‘DÉJÀ Q‘ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This ‘TNG’ episode features the fourth TV appearance of John de Lanice as Q in ‘Star Trek’. The first three were ‘Encounter At Farpoint’, ‘Hide and Q’ and ‘Q Who’. It seems Q is a popular character here.
In this episode, the Enterprise is helping the planet Bre’el IV. They’re trying to stop an asteroidal moon falling into the planet’s atmosphere and destroying it populations. It’s not as easy as it seems.
As the Enterprise tries to stop the moon crashing into the planet, Q appears on the bridge. And he’s naked. I’m not kidding. John de Lance as Q is naked. Thankfully his private parts aren’t shown in this. 😀
It seems that Q has been punished by the Q Continuum for his pranks of spreading chaos throughout the universe. This is why he was naked when he arrived, as he had been stripped of all of his powers.
Q requested to become human and was transported to the Enterprise. He asks for asylum, but Captain Picard and the other don’t believe Q’s claims as they believe that it is some sort of wind-up.
They even suspect Q having something to do with the moon crashing into Bre’el IV in the episode. Picard treats Q like a criminal as he throws him into the brig when he is unwilling to believe his story.
The concept of Q losing his god-like powers and becoming a mortal human being was intriguing to watch. Q has to learn what it means to be human through his punishment by his own Q Continuum.
But Q is selfish and arrogant, as he struggles to learn his new human existence and is frustrated at not having to use his powers anymore. Q needs someone to guide him on what being human means.
I find it intriguing when the Enterprise crew naturally don’t trust Q when he claims he’s lost his god-like powers. Picard demands Q uses his power to save Bre’el IV, but Q keeps insisting he’s powerless.
It was funny when Worf suggested that Q ‘dies’ after demanding to know what he must do to convince the Enterprise crew he’s powerless. Q’s scenes with Worf were mesmerising to see in this.
Very soon, Q gets someone to guide him on being human as Data is assigned to watch him. Q gets ordered to help the Engineering team in sorting out how to prevent the moon crashing to Bre’el IV.
Q experiences more human conditions when he has back spasms. Dr. Beverly Crusher comes in to help him out, even though her bedside manner to him isn’t as complimentary to her other patients.
Also, Q gets to experience being hungry and he and Data go to Ten Forward to get someone to eat. Data suggests a chocolate sundae, to which Q orders ten chocolate sundaes as he’s really hungry. 😀
Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan then enters and she takes advantages of Q’s mortal form by stabbing him with a fork. This is because these two have this grudge against each other, according to ‘Q Who’.
Very soon, a cloud of gaseous entities enter the Enterprise and attack Q. These are the Calamarian. They also happen to have a grudge against Q, as he tormented them in the past and want revenge.
It soon gets revealed that Q took refuge on the Enterprise in order to protect himself against the Calamarian. This puts the Enterprise in jeopardy when trying to rescue Bre’el from a crashing moon.
Q continues to help Geordi and Data in Engineering by giving them an inspired idea. Soon the Calamarian attack Q again in Engineering. Data rescues him, before he gets electrified in the process.
This act of self-sacrifice affects Q when he sees Picard. He shares his curiosity about why Data saved him and admits his shame in not being self-sacrificing himself. Picard isn’t sympathetic for Q’s views.
Q then takes a shuttlecraft and tries to divert the Calamarian away from the Enterprise. As he does so, Q gets visited by Corbin Bernsen as…Q (another one of them) and gets his god-like powers back.
After sending the Calamarian away, Q returns to the Enterprise to celebrate with a Spanish quartet joining him. He also gives Data a gift as he leaves, by making him experience laughter for a moment.
I like how the episode ends when it turns out that the Bre’el moon has returned to a safe orbit, even though the Enterprise had nothing to do with it. Picard surmises Q was responsible in achieving this.
‘Déjà Q’ is a pretty enjoyable and intriguing episode of character development for Q. I enjoyed John de Lancie’s performance in this episode and exploring how Q gets to experience as a human himself.
‘Déjà Q’ (TNG) rating – 8/10
| The previous story
For ‘The Next Generation’ was |
The next story
For ‘The Next Generation’ is |
| Return to Star Trek | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |