# My Idea for a Star Trek Plot Twist (Re: Q).
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 25, 2003, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710 "2003-09-25T10:18:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/1 "2003-09-25T10:18:15Z")
I have had an idea for an interesting _Star Trek_ plot twist for some time now. I think we all remember the Q. When I first saw him in the _Star Trek: the Next Generation_ pilot, I thought it was a stupid idea. A magic being, with magic powers. Later on I got the drift that the Q were much like us at one time, but that they were just much more sophisticated technologically. They were magical to us only like, for example, Europeans must’ve seemed magical to Native Americans when they started colonizing North America hundreds of years ago. Anyways, we all know the Q have some odd fascination with us, and like to meddle in our affairs too from time to time. But what if the Q actually **are us** –only in the distant future? The Q do transcend space and time, after all. And, in the _Star Trek: the Next Generation_ final episode, the Q wanted to deny our very existence, unless we proved we had the capacity to grow and learn. Could it be that the Q were actually just trying to point us in the right direction to become them some day? Hmmm…
Of course some might say that it would be terrible if we became like the sometimes sadistic Q. So for these people, I would just add the second plot twist that, yes, the Q are us–but from an alternate time line.
So what do you think of my idea? BTW, do any _Star Trek_ producers or writers ever read these boards;) ?
🙂
---
### Author:  [@Sanscour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanscour)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/2 "2003-09-25T10:35:16Z")
Sounds interesting. I always considered the Q to human comparison to Humans and animals.
And if I may hijack ever so briefly…Thank _youuuu_
I always had an idea for a story about a Q being severely injured, cut off from all other Q’s on a remote planet. The Borg find out and haul ass to attempt to assimilate him before he dies, infusing the Borg with the power of an assimilated Q. Q comes to Picard, asks for help since they can’t get to him, and in case the Borg DO manage to assimilate him first, they upgrade the Enterprise with Q technology and the crew with Q weapons and armor. The inside of the ship and the crew would probably look similar to the days of Capone, since mere human minds cannot truly grasp Q technology. I dunno what the Enterprise would look like. If you wanted to be really sentimental, you could make it look like the Tardis as an homage to _Dr Who_.
Back to your idea **Jim B** would be if a race OTHER than humans, like the Romulans, discovered a way to advance themselves so they wouldn’t be quite like Q, but a far enough leap so that they would be the dominate species, and that would be bad since we all know Romulans are bastages.
As I said, interesting thought, though I think Q would choke on his donut if humans made the evolutionary leap…kind of like an unsavory neighbor moving next door. Galactical racism ensues and stuff. Instead of…“Oh Margeret! Mexicans are moving next to us!\*” " it would be “Oh Q! Humans are moving next door to us!”
Sanscour
\*No offense to Mexicans of any kind in this thread. They are very good people and skilled workers…they will make EXCELLENT drones! _evil Borg Laughter_ Just kidding.
---
### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/3 "2003-09-25T11:20:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> They were magical to us only like, for example, Europeans must’ve seemed magical to Native Americans when they started colonizing North America hundreds of years ago.
Other than fanciful imagination born of a smug superiority complex, there is no evidence to suggest that Indians were that stupid. By all accounts, most of them thought Europeans were savages, tyrants, and terrorists. Nothing more.
---
### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/4 "2003-09-25T11:24:50Z")
I’m not really sure that’s right, though. remember, Will Riker was temporarily made into a Q, and he never mentioned anything about technology. It was all about some internal power.
---
### Author:  [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/5 "2003-09-25T11:42:45Z")
I always wondered if the Q and the Wormhole Beings from DS9 were somehow related. It would make sense that the wormhole was just some kind of giant cocoon and the Wormhole Beings were all-powerful larvae who built their own society while waiting to hatch…
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/6 "2003-09-25T12:14:47Z")
You’d have to throw in Trelaine at some point. Maybe he’s the futuristic descedant of really _faaaabulous_ humans.
I always hated Q, myself. The concept struck me as infantile wish-fulfillment anathema to serious drama.
---
### Author:  [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/7 "2003-09-25T12:55:16Z")
There’s a fun book in the Star Trek series that has both Q and Trelane - Q-Squared by Peter David. Without any spoilers, I can tell you that it nicely ties TOS to TNG, then adds some nifty twists. Not highbrow literature, to be sure, but still fun.
---
### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/8 "2003-09-25T13:42:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I always had an idea for a story about a Q being severely injured, cut off from all other Q’s on a remote planet. The Borg find out and haul ass to attempt to assimilate him before he dies, infusing the Borg with the power of an assimilated Q. Q comes to Picard, asks for help
If Q can leave this remote planet to ask Picard for help, he would have no need to ask Picard for help. Instead of going to Picard, he can simply hie to a remote portion of the universe beyond the reach of the Borg.
Sorry.
---
### Author:  [@RonA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RonA)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/9 "2003-09-25T17:20:19Z")
How does an omnipotent being get injured?
Come to think of it, do the Q have any weaknesses or vunerabilities? How _do_ you injure a Q? Can a Q be killed? I know there’s something between Q and Guinnan’s race; was that ever explained? Perhaps they know Q’s weaknesses???
