While it is frustrating that Q refuses to tell Picard what it is he expects, Picard's own tendency to be a logical diplomat would have him rationalize and deny anything Q said until it was too late (and decades of doubt and skepticism sown by Q's own impish behavior would only exacerbate this). Just look at TNG's "Q Who" where that's exactly the crux; even though Q was right, Jean-Luc could never listen to him until it was SHOWN to him.
He knows that the only way to get him to heal is for him to go through the experience just telling him what's holding him back wouldn't work I absolutely love this line and I I came specifically to comment on how much I love rewatching the scene after everything is revealed
No. Q referred to the hypocrisy of those who are in power. In fact, moral convictions are what makes one victorious. What constitutes a true victory nobody knows anymore. Everybody cheers pyrrhic victories.
“If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home, and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here! It's wondrous...with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid.” Q
I struggled with a lot of Picard season one, particularly the profanity, because it always felt like the showrunners going, "Look, swear words! It's 2022! Star Trek is *modern* now." But 80-year-old Picard telling Q "I am too old for your bullshit"? This, I buy.
Ah yes, because when I think Picard, I think of explosions and reckless behaviour, just like the old TNG days when Picard was blowing up everything all the time. Famously Picard is never a rational or diplomatic thinker, oh yes, that Picard is real loose cannon!
@@HOTD108_ I mean, how many times did the Enterprise blowup only to be saved by a weird time bubble or whatever. We all know he's a great captain but even the biggest fans need to admit they got lucky a lot
After Q's reason for doing this is revealed , this is the scene I love rewatching. All the little hints he drops are just beautiful. My favorite is when he's asked what he wants and answers , "I could tell you, but your too clever to listen."
Yeah I sought out this scene for some reason, and now that I've seen it I'm weirdly compelled to rewatch S2. The first time around Q just sounded oblique? Which takes a lot for a character that classically revealed so little of their real intentions. I know this season is typically the least celebrated of the series, correctly, but hearing Q laying things out so succinctly if you only know the ending sort of provokes me to consider rewatching it
@@TypingHazard- It's sad. This was actually my favorite season. I was disappointed that it was almost all in the past (or this alternate timeline), but the plot and characters were much more compelling to me. And it hinted at why Q has been so involved with humanity. Q has always been particularly involved with Picard, Janeway, and (to a lesser extent) Sisko, all of whom are integrally linked with the Borg. Then this season, Picard has a run in with the Borg, blows them up, and Q shows up _pissed_... and aging? It hints at this idea that the Q are, themselves, somehow linked with humanity and the Borg. That Picard's actions on the Stargazer somehow hurt them. (My personal theory is that the Q are the far, far, far-off descendants of humanity, and that our relationship with the Borg is integral to them evolving and ascending. They are always harping on how humans think of time in such linear terms.) I wish S3 had actually followed up on the Jurati Borg collective joining the Federation. It would have tied the three seasons together better, and actually advanced the lore of the timeline in an interesting way.
I like the shock in Picard's face when Q slapped him. Q had never done anything like that to Picard until then. This really hit home that someone was wrong with Q.
@@PeachWookiee- I had the exact same thought. I love the idea that Sisko hits Q, but instead of Q hitting Sisko, he passes along the hit to Picard. Based on early Sisko (and his tense relationship with Picard), I think he'd have been pleased to know how that turned out.
@@ApostleO The difference of course being Sisko caused no actual damage to Q, while Q apparently rung Picard's bell pretty well with just a light backhand.
My god, De Lance has matured into a formidable actor. I would see him in ABSOLUTELY anything... And I think that he will get the part if he wanted. The facial expressions, the slight trembles... everything. Master.
1. Literally gasped at the slap, genuinely built on... 2. "Q you are not well", Stewart's delivery and De Lancie's reaction was perfect, Picard was truly worried for him. Plus, that's one hell of a tease. 3. "I could tell you but you're far too clever to listen" - as in "I could tell you but you'd rightly never trust me". 4. "We're never too old to be students of our own behaviour" - boy that sticks.
@@Quintillius It’s recognition that each of them have character traits that have become hindrance to the greater picture. For Q, it’s the nature of being too coquettish and coy with his “friend” and not telling him to make the right change (…the one that matters), for Jean-Luc, it’s basically him continuing to be in the background allowing things to change as well as himself to just change in all other ways (none of which matter). This way of acting has caused drastic changes in reality itself to the point that Q has to intervene, already outside of what the Continuum are supposed to do in regards to lower dimensional beings. This time the Trial is taken a turn for the worse, so now instead of being imparted with a lesson, Jean-Luc Picard must bear a penance.
I thought he said "How yesterday's Enterprise of you" (regarding chiefly his previous starship, but shoehorns in an "Easter egg in plain sight". Not sure the direct references are always needed, especislly when the story is strong enough on its own.)
He should have been in discovery instead of the guardian of forever. That would have been funnier and better (maybe georgiou would stay in the same time as michael, and add more quality to the whole series)
I think later in the season we’re going to see this scene again from Q’s point of view. He looked like he was reacting to something that happened to him.
Just a detail. The song played on the phonograph is "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf. Written for her towards the end of her career, it encapsulates her own roller coaster life of triumph and tragedy. Translation: "No, I regret nothing." A fitting song for this scene - it has been used in many films, including "Inception." It is also used by the French Foreign Legion (long story!).
It’s foreshadowing the son Picard’s mother used to play for him when he was a child, (the point of Q’s lesson) and also the song the new born queen plays to signal that she is not a threat to the federation at the end of the season, so yes, very nice tie in and foreshadowing of the entire story.
Certainly a much darker version of Q than we're used to. I'm excited to see where this goes. Q seems angry, almost desperate in this scene, meaning the "penance" he's trying to push on Jean-Luc is something deeply personal for him and I'm here for that mess.
I hated the slap. Otherwise a fantastic scene. The bloody nose may relate to Qs line, "If you can't take a little bloody nose you ought to go home and crawl under your bed".
"I am but a suture in the wound!" There's something about this line that gets my attention. Something that makes me think that whatever is actually happening, Q might not be as in control as he would like Picard to think. I'm thinking maybe Picard did something, if not this Jean-Luc than the General Picard of this timeline, that was so heinous it actually affected the Q Continuum. Maybe even, affected Q's son. That could explain the underlying rage Q is expressing, and why he talks about atonement and forgiveness later. Maybe whatever happened pulled him into the middle of it and he can't fix it on his own and can only, at best, guide things along. And to an outcome maybe even he isn't aware of.
Well if you go back to all the other Q interactions he is seldom the architect of the chaos that accompanies him. In Q Who, he simply showed Picard what he was truly about to be up against, The Borg were already destroying outposts along the neutral zone and noone knew who before this. In All good things it wasn't Q who ended all of Humanity, he simply tried to guide picard in stopping the anomaly. I think there is a similar situation taking place here. Q saved Picard and his crew, made sure their memories were intact, was even there to help Picard figure out where he'd just ended up. Yes Q was cryptic, childish and at one point seemingly rageful about it, but I don't think he's responsible for what's happened
A bit off topic, but there is something else that happened that may have strongly affected Q’s son. When we were introduced to “Junior” back in Voyager, he wound up striking a friendship with Icheb. And spoilers for Picard Season 1 ahead: Icheb died after being basically torn apart for his Borg components by the black market. One can only imagine how Junior reacted to learning about that…
I suspect that (rightly) they'll stay far away from the god-awful Q stories in Voyager (just the latter two, the first was rather good). Otherwise, I tend to agree. For the first (real) time, Q is no longer in control. It's not a test this time, or a lesson, or a game. It's now very real. I don't think Q is worried about himself, or the Continuum. He's worried about Picard and the galaxy as a whole. When Picard doesn't take it seriously, when he acts churlish and stubborn, Q loses his patience, because he expects more from Picard now, when the stakes have become very real.
This is not the Next Gen Q. Q always had subtle shades of malevolence, but there was a strong trickster element and other shades. This is just straight up... dark. I honestly don't like it. Q never transmitted rage like this. Annoyance and disdain perhaps, but violence, no. I'm going to have a hard time going to Episode 3. The time reset trope has so been done and if we come out in worse place, it'll destroy nearly all of canon officially. I'm not keen to that.
I mean... during the episode Picard clearly states he thinks something is wrong with Q and later he describes him as behaving as if he's unstable because of it. He's literally not supposed to be behaving identically to the Next Gen Q, lmao.
Q did state before that he's not above learning new behaviors, and considering what's happening, this still falls into character with him. It's both subtle and gross.
@@zoso1980 Normally I would agree with you, but the show is actually acknowledging it as out of character behavior, which means its both known that its out of character, and that there's a reason for it. Unlike other times, where it would just be handwaved away, and we'd be told to shut up and watch. So I'll take it. But it ultimately depends on the payoff as the season goes as to whether or not it works.
