[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tng_q_who_first_view_of_borg_cube.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:In which the ''Enterprise'' reaches levels of "WE'RE DEAD" previously thought impossible.]]

'''Original air date:''' May 8, 1989

Overeager young Ensign Sonya Gomez, a recent Academy graduate just assigned to the ''Enterprise,'' is carrying on a [[MotorMouth rambling conversation]] with Lt. La Forge in Engineering. When La Forge tells her that she ought to take her mug of hot chocolate away from the delicate machinery, Gomez turns around and spills [[RightBehindMe all over Captain Picard himself]], mortifying her.

On his way to change his uniform, Picard exits a turbolift without looking and finds himself aboard a shuttlecraft piloted by Q. Picard angrily reminds Q of his promise after their [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ last encounter]] to never trouble the ''Enterprise'' again, and Q says he always keeps his word: The shuttlecraft is in [[ExactWords the middle of nowhere]]. Picard tries to wait Q out, but Q has all the time in the universe, so Picard relents and agrees to hear his proposal.

Meanwhile, La Forge is in Ten-Forward trying to give Gomez a pep talk to ease her nerves. He notices that Guinan seems disturbed. She admits that she's been having a very dire premonition but can't put her finger on it. La Forge and Gomez return to Engineering to see if anything is amiss.

Q and Picard teleport to Ten-Forward, where Q immediately reacts with shock that Guinan is aboard. The pair have a history, and they square off, but Picard talks them down as Riker and Worf arrive. Q admits that he's been kicked out of the Q collective. He's bored and wants to join the crew of the ''Enterprise''. Picard balks at the idea, but Q warns him that the Federation has no idea what lies in store for them. Picard confidently states that the Federation can handle any issues that may arise without Q.

Q decides to put that boast to the test. With a snap, he propels the ship 7,000 light years away, into an unknown part of space. They're 2.5 years away from the nearest starbase at maximum warp! Guinan recognizes this part of space and warns Picard to get the hell outta there. But Picard [[IgnoredExpert decides to go exploring first]], and they come across an uninhabited M-class planet with great rends in the surface where the cities once were. It's exactly what happened to the outposts in [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone the Neutral Zone]] in the Season 1 finale.

Suddenly the ''Enterprise'' is confronted with a completely new ship: a giant cube of metal, oddly genericized in its design. There's no bridge, engineering section, living quarters, or even life signs. Guinan identifies the ship as the source of her concern: the Borg. They nearly wiped her people out a few centuries ago, and they'll do it to the Federation if given the chance. Indeed, Borg scouts soon appear in Engineering and examine the ''Enterprise'''s technology before beaming away. The Borg ship announces that the ''Enterprise'' has no hope of winning a fight.

The Borg ship begins tractoring the ''Enterprise'' in. Picard orders a volley with everything they've got, targeting the tractor beam. The Borg slice a chunk out of the ''Enterprise'', killing 18 crew, but its transport beam gets destroyed. In a conference, Q warns Picard that the Borg are an existential threat to the Federation itself, interesting in nothing beyond consuming their technology.

Picard decides to send an away team into the Borg ship. Troi has sensed that they are a collective HiveMind, and the away team confirms this. Each individual Borg behaves like an automaton when not plugged directly into the ship, ignoring the away team. After discovering a nursery where newborn children are augmented with Borg implants, the team realize that the Borg are rapidly repairing their ship. The away team beams away, and Picard orders a full retreat.

But the Borg follow hot on their heels. Picard orders another salvo, but the battle is [[CurbStompBattle entirely lopsided]] this time, and the ''Enterprise'' quickly finds itself at the Borg's mercy. Riker prepares to give the order to fire a photon torpedo at close range, likely annihilating the ''Enterprise''. Q appears just in time to remind Picard of his claim that he could handle any threat.

