UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S3E13 - Deja Q

I just realized that one of my favorite things about Star Trek is characters that are outside of humanity trying to understand it, and other characters explaining things about humanity to those characters. I think this is because I'm autistic, and I try to understand humanity by describing it as I would to an outsider. Data and Q remind me of me and my husband who is also autistic. My husband would be Q. He's a lot more brash and doesn't understand the point of going along with social norms. I'm more like data. I've learned how to mimic enough to function with others, but I'll still always be an outsider and some stuff will never make sense to me.

The moon plot is pretty throw away. It kind of gets in the way of the episode. You end up feeling as much disdain for it as Q does because the concept of him losing his powers is far more interesting. I could watch a whole season of just Data being a guide to Q explaining basic mundane human stuff to him. The moon plot might have been more interesting if Qs knowledge actually had an impact on it, or the crew were actually receptive to Q and tried to use him, but as is, it just distracts from all the Q stuff which is the stuff that's actually interesting. I love the concept for this episode, but I wish they did more with it. It could have been better.

This was one of the first episodes I ever bought on VHS and know it really well but it’s not the best of s3. But I always find it fun. These days I think this would work better as a multi episode arc. Do find the discussion of throwaway plot odd. The plot is Q losing his powers which doesn’t feel throwaway.

While Season 3 is deninately backlogged as a whole, a lot of the difference in top 5 or top 10 is just subjective preference. "The Defector" isn't in my season 3 top 10, but I would rate it an A-/B+ episode no better than "Booby Trap" or "The Hunted" that I enjoyed more than you did. It may well end up in your season end top 5, but there are at least a couple episodes I think you will love even more

"Au Contraire, Mon Capitan !" You gotta love Q with mariachi band in tow. I really enjoyed Q's gift of laughter to Data.

They get the orbital mechanics wrong here - Geordi talks about "trying again at perigee" but if the thing is spiraling elliptically into the planet and you're trying to have it not do that then you'd want to push it at apogee and not perigee.... so that you can lift the perigee.

Q was the A plot in this episode. All the other stuff is the B.

Digging the clean shaven look! Is there anything you can't pull off?

I don’t think it’s so much that Q doesn’t know what Sleep is, it’s that he’s never actually experienced unconsciousness.

"An irony: it means you have achieved in disgrace what I have always aspired to be." In recent viewings of this I realized I had not noticed two things: Q's shocked-puzzled look he gives back Data, and when Data backs up to get out of Q's way and turn around, he has a "How about them apples, you like them apples? YOU OFFEND ME AND I HAVE NO EMOTIONS" strange look on his face.

I think I like this one a little more than you guys, but not by a lot. It's good, and important to Q's story, but not amazing. Obviously Q's story IS the main story, and the whole thing with Bre'el and the Calamarain is just meant to push Q's story forward. The issue I think is those elements are treated in such a utilitarian way to move Q's story forward that they end up being as basic as white bread and mayonnaise. An entire episode about this moon and this cloud creature with no Q would be a snooze fest for sure. I do think this is an important step in Q's journey. He was introduced in Farpoint very much as an antagonist, but was in the background for much of the episode. Hide and Q kept him fairly antagonistic except toward Riker who had impressed him, and I think through that episode and Picard being able to reason Riker out of essentially godhood, showed Q that humanity was more than he suspected. In Q Who, he's developed a begrudging respect for Picard and humanity at large, but sees they're naïve to the dangers of the galaxy, and decides to "give then a kick in their complacency" to help them get ready. But Deja Q's story of him losing his powers and having to live as a mortal made him truly understand humanity and our motivations, and respect what we accomplish despite our frailties. How much of that he takes with him now that "heeee's baaaccckkk", time will tell. It's an evolution of the character nonetheless. Perhaps even Picard recognizes that by the end. This was by no means a Data episode, but he was quite strong here. I agree with the one patreon take that Data is always the one to give the benefit of the doubt to people like Jarok or Q that the rest of the crew has written off. Riker referring to Data as Pinocchio in Farpoint is very apt, as beyond his desire to be human, Data in many ways is like a child in the way he sees the world. Free of envy or prejudice, and constantly seeking to understand his place in it. Of course he has the strength of 10 men and a super computer for a brain, but still. I do love the scene where Q goes to speak to him in sickbay. Q may hate being human, but he has the decency to tell Data he's more human than he realizes. I also like that he didn't try to make Data human at the end, and by doing so rob him of his journey to get there himself, but rather just gave him a small preview of what he seeks to achieve. But yeah, solid episode with a lot of great humor in it, and John De Lancie gives a terrific performance as usual. But it never really blew me away as an episode either.