In one of the older books (I wish I could remember which one...) it's mentioned that the Continuum created the great Barrier around the milky way and at its core to protect the galaxy from some external threat. I've always had a sneaking suspicion that for all his games and manipulations and trials Q is a protector. Like a guardian but of reality itself. Every time he interacts with a Starfleet crew he improves them in some way. He teaches Jean Luc how to think outside time. He helped Janeway make it home with all Voyager's knowledge. He even provides Sisko with a face capable of withstanding a Sisko pimp hand. I think whatever he did to save Picard it's because he NEEDS Picard help and it's cost him something big to get it.
The books are "The Q Continuum" trilogy ("Q-Strike", "Q-Zone", & "Q-Space"). There's an insane, malevolent Q-like entity called 0 that's exiled outside the galaxy by the great barrier, and it's "crippled" so it can't travel faster than light by itself. I don't want to spoil too much, but it had 3 associates who fans familiar with the original Star Trek may recognize. There's a lot of callbacks and continuity nods. There was also another book called "Q & A" where Q revealed that everything he'd put Picard and his crew through was to prepare them for the entire universe being put on trial by a race that are as far above the Q as the Q are above humans.
@@raf7550 I loved the q books. My Dad was an avid reader of both Star Trek and Star wars novels. He also read an bunch of fantasy, science fiction and thrillers. Old 1980s Computer hacking sci-fi books where imagining the current stuff going on right now.
It already has. This is what character interaction with a half way decent script looks like. The bet is to see how long it takes for Kurtzmann and his circle of jerks to ruin Q...
Worth noting that slap was a throwback to TNG's 'Q Who" where Q basically tells Picard and crew they shouldn't be out there if they can't handle a little bloody nose.
1:45 is one of the most ominous things I've seen in Trek. Picard, just from appearance, can tell something is wrong with a god. This is going to be INTENSE.
@@DirtySpriteLee it is. Plus the new sound effect they put on the snap is darker. It sounds more powerful and angry than the old one. It's a really neat added touch.
I've watched this scene a few times to try pin down how De Lance so convincingly plays an afflicted Q. First, Q is actually furious about something and his speech and movements have a frantic aspect to him. Usually Q is condescending and unconcerned. Here, something has affected him deeply and beneath his words, an anger (possibly even pain) is flaring. An attempt to be calm and condescending is betrayed by that unspoken barely contained fury. This is most evident to me when he says "I am but a suture in the wound!" Right after he says that, Q steps back and seems to be disoriented or uncertain. Picard comments that Q isn't well and rather than give a snide response, Q looks at him askance and seems to exude vulnerability. The typical invincible air Q normally carries is lost for a moment. Right before he snaps his fingers, Q's jaw tightens and he has a slight tremor run through the right side of his face. I don't know if the jaw clench and the tremor were intentional but I am going to give De Lance the benefit of the doubt and say they were.
Should be interesting. He offered Picard "atonement" but didn't say what for. He also said Picard knew. This is going to end up being a mistake made by Picard at some point that Q is sending him back to fix.
The snaps are given with a bang... it sounds more like a clock ticking dramatically... like time is running out. Q it's upset, but also struggling with his snaps... As for the penance/punishment it probably has to do with Picard keeping people at a distance and the reason in his life that made him that way.
Q seems concerned about Picard's age. The way he said "so many wrinkles" and reached out to caress his face. Added with how "you're not a pawn, your the board of which the game is played" and I think Q might actually love Picard in his own warped way.
And he said it just after remarking "How unfair time is!", giving a double meaning with wrinkles in time. He seems to relate to him, as Picard was able to pick up that not all was right with him.
Q is angry. We have never seen this before. Q has been irritated, annoyed and even humbled. But this is new. Nevermind that he hit Picard, Q has lost his composure. That puckish flamboyance we all know and love is just a mask now. It's there when he says "how Yesterday's Enterprise of you!" but it evaporates as soon as Picard brushes him off as being a silly trickster. What can make Q so angry, possibly even so scared to act like this? Damn it, now i'm invested!
It kind of reminds the episode Hide and Q. Where it was speculated that the Q fear what humanity could become. With that logic I wouldn't be surprised if it turns that Picard has or will cause Q to experience some kind of devastating trauma.
@@Yuurei21 They're trying to maintain the progression of the universe in some way. Perhaps something Picard did had undone all the work that the Continuum did, and now Q is both furious and disappointed in him.
I feel when the stargazer exploded, it caused more problems than they realized and Q actually hurt itself trying to stall the bleeding caused by Picard, which is why he is freaking furious what happened because Picard did something really dumb in his eyed and jumped the gun.
Which raises the interesting question of what the Queen was actually trying to do, because she was not exactly encouraging trust with her act. Plus it's interesting to note that Seven leant on Picard pretty hard to take the action he did, so she may face some responsibility for whatever caused this. I agree on Q, something is clearly wrong with him, the humour feels bitter and almost forced, as if he's doing it more because its what's expected than because he actually feels like doing it. He seems genuinely pissed off in a way I don't think we've ever seen him before. My current guess is that all those ships exploding while sitting on the lip of that spatial rift the Borg were coming through had some nasty side effects that Q is currently attempting to keep at bay. I say attempting because for all his prior claims, the Q are not truly Omnipotent, if they were they couldn't kill each other because the only way something truly all powerful can die is if it actively chooses to. They are obscenely powerful yes, but the Continuum can strip Q of their powers forcibly, execute them and they fought a civil war where they were able to kill one another. For all these things to be possible an individual Q's power must have an upper limit that the group as a whole can overcome. I would guess that Q calls himself a suture because whatever that blast did, its effects are beyond Q's ability to simply undo, thus he must get Picard to fix the root cause.
@@JamesTobiasStewart if you read the Star Trek novels and comics, you find that Q are immensely powerful higher level beings that co-exist with other higher level beings (DS9 Prophets, other "gods" we saw in TOS, powerful beings in Voyager, etc) in the galaxy. These beings live on a higher plane of existence. And they occasionally visit lower levels of existence where humans live, and interact with beings like Picard. Or like the Prophets talking to Sisko in DS9. Or sometimes Other higher gods don't really care about lower level beings and avoid talking to them. They think of humanity like how humans think of owning a hamster or puppy as a pet. We humans are nothing more than tiny unevolved animals to them. The Q and other higher level beings try to avoid directly fighting eachother because it requires immense power, and there is no real benefit to doing so. For example, we see Q fight other higher level beings, but it requires immense concentration, drains their power, makes them tired, and can cause damage to lower dimensions/planes of existence. For example, I'm the books, the Q get into a disagreement with other TOS gods and they fight. This causes random Supernovas to explode, and black holes to form on the lower planes existence. Collateral damage. Because fighting requires so much power, and effort, the Q and other higher level beings try to negotiate with eachother instead of fighting. Whenever possible, they solve their disagreements with wagers, betting, and various contests. It uses up far less of their energy. And it's more amusing than just fighting.
@@JamesTobiasStewart And also the Borg Queen stunned them instead of kill. I suspected Picard did it first when Q said "Show them a world of their own making and they ask you 'What you've done?'" then I remembered the spatial rift was emiting Tachyons and Hawking Radiation. The Warp Core explosion that close to it very well could have radiated to 2024 just like when The Flash caused a time boom. 2024 may have been the point the time boom in this case disipated, causing the change that altered the timeline.
This scene is so powerful, the range of emotions they both go through in just a couple of minutes is incredible. From anger to mutual concern, to rage and fear. Just amazing 👏
What you are describing is a person writing for an ADHD audience thinking that they are writing Shakespeare when they are just writing shit that grabs your attention every few seconds because they have zero capacity for subtle and intellectual writing. This is less Q and more Agent Smith from The Matrix. The modern writers seem to incessently pursue anything and everything but the spirit of Star Trek from which the franchise began.
@@mnomadvfx true the entire plot point looks like they dont get star trek, like why does it matter what someone in a parallel universe did, not like that's the same picard kinda as stupid as being mad about something that someones ancestors did many generations ago, oh wait ... oh no now I get it, gotta get some oppression shaming into the show to shame a demented old guy bc he's white, how very progressive
I love this version of Q. He is showing how annoyed and fed up with Picard. The "younger" Q would have never hit Picard. I do however think something may be wrong with Q.
He seems threatened by something - admitting to being only a "suture in the wound" is an admission that he's not omnipotent, and that something is happening that he can't snap away with his fingers. For a being of such power, that would be terrifying and stressful, even if there weren't something specifically wrong with him. Very interested to find out.
I love how you think of it as younger. As if this isn't a completely different series with all the OG actors back only because their participation in TNG type cast them in Hollywood for all time to the exclusion of any other acting roles that didn't closely match what they did in TNG. Patrick Stewart literally couldn't get any other job but this after TNG - why else do you think he was the narrator in Ted? Plenty of ST alums went on to direct or produce simply because they couldn't shake it off.
