Q Who (episode)

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This article is written
from the Real World
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"Q Who"
TNG, Episode 2x16
Production number: 40272-142
First aired: 8 May 1989
← 41st of 176 produced in TNG →
← 41st of 176 released in TNG →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered  
← 147th of 726 released in all →
Written By
Maurice Hurley

Directed By
Rob Bowman
42761.3 (2365)
← Arc: Borg and First Contact (3 of 3)  
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Refused a position on board the Enterprise by Captain Picard, Q throws the ship into uncharted space where it encounters and is engaged by a vessel of a previously unknown species: the Borg. When the vessel instantly and effortlessly overwhelms the Enterprise, Picard realizes that the Federation may not be as ready for the future as he thought.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Q confronts Picard in a shuttlecraft far away from the Enterprise
Q confronts Picard in a shuttlecraft far away from the Enterprise

Picard is pulled out of the Enterprise by Q, and into a shuttlecraft far away from his ship. Picard is reminiscent about their agreement from a year earlier, when Q agreed never to trouble Picard's ship again; to Q points out that they are nowhere near the Enterprise. Although initially reluctant to discuss anything with Q, he is convinced to grant his request a full hearing and they return to the Enterprise.

They appear in Ten Forward, where – upon a confrontation with Guinan – Q expresses his desire to join the Enterprise crew, after being outcast from the Q Continuum. Skeptical, Picard refuses his request, to which Q makes the argument that they need him since they are not prepared for what awaits them. Picard claims that they are ready to confront the unknown, and Guinan adds that humans' ability to adapt is their great advantage.

Picard, Riker and Guinan talk about Q
Picard, Riker and Guinan talk about Q

Q, in turn, seeks to demonstrate how prepared they are and throws the Enterprise 7,000 light years into uncharted space, to give them "a preview of things to come" upon which he disappears. Guinan advises Picard to return to Federation space as quickly as possible, but he decides to explore the nearby J-25 system first. A survey of the only Class M planet in the system reveals that while there was once a civilization there, it has been ripped away from the planet. A cube-shaped ship then approaches the Enterprise, and scans of the ship show nothing. Picard asks Guinan for her advice, and she reveals that the ship belongs to the Borg – a cybernetic race who were responsible for the near-extinction of Guinan's people. "Protect yourself, captain," she advises, "or they'll destroy you."

The Borg proceed to transport one of their drones into engineering, in spite of the Enterprise's shields being activated. When the drone attempts to tamper with the ship, Picard orders Worf to stop it. A security officer tries to drag it away, only to be hurled clear across the room. Worf then tries to stun it with his phaser, to no avail, and is forced to increase the phaser to full power. They successfully destroy the drone, but almost instantly another is beamed aboard in its place. Worf again attempts to destroy it, but shields form around it, protecting the drone. It tampers with the same engineering console, before it and the dead drone are beamed back to the cube.

Picard holds a conference, in which Guinan further details what the Borg are, and how they destroyed her people. She advises them that the Borg do not negotiate with people, at which point they hail the Enterprise. Picard tries to reason with them, but the Borg voice completely ignores him and simply informs the crew that they will not be able to defend themselves against the Borg ship, threatening to "punish" them if they attempt to do so. Troi tells Picard that every Borg is part of the same mind, and that they have no distinct leader. The Borg then lock onto the Enterprise with a tractor beam that drains their shields and prevents the ship from moving. The Borg use a cutting beam to slice a section out of the Enterprise hull, and all eighteen crewmembers in that section disappear. Picard orders Worf to use whatever force is necessary to sever the Borg's beam, and they are ultimately successful after three phaser attacks, which blast several craters into the surface of the Borg ship.

The Borg Cube's cutting beams slicing a hole in the Enterprise-D's hull
The Borg Cube's cutting beams slicing a hole in the Enterprise-D's hull

Q shows up at another crew meeting, telling them that the Borg are not concerned with the crew or the Federation, only the Enterprise and how they can use her technology. Picard asks him to reveal that this is just another illusion, only for Q to respond that the situation is perfectly real before vanishing. The Enterprise sends over an away team consisting of Riker, Worf and Data in an attempt to learn more about the Borg. They discover the ship to be full of drones, most of whom are in stasis. The few active Borg pay no attention to the team. They find what they believe to be a Borg nursery, where there are babies in slots in the wall, but all with artificial, cybernetic implants.

