ivanafterallStarted Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first time last night. How big of an ongoing factor is "Q?" Because I kind of hate him.
I also had no idea the top portion of the U.S.S. Enterprise could separate like that. That was pretty sweet.
InfynisHe’s a pretty major character, but that only means one or two episodes per season. He’s just got a thing for Picard
ummthatguyYeah, a thing. Minor spoiler.
Hot SaucermanI don’t know why it’s hilarious to me that Picard pulls up his covers like he’s ashamed at a multidimensional demigod who probably can see through his clothes anyway if he so wished.
It’s just such a cute and pointless attempt at privacy with a nearly all powerful being.
DrChaoticaBe honest: you just wanted an excuse to post that reference, didn’t you?
I actually remembered it after I made the comment, and edited it in. Realized how Patrick Stewart at least already understands.
GreenMarioIdk John DeLancie has that “Tim Curry” energy where he chews the scenery well and is fun to watch but wasn’t much a fan of Season 1 Q.
It gets better.
I agree. It got unexpectedly trippy and weird at times, which was a pleasant surprise. He just came across really cornbally. I could imagine him maybe growing on me.
Penalty!
His best line: “Eat any good books latey?”
I hated him in the first couple of episodes too; but when TNG started, I get like everything was overly dramatic. Picard bellowing out heavy-handed soliloquies, Worf growling and gnashing his teeth, Riker swaggering around pretending to be Kirk from the old days… things settle down pretty quickly though, and the characters become less two-dimensional.
As for Q specifically, he’s not around a whole lot, but he makes an appearance or two per season maybe. He ends up more curious about humanity than being adversarial against humanity, but he still sometimes just throws a monkey-wrench into everything for his own amusement or to test a theory, once in a while.
Stick with it, it’s a really good show.
When you see Riker grow his beard, you’ll know the series has matured.
For me it's when Geordi becomes chief engineer, like God intended.
Oh wow, I had blocked it out of my mind that he ever wasn’t.
Haha it’s true - Q even makes a wisecrack about Riker’s beard, at one point!
HupfPicard bellowing out heavy-handed soliloquies
Sesame Street: Patrick Stewart Soliloquy on B
Hahaha put him in his captain’s uniform and it’s virtually indistinguishable!
How big of an ongoing factor is “Q?” Because I kind of hate him.
Blaspheme! Will no one rid me of this turbulent critique?
If you don’t like him, you can just skip his episodes & not miss much.
I mean, "Q Who" is kind of important to the series, if not the franchise as a whole.
CrackhappyWell… and the finale.
Does Tapestry count? Because that’s a great episode that shouldn’t be skipped.
I disagree. Borg much?
That said, I was never able to decide whether I hated Q or Wesley more.
It’s always Wesley in questions like this.
RozaŭtunoHe’ll grow on you eventually. And if he doesn’t, watch Voyager and DS9 to see him suffer 😈
Sisko’s whole attitude to Q is just so damn funny. “I’M NOT PICARD!”
His transformation during the series is interesting. He’s developing as he learns about humanity.
Also don’t miss the episodes in Voyager featuring hom ;-)
You’re supposed to hate Q. The Enterprise crew hates Q. He is an annoying trickster god.
MudManHonestly, if you started from scratch nothing you see in season one applies.
Just... assume everything reboots after but they keep the lore. It'll be fine.
It surprised me on a recent rewatch how much of season one endured. I was going to use the spoiler tag but I'm not sure how it works and I don't want to wreck someone's experience, so I'll say shortly: episodes 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 18 all have something about them that is important to the series as a whole.
Thanks, you talked me back into sticking with it from the beginning. I'd wonder what I missed if I skipped a whole season or two, I think.
A lot. People here keep mentioning "Q Who?" as important. It very much is, to the entire franchise, not just TNG. And in the end, when Picard is musing aloud over what happened, it'll be your first opportunity to consider that Q might have done them a favor in his way and is more complex than you thought.
Before it’s too late: Skip episode 4. “Code of Honor,” alternate title: “The Gang Gets Racist”
Don't forget "Racism 2: Irish Boogaloo" when O'Brien beams up that colony of goat herders.