Picard decides that he AintTooProudToBeg and asks Q for help. Satisfied, Q snaps his fingers and whisks the ship back to where they started. Q congratulates Picard for his humility in learning Q's lesson, but Picard is still defiant about Q's methods and blames him for the 18 deaths in his crew. Later, Guinan warns Picard that the Borg have now become aware of the Federation and will soon be knocking on their door. Picard grimly states that the Federation at least now know what they have to prepare for.
----
!! This episode contains examples of:
* AbortedArc: Geordi's relationship with Gomez, whether professional or personal, never developed, and she appeared only briefly in one other episode.
* AdaptiveAbility: A Borg drone is shot dead by Worf. The one that comes to retrieve it has a personal shield to absorb phaser fire. Similarly, the Cube takes quite a lot of damage from the ''Enterprise's'' weapons during their first engagement. In the rematch, a volley of torpedoes does absolutely nothing.
* AdmiringTheAbomination:
** Picard admits that the chance to study Q would actually be quite intriguing.
** Q's descriptions of the Borg. Unlike humanity, he seems to genuinely admire them:
--->'''Q''': Interesting, isn't it? Not a he, not a she, not like anything you've ever seen before. An enhanced humanoid.
* AintTooProudToBeg: Picard during his PatrickStewartSpeech at the end.
* ArmedWithCanon: Episode writer (and by this point, showrunner) Maurice Hurley had gone under the pseudonym "C.J. Holland" for the previous Q episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ Hide and Q]]," after Creator/GeneRoddenberry heavily rewrote his original draft for that episode while adding in a ''ton'' of HumansAreSpecial. By contrast, this episode seems dedicated to establishing that 24th century humans are actually nowhere near the pinnacle of civilization that they may have imagined themselves to be, and even introduces the klutzy Sonya Gomez as if to reinforce that point.
* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Riker snaps at Q for his actions resulting in the Enterprise being sent halfway across the galaxy and indirectly getting 18 crewmembers killed, all Q can say is just a coldly delivered "Oh, ''please''.", which firmly establishes how much he ''does not care'' about what he has done.
* BadassFingersnap: This marks the first time Q uses his powers by snapping his fingers.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Q describes Guinan in terms that aren't that different from himself. When he raises his hand to vanish her, she brings up her own hands in a defensive posture, implying that she is in some way capable of thwarting Q.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: As always, Q is a LargeHam prone to wisecracking, but he's also a godlike being with a twisted sense of morality.
* BittersweetEnding: The ''Enterprise'' escapes and is safe, for now. But the Borg know the Federation exists, and they ''will'' be coming. 18 crewmen are dead from this incident. And the once confident crew, especially Picard, are shaken to their core.
* BlatantLies:
-->'''Q:''' Sir, do you ''mock'' me?\\
'''Picard:''' Not at all; that's the last thing I would do.
* BrigBallBouncing: A version done by Q as he is waiting for Picard to agree to listen to him in the shuttle craft.
* CharacterisationClickMoment: In the first season, Q was wacky, over-the-top and slightly comical. The scene where he coldly dismisses the deaths of eighteen crewmembers added a whole new dimension to the character. And it was all down to Creator/JohnDeLancie changing what was in the script.
* ChairReveal: Q spins around in a chair, revealing that he's sitting there, for his first and last meetings.
* ColdHam: Q switches to this from his usual LargeHam persona for most of the episode to a ''chilling'' effect.
-->'''Q:''' Con permiso, Capitan. The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged. It's now time to see if you can ''dance''.
* CompanionCube: Gomez makes a point to be polite to the ship's computer, which La Forge finds silly.
* CreatorCameo: Writer (and showrunner) Maurice Hurley and director Rob Bowman provide two of the voices that go into the Borg's message to the ''Enterprise''.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: Guinan and Q have met before, Guinan goes into a defensive position with oddly specific hand gestures and Q shows annoyance at her presence but otherwise restrained in confronting her. This is not explained at all in the episode, though Guinan is an El Aurian with abstractly defined qualities. ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' 30 years later provided a little more information, but is hardly conclusive[[note]]El Aurians apparently made a treaty with the Q Continuum millennia prior, but the details are left just as vague[[/note]]
* CruelToBeKind: This is the first of several instances where Q's actions could be argued to be benevolent, but his methods make it seem like he's just sadistically toying with the ship. Here he warns Picard of an impending existential threat to the Federation, but in the process of learning the lesson, Picard loses 18 members of his crew and is reduced to begging for mercy.