Kenny, who are you parroting? Like, seriously, whose whiney video about Picard are you parroting, because Patrick Stewart has had a good dozen other acting jobs since Nemesis was released, and I don't see how you could miss him being in X Men - I don't even follow that franchise and I know he's in it. He's been in a number of tv shows since, voice acted a number of video game characters, and has continued his theatre career consistently ever since. He literally got a knighthood for contributions to acting, just what the hell are you on about?
I think it's a misdirect, q doesn't seem insane he seems genuinely passed off that the human he's invested so much time into makes such progress in TNG only to turn around and do something so incredibly barbaric.
Sad part is Picard and the rest think Q is just toying with them because he is bored. They never stopped to think that he may be trying to help them or improve them. Sure he could just snap his fingers and make it happen but where would be the fun in that?
I think they've mishandled Q throughout all the shows. Yes, he can be an absolute villain. Yes, he's done things we consider reprehensible... Through Picard's eyes. But by the end of it, I think the closest thing he had to a friend was Picard. For a second, Picard himself saw that Q was trying to reach him, teach him something. Picard's problem is his sense of self. He's sometimes right, and that justifies his actions to himself but he's everything Q claims he is. If he'd let go and actually learn, he'd find out that Q was right all along in his messages, even if his tactics were immoral. Did those officers need to die during the first confrontation with the Borg? No. But he made a valid point about the bloody nose and not being ready for what's out there. None of us are, we just smugly think so.
@@Autobot032 I agree but I also believe that those officers did need to die during that first confrontation with the Borg. Picard was arrogant in the extreme before Q flung them to where a Borg cube was. Before that Picard boasted that Humanity was ready for anything the universe could throw at them. The Federation had fought and beaten all of their enemies, defeated and were allies with the Klingons, were in a cold war with the Romulans with no real conflict there, defeated and had a peace treaty with the Cardassians. Picard and Riker both felt there was nothing they couldn't overcome. Hell even Guinan could tell where the conversation was going. At the end even Picard admitted that, while done in a horrible way, what Q had done was kick the complacency and arrogance that Humanity and the Federation had developed because of being on top of the food chain in the Alpha/Beta quadrants.
@@steeltimberwolf that's absolutely fair. As much as I hate to admit it, Picard, much like humanity, needs a wakeup call. Q has been giving that since the pilot episode and has never let up. Picard, and we by extension, completely misses the point over and over again. Don't get me wrong, we all love Picard to some degree, whether he's a favorite captain or not, but the man's dense.
When Q slaps Picard and says, "I've had enough of your obstinence. Your stubborness. Your insistence in changing in all ways but the one that matters. This is not a lesson. It's a penance." Think about a God creature being angry and saying that to us, the mortal man, and let your soul shudder a bit when you realize the deeper implications of that dialogue.
@@thesovereign3804- then you remember INCORRECTLY. Capt, Sisko punched Q and sent Q flying. Then, Q gathers himself, Quark gathers the platinum he earned by calling Sisko as the potential winner of this fight and Q says to Sisko; "You hit me, Picard WOULD NEVER hit me...!!!" Sisko replies: "I'm NOT Picard...!!!" -end scene Go watch it again....
There's definitely significance in Picard's bloody nose. I suspect how Picard reacted to the Borg queen triggered something catastrophic. I suspect the Borg actually wanted something beyond just assimilation and I think his synth body is the key. What if the Borg, after Janeway, realize assimilation isn't the means to perfection? What if the Borg have finally found the perfection they desired in the form of a synth body. Picard's distrust of the Borg and his actions on the Stargazer robbed them and humanity of a new first for peace, much like Kirk's reluctance to make peace with the Klingons. Also, its worth pointing out the similarties to Picards actions on the Stargazer this time to his actions on the Stargazer during his first command and first contact with Ferengi. A first contact that destroyed both ships.
While I agree, I also think that Lara has a part to play in Qs being pissed off. Picard has always wanted a family. His is not the biological kind though. And, he doesn't recognize that. Even after the events of the season finale of TNG.
I'm pretty sure the bloody nose is a play on this comment Q made in the episode "Q who" "Q: If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross, but it's not for the timid." I don't think the Borg are behind anything, they are just more puppets for Q.
am i missing something? how come noone seems to notice that picard is human again? i mean he bleeds human blood, synths dont have red blood like that. maybe its a mistake that the editors missed or maybe they just dont know, like in season 1 they seemed to think that borgs would die in space, but this is obviously not true.
@@mainsource8030 Yeah you're missing something. Picard isn't a robot, his body is artificial but it's still biological. Think of it like having your body cloned. Not all synths are the same. Some like Soji and Dahj were also synthetic but biological. They both breathe, sweat, bleed, eat etc. While others like Arcana were clearly artificial like Data.
I remember that song from a commercial. Yep I'm a commercial guy. Love commercials. Been watching them since the 80s. I use to buy VHS tapes on ebay of older commercials back when eBay was for ordinary people with too much stuff and perhaps some gambling debts and other underlying addictions to feed. I often recall and even enjoy commercials more than whatever show was on at the time
I just realized the premise of Season 3, Its the reverse of all good things at the end of TNG. In TNG the plot revolves around picard jump between the past present and future, and a single action in one of them caused the whole of humanities fabric to begin tearing at the seams. in the end picard figured out that the solution was to simply not make the choice in the firstplace, and to do that he had to merge all of time into a single point. It worked but it came at a terrible price. See Q royally bit off more then he could chew from that action, and its aftermath began slowly destroying him...and the Q continuum. We can see the effects in voyager with the Q wanting to die, then the civil war and then needing to procreate just to survive, even their sudden mortal fear of the borg in voyager and then the borgs ability to finally detect them in this season shows how utterly weak he and his race have become. And Q is furious at picard for how little he appreciates the absolute sacrifice Q has made to protect humanity from itself... but now he no longer has the power to save them... he is barely holding reality together at the cost of his own existence.
It's hokey, no question, but given the strength of the surrounding scene and content that it's not a point-dropper for me. This episode looks as haunting as it is AMAZING.
I mean he is omnipotent, so it would make sense that he is aware that he is in the Star Trek universe. That's why he is so angered here, because he wants out of his TV prison.
"And you people. You're all on some sort of star trek." ~ Zefram Cochrane Though, I find it different. When ZC the above, I almost regurgitated. When Q says "how yesterday's enterprise of you", it's far more deliberately chilling, I think. We'll see.
actually that's how they procreate in the Continuum....Picard and Q have a love child that has existed outside time and will one day return to our dimension to continue the legendary adventures of the Star Ship Enterprise.
The Q in ST:P is NOT "Q"! Q "You hit me?! Picard never hit me!" SISKO "I'm not Picard!" Q "Indeed not. You're much easier to provoke. How fortunate for ME."
Wow, he still has it. De Lances acting is top notch. Top notch you hear me!!! Just from a 3 min snippet, I could feel he and Jean Luc range and depth even more so than over 25 years ago. Buckle up trekkies, season 2 is going to be a wild ride.
And then you realize how very few scenes he’s in, also neutered in power and on the verge of exploring the unknowable existence of death itself. And still, STILL HE TOWERS ABOVE THE ENTIRE CAST OF ST:P. This is not acting, it’s an experience.
P: Where is the Stargazer? Q: How quaint, how provincial, how "Yesterday's Enterprise" of you. this is a great quote because "Yesterday's Enterprise" is the TNG episode where Tasha Yar comes back because time gets played with and things don't feel right.
I’m not one to wax poetic about how well de Lancie plays a warped and disturbed Q, all I can say is that this version of Q shocked and scared me, which is incredibly intriguing. He seems shocked by his own words, we’ve never seen him so perturbed and angry before
Capt. Picard : I understand what you've done here, Q. But I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of 18 members of my crew. Q : If you can't take a *little bloody nose*, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid.
There is one particular detail almost nobody seems to have noticed - q struck him with the back of his hand. Such an action is in many cultural references considered as striking an inferior... or disciplining a pet! Very appropriate to the relationship between those two!
As I supposed before, when I'd seen Q for the first time, this is a darker version of him. In principle, I thought it was just a John De Lancie's touch, but clearly is more than his excellent interpretation of Q. There is something really dangerous out there for really put Q in a state of fear and cornered, because he really looks upset and with fear, anxious for a correct response from Picard to resolve the mistery.
@@MultiTimelady I think what's going on has strained Q considerably and he's scared because the only man he can rely on to fix it is on the brink of becoming unreliable.
@@SoranoGuardias He's never the harmless prankster, more like a disaster chained by the rules of the Continuum. To those he favours, his presence is just annoying, but to those he doesn't favour... a visit from Q might as well be Armageddon.
