I also had no idea the top portion of the Starship Enterprise could separate like that. That was pretty sweet.
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.
For some reason I feel compelled to up-boop the reference to MLP 🤔😅
don’t forget the old compaq videos.
I wish we could create playlists like this for shows. I don’t have the interest to watch deep space 9 but I love Q. Same goes for Clone Wars, don’t have the time but a few threads are important.
And StarCraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm
Unless you are a completist who’s willing to sit through the less than good episodes, you may want to use an episode guide such as this one which I found useful when I went back to rewatch it. Yes Q is kind of annoying, that’s actually his character and how everyone in the show feels about him too. But there are also some fantastic episodes with him, so once you get to those, you may not hate his presence as much.
I feel compelled to recommend this guide by a long time Daystrom Institute contributor. It does an excellent job identifying episodes as essential, unnecessary but fun, mediocre, or outright bad. A good place to work from if you want a more flexible recommendation of what to try and what not to.
Idk 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.
His best line: “Eat any good books lately?”
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!
I felt the exact same way about Q after the first episode both as a character and as a concept for the show. They basically introduced God in the first episode of a science fiction show and he is annoying and arrogant.
But he is actually one of the best characters by the time the show is over and his all-powerful nature is toned down a little bit.
Season 1 is pretty goofy and inconsistent overall. Give it a chance and accept it for what it is and by season 4 the writing is some of the best in science fiction TV.
There’s literally a trope for how bad TNG was in the first seasons… until Riker grew a beard.
introduced God… he is annoying and arrogant
I mean, if you had those powers too, wouldn’t you be a little arrogant?
Au Contraire Mon Capitan! You are gonna love me!
Keep going. It get’s much much better. Each season is better than the last, but Season 2 is where the feel of the show stablises and softens; it’ll always be jarring when you go back to season 1 after you pass it. Season 3 is definitely where it starts to hit it’s stride.
It’s largely an episodic show; you could skip to season 3 and go back to the season 1 & 2 later without missing much. A few recurring characters and themese like do Q make more sense if you watch from the start though.
If you’re really wavering definitely skip to season 3.
This advice here is it, OP. I’ve watched the whole series close to 10 times by now, and sometimes even I skip season 1. However, it does add some good context, and flashbacks in later seasons will make sense and give you a better feeling of attachment to the events if you’ve seen them.
While definitely true for the most part, I feel like the first episode is pretty important for a number of other reasons and there are things in season 1 that are explored for Data that are referenced throughout the series.
They already watched the first episode
While true of OP, I was responding to the idea that I’ve could skip the entire first season on the first watch.
The first season is rough but it sets up a lot of things that are touched on in later seasons.
You’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.
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I don´t really care if they tried to recreate a Spock/McCoy rivalry. Pulaski is a great character by herself. Don´t let your sympathy for Data cloud your judgement. Pulaski 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 an equal, sentient being. It is one of the earliest examples of actual character development on the show and much more interesting to watch than two dimensional, over perfect characters.
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.
If you hated him on Next Gen, you’ll really hate him on Deep Space Nine. Fortunately, he only appeared there once.
Voyager. You’ll see.
They saw then Picard
As great as TNG is, the first season is like the first season of any show: characters are less developed and the vibe is somewhat different than later offerings.
As the show progresses, everything kind of falls into a better place. In fact, the Q character allows for some of the best episodes in the series (e.g. Tapestry). So my advice would be to stick with it and you’ll likely feel different later on.
He’s a pretty major character, but that only means one or two episodes per season. He’s just got a thing for Picard
I had no idea there were people who didn’t like Q. His introduction is by far the weakest thing about him but Q is honestly hilarious in subsequent episodes and I think his race are a very poignant commentary on what an actual race of godlike beings would be like if real.
Your supposed to hate Q thats part of the fun. Picard hates him
I’m not sure Picard actively hates him. However, I do think his reaction is basically the Picard facepalm jpg whenever he interacts with Q.
Yeah, whereas Sisko punched Q.
I’m with Sisko on that.
Sisko understands that you can’t negotiate with the powerful, he knows you need Direct Action.
So were the Prophets, apparently. I bet Q felt their energy behind that punch and noped out of there.
I was so disappointed in Sisko. So much opportunity, and he punches it in the face.
I think to Picard, Q is just this buffoon with god powers and chooses to use them purely for wind ups. He knows he can’t do jack to stop him but scolds him at every opportunity.
I would have loved one character to just disappear on a massive bender with Q for a while and come back totally fried but just slot back into their spot on the ship
but scolds him at every opportunity.
Which is exactly why Q keeps doing it.
Like that Skyrim quest where you party with a Daedric prince and wake up all the way across the map.
A Night To Remember! One of my all time favourites.
Picard doesn’t hate him, but Picard understands that Q isn’t operating in good faith and is always aimed at undermining humanity.
The problem I would think, as Picard sees it, is there is no reasonable way to do battle with Q or stop him, and so instead of a radical path of eliminating Q’s ability to interfere entirely, we’re given what appears to be a very tepid, liberal response where we’re supposed to work with terrible people who aren’t operating in good faith simply because they have power and aren’t afraid to use it.
Picard is from a strictly socialist society, and that means at some point, they understood how to deal with people like this, who are operating in bad faith. The new wrinkle is that Q is so powerful, you have to hope that you can just talk him down, because there is no way to remove him from the equation or remove his powers.
Picard officially stopped hating Q after s6e15 “Tapestry”
If 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.
He’s kind of the main recurring antagonist for TNG and even shows up in Voyager. His character does get better written as the show goes on.
I’m jealous that you’re getting your first go through, that was a pretty magical experience.
I usually watch the whole series every couple of years, and I’m due for a watch now, but I can’t. Star Trek was something I shared with my dad, who died two years ago, and I just can’t seem to make myself watch it anymore.
I watched Star Trek because my dad introduced me to it. I’m now a dad and I am sharing it with my kids.
I don’t know you, and I don’t know your family, but if your father liked Star Trek enough to introduce you to it, my guess is that he wouldn’t want his death to take that away from you. If anything, my bet would be he’d hope it would bring you comfort and fond memories and hope for the future.
I hope you can get there when enough time has passed, and I hope this message might help it all hurt a little less.
Oh yeah he totally would want me to keep on going, and I’m trying, but there’s just too much emotion there. It’s a show that I love because it’s a testament to what humanity could accomplish if we just got our shit together, and I’ve always felt emotionally attached to the show… it’s just too much right now.
Eventually.
Grief is complicated, and two years is no time at all to recover from the death of a parent. It makes complete sense that watching something you associate with him would still be painful, and there’s nothing to be gained by forcing it.
Eventually you’ll reach the point where reminders of your father bring up happy feelings, with the pain of losing him still present, but not overwhelming. That won’t happen fast, but you will get there. That’s the time to give TNG another go, and see how it makes you feel.
Hang in there, friend.