* CuteClumsyGirl: Sonya Gomez [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establishes herself as this]] by running into Picard and spilling her hot chocolate on him. First impressions, indeed.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: This episode establishes that Guinan's people were massacred by the Borg in the distant past.
* DavidVersusGoliath: The ''Enterprise'' versus a Borg cube. Picard and crew get a few good shots in at first, due to the Borg being unfamiliar with their weaponry... and then the Borg become immune to it.
* DeadpanSnarker: Q, of course, is an endless stream of sarcastic comments and witty remarks as the ''Enterprise'' rebuffs his attempts to join them, and then during the struggle with the Borg.
* DeathGlare: After the Borg take a sample out of the saucer section, Worf informs Picard that 18 people were in that section, and are now missing. Picard turns to the viewscreen and gives the cube an absolutely ''murderous'' glare. Without saying a word, his expression clearly communicates that he would like nothing better than to blow that ship to pieces. It almost comes as a relief when he calls a conference, instead.
* DelegationRelay: When the first Borg drone beams into Engineering, Picard orders Worf to deal with it. Worf then orders a RedShirt to deal with it; said RedShirt gets knocked on his ass.
* DoNotTauntCthulhu: Picard continues his policy of being completely irreverent to Q and his power, but in the end, he's forced to beg Q for help.
* TheDreaded: Q's description of what lies waiting for humanity as they continue out into the galaxy. The Borg are his immediate example.
-->'''Q:''' Picard, you are about to move into areas of the galaxy containing wonders more incredible than you can possibly imagine-- and terrors to freeze your soul. [...] You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you've encountered so far. The Romulans, the Klingons; they're ''nothing'' compared to what's waiting.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Unsurprisingly, there's quite a bit concerning the Borg, given that they were still brand new in this episode, and the writing team was sussing out both how to make them threatening and how exactly their "assimilation" worked.
** The Borg's shield-draining weapon is never used again after this episode, though Borg tractor beams would pick up similar properties.
** This version of the Borg was conceived as a unique race that breed within their own species and are only interested in consuming outsiders' technology. For this reason, they threaten the ''Enterprise'' with "punishment" rather than assimilation, and the away team discovers a "nursery" of baby Borgs.[[labelnote:*]]This would be explained that the Borg may assimilate babies, then put them in "maturation chambers" to rapidly age them.[[/labelnote]] Later episodes would establish that they are more of a technological [[TheVirus virus]] that propagates itself by assimilating civilizations to add to its collective.
** The Borg continue to "scoop up" technological elements from a planet and just leave them, suggesting that they are entirely space-based as a civilization; while "Best of Both Worlds" would continue this conceit, later works (most prominently starting with ''First Contact'') would instead begin to suggest that the Borg do in fact perform surface assimilation and will assimilate and build up technology on planets.
** Naturally, at this point the Borg appear to be a complete HiveMind with absolutely no form of centralized decision-making. The idea of the Borg Queen would be nearly a decade off.
** Borg use of nanotechnology isn't referenced at all in this episode; at the time the episode was written, nanotech wasn't even widely known about as a concept. Their regeneration and whatnot simply "happens" somehow.
** The Borg threaten the ''Enterprise'' to not resist them, but their famous catchphrase "Resistance is futile" is not used. It shows up in their next appearance.
** After the away team beams on-board the cube, Riker initially assumes that they haven't been attacked because the Borg don't consider them a threat, but Data later clarifies that the Borg are actually focusing on repairing the damage their ship took in the firefight with the ''Enterprise'', implying that they just saw the repairs as the more immediate priority and otherwise would probably have attacked the away team as soon as they beamed in. In their future appearances, the Borg ''never'' attack intruders until they actively become a threat.
** The Borg's VoiceOfTheLegion sounds different in this episode and has a less prominent echo effect.
* EnsignNewbie: Sonya Gomez, who is just so ''eager'' to be out exploring the galaxy aboard the ''Enterprise''.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** When the Borg hail the ''Enterprise'', Picard starts introducing himself, only to be bluntly interrupted by their VoiceOfTheLegion, who tell the heroes "If you defend yourselves, you will be punished."