I agree that Q knows humans sleep and eat, but doesn't recognize the signs. That experience of feeling tired or sleepy would be foreign to someone who never experienced it, same with eating. We know a stomach growl can mean hunger, he's never experienced a growling stomach.

I was a little surprised you were ambivalent about this one. I love this episode. Yeah, it's another Q feature but it does is so well. Q and Data are just a perfect coupling. Q: Until next time. Ah, but... before I go, there's a debt I wish to repay, to my professor of the humanities. Data, I've decided to give you something very, very special. Lt. Cmdr. Data: If your intention is to make me human, Q... Q: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I would never curse you by making you human. Think of it... as a going-away present.

Loved your reaction when you saw Q! 😍🤩...and the face palm 😲🤩💜

I love the A-plot with Q, but I thought the B-plot was pretty weak. They could have come up with a more creative plot. Not sure what, but just a decaying orbit? Thats it? Yeah, pretty weak. Q and Data saved this episode. I give it a C+/B-. Decent, but not breaking any new ground. Here’s a creative question for my friends here: What plot would you have come up with or dilemma instead of the asteroid plot? Lets get creative!

Meh, season 3's ok. Season 4 is when the show REALLY gets good. :)

Those goal posts are migrating like a bird in fall!

51:50 Here's a good question I should have posed in the Patron takes: Were you ever worried they were gonna actually kill off Q?

51:13 "How the mighty have fallen." That's one of the top moments in the show. All of Guinan's dialogue was superb, but that scene with her "over" him yet in the background with that semi-sideways glower was top-notch great!

49:20 Q is NOT all-knowing (omniscient), despite what Q2 said. (I also still question their claim of omnipotence, too.) Q as a human may have an IQ of 2005, but that doesn't mean he automatically knows everything, either.

48:10 Yes. And since Data can't forget, he'll always remember it.

It’s a well written comedic episode and a character driven one

36:10 Like, Vulcans!!

23:10 I forgot how weirdly the computer says "reference" there. LOL ref-FER-rance. LOL

15:50 Q is wrong. Changing the gravitational constant of the universe would not alter the mass of the asteroid. It would change its weight, though.

4:50 Looking good clean-shaven, Alex! But I want to hear WHY you think Q is naked?? :D

I was surprised that this got an ambivalent reaction from both of you. This is such a well-constructed episode with a fan favorite that I thought this would garner a stronger response. All good though; interesting to see how new fans react!

I've always worked to the assumption that elder persons who hold the rank of Ensign have probably worked their way up the "Crewman" track (Uniformed Personnel with no Rank Pips). Thus earning their Commission as Officers via service length and achievements, versus the Academy track based upon exams. ("Ordinary Crewman" was referenced in Q Who, when Picard asks Q what he would do on the ship.)

This is roughly where the show becomes a freaking rocket, and just TAKES the F OFF.

Here's an easter egg for you. When the Calimaraine first appeared they probed the ship with "Berthold Rays". That is a call back to the TOS episode "This Side of Paradise". Berthold Rays are the harmful radiation that should have killed everyone on the colony but they were protected by the spores that made everybody chill and Spock happy "for the first time in his life".