Forgetting all the "canon loopholes" from Voyager, DS9, etc. I have a feeling this season is going to feature the origins of the Borg. Or at least the first Borg Queen. And it's going to be right here on Earth in the year 2024. This is what I believe Q is talking about when he states that this is a "penance." Something in the year 2024 occurred that resulted in the first Borg being created and somehow was sent to the Delta Quadrant where the Borg then steam-rolled over and assimilated "billions" as Commander Chakotay once said. Q keeps dropping subtle hints. For example: "How 'yesterday's Enterprise' of you, Jean-Luc." Events in that episode created Sela and a political shift for the entire Romulan Empire. Guinan even says to Picard at one point, "You are responsible for all of this." Same thing may be at play here.
Actually 2024 is the year the Bell Riots started which was taken from a DS9 episode. Something occurred with that specific event that changed the course of events and created the alternate future. Now it makes me wonder if Benjamin Sisko and Dr. Bashir will make a surprise appearance.
As Picard says, Q is not well. The fact that even Picard can see that there is something seriously wrong with him is terrifying to contemplate because you have to question what can make somebody as powerful as Q that angry and near vengeful
I would be totally useless in a scenario like this because all I would do is ask Q what's wrong and how can I help him? Because an unnaturally disturbed, almost omnipotent being takes priority over other dangers in my opinion.
I'm gonna say it... Picard came from the Q "There is no stargazer- A world of your own making- You are more than a piece- You are the board on which this game is played- Changing in all ways but the one that matters-" Penance ??
Him striking Picard makes me think of when Q told him something to the effect of "If you can't take a little bloody nose then run back home to your bed" Also, i was thinking about something else, the queen made a point of calling him "locutus" which isn't strange really as you'd expect it, but what if the year they are going back to has something to do with something he did as a borg. Obviously involving time travel, but it would be interesting.
The Borg trying to assimilate the Q continuum? That otherwise sounds fanwanky except. From what I've seen so far, they might be able to pull it off. If that's what's going on.
Could be the reason why Q flung the Enterprise D to that fist Cube. He knew that Picard was gonna be the one to save them already. But he had to prepare him, allow him to be assimilated to know the mind of the enemy. He did say that Jean Luc is the board upon which the very game is played. All so interesting!
"How "Yesterday's Enterprise" of you." In case you didn't catch the significance of that comment, it was referring to a Star Trek Next Generation episode of the same title, which also had to do with an alternate timeline.
Can we all take a second to recognize how incredibly well John de Lancie has aged?????
He looks like Alex Trebek
I agree! I LOVE his older appearance and it adds further depth and gravitas to his character as Q!
❤️❤️❤️
Read my mind.
Of course he is Q !
@@erikab2359 and thre the inception song in here for God measure
An unwell Q is truly the most terrifying thing in the Star Trek universe.
“Oh, I’d tell you! But you’re far too clever to listen.”
Damn. That’s one hell of a good line.
While it is frustrating that Q refuses to tell Picard what it is he expects, Picard's own tendency to be a logical diplomat would have him rationalize and deny anything Q said until it was too late (and decades of doubt and skepticism sown by Q's own impish behavior would only exacerbate this). Just look at TNG's "Q Who" where that's exactly the crux; even though Q was right, Jean-Luc could never listen to him until it was SHOWN to him.
@Archwizard Drake thank you, I loved this line so much too but was struggling to understand its meaning
@@DrakeDraco2000 with disastrous consequences
He knows that the only way to get him to heal is for him to go through the experience just telling him what's holding him back wouldn't work I absolutely love this line and I I came specifically to comment on how much I love rewatching the scene after everything is revealed
its that song being played, same one in the future that Borg Queen Juratti plays for him! It is the pass code from the past to the future
"Such moral convictions are the luxury of the victors"
Sick line
The marquis motto
No. Q referred to the hypocrisy of those who are in power. In fact, moral convictions are what makes one victorious. What constitutes a true victory nobody knows anymore. Everybody cheers pyrrhic victories.
Why would Victors even have convictions? 😅
Makes you realize how great America is.
“If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home, and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here! It's wondrous...with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid.” Q
LOL
You hit me, Picard would never hit me.
Beautifully quoted.
Oh... good call
Awesome quote!
I struggled with a lot of Picard season one, particularly the profanity, because it always felt like the showrunners going, "Look, swear words! It's 2022! Star Trek is *modern* now." But 80-year-old Picard telling Q "I am too old for your bullshit"? This, I buy.
actually Picard is pushing 100 in the show.
Star Wars did the same thing
@@TheFunnyGuy9000 not that much
That was the case in 1987.
yet he isn't to old por his bullshit, becuase that piker is support to be a synto... he only look old, but his body is in fact no old, nor he...
"Q... you are not well."
And I'm terrified now.
I laughed when Q said, “you see I thought to myself I really must see Jean Luc. I simply sought out the nearest explosion”
That made me chuckle
oh how they wish tng was the talker/thinking mans star trek you want explosions you have to go to at least ds9
@@hardwirecars I think it was a joke about how Picard is always getting the Enterprise in trouble even blown up sometimes.
Ah yes, because when I think Picard, I think of explosions and reckless behaviour, just like the old TNG days when Picard was blowing up everything all the time. Famously Picard is never a rational or diplomatic thinker, oh yes, that Picard is real loose cannon!
@@HOTD108_ I mean, how many times did the Enterprise blowup only to be saved by a weird time bubble or whatever. We all know he's a great captain but even the biggest fans need to admit they got lucky a lot
Q's line's are wonderfully written, and John Delancey has perfect delivery! Casting him as Q was a master stroke!
After Q's reason for doing this is revealed , this is the scene I love rewatching. All the little hints he drops are just beautiful. My favorite is when he's asked what he wants and answers , "I could tell you, but your too clever to listen."
@aslyn8943 I don't think anyone thinks itb was about the federation..
It's q... it's either about him or picard... always
its that song being played, same one in the future that Borg Queen Juratti plays for him!
@@schumi9xwdc I just now realized that!
Yeah I sought out this scene for some reason, and now that I've seen it I'm weirdly compelled to rewatch S2. The first time around Q just sounded oblique? Which takes a lot for a character that classically revealed so little of their real intentions. I know this season is typically the least celebrated of the series, correctly, but hearing Q laying things out so succinctly if you only know the ending sort of provokes me to consider rewatching it
@@TypingHazard- It's sad. This was actually my favorite season. I was disappointed that it was almost all in the past (or this alternate timeline), but the plot and characters were much more compelling to me. And it hinted at why Q has been so involved with humanity. Q has always been particularly involved with Picard, Janeway, and (to a lesser extent) Sisko, all of whom are integrally linked with the Borg. Then this season, Picard has a run in with the Borg, blows them up, and Q shows up _pissed_... and aging? It hints at this idea that the Q are, themselves, somehow linked with humanity and the Borg. That Picard's actions on the Stargazer somehow hurt them. (My personal theory is that the Q are the far, far, far-off descendants of humanity, and that our relationship with the Borg is integral to them evolving and ascending. They are always harping on how humans think of time in such linear terms.)
I wish S3 had actually followed up on the Jurati Borg collective joining the Federation. It would have tied the three seasons together better, and actually advanced the lore of the timeline in an interesting way.
I like the shock in Picard's face when Q slapped him. Q had never done anything like that to Picard until then. This really hit home that someone was wrong with Q.
Q also seems to have taken lessons from Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. “You hit me! Picard never hit me.”
“We’ll, I’m not Picard.”
I did a double take...I was genuinely afraid Q had gone insane and they were going to re-roll him as the villain, thank god it wasnt that haha
@@PeachWookiee- I had the exact same thought.
I love the idea that Sisko hits Q, but instead of Q hitting Sisko, he passes along the hit to Picard. Based on early Sisko (and his tense relationship with Picard), I think he'd have been pleased to know how that turned out.
@@ApostleO The difference of course being Sisko caused no actual damage to Q, while Q apparently rung Picard's bell pretty well with just a light backhand.
Captain Sisko watching with the wormhole aliens: "My bad Picard, I taught him that".
"I am but a suture in the wound."
Okay... THAT is not something you EVER want to hear a being like Q state with serious sincerity.
When even Q can't do anything then all hope truly is lost
@@SamuelBlack84 Maybe not all, but it is bleak for sure.
"serious sincerity" is a pretty redundant way to say it
"How quaint. How provincial. How *Yesterday's Enterprise* of you.."
I see what you did there...
My god, De Lance has matured into a formidable actor. I would see him in ABSOLUTELY anything... And I think that he will get the part if he wanted. The facial expressions, the slight trembles... everything. Master.
Look at how great he was in Breaking Bad.