They realize that the Borg seem to be using their combined mental powers to repair the ship, which is why the team has not been attacked. Picard orders them to be beamed back, and orders that they "get the hell out of here". They start leaving at warp 8, but the Borg follow with ease. They increase to maximum warp, but still have no success in escaping. Riker orders them to arm photon torpedoes, and Picard gives the order to fire, but the torpedoes have no effect. Q appears on the bridge and informs Picard he does not have a chance. The Borg ship, after getting within firing range, fires a shield-draining weapon twice and the Enterprise, now with very low shields, fires torpedoes again, with the same result.

Guinan warns Picard the Borg will be coming
Guinan warns Picard the Borg will be coming

"You can't outrun them," says Q. "You can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains – they regenerate and keep coming... eventually you will weaken – your reserves will be gone... they are relentless." The Borg fire twice more, and the Enterprise loses both shields and warp drive. Q demands whether they still believe to be prepared, to which Picard admits that they are frightened and that Q has shown them to be inadequate. Picard asks Q's help, saying that they need him, to which, with a snap of his fingers, Q flings the Enterprise back into Federation space. He congratulates Picard for admitting his need for help, claiming that "another man would be humiliated to say those words." Picard is still upset about the loss of eighteen of his crew, but Q is unapologetic, telling him that the universe is not a safe place before disappearing. The Enterprise sets course for the nearest starbase, and in Ten Forward Guinan and Picard reflect upon past events. Guinan says that their encounter with the Borg came long before it should have, and since they are now aware of Humanity's existence... "They will be coming," Picard adds.

[edit] Log Entries

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Ah, the redoubtable Commander Riker! And Microbrain! Growl for me; let me know you still care!"

- Q, to Riker and Worf in Ten Forward

"Interesting, isn't it? Not a he, not a she, not like anything you've ever seen before. An enhanced humanoid."

- Q, describing a Borg drone to Picard

"We have analyzed your defensive capabilities as being unable to withstand us. If you defend yourselves, you will be punished."

- The Borg's first message to the Enterprise

"Why? Why, to give you a taste of your future, a preview of things to come. Con permiso, capitan? The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged. It's time to see if you can dance."

- Q, prior to leaving after sending the Enterprise to J-25.

"If we all die here, now, you will not be able to gloat. You wanted to frighten us. We're frightened. You wanted to show us we were inadequate. For the moment, I grant that. You wanted me to say 'I need you.'? I NEED you!"

- Picard, to 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."

- Q

"The Borg is the ultimate user. They're unlike any threat your Federation has ever faced."

- Q commenting during a senior staff briefing

"Please, tell us this is one of your illusions."
"Oh, no. This is as real as your so-called life gets."

- Picard and Q

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Story development

  • Writer Maurice Hurley had originally planned the season one episode "The Neutral Zone" to be the first part in a trilogy that would introduce an entirely new threat to the Federation. He finally got to proceed with his planned sequel with "Q Who", although only one passing reference was made between the strange destruction of outposts referred to in "The Neutral Zone" and the Borg. Not everyone picked up on the reference, partly due to the absence of the Romulans from the storyline. However, Q said the Romulans and the Klingons were nothing compared to the Borg.
  • The episode, helmed by Rob Bowman, went over budget by more than US$50,000, despite budget-saving measures.

[edit] Creating the Borg

Preliminary Borg concept by David Fisher
Preliminary Borg concept by David Fisher
Detail sketch by Rick Sternbach
Detail sketch by Rick Sternbach
A Borg extra's costume being adjusted between takes
A Borg extra's costume being adjusted between takes

Budget restraints kept the Borg from being depicted as insectoids as Maurice Hurley had originally intended, though the hive concept survived to become the overwhelming group mind known as the Collective. In addition, the Borg's unique, cube-shaped ship, and their eerie appearance – reminiscent of both the biomechanism designs of H. Giger and the cybernetic, laser-eyed Lord Dread from the 1987 syndicated series Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future – all contributed to the Borg ascending to the height of Star Trek villainy, exactly as intended.

Hurley worked together with Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry to create the Borg, whose name was derived from "cyborg", meaning cybernetic organism. The Borg were intended to provide the series with what the Ferengi had failed to deliver – a deadly, remorseless enemy that could not be reasoned with or defeated.

