Q2 (2)

 DVD, Voyager (Q2) (2)

That's the answer to the change in Trek's quality and tone in the modern era: it's been taken over by a juvenile Q (although, does that mean Alex Kurtzman is omnipotent...?). It occurred to me when Q2, as the title calls him (even though no one in the actual episode calls him that), expressed disinterest in playing Kadis-kot because there aren't any explosions in it. That on a microscopic level is what Trek is now all about: style without substance. Another key line to my understanding came when Janeway tells Q he needs to make Q2 understand their are consequences to his actions, a valuable lesson for Kurtzman - or is he the Daddy Q and Akiva Goldsman the errant child, glorying in his anarchic manipulation of Trek? If only it were that simple, the Q can at least be appealed to... I jest, but the truth is, the Q are difficult to deal with. Not because they're omnipotent or omniscient, because they clearly aren't all-knowing, nor can they do anything at any time (witness Q2 being stripped of his powers or our Q being subject to the Continuum's decisions), but they're still capable of doing almost anything and that tends to strip away a coherent story or sense of investment or stakes. In other words they make episodes nonsensical! I suppose enough is kept vague about them that we can never really understand what they're about, but it also means they're so beyond the confines of storytelling that they make stories pointless, and that's a problem.

The times when Q worked best was when he was teaching humanity, or more specifically Picard, a lesson, and while it's fun to hear more about their society, if you can call it that, or get developments on such, just being about the Q doesn't get us anywhere because they're beyond us, they're like their own separate dimension or universe, akin to the Mirror Universe, another running history that ended up a little bit pointless from overuse and under-thinking. It's almost like this series itself doesn't quite remember what the Q are, Chakotay claims one of their responsibilities is to maintain order in the Universe. Since when, I don't remember that ever being a likely course of action? Maybe our Q is a bit of a renegade and a rebel, but it all seems rather petty to be getting involved with such 'lower' species at all. A good reason why he never whisked Voyager home - at least Janeway does ask why he won't do that this time and he has a fine excuse that he wouldn't be leading much of an example for his son, plus it would have been a major disappointment that they used this 'god' card, small 'g,' for want of a better analogy, to end the series after all these years - if that were the case why not have Q come in at the end of every Trek series and solve the problem, or even better, be there at the start so nothing went wrong in the first place!

You can see they were really trying to create a worthwhile story that brings development without breaking the bank - they probably didn't want to go down the route of the last Q episode, Season 3's 'The Q and The Grey' with all its expensive location shooting and antique costumes, etc. But if you're going to shoot for developing the Q then maybe they should have delved into the history a bit: bring back some other Q characters we'd seen across their appearances, at the very least Suzie Plakson for one last showing as the Female Q. As it is they're trying to deal with Q's son who has all the same lack of care for other life forms his Father demonstrated, but where Q seemed somehow purposeful in some of those 'TNG' stories, in 'Voyager' he tends to come across as frivolous (not as frivolous as his lone 'DS9' appearance which is more of a curio than a serious entry!). How can you teach an adolescent if you have no power over him? That could have been an angle to head down, somehow outwitting his destructive tendencies and playing on his weaknesses to curb them, but then they'd have had to be really clever in the writing, it would have had to be a much more psychological study and experience, and this late in the season, on this series, and a TV show, you weren't likely to get the depth necessary to make all this worthwhile.

Perhaps what hurts the episode is that it's meant to be a Q story, but it turns out to be more like half a Q story since John De Lancie doesn't appear for many scenes (I enjoyed the shot where he appears at the Turbolift door, Janeway shuts it and walks down the corridor, only for Q to pop in from the other side - De Lancie must've run round the set, and did it without seeming out of breath!). It does take the story on from the baby he had in Season 3, and again, the 'peace child' angle, living up to the weight of expectations for an entire species' survival (and with it the Galaxy at large), could have been explored and deepened rather than merely being one line. It becomes a simple tale of a son acting up, threatened with punishment, rebels even harder, experiences consequences, then sees the error of his ways. I suppose for our puny human minds (and puny human TV series'), to grasp the Q it has to be simplified, but somehow that doesn't make it one of the more satisfying stories. Back when I originally saw it I thought it was great, simply because it had been several years in real time since Q had appeared, and he's one of the few Alpha Quadrant races or established characters that can easily show up, having the run of all space. And for many years this was the last Q episode - he never returned for any of the films or 'Enterprise,' so it was a sort of trivia experience to watch: the last ever Q story. But even that's changed with 'Lower Decks' featuring a cameo, then 'Picard' bringing him back a little more substantially (though to even less effect than this episode!). If the 'Legacy' series happens with Picard's son and Q there to guide/annoy him, De Lancie could be back, but at this stage I feel the character (and maybe Trek itself), has run its course.