Even when it's just his voice, he's fantastic. Listen to Alarak from Starcraft 2. It's wonderful.
@@Kajehart jesus, i had no idea that was him. Incredible actor.
@@Blazieth Yes, this. His voice for that actor is so warm and deep and yet so venomous.
@@Blazieth
I love this actor specifically for his voice acting. I adore John De Lancie as Discord in My Little Pony and as Alarak in StarCraft 2!
John De Lance is completely carrying Season 2 so far, his acting has been phenomenal. He brought back the menacing Q from earlier TNG seasons.
Yeah, you get the feeling something is really wrong. The face quivering when he snaps it's like he's struggling.
@@mightymulatto3000 What happened at the end of the last episode quite literally stole the show. De Lance is amazing.
This I agree on.
It was always part of his personality, that was his secret. There was no secret, he was being himself. Which is quite unstable.
1. Literally gasped at the slap, genuinely built on...
2. "Q you are not well", Stewart's delivery and De Lancie's reaction was perfect, Picard was truly worried for him. Plus, that's one hell of a tease.
3. "I could tell you but you're far too clever to listen" - as in "I could tell you but you'd rightly never trust me".
4. "We're never too old to be students of our own behaviour" - boy that sticks.
I've been wondering if he has some Q version of dementia.
I don't think Picard would be worried about Q
He'd be far more worried about the *implications* of Q being unwell
What does that last one mean exactly?
2. Picard wasn't worried at all for Q's sake. He was terrified at the thought of an unwell Q.
@@Quintillius It’s recognition that each of them have character traits that have become hindrance to the greater picture. For Q, it’s the nature of being too coquettish and coy with his “friend” and not telling him to make the right change (…the one that matters), for Jean-Luc, it’s basically him continuing to be in the background allowing things to change as well as himself to just change in all other ways (none of which matter). This way of acting has caused drastic changes in reality itself to the point that Q has to intervene, already outside of what the Continuum are supposed to do in regards to lower dimensional beings. This time the Trial is taken a turn for the worse, so now instead of being imparted with a lesson, Jean-Luc Picard must bear a penance.
"No more yesterday's Enterprise" ...... I see what you did there ....
Same here.
I heard it was referenced, I didn't realise it was so blatant though
He mentioned a couple of more ST episodes.
I thought he said "How yesterday's Enterprise of you" (regarding chiefly his previous starship, but shoehorns in an "Easter egg in plain sight". Not sure the direct references are always needed, especislly when the story is strong enough on its own.)
@@ShamrockParticle shoehorns?
John De Lance absolutely nailed it as Q. Brought back all the danger and threat of the character. He could have just stepped of the set of TNG.
*even when Q was seemingly being nice he was always dangerous*
He should have been in discovery instead of the guardian of forever.
That would have been funnier and better (maybe georgiou would stay in the same time as michael, and add more quality to the whole series)
Then AND now!!!
Well, he is Discord
He, as opposed to Picard, still is his former presence. I would even go so far to say, he has significantly improved. And boy has he aged well.
1:36 Look at Q’s expression here. It’s subtle, but even _he_ seemed to look a bit taken aback by the way he just acted.
I think later in the season we’re going to see this scene again from Q’s point of view. He looked like he was reacting to something that happened to him.
It's terrifying, something TNG never explored. Something has rattled Q so badly that even he is raw and losing his composure.
To me, that and the "you are not well" tells me that Q will be dying this season.
@@andrewmorris9946 I agree, I think is De Lancie’s farewell to the character
@@andrewmorris9946 Actually, Q’s confirmed to be in Season 3. Both seasons were shot simultaneously.
Q's face at 1:36.
Just.....a split between anger and pain.
JDL is an amazing actor.
He IS Q.
Just a detail. The song played on the phonograph is "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf. Written for her towards the end of her career, it encapsulates her own roller coaster life of triumph and tragedy. Translation: "No, I regret nothing." A fitting song for this scene - it has been used in many films, including "Inception." It is also used by the French Foreign Legion (long story!).
It’s foreshadowing the son Picard’s mother used to play for him when he was a child, (the point of Q’s lesson) and also the song the new born queen plays to signal that she is not a threat to the federation at the end of the season, so yes, very nice tie in and foreshadowing of the entire story.
Certainly a much darker version of Q than we're used to. I'm excited to see where this goes. Q seems angry, almost desperate in this scene, meaning the "penance" he's trying to push on Jean-Luc is something deeply personal for him and I'm here for that mess.
That slap came courtesy of Benjamin Sisko.
I think the slap was payback for Benjamin punching q
Picard getting Sisko-slapped;):).
"Picard never hit me." "I'm not Picard!"
I'll laugh if Q gets the opportunity to punch Sisko.
I hated the slap. Otherwise a fantastic scene. The bloody nose may relate to Qs line, "If you can't take a little bloody nose you ought to go home and crawl under your bed".
"I am but a suture in the wound!" There's something about this line that gets my attention. Something that makes me think that whatever is actually happening, Q might not be as in control as he would like Picard to think. I'm thinking maybe Picard did something, if not this Jean-Luc than the General Picard of this timeline, that was so heinous it actually affected the Q Continuum. Maybe even, affected Q's son. That could explain the underlying rage Q is expressing, and why he talks about atonement and forgiveness later. Maybe whatever happened pulled him into the middle of it and he can't fix it on his own and can only, at best, guide things along. And to an outcome maybe even he isn't aware of.
Well if you go back to all the other Q interactions he is seldom the architect of the chaos that accompanies him. In Q Who, he simply showed Picard what he was truly about to be up against, The Borg were already destroying outposts along the neutral zone and noone knew who before this. In All good things it wasn't Q who ended all of Humanity, he simply tried to guide picard in stopping the anomaly. I think there is a similar situation taking place here. Q saved Picard and his crew, made sure their memories were intact, was even there to help Picard figure out where he'd just ended up. Yes Q was cryptic, childish and at one point seemingly rageful about it, but I don't think he's responsible for what's happened
A bit off topic, but there is something else that happened that may have strongly affected Q’s son.
When we were introduced to “Junior” back in Voyager, he wound up striking a friendship with Icheb.
And spoilers for Picard Season 1 ahead:
Icheb died after being basically torn apart for his Borg components by the black market. One can only imagine how Junior reacted to learning about that…
@@Jackie-McCann not a terrible theory. But Q seems specifically mad at Picard here. Like super pissed off
@@Jackie-McCann I doubt Icheb's fate would even register on Junior's radar but I'd LOVE for this to be true.
I suspect that (rightly) they'll stay far away from the god-awful Q stories in Voyager (just the latter two, the first was rather good). Otherwise, I tend to agree. For the first (real) time, Q is no longer in control. It's not a test this time, or a lesson, or a game. It's now very real.
I don't think Q is worried about himself, or the Continuum. He's worried about Picard and the galaxy as a whole. When Picard doesn't take it seriously, when he acts churlish and stubborn, Q loses his patience, because he expects more from Picard now, when the stakes have become very real.
When he struck Picard, it solidified the notion that he was not behaving as before.
This is not the Next Gen Q. Q always had subtle shades of malevolence, but there was a strong trickster element and other shades. This is just straight up... dark. I honestly don't like it. Q never transmitted rage like this. Annoyance and disdain perhaps, but violence, no. I'm going to have a hard time going to Episode 3. The time reset trope has so been done and if we come out in worse place, it'll destroy nearly all of canon officially. I'm not keen to that.
I mean... during the episode Picard clearly states he thinks something is wrong with Q and later he describes him as behaving as if he's unstable because of it. He's literally not supposed to be behaving identically to the Next Gen Q, lmao.
Q did state before that he's not above learning new behaviors, and considering what's happening, this still falls into character with him. It's both subtle and gross.
@@zoso1980 Normally I would agree with you, but the show is actually acknowledging it as out of character behavior, which means its both known that its out of character, and that there's a reason for it. Unlike other times, where it would just be handwaved away, and we'd be told to shut up and watch. So I'll take it. But it ultimately depends on the payoff as the season goes as to whether or not it works.
@@zoso1980 Didn't one of the crew get bayonetted during one of Q's shenanigans? Thats some violence.
In one of the older books (I wish I could remember which one...) it's mentioned that the Continuum created the great Barrier around the milky way and at its core to protect the galaxy from some external threat.
I've always had a sneaking suspicion that for all his games and manipulations and trials Q is a protector. Like a guardian but of reality itself.
Every time he interacts with a Starfleet crew he improves them in some way. He teaches Jean Luc how to think outside time. He helped Janeway make it home with all Voyager's knowledge. He even provides Sisko with a face capable of withstanding a Sisko pimp hand.
I think whatever he did to save Picard it's because he NEEDS Picard help and it's cost him something big to get it.