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/10 "2003-09-25T18:03:54Z")
Well, considering that a Q was once played by Corbin Bernsen, I’d assume a weakness was the inability to resist making crappy movies like _Major League_ and _Major League II_.
---
### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/11 "2003-09-25T18:19:48Z")
I always liked Q, immortality coupled with omnipotence would breed precisely the type of being that would love to harrass a younger species. Just like I like to bug my kittens 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/12 "2003-09-25T19:25:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I always wondered if the Q and the Wormhole Beings from DS9 were somehow related.
The Prophets are a heckofa lot more powerful than the Q. In the Next Gen finale, the real reason that Q helps out Picard is because the Q are scared silly of the temporal anomaly. It wouldn’t have stopped at destroying human history; it would have stopped the Q, too. But the Prophets, now, they live in a temporal anomoly that they created (create, are creating, will create, whatever) themselves.
And I think that **Sanscour** was referring to some other random Q being the stranded one, and the obnoxious Q we all know and hate goes to Picard for help. It’d take a heck of an explanation, though, to say how a Q could be injured, and why the other Qs can’t help him directly.
---
### Author:  [@Elmer\_Snerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_Snerd)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/13 "2003-09-25T21:23:09Z")
FWIW, I remember a TNG episode in which Q reveals at least a portion of the Q’s fascination with humans. At some point in the future, humans may Unlock Their Unique and Previously Untapped Potential(science fiction cliche #752). Q expressed the opinion that humanity might even surpass the Q at this point.
I don’t recall the title or most of the plot after all these years, but it might have been the “Q angers the other Q and they strip his powers until he proves that he can be a good little Q again” episode.
> [@](#):
>
> How does an omnipotent being get injured?
IIRC, sufficiently powerful cosmic forces could at least mildly inconveniece a Q, especially if other Q were Qonspiring against Q.
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/14 "2003-09-25T21:38:53Z")
On one of the myriad interviews on the TNG and DS9 DVDs, one of the writers mentions that an idea for a movie that he always wanted to make was one where Q goes insane, causing havok all over the universe, and the Enterprise has to save him from his own dementia.
---
### Author:  [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/15 "2003-09-25T21:46:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RonA \*
> \*\*How does an omnipotent being get injured?
>
> Come to think of it, do the Q have any weaknesses or vunerabilities? How _do_ you injure a Q? Can a Q be killed? I know there’s something between Q and Guinnan’s race; was that ever explained? Perhaps they know Q’s weaknesses??? \*\*
Wasn’t there an episode of _Voyager_ in which the Q were engaged in some sort of civil war, and they were getting “injured” in battle and such? I remember it only vaguely, and mostly because it seemed stupid to me at the time (still does).
Still, it does establish the possibility of Q hurting each other…
---
### Author:  [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/16 "2003-09-25T22:15:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Of course some might say that it would be terrible if we became like the sometimes sadistic Q.
Anyone who thinks that the entire human race becoming as entertaining as John DeLancie should be dragged out into the street and stomped upon by Og.
---
### Author:  [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/17 "2003-09-25T22:18:45Z")
Wait. Wait. Hold on. I was in such a rage at the time. Anyone who thinks that the entire human race becoming as entertaining as John DeLancie WOULD BE A BAD THING …
---
### Author:  [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/18 "2003-09-26T04:03:09Z")
In the opening season of TNG, I also thought Q was kind of a goofy idea, and wasn’t too crazy about it. However, it grew on me, and I simply can’t **not** like John DeLancie.
Still a favorite line:
Q: So Worf… eat any good books lately?
---
### Author:  [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/19 "2003-09-26T05:15:29Z")
I read the book _I, Q_, which was pretty entertaining. And while I can’t really remember the plot, there was an equally powerful continuum race called the M that appeared for no good reason other than that everybody needs an enemy. And the conversation that brings about the universe-spanning conflict is funny, though I won’t spoil it.
---
### Author:  [@Sanscour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanscour)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-star-trek-plot-twist-re-q/203710/20 "2003-09-26T09:36:03Z")
Yes **Avalonian** , in an episode of Voyager there was a huge hubub because Q wanted Janeway to bear his child (i hope I’m getting my episodes straight). There was a major battle between him and the other Qs, but since humans couldn’t understand the complexity of Q weaponry and such it was made to look like the Civil War, with muskets and canons. And the Q we all know and love WAS injured. So from this we can surmise that Q have weapons, and Q can be killed. For all we know they may not even be ‘immortal’, they simply live so long that they seem immortal by our standards. We’re not immortal, yet to the lifespan of say, a fly, we might as well be.
As for the basis of a Q being injured and why the others can’t help him, make up your own ideas 🙂 I thought about it probably the best thing to come up with is that the planet somehow negates the innate powers of a Q, thereby not only leaving the wounded Q stranded, but leaving any other Q equally screwed if they managed to get to him. So Delancie Q would go to Picard and ask for assistance.
How did the Q get there in the first place? Dunno about that. I’ll leave that answer to someone who is supremely more geeky than I am.
Sanscour