This episode is really about Q's son, however, ably played by De Lancie's actual offspring, Keegan, another fun trivia fact. But then that's what the episode is, really, and does remind me a lot of modern Trek with its references and general impression of inconsequential storytelling. It was great fun to see many of the main Alpha Quadrant races sat round Voyager's Briefing Room table (the Nausicaan played by Anthony Holiday who'd already been in this season as Rulat in 'Shattered'), even if it does remind us of the more interesting stories we could be getting if Voyager had got home already. It's even more fun that the Cardassian apologises for the Occupation to the Bajoran (even if we're shortchanged and don't see it actually happen, only the aftermath). There's lore galore with what may be the first time we'd ever seen a Bolian in his own race's uniform rather Starfleet's, representing the species rather than the Federation. The fact we get references to both Kirk and Picard early on, in those days would have been a coup as we weren't living in constant Nostalgia Factor Ten where it's relied on in lieu of great writing or exploration - indeed, those kind of references are par for the course. It's lovely to get actual onscreen confirmation that 2270 was the year Kirk's five-year mission ended, as heard in Icheb's report, the first time it had been said on screen, I believe. Even the old training uniforms Tuvok used to wear when exercising Maquis recruits, are back when he takes Q2 for a jog round the corridors! And what about Janeway's bath, have we seen one in her Quarters before? And of course the rare opportunity for Majel Barrett to inject personality into the Computer voice, probably not since 'TOS' (the Replicator replying to an order with the retort to 'make it yourself').

These are all fun and entertaining parts in their own right, but not enough to sustain such a basic story, and one that relies far too heavily on the guest cast. That mistake was made in 'Q-Less' on 'DS9,' and that put this episode in the same category of not using the Q to the best of their potential (sort of the theme of the episode in a way), while sidelining the people we really want to see interacting. Sure, you get little cameos from various characters, Paris taking Icheb and Q2 out for piloting lessons on the Flyer, B'Elanna aghast at her Engine Room being turned into a rave for barely dressed women (Q2's references to the attractiveness of humanoid women at odds with his low opinion of 'bipedal' species, but it's just one of the many contradictions about the Q, I suppose, and only follows his Dad's interest in procreating with Janeway...), although it certainly put a new spin on 'observing humanity' when he strips Seven of her clothes! Another contradictory statement was Q reminding his son that the Q Continuum's rule is not to provoke the Borg - this once again suggests they aren't omnipotent after all (if there was ever any doubt), but true to the consistency of their being inconsistent, provoking the Borg was exactly what Q did with the Enterprise, unless he's tacitly admitting that was a mistake seeing what it led to between the Borg and humanity over the years (another sign of lack of omniscience!). Was De Lancie actually in the great alien makeup he used as a disguise? Seems not, Michael Kagan's credited, which is a shame, it would have been fun to have De Lancie disguise his voice. And what about the Doctor claiming only Q can restore Neelix' vocal cords, surely a small matter for 24th Century medicine?

Levar Burton was fine as Director, but I don't tend to associate his style with flair, and maybe that would have assisted this episode. I'm not saying it was drab or dull, but it wasn't exactly suited when it should have at least been dynamic and experimental enough to take our minds off the lacking story (think of the boxing match in 'Q-Less' - the episode wasn't up to much, but that moment stands out). Keegan was fine, De Lancie was fine, but it never left me with the regret at how much we'd lost by not having more Q episodes. It really is a case of needing to have a terrific and worthwhile story for Q and then seeing him milk it. The cast need to be fully involved, especially as we're running out of time - Icheb, for all he's a great character, wasn't well suited to the excitable, bad boy exuberance of Q2 (a shame he wasn't used to his best in what was his penultimate appearance), and the episode seems to be mostly Janeway casting her eyes to the heavens in despair. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a bad episode, as I mentioned there are curios and nuggets (though another area where they seemed to forget the history is when the Q judges appear decked out in what were supposed to be 21st Century robes, since in 'Encounter At Farpoint' he was recreating a court from the post-apocalyptic horror period in Earth's 'history'!), but it doesn't gel well and can even be a little tiresome at times. Yet I'd still watch this multiple times rather than sit through 'Picard' Season 2 again!

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