By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Star Trek: The Next Generation he brought back some very famous bad guys The Original Seriesincluding the Klingons and Romulans. This beloved brew also introduced some memorable new villains, including the Cardassians, the Nausicaans, and the Borg. While all of those new villains have resonated with fans, none have impressed like Q, the godlike figure played by John de Lancie. He appeared in both the first and last episode The Next Generation and a few episodes in between, and he was always an agent of chaos who got under Captain Picard’s skin.
Over time, Q became less of a villain and more of an antagonist: by the end of TNG, he was helping Picard save all of humanity. However, he was originally written to be a recurring Big Bad, the kind of super enemy that Starfleet’s advanced technology couldn’t defeat. When did he start to transform from a bully to an unlikely savior of mankind? It all started with “Deja Q,” an episode where Q was written to be a con man who simply lied about losing his powers. But Gene Roddenberry insisted that he actually lose his powers, causing the ex-criminal to discover a personality he didn’t even know he had.
Naked and Scared
“Deja Q” is the most memorable The Next Generation the episode where Q appears on the Enterprise, completely naked. He points out that Q Continuum decided to punish him because he often abuses small people; after that, they stripped him of all his powers, leaving him at the mercy of former victims like Calamarain. They attack Q as he adjusts to life as a human, and he is distraught when he sees how the aliens hurt his new friend, Data. Q tries to sacrifice himself on the Calamarain to keep the Enterprise crew safe, and his selfless behavior will be rewarded when the Q Continuum restores his powers.
It’s a very emotional episode that establishes Q as, until now, the most terrifying villain Star Trek: The Next Generation. As recorded in Captain’s Logs: The Complete Voyage of the Unauthorized Voyage“Deja Q” was originally written as an episode where Q lies about losing his powers. Broadcaster Michael Piller said that Q invented “the whole story of how we were about to go to war with the Klingons,” with the big reveal being that the god-like being “was just playing with us and pulling our strings to make himself a hero, to be great and to show his worth.”
Till Death Do Us Part
Such a sophisticated strategy would fit perfectly with the mustache-twirling villain we’ve seen in previous episodes like “Encounter at Farpoint” and “Hide with Q.” So, why did the plot of “Deja Q” change so much? This was because Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry decided to successfully rescue the iconic TNG villain. According to Piller, Roddenberry “threw cold water” on him and the other producers with a straight talking note: “If you’re going to make a story—Godlike and brought to Earth—then do it. Make a story about what it’s like to lose everything you are and have to find your humanity.”
It was good advice, and “Deja Q” was one of the best episodes of the entire series. This incarnation of Q set up important later arcs for the character, including him helping Picard save humanity in TNG’s “All Good Things.” And the god also came back and entered Picard Season 2 to help give his old frenemy some closure. Sadly, Roddenberry did not live to see any of this; died in October 1991, one year after the first broadcast of “Deja Q.” Fortunately, he had time before his death to help rescue his favorite villain, named after an avid Star Trek fan.
Obviously, Gene Roddenberry wasn’t a perfect storyteller, and some Season 1 TNT episodes under his tenure were pretty bad (“Code of Honor,” anyone?). But he always had good emotions when it came to his characters. He knew how to write Q as one of the biggest and most dangerous villains in television history, but he also knew exactly when and how to turn that bad guy into one of Star Trek’s most unlikely heroes. He also gets the hero-turned-villain glow, once upon a time. After all, how many contractors have you seen with their own mariachi band?