The books are "The Q Continuum" trilogy ("Q-Strike", "Q-Zone", & "Q-Space"). There's an insane, malevolent Q-like entity called 0 that's exiled outside the galaxy by the great barrier, and it's "crippled" so it can't travel faster than light by itself. I don't want to spoil too much, but it had 3 associates who fans familiar with the original Star Trek may recognize. There's a lot of callbacks and continuity nods.
There was also another book called "Q & A" where Q revealed that everything he'd put Picard and his crew through was to prepare them for the entire universe being put on trial by a race that are as far above the Q as the Q are above humans.
@@raf7550
I loved the q books.
My Dad was an avid reader of both Star Trek and Star wars novels. He also read an bunch of fantasy, science fiction and thrillers. Old 1980s Computer hacking sci-fi books where imagining the current stuff going on right now.
You're talking about the war the Q had with "God" from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. They sealed him beyond the barrier until Kirk arrived.
2:57 Q snaps his fingers and the song starts playing. Picard wakes up in the middle of an Inception.
That brings you back to when Sisko hit Q on DS9 and Q said you hit me, Picard would never hit me.
Ha! I thought the same thing, and I reckon this is a subtle response to that moment. Lol
Kurtzman Drek and subtle doesn't coexist.
the slap is from the episode q who if you caunt take a bloody nose you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed
"How Yesterday's Enterprise of you." Love this little bit of fourth wall breaking. Cuz if anybody is going to do it, it's gonna be Q.
I'm placing my bets now that John De Lance's performance is going to carry this entire season
Oh, John's been killing it so far, but everybody else is pulling their weight, too. I especially like Annie Wiershing as the BQ.
John De Lance carried every scene he’s ever been in on this show.
No, Picard is still gay if he didn't want Troi's boobola.
Not a hard bar with the series so far.
It already has. This is what character interaction with a half way decent script looks like.
The bet is to see how long it takes for Kurtzmann and his circle of jerks to ruin Q...
Worth noting that slap was a throwback to TNG's 'Q Who" where Q basically tells Picard and crew they shouldn't be out there if they can't handle a little bloody nose.
1:45 is one of the most ominous things I've seen in Trek. Picard, just from appearance, can tell something is wrong with a god. This is going to be INTENSE.
Literally watched it for that one clip. That snap something else
@@DirtySpriteLee it is. Plus the new sound effect they put on the snap is darker. It sounds more powerful and angry than the old one. It's a really neat added touch.
I've watched this scene a few times to try pin down how De Lance so convincingly plays an afflicted Q. First, Q is actually furious about something and his speech and movements have a frantic aspect to him. Usually Q is condescending and unconcerned. Here, something has affected him deeply and beneath his words, an anger (possibly even pain) is flaring. An attempt to be calm and condescending is betrayed by that unspoken barely contained fury. This is most evident to me when he says "I am but a suture in the wound!" Right after he says that, Q steps back and seems to be disoriented or uncertain. Picard comments that Q isn't well and rather than give a snide response, Q looks at him askance and seems to exude vulnerability. The typical invincible air Q normally carries is lost for a moment. Right before he snaps his fingers, Q's jaw tightens and he has a slight tremor run through the right side of his face. I don't know if the jaw clench and the tremor were intentional but I am going to give De Lance the benefit of the doubt and say they were.
good catch, I didn't notice those the first time
Should be interesting. He offered Picard "atonement" but didn't say what for. He also said Picard knew. This is going to end up being a mistake made by Picard at some point that Q is sending him back to fix.
I wonder if he was even the one who did this to the universe.
I'd say the Continuum has pretty much passed judgement on humanity, coercing Q to perform the execution. And he does not like it One Bit.
The snaps are given with a bang... it sounds more like a clock ticking dramatically... like time is running out.
Q it's upset, but also struggling with his snaps...
As for the penance/punishment it probably has to do with Picard keeping people at a distance and the reason in his life that made him that way.
Q seems concerned about Picard's age. The way he said "so many wrinkles" and reached out to caress his face. Added with how "you're not a pawn, your the board of which the game is played" and I think Q might actually love Picard in his own warped way.
loves fucking with him thats why he says time is unfair
And he said it just after remarking "How unfair time is!", giving a double meaning with wrinkles in time. He seems to relate to him, as Picard was able to pick up that not all was right with him.
I agree. Picard is Q's favorite person. The two are great together in their interactions, the tete-a-tete.
Q is angry. We have never seen this before. Q has been irritated, annoyed and even humbled. But this is new.
Nevermind that he hit Picard, Q has lost his composure. That puckish flamboyance we all know and love is just a mask now. It's there when he says "how Yesterday's Enterprise of you!" but it evaporates as soon as Picard brushes him off as being a silly trickster.
What can make Q so angry, possibly even so scared to act like this?
Damn it, now i'm invested!
It kind of reminds the episode Hide and Q. Where it was speculated that the Q fear what humanity could become. With that logic I wouldn't be surprised if it turns that Picard has or will cause Q to experience some kind of devastating trauma.
DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG
@@Yuurei21 They're trying to maintain the progression of the universe in some way. Perhaps something Picard did had undone all the work that the Continuum did, and now Q is both furious and disappointed in him.
I find it quite hilarious when Q quoted the episode name "Yesterday's Enterprise", as if Q watches TNG like the rest of us.
@@GojiCQ probably the only other time hes been that angry.
Q slapped Picard!? Give that man an Oscar! 😉
“How yesterday’s Enterprise of you….” Nice touch and a reference to an awesome TNG episode
I feel when the stargazer exploded, it caused more problems than they realized and Q actually hurt itself trying to stall the bleeding caused by Picard, which is why he is freaking furious what happened because Picard did something really dumb in his eyed and jumped the gun.
Yup
Which raises the interesting question of what the Queen was actually trying to do, because she was not exactly encouraging trust with her act. Plus it's interesting to note that Seven leant on Picard pretty hard to take the action he did, so she may face some responsibility for whatever caused this.
I agree on Q, something is clearly wrong with him, the humour feels bitter and almost forced, as if he's doing it more because its what's expected than because he actually feels like doing it. He seems genuinely pissed off in a way I don't think we've ever seen him before.
My current guess is that all those ships exploding while sitting on the lip of that spatial rift the Borg were coming through had some nasty side effects that Q is currently attempting to keep at bay.
I say attempting because for all his prior claims, the Q are not truly Omnipotent, if they were they couldn't kill each other because the only way something truly all powerful can die is if it actively chooses to. They are obscenely powerful yes, but the Continuum can strip Q of their powers forcibly, execute them and they fought a civil war where they were able to kill one another. For all these things to be possible an individual Q's power must have an upper limit that the group as a whole can overcome.
I would guess that Q calls himself a suture because whatever that blast did, its effects are beyond Q's ability to simply undo, thus he must get Picard to fix the root cause.
@@JamesTobiasStewart if you read the Star Trek novels and comics, you find that Q are immensely powerful higher level beings that co-exist with other higher level beings (DS9 Prophets, other "gods" we saw in TOS, powerful beings in Voyager, etc) in the galaxy.
These beings live on a higher plane of existence. And they occasionally visit lower levels of existence where humans live, and interact with beings like Picard. Or like the Prophets talking to Sisko in DS9. Or sometimes Other higher gods don't really care about lower level beings and avoid talking to them. They think of humanity like how humans think of owning a hamster or puppy as a pet. We humans are nothing more than tiny unevolved animals to them.
The Q and other higher level beings try to avoid directly fighting eachother because it requires immense power, and there is no real benefit to doing so.
For example, we see Q fight other higher level beings, but it requires immense concentration, drains their power, makes them tired, and can cause damage to lower dimensions/planes of existence. For example, I'm the books, the Q get into a disagreement with other TOS gods and they fight. This causes random Supernovas to explode, and black holes to form on the lower planes existence. Collateral damage.
Because fighting requires so much power, and effort, the Q and other higher level beings try to negotiate with eachother instead of fighting. Whenever possible, they solve their disagreements with wagers, betting, and various contests. It uses up far less of their energy. And it's more amusing than just fighting.
@@JamesTobiasStewart And also the Borg Queen stunned them instead of kill. I suspected Picard did it first when Q said "Show them a world of their own making and they ask you 'What you've done?'" then I remembered the spatial rift was emiting Tachyons and Hawking Radiation. The Warp Core explosion that close to it very well could have radiated to 2024 just like when The Flash caused a time boom. 2024 may have been the point the time boom in this case disipated, causing the change that altered the timeline.
Q has a son where is he maybe he’s dead because of Picard
As demonstrated by Q, you gotta keep the pimp hand strong.
This scene is so powerful, the range of emotions they both go through in just a couple of minutes is incredible. From anger to mutual concern, to rage and fear. Just amazing 👏
Can Q also snap his fingers and end JJ Abrams' alternate universe?