Semi-Hemi-DemigodIn season 1 Riker doesn't have a beard, which is your first clue it's a holodeck simulation.
I saw some people say to start with Season 3, but it felt weird. Should I just skip Season 1?
I'd say no, but muscle through it even if it's not clicking.
Frankly, there are great episodes in the first two seasons, it just hadn't fully hit a groove where you can just watch it and at least expect it to be ok to good (or hilarious) every time. The hatred for the first seasons is overhyped.
But yeah, a lot of the creaky joints, be it Picard being weirdly hostile and disengaged from the action, Q being weird and grating and Wesley being mishandled do go away eventually.
AmosBurton_ThatGuyWhen I first started TNG I just looked up a list of the best episodes from season 1 and 2 and watched those then went straight to season 3. After I finished the show and loved it, I went back and rewatched seasons 1 and 2 fully. So that’s a good option if you just wanna get to the good stuff quicker, and each episode is (for the most part) it’s own self contained episode so you don’t miss much by skipping parts of seasons 1 and 2 IMO as long as you watch the good episodes.
I’m on break at work so I don’t have time to find the list I used but sure you can find something easily with a Google search or someone else here might recommend the best episodes of those seasons.
I’d agree with the other comment as well. The first two seasons are bumpy but they build a lot.
Skipping them, even where they’re rough, does you a disservice in the long run. It’s well worth the trouble.
Just skip the Riker Clip Show at the end of season 2, and you’ll be fine. Apparently that episode was created because writers were on strike at the time
The first couple seasons were still under Gene Roddenberry’s control. He maintained that there should not be any conflict between the crew members. That made the first couple seasons a little strange.
Interesting that it's considered to have gotten better when he wasn't controlling it? I didn't realize that.
He had his eccentricities. It’s hard to make a compelling show about human stories when the main cast aren’t allowed to have interpersonal conflicts. But his vision of the utopian future would be that society wouldn’t have in-fighting anymore.
He shows up here and there, I don't know maybe 1.5 times a season or something. I'd need to check exact counts.
HausIf it helps - Q introduces a "bad guy" to the series that is so famous that people who haven't seen the series have heard of them.
Wesley??!?
Close enough. The universe’s most dangerous animal is Man.
Ohh, you’re correct, I’d forgotten that Q had introduced that… particular bad guy.
I see you resisted the urge to say who
JWBananasI understood that reference
I didn’t want to give spoilers on a TV show that came out 36 years ago.
matt_daemon_old.gif
RivalarrivalYou’re supposed to kinda hate Q. He plays a recurring role here and there throughout the series, but not a central one.
The first season of TNG is a bit rough; it definitely improves.
Season two also isn’t the greatest. But its got some solid stories that do affect things later.
Mostly I just can’t stand Pulaski
I don't like her either, but I would say that's not because Muldaur is a bad actress, or because she was a bad character.
For example, her being a dick to Data really helped his character growth. She was abrasive but it really helped TNG grow its beard.
I've read before that they were trying to recreate the rivalry between Spock and McCoy. Whether they did that intentionally or not, it fails with Data because he's too innocent to reciprocate, so Pulaski was always punching down. To me, that did make her a bad character.
NakedmoleShe is introduced as a character full of prejudice against synthetic humanoids, who overcomes her bias while actually getting to know Data. She learns to see her mistake and ends up fully respecting Data as a sentient being after some time. I would say that´s a pretty cool example of realistic character development and much more interesting than the over perfect characters we get to see earlier on the show, much more interesting to watch than two dimensional characters like Beverly Crusher imo.
100%
She’s a great actress doing a fantastic job of playing a very unlikable character. Except that she’s not unlikable in the way a good unlikable character is. She’s not the way OP is feeling about Q.
But it’s not just the way she interacts with Data, which does result in character growth for both of them. I’m sure they were going for the adversarial thing but it didn’t work, with Data or anyone else.
He’s like Murdoc from MacGyver. You hate the character but you can sense that he’s going to be defeated eventually and it’ll be a fun ride getting there.
Hot take: you don’t fully appreciate Q until you’ve watched all the episodes he’s in. That includes the ones in Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
ares35don't forget the old compaq videos.