UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S2E16 - Q Who

While obviously this is a Q episode, title and all, and it's an important part of Q's development, but I definitely think of this as a Borg episode first, and a Q episode second. Just to touch on Sonya Gomez, I really don't have an issue with her. Sure, she's quirky, but the fact is Starfleet needs millions and millions of recruits doing lots of fairly mundane tasks. Just like in the real military where 80% or so of all personnel are support roles. Not everyone is going to be a type A personality, Riker/Kirk type of person. She's a bit too excitable, but she's harmless, and her job is to do a bunch of routine maintenance, not make command decisions. She's fresh out of the academy on her first deep space assignment and 18 people die on her first day. All things considered, I'd say she handled it pretty well. At this point in the show, we'd had the Ferengi get introduced and they were a flop. The Klingons and Romulans both have straddled that line of being allies and adversaries, obviously the Romulans leaning more on the latter, but both are more cooperative with the federation than in TOS. The Conspiracy aliens were supposed to be connected to the Borg, but that connection was dropped, so they're just this weird parasitic race of aliens. The Borg just worked right away. They weren't ridiculous like the Ferengi, they aren't the Klingons or Romulans that you know can be talked to and reasoned with, and they weren't parasitic invaders using your own people and tech against you. They're just this enigmatic juggernaut with no interest in negotiation and tech that the federation isn't even close to on par with. There are some narrative difficulties presented by that, but it's genuinely intimidating to see how outclassed the Enterprise is in that encounter on first viewing. Regarding Q, I think this is one of his most important episodes, even if he ends up second to the Borg in the focus of the episode. Q hasn't actually killed any member of the Enterprise crew or anyone else that we know of, but the 18 crewmembers lost here are the ones he's most responsible for as he forced the encounter. Still, I think Q is at his least malicious here. Imagine if the federation had just sat there feeling safe and secure having no idea something like the Borg were out there. What would have happened if the Borg decided to come in force and there was no chance to prepare because THAT was the first contact? Q looked down on humanity in Farpoint, and only really showed interest in Riker because he amused Q in the pilot. Now, 32 episodes later, Q begins to realize humanity's potential, but also that they're out of their league. Q takes on the role of a teacher for the first time, and while the lesson was costly, it was necessary, and I'm glad Picard realizes that in the end. Undoubtedly one of the most memorable episodes of TNG.

New Patreon member here!! Q Who is one of my favorite TNG episodes. Great reaction!! I look forward to following more reactions!

Welcome to Excellent Episode Territory gentleman.

Would love a reaction to you guys watching Dune

I know I keep saying this but back in 1989, fans would have known for at least a week if not longer that Q was appearing in this episode. They did not keep these things quiet back then. They would have made sure as many people as possible knew so that they would make a point not to miss the show. I would have to go back and see to know for sure, but I bet the new big baddies were even revealed in the previews well before the episode was first broadcast. Besides the “next episode” and “coming up” type previews on TV, episode titles and guest stars would even be published in many TV listings at least a week or a month in advance. There just was no “no spoilers” culture back then. I knew well before seeing Empire Strikes Back that Vader was Luke’s father. Similarly, I knew well in advance that Spock died at the end of Wrath of Khan. People just didn’t keep this stuff quiet. It might even have been revealed in movie reviews.

Loved your reactions to this one. I hadn't seen this episode in a long time and man, it does have some cool stuff going for it. Lots of dark, moody shots. Good music. Eerie vibes the whole way through. I cracked up immediately when Guinan abruptly raised up from behind the bar whack-a-mole style.

Just you wait guys.. Just you wait. Shit just got real lol.

"It's all over you." One of my favorite funny moments in the series

I'm surprised there wasn't some kind of ethical problem with firing at the cube after finding out they had nurseries full of babies on it! Lol We conveniently forgot about that when it was life or death I suppose. 🙃

Ahh System J25 where it all began.... prepare yourselves! The next F*****g level !

This maybe isn't as serious as the Data episode, but this is my favorite so far. This might be the first time in the series so far the ship was in a true life and death situation and sustained casualties.

When q kept on saying Another man I kept on thinking Kirk

You should place bets on the next time you think Q or the Borg will show up again, if at all.

Not sure if you picked up on it, but there is #CONTINUITY between this episode and The Neutral Zone, with the planets having colonies scooped off of planets' surfaces. The writers wanted to set up a new villain after the Ferengi didn't work out in season 1, and this episode is the payoff.

You know the Borg are unique and different, but in a way they are just Humans with shit glued to their faces.

People had the same reaction to Q showing up back then unless they read the TV Guide....

You sumed it up nicely. Season 2 is where the show starts to find itself and while not the greatest overall, the 3 episodes you mentioned are the foundation of the greatness that is to come.

OH man i have to wait til im off wortk to watch!!

Judging from your reaction you seem to have never heard of the Borg I find that quite surprising. (Later) Okay, nevermind...I guess you had heard mention of them.

The biggest pain in the butt of watching your reactions on Patreon is I spent all this time syncing your video with the other video and then your buffers one time and it screws everything up. Patreon shouuld allow its users to download your video.

Loved your reaction. So glad you liked this episode. It's definitely an essential episode. 🥰

No, we knew the title. Back then we'd still look at the listing in the TV Guide. It showed the title. That, and as previous comments mentioned, you’d always have the preview of the next episode.

Rubber nights in the gay Berlin sex clubs are very similar to how the interior of the Borg cube looks. Apparently. 😏

Your comments about the score - actually it's the opposite. The producers wanted LESS score, but music like this (ie the kind you notice) is the kind of deliverable that Ron Jones gave.

Just another episode....no biggie....

It's surprising how much is crammed into this episode (Gomez, Q, Guinan, the Borg). It is more of a sneak preview of things to come format though.

