Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine
Episode
Particulars: S1EP6, “Q-Less”
Standalone
Thoughts: How you react to this episode is probably going to depend heavily
on your knowledge of Q/The Next
Generation. While Sisko has heard of him and O’Brien gives us some
background, thanks to his first-hand experience on the Enterprise, I think most people would be baffled if this was their
first introduction to the character. They might still grow to like him—there’s
a reason he got so popular, after all—but I think he wouldn’t have the same
impact on newcomers as he would on longtime Trek
fans.
In fact, the first act handles Q’s introduction poorly
regardless of your familiarity with the character. If you haven’t heard of Q,
you’ll see the lingering shot of him at the end of the teaser and know that man
has something to do with the power drain. So when the power goes down again
later and the show tries to inject some drama and mystery into it, it doesn’t
work because we have a good idea of what’s causing it. And if you are familiar with Q, it’s even worse,
because you’ve seen him in the teaser and are now impatiently waiting for him
to start having an effect on the plot, so your reaction will be more along the
lines of “Well, obviously it has
something to do with Q. Why are you trying to leave us in suspense, writers?” Having
the power drains just happen and introduce Q by having him pop in unexpectedly
after it’s happened once or twice would probably have been better.
(Granted, Q isn’t directly responsible for the power
outages, but it’s not an unreasonable assumption.)
The rest of the episode will probably be decent enough
for newcomers. They won’t know Vash’s history with the franchise, but the
dialogue and Hetrick’s performance does manage to give us a sense of her character
so we can easily follow along. And most of the plot could probably be rewritten
without Q, so it’s easy to follow along on that score. Still, I think any
newcomers would feel that they were
watching an in-joke that they’re not part of, which is not a feeling you want
to instill when you’re only six episodes into your run.
As for watching the episode when you are familiar with Q…it’s decent enough. Q has a lot of amusing
moments and lines, but he’s not afraid to get menacing at times, and de Lancie
blends those two sides fairly well. Personally, I like Q well enough, but I was
fairly indifferent to the episode. There are some good bits, but it lacks the
depth of the first two episodes, or even the warm, easy watchability of “Captive
Pursuit”. It’s a mildly amusing episode that you mostly remember for Q and not
much else. Nothing wrong with that, but compared to what the show is capable
of, it winds up feeling slightly blah.
How it Relates to
the Whole: I don’t believe this episode has a huge impact on anything. We
get to see Oo-mox for the first time, but otherwise, there’s no recurring
themes or foreshadowing (intentional or otherwise). As for major character
development, there’s not a lot there either, with the exceptions of Sisko
showing that he handles things very differently than Picard or Kirk ever did
and something that I’ll discuss in more detail below. As for Vash and Q,
neither ever show up again, which feels like a missed opportunity in hindsight.
Given Vash’s experience in the Gamma Quadrant, she could have been a good
resource later on in the series, but the show seems to have forgotten about her.
As a result, on a rewatch this episode comes across as an exercise in fan
pandering, trying to get people interested in the new Trek show by bringing in some familiar faces. Entertaining
pandering, but pandering nonetheless.
Now, about that exception. I’m not sure if this was a
direction the writers had always meant to go, or if responses from fans were
trickling in and they were responding to that, but Bashir’s character makes an
unexpected change in this episode. As I noted in a reply to a comment, the
writers didn’t fully seem to know how to handle Bashir. When he needed to be
Dr. Bashir, he was perfectly competent. In his downtime…he was awkward at best
and came across as an idiot at worst. Maybe they were trying to go for the
trope of a person who’s good at their job but lacks social skills, but the
difference between on-duty and off-duty Bashir was hard to reconcile. In “Q-less”,
meanwhile, he’s turned into a smooth talking playboy, hitting on any woman who
he finds attractive. Given what we’ve seen so far, this is a development that
comes out of left field. I feel like everyone involved is still trying to
figure out what to do with him, and we’re just going to have to wait and see
what they settle on.
Other: *Speaking
of sudden playboy Bashir…I know there’s the cliché of women being attracted to
doctors, but I wouldn’t think telling anecdotes of your college medical exams
would be a surefire pickup line. Apparently it works for Bashir, though. He
must have quite the way with words.
*I like the idea of the assay office (aka safety deposit
boxes). Given the extensive security measures the guy in charge describes,
there’s some potential there for later episodes. Unfortunately, I don’t
remember if it ever comes into play again.
*While Q is trying to convince Vash to come back and have
adventures with him, he tries to entice her with the fact that they haven’t
explored the Delta Quadrant yet. Voyager,
at this point, is two years away, but I wonder if the idea was being kicked
around the office, and this was a bit of foreshadowing.
*I do like the Quark/Vash interactions. When two devious
people play off each other, it can be a lot of fun, and those two make a great
pair, especially since both of them win victories throughout the course of the
episode.
*Vash’s earrings are ridiculous. I mean, it’s an
intriguing concept, but I feel like there’d be a risk of serious injury if they
got caught on something;
I’m waiting for the right episode to really discuss it,
but this is just one of many examples of why 24th century fashion is
ridiculous.
*Vash tells Q “I can take care of myself” not once, but
twice. Given that she’s spent a fair bit of time with him and probably knows
what he’s capable of, that seems like both a dangerous and a stupid declaration
to make. Picard make a similar declaration to Q once, and as a result, humanity
nearly got wiped out by the Borg. And given that Q seems determined to get Vash
back, it’s probably not wise to offer him ammunition. You really should know
better, Vash.
*“Still chasing your own tail? Picard and his lackeys
would have solved all this technobabble hours ago.” Well, at least someone’s admitting to the overuse of
technobabble. And it figures that it’s the omnipotent character.
*“Sold to Rul the Obscure!” I think the guys who had to
come up with alien races had a bit of writer’s block when they came up with
this particular species (look at the two guys behind the alien in the
foreground)…
Either that, or there’s a whole backstory that I’d
actually be interested to hear.
Best Line/Exchange:
Q is, if nothing else, always good for a smirk;
Sisko: I’m not
impressed by your parlor tricks. These power outages are going to stop right
now!
Q: Why tell me?
Oh! Oh yes, of course, go ahead! Blame Q if it makes you feel any better. I
suppose it’s my fate to be the galaxy’s whipping boy. Oh, heavy is the burden
of being me.
Granted, it’s much better when John de Lancie is saying
it rather than just reading it on the page, but you can say that about a lot of
the lines I’ve chosen (and probably will choose in the future). All the more
reason to check the episodes out for yourself.
After the Fact
Update: I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who realizes this episode
is mostly pandering. According to writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe in the DS9 Companion, had the episode been
written later “I’d concentrate less on Vash and Q and more on the regulars. It’s
not really good to center episodes on your guest stars.” Thanks for letting me
feel like I’m not full of it.
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