Q doesn't know everything, he is omnipotent (meaning all powerful, not al knowing), versus Omniscience (which is all knowing). Now he does have the power to know pretty much anything he wishes, but he needs to want to know that information. For example, in this episode he believed his fellow Q was his supporter, he wasn't. Thus an example of him not knowing everything. You can find examples through all his appearances that show he isn't all knowing. So unless he needed to know the details of daily existence of humans he wouldn't know it. So the writing is actually true to the nature of the character. Its interesting that you state your really drawn to the character pieces (at least Alex), less to more plot driven materials. Yet Q-Who a very heavy plot heavy episode, with just a nugget of character work in it (Picard needing to learn that he must ask for help, and that his resolve isn't equal to the threats awaiting), here we have the reverse where its character work (though not for a main character but a reoccurring one) that is forefront to the episode, will the plot is disposable. Though Q-Who is absolutely a superior episode. Now of course with much of the character growth also draped in humor I do understand people who don't respond specifically to the humor aspect as humor is so very subjective.

I know a lot of people put this in their top 6 above The Defector because it's a fan favorite, but it's definitely not objectively better. It's fun and fine for what it is, and it's one of the better Q episodes, but it's not a masterpiece by any means. Now we do have at least 2 masterpieces that you have not seen coming up. THOSE are definitely better than The Defector. Everything else that can be in that top 6 of the season is highly subjective. I'm predicting that you'll like at least 3 episodes better than the Defector though based on your previous tastes.

“Part of me thinks John De Lancie just showed up on set naked.” You’re not far off. The trivia for the episode says “After several unsuccessful attempts by director Les Landau to film Q's nude scene without forcing the actor to actually be naked, a frustrated John de Lancie finally asked anyone offended by nudity to leave, stripped down, and filmed the scene in one take.” 😆

One of my favorite episodes. 1) It's an absolute stand-out in the whole franchise for humor. 2) It has one of my favorite Data moments. Laughing convincingly as an actor is even harder than crying, and Spiner pulls off his one chance to do it so perfectly. He has said Stan Laurel was one of his greatest inspirations (who in turn was mentored by Charlie Chaplin) and you can 100% see it here. 3) So many great character moments with Picard being annoyed (basically constant facepalm), Guinan becoming heartless, and Data & Q musing on humanity from opposite perspectives. It's not in my all-time Top 10, but it's still top tier and always good for a rewatch. :)

The other Q is Corbin Bernsen, who played a attorney on LA Law at the same time. I remember watching this as a kid being surprised because at the time even though TNG was my favorite show I felt like network shows were "bigger".

Well...this one I like more compared to how much you guys like it

Nice to see I’m not alone in thinking this episode could have been better. The writing was thin for me, save for the last fifteen minutes. But I appreciate it for what it is, an addition to the Q lore. And I appreciate it is a fan-favorite. So I’ll be quiet before I get kicked out of here. Of all the season 3 episodes we’ve covered here so far, the Enemy might be my fave.

free cigars for all

De-Lan-CEEEE, Josh, De-Lan-CEEEE

Aw, you missed Picard's annoyed pause walking out of the brig when Q asks "can I have a Starfleet uniform?"

Its not that he didn't know that people sleep/eat, its that he has never experienced it which is a huge thing if you were in his position

Q might know about sleeping and eating but he has never experienced what it felt like.

Wait, you didn't love this episode? *cancels subscription* ;)

This is probably my No. 1 favourite Q episode. If character stuff is what you like, this is pretty much all character stuff, aside from the background plot.

Often Guinan is in a single scene, like here, or talking to Geordi in Booby Trap, but they're always memorable and meaningful. They did a good job using her sparingly yet effectively.

The servers in 10-forward were probably civilians, so their uniforms would be like a restaurant employee uniform rather than a Starfleet service uniform. Indeed, it's likely that most of the outfits we have seen Counselor Trio in are just civilian clothes with a communicator badge stuck on.