It's so goofy, but Josh's comment about Riker turning around and having a fucking borg baby on his back cracked me up. What a creepy, but hilarious, mental image. Thanks dude! 😂😂

And so it begins. Everything from the time when your pitiful species crawled out of the primordial slime, to the formation of your puny Starfleet and your imperialistic Federation, to what, with your limited and linear perception of time, you meaninglessly call “today,” was a sweet and lovely dream. Now, at last, you awaken to the nightmare. You should have guessed that I was behind your captain’s encounter with his future self. Why else would the solution have been to plunge forward into the heart of the paradox? It made no sense, not unless I was pulling the strings. Your captain might have guessed it when he found himself cut off from his ship in a shuttlecraft again (again?). If I had so chosen, I could even have sent your Enterprise through the vortex to the other side of the galaxy, ready to meet the Borg and skip Riker’s tiresome contest of machismo with his father and the android’s absurd display of sentimentality over a child he had never met. But the man who makes your little adventures into holo-shows for the kiddies – I forget his name; Something Wesley Someone-or-Other – did not want to link the stories that way. A pity. A missed opportunity to show the world My cleverness. It all began in such a deceptively casual way, with no hint that I was waiting in the wings. Sweet, sweet Sonya Gomez, pretty for a human, I suppose, but so terribly clumsy. A friend for Geordi? A lover, perhaps? Someone for whom he might risk his superior vision, even his life, to undergo the experimental procedure offered by that old bag you have on board as a doctor, all so he could see her the way a mere human would? Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps only in another timeline, another reality. When I look at sweet Sonya Gomez, with vision far clearer than Geordi’s, I recall a three-breasted woman making a living in a world where two moons roam the night. But those are only implanted memories from another time, another place, where they can remember it for you wholesale. (Do you require an exegesis of my words?) And so it was our friends the Borg who destroyed those outposts along your and the Romulans’ precious Neutral Zone. Some of you little humans managed to remember that unresolved mystery. Clever, clever little humans. Many of you would have forgotten. Were the parasites that infiltrated your pathetic Starfleet involved in that destruction? Were they the pilot fish, with the Borg as the shark? No, the parasites were innocent of those catastrophes, at least in this timeline. But they are still out there, somewhere. You never learned where they come from or what they call themselves, did you? Will you ever know? That would be telling. And so, the captain lost eighteen of his crew. So what? How many more unimportant little lives would have ended had I not shown you the dangers that lay in store for you? As your captain’s beloved Hamlet once said, “I must be cruell, onely to be kinde; / Thus bad begins, and worse remaines behinde.” And so, the captain showed enough wisdom in the end to beg Me for My help, and he and his crew survived to be smug and superior another day. Was this the greatest achievement of their second year aboard their beloved Enterprise? Perhaps not – saving their android friend from disassembly in the name of cybernetics was a notable feat, given the archaic and arbitrary legal system they had to work within. But groveling before Me was another worthy accomplishment for the annals of their voyage. And so, Eugene Wesley What’s-His-Name presented this story to the galaxy under the title of “Q Who.” He and his minions spent too much money on it, just as they had done with the android’s encounter with the redoubtable Professor Moriarty, a mistake that would come back to bite them. In your captain’s native tongue, they called this story “Docteur Q,” as though comparing Me to that jackanapes in the blue box, the wandering creature who does not know their own name. But I know who I am. I am the question that eats at the heart of your soul. Are you strong enough, smart enough, hard enough to face what lies out there? Is humanity truly an advanced species, or is it still a dangerous, savage child-race? If you are explorers, why do you carry weapons? If you are warriors, why do you show mercy? I am the serpent in the garden of Eden. I am the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. I am the Bird of Paradise singing on the wall, not caring if Adam and Eve rise or fall. I am your teacher. I am your guide. I am your judge. I am your jury. I may be your executioner. I am a man of wealth and taste. I am all-seeing, all-knowing. I am your deadliest enemy. I am your only friend in a vast, meaningless, indifferent universe. I might be your god if you still had gods. I am Discord. I am Change. I am Stasis. I am next of kin to Chaos. I am the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat. I am Law and Lawlessness. I am Eros and Thanatos both. I am the Dispatcher. I am the Voice. I am the Listener. I am the Adversary. I am the Trickster. I am the Jokester. I am the Skeptic. I am the Senex. I am the Fool. I am Q.

47:30 I think this episode blew your minds more than even I thought it would.

Yes, this episode is all about the Borg, but that Q/Guinan scene is one of my favorite of the series. True (Q) story: I waited on John Delancie at a bar in Atl almost 20 years ago. He was a great tipper, but certainly more reserved than I expected lol

28:24 They could have destroyed the whole cube with that amount of damage possible...

I don’t understand why the away teams don’t have body cameras, they have ship to ship communications just an observation

The ending of the episode is such a great tease too. Telling the audience, just you wait! So excited!!

This is, by far, the most important episode of Season 2 and perhaps the whole series.

OMG I have been waiting for this. "We've already seen the best two episodes of Season 2." Bwah ha ha.

2:52 I forgot to talk about Geordi rolling his eyes. Too funny!

YES! I've been so excited for this one. Now to wait 2 hours to finish my work meetings so I can watch it!

The thing was back then, we got previews at the end of an episode, advertising next week. So, the "OH SH*T!" reactions usually came at that moment, and you waited all week to see what was actually going to happen. Often, our expectations were completely wrong, but it was fun in its own way.

*Smiles*

Woo hoo! It’s Q Who! Finally!

It only gets better from here

This is the one we’ve been waiting for for a while

Lycia Naff (ENS Sonya Gomez) is the 3-breasted woman in Total Recall.

Here we goooooooo!

That thumbnail has already got me hyped