** Ensign Gomez's first scene established her as an [[CuteClumsyGirl accident-prone]] EnsignNewbie with a nervous MotorMouth.
* EvilGloating: Cited by Picard; if the Borg kill them, then Q won't be able to gloat about it afterwards. Q, to his credit, respects Picard for being able to swallow his pride and doesn't do much.
* EvilLearnsOfOutsideContext: Up until this point, the Borg were situated billions of miles from any Federation starbase. When Q takes the ''Enterprise'' into the deepest reaches of space, he alerts the assimilating race to the existence of both Earth and the Federation, and the Borg immediately begin heading for them with a vengeance.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Guinan and Picard's conversation at the end of the episode.
-->'''Guinan''': Perhaps when you're ready, it might be possible to establish a relationship with [the Borg]. But for now, for right now, you're just raw material to them. And, since they're aware of your existence...
-->'''Picard''': ''They will be coming.''
* FinalBossPreview: The early encounter with the Borg, which the Enterprise was completely unprepared for.
* GratuitousSpanish: Q. ''Con permiso'', of course.
* GutFeeling: Guinan gets a funny feeling after Picard disappears from the ''Enterprise'', but suggests that ItsProbablyNothing. Of course, it's ''not'' nothing.
* HardTruthAesop: The main plot is instigated when Picard tells Q that they are doing just fine and don't need his help. Q sends them into the path of the Borg, who are really not that far away (and previous episodes have been hinting at odd incidents reported along the Neutral Zone) as a demonstration of how outmatched they really are at what is coming. Picard is reduced to begging Q to save them, and muses at the end of the episode that Q [[CruelToBeKind did them a favor in letting them get kicked around as a warning]].
-->'''Picard:''' I understand what you've done here, Q, but I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of eighteen 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.
* HollywoodHacking: The Borg do this on the Enterprise's computer by jamming an electronic arm into a display screen. Apparently, Starfleet computers [[TooDumbToLive are designed to be accessible that way]].
* HyperspeedEscape: The ''Enterprise'' jumps to warp when the Borg cube starts regenerating. {{Defied}} when the Borg [[HyperspeedAmbush catch up to them]] and knock them out of warp.
* HypocriticalHumor: Q describes Guinan as a troublemaker who brings chaos wherever she goes. Picard even lampshades the irony of his claim.
* IHaveManyNames: When Picard refers to Guinan by name, Q reveals that the appellation is new.
* IdiotBall: All there in his CaptainsLog-- "Despite Guinan's warnings, I have decided to explore this sector of space a bit before heading back."
* IgnoredExpert:
** Picard ignores Guinan's advice to start back immediately and decides to explore the sector first, which causes 18 ''Enterprise'' crew members to be killed and the ship to almost be destroyed. They also ignore her advice not to beam an Away Team to the ship. All of this is after directly asking Guinan to monitor the bridge screen because "we might need your input."
** Arrogant as he is, Q's warnings are also ignored until Picard has to literally beg for his help.
* ImplacableMan: The Borg.
-->'''Q:''' They will follow this ship until you exhaust your fuel. They will wear down your defenses. Then you will be ''theirs.'' [...] You can't outrun them; you can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They [[PerpetualMotionMonster regenerate and keep coming]]. Eventually you will weaken, your reserves will be gone. They are ''relentless!''
* IncomingHam: After kidnapping Picard, Q interrupts him without looking at him, then turns and mugs for the camera.
-->'''Picard:''' Crewmember, what is going o--\\
'''Q:''' Welcome, Captain Picard, to Shuttlecraft 6!
* InformedAbility: We don't see anything in Gomez's actions or behavior that corroborate her being a genius whose final paper in the Academy prompted Geordi to hand-select her for assignment on Starfleet's flag ship. Perhaps if she'd gotten more episodes, we'd have seen it.
** When Gomez returns to the ST universe in ''[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E10FirstFirstContact Lower Decks]]'', she's become the Captain of her own ship, the ''Archimedes''; judging by the name, it's a science-focused vessel
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: The ''Enterprise'' crew is able to dispatch one Borg with their phasers. When another comes on, it quickly adapts a personal force field to repel the phasers, making them useless.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Picard questions if Q's lesson could have been learned without the death of 18 members of his crew. Q responds that the galaxy isn't a safe place, and if Picard can't accept that people will die from the dangers[[note]]Subtly reminding Picard that all the deaths that happened are because Picard taunted Q and ignored Guinan[[/note]], then he should go back home.
* TheJuggernaut: Riker describes the Borg this way while aboard the Borg Cube when he sees how intricate their collective consciousness is.
