crash to happen.

jimmy:  I vaguely remember that.

tomk:  Well, do you vaguely remember Q saying Picard was his only friend?

jimmy:  I do remember that. And of course the look Picard gives him.

tomk:  Wouldn’t you make that look?

jimmy:  Indubitably!

tomk: Congratulations.  Q is now your friend too.

jimmy:  Great. Just what I need.

tomk:  He knows so much. Like how to change the laws of physics.

jimmy:  He did help them in a roundabout way.  Where was Wesley?  I’m sure he would have a moon orbit correcting school project kicking around.

tomk:  Wesley’s experiments knocked the moon towards the planet in the first place as part of his Evil Stuff 101 class.

jimmy:  Haha.  Would make sense.  And explain why he wasn’t around.  He was grounded.

tomk:  Or on that moon laughing manically.

jimmy:  They never did show the other side of the moon…

tomk:  Exactly!

jimmy:  #evilwesley

tomk:  Just imagine every time he’s not in an episode, he’s doing something dark and twisted.

jimmy:  Wow.  I have a new appreciation now for his absences.

tomk:  We can really go from there. Maybe Q is there to secretly stop Wesley from doing worse things.

jimmy:  …

Tom, I want to buy your alternate reality TNG book.

tomk:  You can have it for free.

jimmy:  Looks like I gots some reading to do!

tomk:  Yes. But first, you need to find it after following a series of clues and puzzles, each more complex and challenging than the one before.

jimmy:  Stop making this more interesting!

tomk:  Fine. Who had the best reaction to Q’s return here?

jimmy:  Hmmm.  Good question.  I did love Worf’s gusto to take Q and throw him in the brig.

tomk:  Q:  What do I have to do to convince you all that I lost my powers?
WORF: Die.
Q:  Oh, that’s nice, Worf. Eat any good books lately?

jimmy:  Haha, that was good too.

tomk:  Worf is the series MVP for a reason.

jimmy:  He really is.  You’d think off the cuff it would be Picard or Riker or maybe Data, but Worf seems to be the most capable of the bunch.

tomk:  So far. We’ll see how long that lasts.

jimmy:  You doubting the Worf?

tomk:  No. I am doubting the show will keep him at this level.

jimmy:  Maybe he will turn to evil like Wesley.

tomk:  Nah. Probably just start losing every fight.

jimmy:  So if in their shoes, would you believe Q was now powerless?

tomk:  Probably not. But I would let Data babysit all the same.

jimmy:  He was the only one that showed him any compassion.

tomk:  Or at least wasn’t annoyed by him.

jimmy:  And he literally got a good laugh out of it.

tomk:  Q gave someone a gift that wasn’t fantasy women or big-ass cigars.

jimmy:  Riker kept both for later.

tomk:  He said he doesn’t need them. Not when he has the holodeck.

jimmy:  Not the same.  You can tell.

tomk:  Worf had his own issues.

jimmy:  He hates mariachi music?

tomk:  No, but he maybe doesn’t mind fantasy women.

jimmy:  He’d probably break them.

tomk:  Good thing they aren’t real then.

jimmy:  Exactly.

tomk:  It was interesting that Q suddenly had to deal with various people knowing he was mortal.

jimmy:  And back pain, and hunger and odd looking forks in the hand.

tomk:  And no chocolate sundaes.

jimmy:  That was his own choosing.  If he had eaten them…he would have experienced some other sensations.

Talking about it now reminded me of this…

tomk:  Thank god Data never had to go that far.

jimmy:  Indeed.

tomk:  Then again, I don’t know that Data knows that stuff either.

jimmy:  You are right, but I imagine he does.

tomk:  Better Data than Guinan.

jimmy:  She hates Q more than Picard.  Who is only annoyed by Q…according to Q.

tomk:  Picard is such a great diplomat that he’s only annoyed, not hateful.

jimmy:  Or, at least, that’s what he makes you think.

tomk:  See?  Great diplomat.

jimmy:  A great diplomat that has seen Q’s junk.

tomk:  Haven’t we all had that problem?  Seeing the junk of a depowered godlike being?

jimmy:  Luckily, I have not.  Yet.

tomk:  Don’t look behind you then.

jimmy:  It’s Zeus again, isn’t it?

tomk:  No,  Aphrodite.  She’s gone now.

jimmy:  You tricked me.  You might have a little Q in you after all.

tomk:  Who me?  I just made some assumptions based on your saying you were lucky not to have seen a naked, depowered godlike being.

But there’s no need to worry.  Have a chocolate sundae.

jimmy:  Excellent.  Just one?

At least they gave Q one of Wesley’s old jumpsuits to cover up in.

tomk:  Yeah, and the other Q has the same lack of fashion sense.

jimmy:  When you have Godlike powers, fashion is low on your list of worries.

tomk:  Well, clearly since his default is Picard’s uniform.

jimmy:  Speaking of uniforms, how does Q even know what a mariachi band is?

tomk:  He’s omnipotent?

jimmy:  I do not think that means what you think it means.

tomk:  Inconceivable.

jimmy:  Exactly.

tomk:  Well, if we are quibbling over words, are we done here?  It’s a fun episode, but Q almost learned a lesson, Data got a good laugh, and Wesley’s latest evil scheme was defeated.

jimmy:  Haha.

Data’s lack of emotions is still played pretty fast and loose.  He can’t laugh, so Q gives him that gift.  When Data’s done he says it was a wonderful “feeling”.  Isn’t that an emotion?

tomk:  He had emotion long enough to make a judgement call?

jimmy:  I know I’m just being nitpicky, but if they are going to put it in my face I will call it out.  Data would be better explained as having rudimentary emotions or something instead of the no emotions rhetoric.

tomk:  Jimmy demands consistency, dammit!

jimmy:  I know, I know, it’s just a show.  We wouldn’t care if we didn’t love it.  We just want it to grow up and be the best damn show it can be.

tomk:  We, huh?

jimmy:  You know you love it.

tomk:  I may. But Q brings that out in all of us.

jimmy:  It’s the fancy women and cigars.

tomk:  Plus a band where he totally blew into that trumpet while dancing around.

jimmy:  He knows how to have fun.  He really should visit when the night crew is on duty.

tomk:  I suspect annoying Captain Jake doesn’t work out so well.

jimmy:  You think Q could annoy Captain Jake?

tomk:  Other way around.

jimmy:  That’s why Q hangs with Picard.

tomk:  And we hang with each other to talk about them. Anything else to add?

jimmy:  Not really.  First time we’ve seen Guinan in awhile.

tomk:  She was busy in the back room ironing her hat.

jimmy:  lol

tomk:  But Riker got off pretty easy this time.

jimmy:  No pun intended.

tomk:  Not at all. But he could have been accused of horrible crimes.

jimmy:  Like stealing cake?

tomk:  Maybe worse. Wanna find out?

jimmy:  I dunno.  Stealing cake is pretty horrible.

tomk:  Worse than murder?

jimmy:  Dun dun dahhhhh!

Next:  “A Matter of Perspective”