Q Who
- Episode aired May 6, 1989
- TV-PG
- 46m
Q tries to prove that Picard needs him as part of their crew by hurling the Enterprise 7,000 light years away where they encounter the Borg for the first time.Q tries to prove that Picard needs him as part of their crew by hurling the Enterprise 7,000 light years away where they encounter the Borg for the first time.Q tries to prove that Picard needs him as part of their crew by hurling the Enterprise 7,000 light years away where they encounter the Borg for the first time.
- Q
- (as John deLancie)
- Enterprise Computer
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Borg
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Crewman Martinez
- (uncredited)
- Command Division Officer
- (uncredited)
- Borg
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Borg
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Borg were originally conceived as being a race of insects (as featured in the previous season's Conspiracy (1988)). Budget restrictions meant that the decision was made to go with cyborgs instead. Nevertheless, Q Who still went $50,000 over budget. Insectoid races would appear as enemies in the subsequent series Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001).
- GoofsAs Guinan warns Picard to protect the Enterprise from the Borg, Picard orders the shields raised. Moments later, even though the shields are active, the Borg beam over. Considering that they are technologically much more advanced, it is conceivable that they may have found a way to transport through shields.
- Quotes
Capt. Picard: I understand what you've done here, Q. But I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of 18 members of my crew.
Q: If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid.
- Crazy creditsThe episode's credits begin a full minute after the theme music.
- Alternate versionsTo fit more commercial time, BBC America cuts bits and scenes from episodes. In their edit for this episode, the final conversation between Guinan and Picard while played chess is completely excised.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Borg (2004)
- SoundtracksStar Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage
Unfortunately the episode is also flawed by several scenes (totaling about five minutes) devoted to introducing Ensign Sonya Gomez, a meaningless throwaway character. Perhaps the producers were auditioning the character for a larger role but if so nothing ever came of it.
The episode is also flawed by the showrunner's bizarre decision to have Picard stop in the middle of the battle with the Borg to leave the bridge and have a conference. The whole thing comes off as a joke on corporate culture in the Eighties.
Interestingly, "Q Who" was first shown on May 6, 1989 which is about six weeks after the beginning of the long-running Dilbert cartoon series. Ridiculing Eighties corporate culture was the original driving force of the Dilbert series. Given that Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert is a science fiction fan, it is highly likely he saw this ep and found it as ridiculous as many other Trek fans did.
"Q Who" is one of the ten most important episodes in the "Next Generations" series, and one of the top twenty in the development of the franchise, but for itself, as a dramatic production, I cannot rate this ep any higher than '7' on the IMDb scale.
- Eradan
- Jul 7, 2021
Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1