XPost: rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.sf.tv, alt.tv.star-trek.next-gen
XPost: alt.tv.star-trek.tng
From: kilroy@elvis.rowan.edu
"Anita Dunbar " answered the question of the
subject with:
> Any episode with Q.
"Brian Thorn " replied:
> Wow! Even "All Good Things..." which is widely considered one of the
> best TV finales ever?
I didn't like it, because I didn't believe there was any real way Q
would let the human race blink out. We're his favorite ants to hit
with the magnifying glass.
I didn't much like stories with Q in them in general, because there's
no sense of "realness" to the situation. I
believed Kirk & Co were in danger in "Balance of Terror", and I believed
that the Borg would really wipe out the Federation if they could in
"Best of Both Worlds". Those stories didn't have an omnipotent
character in them, prepared to change the laws of physics or rewrite
history to get the conclusion he wants. But the Q stories have,
literally, a deus ex machina right there on the table just waiting to
be lazily written in.
After all, if Q is in the story, nothing they do matters. If he
decides they die, they die, and all their planning and thinking and
work comes to nothing. If Q decides not to kill them, he can ease up
just enough to let them survive.
I can only think of two good stores in which Q really does anything:
the one where he sent them to meet the Borg, and the one where he lost
his powers. I'll add "Tapestry", where he shows Picard an alternate
version of his life, but in that case Q doesn't really *do* anything,
he just shows Picard an alternate history.
Darren Provine ! kilroy@elvis.rowan.edu ! http://www.rowan.edu/~kilroy
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omnipotent." -- Q
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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