* KickTheDog: Q simply does not care that eighteen crew members of the ''Enterprise'' are dead [[AFateWorseThanDeath or worse]] to the Borg's machinations. To him, it's all to teach Picard a lesson in humility and the growing risks of interstellar travel, never mind a firm threat of the Borg that would come again soon enough.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Picard decides in the end to confirm Q's insistence that they need him rather than be cut up like a pork chop by the Borg.
* LoopholeAbuse: Picard reminds Q of their agreement that he would never trouble his ship again. Q joyfully points out that they're nowhere near his ship.
* MotorMouth: Sonya Gomez admits to this, especially when she's excited. She eventually gets [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks better about it]].
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Guinan can feel that something bad is about to happen at the beginning of the episode, though she isn't sure what-- however, when Q makes his appearance, she declares "I ''knew'' it was you," suggesting that she was actually more suspicious than she let on.
* NoodleIncident: Whatever "dealings" Q and Guinan had 200 years earlier.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: This is why the Borg are absolutely terrifying. When Picard first tries to address the collective, they bluntly interrupt him before forcibly taking a piece of the ''Enterprise''.
* NoSell:
** Once the Borg cube adapts to the ''Enterprise'''s weapons, a volley of photon torpedoes doesn't even scratch it.
** Similarly, the first drone that is shot in Engineering falls to the floor dead. The second one that appears has a defense shield that absorbs phaser fire.
* NoYou: Q describes Guinan as an imp that trouble follows wherever she goes. Picard is not impressed.
-->'''Picard''': You're speaking of yourself, Q.
* OhCrap:
** Sonya Gomez's reaction to spilling hot chocolate on Picard.
** Just before Q snaps his fingers to propel the ''Enterprise'' into Borg territory, Guinan flat out ''panics''; she most likely anticipated what Q was about to do.
* OminousCube: Given all the streamlined ShinyLookingSpaceships in this series, the strictly utilitarian form of the Borg Cube is quite jarring.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Overall, this episode is the one time we see Q get genuinely angry and it's bone chilling. In particular, when Q explains the nature of the Borg to the senior staff, he's quiet, calm, and very direct, which is at odds with his LargeHam trickster persona. It's part of what makes his 'oh, please' line so memorable.
** Similarly, Q shows genuine ''fear'' when he sees Guinan and immediately warns Picard that she is dangerous. Considering that he's a nigh-omnipotent RealityWarper, the sudden terror makes it clear that there's a lot more to Guinan than we originally knew.
* OutsideContextProblem: The Borg, perhaps the greatest example of this Trope in the Trek 'Verse, are introduced here. The situation is deliberately set up by Q to prove to Picard just how unprepared the Federation is for something like them.
-->'''Q''': You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you've encountered so far. The Romulans. The Klingons. They're ''nothing'' compared to what's waiting.
* PatrickStewartSpeech: One of the most brilliant of the series, when Picard tells Q he needs him.
* ResistanceIsFutile: That particular catchphrase won't appear until "The Best of Both Worlds," but in this episode, they tell the ''Enterprise'' "If you defend yourselves, you will be punished."
* RhymingTitle: One of the few rhyming episode titles within the ''Star Trek'' franchise, along with "True Q."
* RiddleForTheAges: Upon meeting Guinan aboard the ''Enterprise'' for the first time, Q expresses what appears to be genuine alarm and unease, calling her a 'creature' whose danger Picard does not and cannot understand. When he threatens to remove her from the ship, raising his hands to work his 'magic', Guinan similarly raises her hands in what appears to be a defensive posture, implying that she has some ability to combat or thwart Q's powers. Unfortunately, Picard manages to defuse the situation before it comes to blows, and the viewer is left to wonder whether or not Guinan possesses such powers against the Q or not.
* RunOrDie: When Riker informs Picard that the Borg cube is healing itself at an alarming rate, running like hell looks like the only possible chance the ''Enterprise'' crew has to survive the encounter. It is {{defied}} when the Borg are shown to be capable of running just a little faster and slowing the ''Enterprise'' down.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When the away team reports that the Borg are using their combined efforts to repair the cube, Picard orders them beamed back ''immediately'' and orders the Enterprise to get the hell out of there at Warp 8. It's not fast enough.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Q ultimately reveals that his warping the ''Enterprise'' into Borg space was this. He already knew that the ship, and even the entire Federation, wasn't ready for the Borg and their power--he was more interested to see whether or not Picard would be humble enough to admit he was wrong and explicitly ask for Q's help. Once the captain does so, Q instantly teleports the ''Enterprise'' to safety and commends Picard for his choice, saying that most men would have rather died holding onto their pride than own up to such a mistake.