Maybe reconsider your thoughts about what Q would know. Seeing people sleep or eat is completely different than the feelings associated with those events. The Q are an arrogant species, who claim to be "all knowing" or "all seeing", but are they? Taking into account only what we have seen up to this episode, no, not all knowing or all seeing. So, being a "Q" and suddenly being human, might be the equivalent to a human suddenly being a jellyfish. We see a jellyfish swimming, maybe eating.... but would anyone have any clue what it's like to BE a jellyfish? We'd even look at our tentacles and be like "Woh! These are weird." We may even look at them a few dozen times and be freaked out by them.

YEAH BABY!!! One of my favorites!!! Yes, the B plot was thin, but it was all about Q and I had lots of fun with it. Your reaction is still great. But for me watching it as a kid, and watching it now, I'm distracted by the joy of watching John de Lancie messing with everyone.

My take has always been that Q knows about sleep, but he has no experience so he doesnt associate this terrifying thing that he just went through with the banal "sleep" mortals do. I also read the perfectly circular orbit as a mark of its artificial nature. Q didnt put it back where it was originally, he just made it the average distance and never falling. Which I then like to imagine caused hell after the Enterprise left.

I found this a nothing, waste of time episode. It's cute at times. If you like John D.

Throw-away plot? C’mon guys.

If you've ever seen the movie "Major League" which came out a year or two before this, Corbin Bernsen was an egotistical shortstop for the fictional version of the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) in this and in its two sequels. Hey, I'm a baseball fan in general and a Milwaukee Brewers fan in particular, and in the first movie most of the ballpark scenes were filmed at a not very well concealed Milwaukee County Stadium, the Crew's former home. I never watched L.A. Law but I knew he was a huge star on it. The Brewers also for a few years had a Cy Young Award winning pitcher named Corbin Burnes, now with the Orioles. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. I'm only mildly peeved at your reaction and let it go at that. Why Geordi asked Data why he was laughing is kind of strange since it should be obvious it was because of Q's gift. They all heard Q say he was giving him a going away present and Data almost immediately starts laughing. Of course, no one but Q heard Data say earlier in the episode that he will never know what it was like to laugh or cry.

"Die". My favorite Worf line

Who is the young man on the left?

To answer your first question: Yes, John de Lancie was naked in that scene. Although he had cut back his active involvement in TNG by this point, Gene Roddenberry stepped in to suggest a radical alteration to this episode’s concept. Originally, Q was only *pretending* to have lost his powers and manufactured an apparent conflict with the Klingons to demonstrate the knowledge and expertise he could bring to the Enterprise as a human crewmember. Roddenberry said that they should instead do a story about an all-powerful being genuinely losing everything and experiencing what it means to be human. Opinions among fans differ on whether this was a good change. The ”technobabble” in this episode is more scientifically accurate than usual. Fans have expressed bewilderment as to why the Enterprise is attempting to alter the moon’s orbit at its closest approach to the planet, when it would take the least energy to do so at the orbit’s farthest point, but there may be 24th-century technological considerations involved which we cannot understand. Also, the word “perigee” refers specifically to the lowest point in an orbit around the Earth; since the moon in this episode is orbiting an alien planet, the generic term “periapsis” would have been more appropriate. Fans have also complained about Data referring to the moon’s final orbit as “circular” when all orbits are elliptical, but in fact astronomers often refer to orbits that are only slightly elliptical as “circular” for simplicity’s sake. Geordi states in the cold open that correcting the errant moon’s orbit may mean “exceeding recommended impulse engine output by at least 47%.” At this point in the Star Trek franchise, occurrences of the number 47 were still meaningless coincidences (as with Cyrano Jones being in violation of three Federation and 47 local mandates in “More Tribbles, More Troubles”), but that would no longer be the case starting in TNG Season 4, when the writers began inserting references to 47 as a recurring in-joke, like the “hidden Mickeys” in Disney films and theme parks. Like Josh, I never understood the meaning of the name “Ten-Forward” until I saw this episode for the first time. At least three lines or passages of dialogue in this episode have acquired extremely dark subtexts in retrospect, which the writers did not intend at the time and which I cannot yet explain. This is the first time TNG’s opening guest cast credits have omitted an actor to preserve his appearance as a surprise. In 1990, when this episode aired, Corbin Bernsen (Q2) was one of the biggest stars on American television due to his role as Arnold Becker on "L.A. Law" (which also, of course, featured Diana Muldaur). Viewers would have recognized him instantly at the end of the episode and would have been impatiently awaiting his appearance if his name had appeared on screen at the beginning of Act One. Bernsen would later play the lead role of astronaut Henry “Bull” Eckert in the short-lived drama series "The Cape" (1996-1997). (Realistic TV series about fictional astronauts set in the present day or the near future never become popular. Other examples include "Men into Space" [1959-1960], "The Clear Horizon" [a 1960-1962 daytime soap opera], "Defying Gravity" [2009], "Extant" [2014-2015, starring Halle Berry], "Mars" [2016-2018], "The First" [2018], "Away" [2020] and "Constellation" [2024].) Richard Cansino (Dr. Garin), the nephew of legendary actor Rita Hayworth, is best known as an anime voice actor. When Q allows Data to laugh in the episode’s final scene, I love the subtlety of Marina Sirtis’ reaction in her closeup, clearly indicating that Troi can sense amusement from Data for the first time. The beautiful piece of music at the end of the episode, after the Enterprise crew learns that the moon’s orbit has returned to normal, is extremely characteristic of Dennis McCarthy’s style when he is able or willing to write melodies. This cue is typical McCarthy wrapped up in a package of 30 seconds or so and is reminiscent of McCarthy’s later music for the Star Trek franchise, from an era when trends in Star Trek’s music had shifted again, which Alex and Josh will not hear for another few years. On its original broadcast, “Deja Q” was one of the two episodes which received the highest Nielsen ratings in TNG Season 3.