What you are describing is a person writing for an ADHD audience thinking that they are writing Shakespeare when they are just writing shit that grabs your attention every few seconds because they have zero capacity for subtle and intellectual writing.
This is less Q and more Agent Smith from The Matrix.
The modern writers seem to incessently pursue anything and everything but the spirit of Star Trek from which the franchise began.
Well I was so powerful that I stopped watching it after that. Maybe it's me but I can't do Kurtzman version of Star Trek anymore
@@mnomadvfx true the entire plot point looks like they dont get star trek, like why does it matter what someone in a parallel universe did, not like that's the same picard
kinda as stupid as being mad about something that someones ancestors did many generations ago, oh wait ... oh no now I get it, gotta get some oppression shaming into the show to shame a demented old guy bc he's white, how very progressive
1:45 Q snapped so hard his own cheek shook when he did it.
I love this version of Q. He is showing how annoyed and fed up with Picard. The "younger" Q would have never hit Picard. I do however think something may be wrong with Q.
He learned from Sisko
He seems threatened by something - admitting to being only a "suture in the wound" is an admission that he's not omnipotent, and that something is happening that he can't snap away with his fingers. For a being of such power, that would be terrifying and stressful, even if there weren't something specifically wrong with him. Very interested to find out.
I love how you think of it as younger.
As if this isn't a completely different series with all the OG actors back only because their participation in TNG type cast them in Hollywood for all time to the exclusion of any other acting roles that didn't closely match what they did in TNG.
Patrick Stewart literally couldn't get any other job but this after TNG - why else do you think he was the narrator in Ted?
Plenty of ST alums went on to direct or produce simply because they couldn't shake it off.
@@RealTCGM Yes, he did. LMAO
Kenny, who are you parroting? Like, seriously, whose whiney video about Picard are you parroting, because Patrick Stewart has had a good dozen other acting jobs since Nemesis was released, and I don't see how you could miss him being in X Men - I don't even follow that franchise and I know he's in it. He's been in a number of tv shows since, voice acted a number of video game characters, and has continued his theatre career consistently ever since. He literally got a knighthood for contributions to acting, just what the hell are you on about?
The scene with Q hitting Picard really caught me off guard, I'd never seen Q that violent before.
They’re painting Q as unstable/insane
I think it's a misdirect, q doesn't seem insane he seems genuinely passed off that the human he's invested so much time into makes such progress in TNG only to turn around and do something so incredibly barbaric.
He had a one on one with Sisko once and got hit in the process.
Sad part is Picard and the rest think Q is just toying with them because he is bored. They never stopped to think that he may be trying to help them or improve them. Sure he could just snap his fingers and make it happen but where would be the fun in that?
Not just fun, but growth. Like you pointed out, it's difference between just giving and teaching. Q understands that.
I have been saying this for years. I figured out that Q is a teacher when the last episode of TNG aired.
I think they've mishandled Q throughout all the shows. Yes, he can be an absolute villain. Yes, he's done things we consider reprehensible... Through Picard's eyes.
But by the end of it, I think the closest thing he had to a friend was Picard. For a second, Picard himself saw that Q was trying to reach him, teach him something.
Picard's problem is his sense of self. He's sometimes right, and that justifies his actions to himself but he's everything Q claims he is.
If he'd let go and actually learn, he'd find out that Q was right all along in his messages, even if his tactics were immoral.
Did those officers need to die during the first confrontation with the Borg? No. But he made a valid point about the bloody nose and not being ready for what's out there. None of us are, we just smugly think so.
@@Autobot032 I agree but I also believe that those officers did need to die during that first confrontation with the Borg. Picard was arrogant in the extreme before Q flung them to where a Borg cube was. Before that Picard boasted that Humanity was ready for anything the universe could throw at them. The Federation had fought and beaten all of their enemies, defeated and were allies with the Klingons, were in a cold war with the Romulans with no real conflict there, defeated and had a peace treaty with the Cardassians. Picard and Riker both felt there was nothing they couldn't overcome. Hell even Guinan could tell where the conversation was going. At the end even Picard admitted that, while done in a horrible way, what Q had done was kick the complacency and arrogance that Humanity and the Federation had developed because of being on top of the food chain in the Alpha/Beta quadrants.
@@steeltimberwolf that's absolutely fair. As much as I hate to admit it, Picard, much like humanity, needs a wakeup call. Q has been giving that since the pilot episode and has never let up.
Picard, and we by extension, completely misses the point over and over again.
Don't get me wrong, we all love Picard to some degree, whether he's a favorite captain or not, but the man's dense.
“How Yesterday’s Enterprise of you.” Wow. They just made it canon that Q knows he is in a TV show. He’s fully self-aware.
Picard: "You hit me! You never hit me before."
Q: "That was before I met Sisko."
"It's a Not So Wonderful Life," Star Trek style.
When Q slaps Picard and says, "I've had enough of your obstinence. Your stubborness. Your insistence in changing in all ways but the one that matters. This is not a lesson. It's a penance." Think about a God creature being angry and saying that to us, the mortal man, and let your soul shudder a bit when you realize the deeper implications of that dialogue.
The other readers of your diatribe may not understand what you have written here. But, I do and I agree.
Captain Benjamin Sisko punch him & nothing happened. Perhaps the only thing that can take on a Q is a Wormhole god.
@@thesovereign3804 Makes you wonder why Picard doesn't put have Sisko on speed dial when Q pulls shit like this if that were the case.
@@thesovereign3804- then you remember INCORRECTLY. Capt, Sisko punched Q and sent Q flying. Then, Q gathers himself, Quark gathers the platinum he earned by calling Sisko as the potential winner of this fight and Q says to Sisko; "You hit me, Picard WOULD NEVER hit me...!!!" Sisko replies: "I'm NOT Picard...!!!" -end scene Go watch it again....
@@dayewalker9408 Why watch it agian, when you can watch it now: ua-cam.com/video/Etc8qdqiR5k/v-deo.html
There's definitely significance in Picard's bloody nose. I suspect how Picard reacted to the Borg queen triggered something catastrophic. I suspect the Borg actually wanted something beyond just assimilation and I think his synth body is the key. What if the Borg, after Janeway, realize assimilation isn't the means to perfection? What if the Borg have finally found the perfection they desired in the form of a synth body. Picard's distrust of the Borg and his actions on the Stargazer robbed them and humanity of a new first for peace, much like Kirk's reluctance to make peace with the Klingons. Also, its worth pointing out the similarties to Picards actions on the Stargazer this time to his actions on the Stargazer during his first command and first contact with Ferengi. A first contact that destroyed both ships.
While I agree, I also think that Lara has a part to play in Qs being pissed off. Picard has always wanted a family. His is not the biological kind though. And, he doesn't recognize that. Even after the events of the season finale of TNG.
@@ENetArch Lara? Don't you mean Laris?
I'm pretty sure the bloody nose is a play on this comment Q made in the episode "Q who"
"Q: If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross, but it's not for the timid."
I don't think the Borg are behind anything, they are just more puppets for Q.
am i missing something? how come noone seems to notice that picard is human again? i mean he bleeds human blood, synths dont have red blood like that. maybe its a mistake that the editors missed or maybe they just dont know, like in season 1 they seemed to think that borgs would die in space, but this is obviously not true.
@@mainsource8030 Yeah you're missing something. Picard isn't a robot, his body is artificial but it's still biological. Think of it like having your body cloned.
Not all synths are the same. Some like Soji and Dahj were also synthetic but biological. They both breathe, sweat, bleed, eat etc. While others like Arcana were clearly artificial like Data.
I see Q has learned the power of being hit in the face. Somewhere Sisko is laughing.
I remember that song from a commercial. Yep I'm a commercial guy. Love commercials. Been watching them since the 80s. I use to buy VHS tapes on ebay of older commercials back when eBay was for ordinary people with too much stuff and perhaps some gambling debts and other underlying addictions to feed. I often recall and even enjoy commercials more than whatever show was on at the time
Some acting there on both parts.. JDL beyond excellent. Patrick great too. Wow
I just realized the premise of Season 3, Its the reverse of all good things at the end of TNG. In TNG the plot revolves around picard jump between the past present and future, and a single action in one of them caused the whole of humanities fabric to begin tearing at the seams. in the end picard figured out that the solution was to simply not make the choice in the firstplace, and to do that he had to merge all of time into a single point. It worked but it came at a terrible price. See Q royally bit off more then he could chew from that action, and its aftermath began slowly destroying him...and the Q continuum. We can see the effects in voyager with the Q wanting to die, then the civil war and then needing to procreate just to survive, even their sudden mortal fear of the borg in voyager and then the borgs ability to finally detect them in this season shows how utterly weak he and his race have become. And Q is furious at picard for how little he appreciates the absolute sacrifice Q has made to protect humanity from itself... but now he no longer has the power to save them... he is barely holding reality together at the cost of his own existence.