* SelfRecoverySurprise: It's not a good sign for our heroes when the damaged cube starts repairing itself, and can still chase them down at warp.
* ShoutOut:
** To ''Film/TheGreatEscape''--Q passes the time on the shuttle by throwing a ball against the wall.
** The title is a shout out to ''Series/DoctorWho'' -- particularly fitting as this is the episode that introduces the Borg, which are also somewhat influenced by the Cybermen from that show. The title of this episode in French is even « Docteur Q »;».
* ShutUpKirk: When Riker chews Q out for exposing them to the Borg and costing the lives of 18 shipmates, Q shuts him up with "Oh, ''please!"'' At the end of the episode, when Picard asks whether the entire affair and the casualties involved were really necessary, Q responds "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."''
* SmugSuper: Even when trying to get Picard to take him on as a member of the crew, Q can't help but throw shade on the PunyEarthlings. See the quote under SurroundedByIdiots.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Q's real opinion of the ''Enterprise'' crew, explicitly stated when he tries to get Picard to let him join. (Which is a strange thing to do during a job interview.)
-->'''Q:''' This ship is already home for the indigent, the unwanted, the ''unworthy''; why not for a homeless entity? [...] And if necessary, though I ''can't'' imagine ''why,'' I will ''renounce'' my powers, and become as [[PunyEarthlings weak and as incompetent as all of you]].
* TemptingFate: Picard does this one too many times, and he winds up with 18 crewmen dead. You should've listened to Guinan, Jean-Luc.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Slightly averted when Picard orders Worf to neutralize the invader and Worf immediately delegates it to an ensign. However, the ensign is quickly batted away and Worf has to do it anyway.
* ThisIsReality: After 18 crewmen die, Picard asks if this is just another illusion. Q responds, "This is as real as your so-called life gets."
* TheUnreveal: We never find out how Q and Guinan know each other, and why even the omnipotent Q seems wary of her; not even ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', released almost 30 years later (and featuring both characters, though mostly at different times) ever answered the question.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The away team is surprised that the Borg ignore their presence aboard the cube, before realizing that they're focused on repairing their ship. Though later episodes would state that it's in the Borg's nature to ignore intruders till they actively threaten them.
* ThousandYardStare: After the Borg cube appears, this is Guinan's default expression for the rest of the episode. Not that you can really blame her.
* VillainHasAPoint: Q's reason for all of this is purely egotistical, but he's right about the Federation not being prepared for the danger that awaits.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Borg's method of communicating.
* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: The point that Q was trying to get across by introducing the ''Enterprise'' to the Borg, and a statement which Picard ultimately admits is not without merit.
* WellSeeAboutThat: Picard tells Q that his help is not required. Q declares that "We'll just have to see how ready you are," snaps his fingers, and sends the ''Enterprise'' to its encounter with the Borg.
* WhamEpisode: The Borg are introduced in full--making this one of the most important episodes of the series and franchise as a whole.
* WhamLine: After the Borg's first attack kills eighteen crew members, Riker chews Q out for his reckless actions and fully blames him for their deaths. Up until this point, Q was a prankster and fun, if rude, LargeHam, using his powers largely to mess with the ''Enterprise'' for amusement. But upon hearing Riker's condemnation, he [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness drops his cheerful persona]] with a single line: "Oh, ''please.''" Those two words reveal that Q ''doesn't care'' about individuals, but the larger picture. Q's remaining appearances would continue to straddle that line between TricksterMentor and [[DoNotTauntCthulhu genuinely terrifying foe.]]
* WhamShot: While Riker, Data and Worf explore the Borg cube, the camera pans out to reveal hundreds, if not thousands, of Borg drones in their alcoves.
* WhosLaughingNow: As the Borg cube is closing in on the ''Enterprise'', Q returns to mock Picard.
-->'''Q:''' Where's your stubbornness now, Picard, your arrogance? Do you still profess to be prepared for what awaits you?
* TheWorfEffect: A brawny human security officer tries to take down the Borg scout and gets tossed on his ass. Unusually for this trope, Worf himself remains unscathed.
* YouExclamation: Q's reaction to seeing Guinan on the ''Enterprise''.
----