‘TRUE Q’ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This ‘Star Trek: TNG’ episode features the return of John de Lancie as Q, who we haven’t seen for a long time in the series. There’s also the introduction of a nice young girl who turns out to be a Q too.
In the episode, the Enterprise brings aboard a young Starfleet intern, Olivia d’Abo as Amanda Rogers. She’s going to be studying biological sciences under Dr. Beverly Crusher’s supervision here.
Amanda comes across as a nervous yet pretty friendly girl as well as lovely. She seems genuinely human, but it turns out she also has these superpowers to which she uses whenever she wills them.
This clearly demonstrated when she’s in her quarters and she finds her pet dogs have come aboard the ship when she wants them to. Seeing those cute little doggies in the episode was lovely to see. 🙂
Amanda also uses her powers when she stops a falling cargo crate fall onto Commander Riker. It becomes clear to everyone that she has powers when she stops an explosion in the ship’s warp core.
Everyone else is concerned about how Amanda is able to have powers when she’s human. That’s when Q turns up as he reveals to the Enterprise crew that Amanda is a member of the Q Continuum.
Amanda was conceived by two Q Continuum members who opted to take on human forms. They died when Amanda was little and she was raised by human adoptive parents on Earth for all her life.
It was Q who caused the cargo bay incident and the warp core explosion to test Amanda’s abilities. Q has come to teach Amanda how to harness her powers as well as return her to the Q Continuum.
Amanda however doesn’t want to return to the Q Continuum since she wants to have a normal human life. I liked the moral dilemmas that were addressed in this episode about Amanda being a Q.
I like how Amanda struggles in her decisions to becoming a Q or not. She gets taught how to use her powers by Q. She slowly becomes softened to the idea of living her as a Q instead of being a human.
I also like the relationship Amanda has with Beverly in this episode. The two share a close bond with each other, especially as Amanda shares her anxiety on being a Q and questions her choice-making.
Amanda also becomes romantically attracted to Riker in the episode, even taking him away with her to play out a romantic fantasy. But she soon realises that the fantasy doesn’t feel real to her anyway.
As the episode progresses, Picard instructs Data to investigate Amanda’s parents and their death, since he’s suspicious of Q’s motives. The outcome of Amanda’s parents’ death is much more serious.
It seems that Amanda’s parents were deliberately killed by the Q Continuum. Q reveals this to Picard when confronted about it. It also seems that Amanda was considered to be killed by the Continnum.
I like that speech Picard gives Q about the morality of this decision, when they and Amanda are in the captain’s ready room. Picard’s point of Q wanting to see morality via human eyes was intriguing.
But Q later reveals it is decided Amanda should be not killed and she should have a choice. She can either return to the Continuum or live the rest of her life as a human and not use any of her powers.
Amanda is determined to live her life as a human and not use her powers. But Q warns her that it’s not as easy as she thinks since her parents were given this choice too. Amanda seems resilient on it.
Meanwhile, as the Enterprise helps out a nearby planet with their ionic anti-pollution systems, a critical situation occurs. They try to prevent the atmosphere getting flooded, but it worsens terribly.
In an act of compassion, Amanda uses her powers to restore the planet’s atmosphere to normal and saves the inhabitants. Once this occurs, she has made her choice. She is to return to the Continuum.
It was rather touching when Amanda says her goodbyes to everyone on the Enterprise including Beverly before she goes with Q. I do not think we see Amanda ever again after this ‘TNG’ episode. 🙁
‘True Q’ is a pretty good episode in the ‘TNG’ series. It was interesting to see how a young, lovely girl turns out to be a Q and how she makes an intriguing decision in choice to be a human or a Q instead.
‘True Q’ (TNG) rating – 9/10
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