And exactly because of their powerful nature, the Borg would appear in only five further episodes through the run of The Next Generation. The producers stated that their infrequent appearance was due to their inability to find ways to defeat the Borg (ST:TNG Companion). However, just as Khan returned to battle Kirk in the second Star Trek film, the Borg would also make the transition to the big screen in the second The Next Generation feature.

  • The graphics displayed on monitors in the Borg alcoves were referred to as "Borg Spaghetti" by the production staff.
  • The Borg Collective voice heard in the episode was synthesized from the voices of Maurice Hurley, director Rob Bowman and Bowman's assistant.
  • While it is not explicitly stated in this episode, the overall ambition of the Borg seems to be the acquisition of technology, not the assimilation of other species as in later episodes. While "The Best of Both Worlds", the next episode to feature the Borg, dealt with this changed premise by stating in dialog that their objectives had changed, subsequent Borg episodes would ignore it entirely.
  • The Borg cube has a different appearance than the cubes used in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Voyager, and the Borg drones seen here also have simplified clothing compared to later appearances in The Next Generation and other series.
  • In the episode "Conspiracy", the neural parasites were to be the first wave of the Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that the parasites had sent out a homing beacon to contact other parasites. Due to the Borg changing from insectoids to cyborgs, this storyline was never resolved to this day.
  • ENT: "Regeneration" and VOY: "Dark Frontier" indicate that not only was Earth Starfleet previously aware of the existence of the Borg, Federation scientists actually pursued them – even if they were considered mere rumor. While it is not impossible to imagine that Humans might have been aware of the Borg prior to "Q Who" (especially considering the events of 2293 (Star Trek Generations) and the time travel events of Star Trek: First Contact), it is nonetheless a strange continuity situation.

[edit] Visual effects

Storyboards for the Enterprise's confrontation with the Borg cube
Storyboards for the Enterprise's confrontation with the Borg cube
Visual effects shot from the episode
Visual effects shot from the episode
  • The complexity and cost of The Next Generation's visual effects sequences demanded detailed planning before a single frame was shot. As the visual effects supervisor for the first episode to feature the Borg, Dan Curry created these storyboards as a blueprint of the Enterprise's first engagement with a Borg cube. The frames from the completed episode show how closely the visual effects team followed the storyboards.

[edit] Trivia

  • This episode featured the first of two appearances of Sonya Gomez, initially intended to be a comedic recurring character, but dropped after "Samaritan Snare".
  • Katherine Pulaski does not appear in this episode.
  • Perhaps as an homage to TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever", after beaming Riker and the away team off the Borg cube, Picard orders "Let's get the hell out of here!", just as Kirk did in the previously mentioned episode after their encounter with the Guardian of Forever.
  • Guinan's office is seen for the first and only time.
  • The conflict between Q and Guinan, revealed in this episode but never fully explained, is revisited (with the tables turned) a year later in "Deja Q".
  • Guinan's pose when first confronting Q is almost exactly the same as the one Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie uses when standing up to her abusive husband in the 1985 movie The Color Purple.
  • In the observation lounge, for the only time during the series, the outline of the view screen behind Picard blinks red alert during the first senior staff conference.
  • Two sound effects are introduced in this episode and used for the rest of the series: 1) the "click/snap" effect when the main view screen is magnified; and 2) the "trigger" effect when the ship's weapons are fired.
  • When Q is discussing time with Picard in the shuttlecraft, he is bouncing a ball in homage to Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.

[edit] Awards

  • This episode won two Emmy Awards. Only four other episodes of Trek have won this many. It won for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series. It was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Special Guest Star

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] References

2165; 2265; artificial intelligence; beard; Borg; Borg alcove; Borg cube; Borg drone; Borg history; Borg nursery; cortical array; cutting beam; El-Aurian; Enterprise shuttlecraft 06; French; hot chocolate; J-25 system; locator beam; maturation chamber; Q Continuum; Ranous VI; Romulan Neutral Zone; Sector 30; Sector 31; shield neutralizer; Starbase 83; Starbase 173; Starbase 185; Starfleet Academy; three-dimensional chess; tractor beam; transporter; Type-7 shuttlecraft

[edit] Sources


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