I wish it was Alex Kurtzman in Picards place at 2:39 Kurtzman deserves a good slap for what he's done to Star trek.
That also is specifically FOR him. I pictured him the whole time. The words that followed also work in the same manner.
Q: “How Yesterday’s Enterprise of you”
Wait. What? Does Q know he’s actually on a tv show!?!? 😱😱😱
It's hokey, no question, but given the strength of the surrounding scene and content that it's not a point-dropper for me. This episode looks as haunting as it is AMAZING.
Not the first time he's done it either.
"It's time to put an end to your trek through the stars, make room for other more worthy species."
I mean he is omnipotent, so it would make sense that he is aware that he is in the Star Trek universe. That's why he is so angered here, because he wants out of his TV prison.
"And you people. You're all on some sort of star trek." ~ Zefram Cochrane
Though, I find it different. When ZC the above, I almost regurgitated. When Q says "how yesterday's enterprise of you", it's far more deliberately chilling, I think. We'll see.
@@Altixis He should bring Deadpool along
“Q, you’re not well.” I love how even though Q ticks him off, Picard shows genuine concern for him.
3:00 That’s the second times I’ve hear that song in a cinematic medium (show, movie, special, etc.)
“If you cant take a little bloody nose then I suggest you crawl back under your bed, its not safe out here” - Q
Anyone else notice Q playing the song in Inception? Picard is just in a dream and needs to wake up, Q slapped him as an attempted kick xD
Q is taking out what Sisko did on Picard
Piccard: "You hit me!? Q never hit me".
Q: " I'm not THAT Q anymore'.
I love how Q dropped the title of a TNG episode.
This proves Q knows that this is a show.
actually that's how they procreate in the Continuum....Picard and Q have a love child that has existed outside time and will one day return to our dimension to continue the legendary adventures of the Star Ship Enterprise.
The Q in ST:P is NOT "Q"!
Q "You hit me?! Picard never hit me!"
SISKO "I'm not Picard!"
Q "Indeed not. You're much easier to provoke. How fortunate for ME."
“So Yesterday’s Enterprise of you” classic Q
Wow, he still has it. De Lances acting is top notch. Top notch you hear me!!! Just from a 3 min snippet, I could feel he and Jean Luc range and depth even more so than over 25 years ago.
Buckle up trekkies, season 2 is going to be a wild ride.
And then you realize how very few scenes he’s in, also neutered in power and on the verge of exploring the unknowable existence of death itself. And still, STILL HE TOWERS ABOVE THE ENTIRE CAST OF ST:P. This is not acting, it’s an experience.
Q warned Captain Janeway (and the audience) that his "cosmic clock" was ticking.....
I honestly didn’t know what direction this season was going to go after the ending of the first season but I am quite pleased how season two is going
P: Where is the Stargazer?
Q: How quaint, how provincial, how "Yesterday's Enterprise" of you.
this is a great quote because "Yesterday's Enterprise" is the TNG episode where Tasha Yar comes back because time gets played with and things don't feel right.
I find Picard funny sometimes when it comes to these encounters with Q. The guy is basically a God why do you think you can tell him what to do.
Probably why Q sorts of respects him
@@andreslinares6429 I think you’re right
That’s why Q likes him. lol.
Sheer f*cking hubris, that's why.
What else should he do? Get on his knees and worship him?
"You hit me......my Q never hit me!' "I'm not your Q!"
I’ll be honest, I was never going to give this show a chance, but De Lancie has changed my mind. I’d watch it just for this.
Same
Patrick Stewart and John De Lancie are two of the best actors that ever appeared on screen!
Q seemed like he was looking really closely at Picard, and saw something he really didn’t like.
De Lancie is like 7 years younger than Stewart but looks two decades younger.
I’m not one to wax poetic about how well de Lancie plays a warped and disturbed Q, all I can say is that this version of Q shocked and scared me, which is incredibly intriguing. He seems shocked by his own words, we’ve never seen him so perturbed and angry before
that angry snap hit like a gunshot
Capt. Picard : I understand what you've done here, Q. But I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of 18 members of my crew.
Q : If you can't take a *little bloody nose*, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid.
There is one particular detail almost nobody seems to have noticed - q struck him with the back of his hand. Such an action is in many cultural references considered as striking an inferior... or disciplining a pet!
Very appropriate to the relationship between those two!
As I supposed before, when I'd seen Q for the first time, this is a darker version of him. In principle, I thought it was just a John De Lancie's touch, but clearly is more than his excellent interpretation of Q. There is something really dangerous out there for really put Q in a state of fear and cornered, because he really looks upset and with fear, anxious for a correct response from Picard to resolve the mistery.
He isn't the harmless prankster we've seen on DS9 and Voyager.
I wonder if what's is going on in the timeline is affecting the Continuum,and Picard is the focal point?
@@MultiTimelady I think what's going on has strained Q considerably and he's scared because the only man he can rely on to fix it is on the brink of becoming unreliable.
@@SoranoGuardias He's never the harmless prankster, more like a disaster chained by the rules of the Continuum. To those he favours, his presence is just annoying, but to those he doesn't favour... a visit from Q might as well be Armageddon.
God JDL can act, you can feel the emotion oozing from him
I love that Q is basically revealing to Picard that he is the star of the show, something that he definitely was NOT in season 1.
This clip is simply filled with masters of their craft!
Forgetting all the "canon loopholes" from Voyager, DS9, etc. I have a feeling this season is going to feature the origins of the Borg. Or at least the first Borg Queen. And it's going to be right here on Earth in the year 2024. This is what I believe Q is talking about when he states that this is a "penance." Something in the year 2024 occurred that resulted in the first Borg being created and somehow was sent to the Delta Quadrant where the Borg then steam-rolled over and assimilated "billions" as Commander Chakotay once said. Q keeps dropping subtle hints. For example: "How 'yesterday's Enterprise' of you, Jean-Luc." Events in that episode created Sela and a political shift for the entire Romulan Empire. Guinan even says to Picard at one point, "You are responsible for all of this." Same thing may be at play here.
Actually 2024 is the year the Bell Riots started which was taken from a DS9 episode. Something occurred with that specific event that changed the course of events and created the alternate future. Now it makes me wonder if Benjamin Sisko and Dr. Bashir will make a surprise appearance.
@@Crunkboy415 Noo it those not stop guessing
Damn my boi did not have to pimp slap Picard! He slapped the shit out him! 🤣🤣
"You slapped me! You never slapped Sisko!"
"You're not Sisko."
In this scene, the song that is played, is the same one played in saving private Ryan before the Germans take the bridge
This encounter with Q feels more like a vision than other encounters did...
As Picard says, Q is not well. The fact that even Picard can see that there is something seriously wrong with him is terrifying to contemplate because you have to question what can make somebody as powerful as Q that angry and near vengeful
I wonder if the Borg figured out how to assimilate them...
I have so many theories about what could be happening, it’s soo good!
I would be totally useless in a scenario like this because all I would do is ask Q what's wrong and how can I help him? Because an unnaturally disturbed, almost omnipotent being takes priority over other dangers in my opinion.
"You hit me! The real Q never hit me!"
"I'm not the real Q"
Q with the mentioning of a TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". 🙂
2:38 Will Smith could learn a lot from Q. 😜
I'm gonna say it...
Picard came from the Q
"There is no stargazer-
A world of your own making-
You are more than a piece-
You are the board on which this game is played-
Changing in all ways but the one that matters-"
Penance ??
Him striking Picard makes me think of when Q told him something to the effect of "If you can't take a little bloody nose then run back home to your bed"
Also, i was thinking about something else, the queen made a point of calling him "locutus" which isn't strange really as you'd expect it, but what if the year they are going back to has something to do with something he did as a borg. Obviously involving time travel, but it would be interesting.
KEEP MY CONTINUUM'S NAME OUT OF F***ING MOUTH!
I have a theory about what is going on. When the Borg sent the message for help, it was actually the Q. They are the ones that need help.
you deserve a lot of credit for that theory. I suspect you are correct now.
The Borg trying to assimilate the Q continuum? That otherwise sounds fanwanky except. From what I've seen so far, they might be able to pull it off. If that's what's going on.
If the Borg were getting molly whopped up by 8472 there's no way they would be able to do anything to the Q
@@ShamrockParticle "Don't provoke the Borg!" -Q
Could be the reason why Q flung the Enterprise D to that fist Cube. He knew that Picard was gonna be the one to save them already. But he had to prepare him, allow him to be assimilated to know the mind of the enemy. He did say that Jean Luc is the board upon which the very game is played. All so interesting!
"How "Yesterday's Enterprise" of you." In case you didn't catch the significance of that comment, it was referring to a Star Trek Next Generation episode of the same title, which also had to do with an alternate timeline.