Yep, this will be a contrast with the patron takes, I would guess. I'm a little surprised given you guys' interest in character stories, etc. I wonder what you think of the more humorous Q character that we're seeing here.

The best part of this episode is the back and forth between Q and Worf. "Eat any good books lately?" I always forget its coming, but it makes me laugh every time.

I'd say this is is the first time I have been surprised by one of your reactions considering how well regarded this episode is by most fans. Not one of my personal favorites either but I still expected you guys to like this one a bit more. Very interested to hear what you say in the discussion.

Well, goodbye Yukon Cornelius. I will shed a single man tear at the passing of Alex's beard. "It was fine." Oh, youtube will have a field day. WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T LOVE IT!? WAR CRIMES! WOKE GARBAGE! SHUT THIS CHANNEL DOWN CANCELLED AHHH!!! "What must I do to convince you people?" "Die." Still one of my favorite exchanges between Q and Worf. Data getting his moment of laughter. What I love about Spiner's performance there is ont he button he puts just a hint, just a tiny little dab of sadness in the "I do not know... But it was a wonderful... feeling." Like... It's so beautifully subtle. Something we take so for granted. The joy of joy. The purity of a good laugh. The fact that Q, somehow doesn't understand humanity, yet so perfectly understands that small gift. And Data even foreshadows this earlier when he mentions "I will never laugh, or cry." It's just... Mm. So good.

I don't take those sleep and hunger moments that he doesn't know humans do that, its more he doesn't know the bodily feelings that drive us to do those things. He doesn't know how it feels to get tired and fall asleep. He knows we sleep just not the feeling of it and wouldn't that be scary to someone thats never felt that? Or the discomfort of getting hungry.

With one exception, my favorite Q episode.

OK I know I'm new here on the Target Audience Patreon, but the title says "Uncut" and I see a beard missing.

Eventually the endless 20th century jokes get annoying, as if Picard or anyone in the 24th century knows anything about cigars or mariachi trumpet bands.

A truly memorable episode, with a career / character defining performance by John De Lancie, but standout performances by Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart, as well as classic moments from Worf. And,the origin of the 'Picard Facepalm' meme... Welcome to the first of the 6 *epic* episodes of the latter half of Season 3 😉

😱❤️😂