History YMMV / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ

** Q's interest in Riker during this episode gets funnier when the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Death Wish" had Q revealing that he helped save his ancestor, Thaddeus Riker, during the American Civil War.

* HilariousInHindsight: As the internet likes to point out, 25-year-old Creator/WilWheaton did not end up looking like [[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/File:Wesley_Crusher,_age_25.jpg 25-year-old Wesley Crusher]]. Creator/GeneRoddenberry was perhaps a little too optimistic about his AuthorAvatar.

* BizarroEpisode: Q gives Riker the powers of the Q continuum, who grants the characters wishes, and teenage Wesley Crusher wishes to be 10 or so years older. Then suddenly, BAAM he's transformed into a strapping, tall and exceptionally hunky man. We then cut to Geordi [=LaForge=] leering at the new Wesley and saying, "Hey, Wes. Not bad." It has been noted by several sources that [=LaForge=] was originally supposed to be gay, but this is the only time it appears to be shown on screen, in this season one episode. Thereafter, it is NEVER EVER EVER EVER mentioned again, and the [=LaForge=] character eventually falls in love with a holodeck character then eventually an actual woman, and they live happily ever after.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Riker all but instantly becomes smug and power happy. When he takes everybody to the bridge, he's standing there gloating, and very quickly stops respecting Picard. That's so out of character, it's questionable how much control he has. "Power corrupts" but usually not instantly. It's similar to Gary Mitchell, and they both come across as more possessed than corrupted.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Q's response to the PatrickStewartSpeech is to simply leave in disgust. As suggested by reviewer Website/SFDebris, it's entirely possible that [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E16QWho Q later throwing the Borg at the Federation]], leading to Picard's assimilation in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds The Best of Both Worlds]]" and vengeance-fueled antics in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', were simply his counter-argument to Picard's pontificating, echoing his words with [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters all the irony]] that Shakespeare had originally intended!

** Gets even WORSE, when you realize that, perhaps unintentionally, the whole episode is set up as a BET. It makes Picard look selfish.
* HarsherInHindsight: Picard using ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' to give his idealistic view of humankind makes Q very agitated. So agitated, in fact, that this might've been what inspired Q to [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E16QWho let the Borg loose on them.]] Could there be a better species to put humanity (and Picard) in their place?
** You can actually see the EXACT moment Q gets pissed. "So like a god." Q took it as a personal insult!

* BizarroEpisode: Q gives Riker the powers of the Q continuum, who grants the characters wishes, and teenage Wesley Crusher wishes to be 10 or so years older. Then suddenly, BAAM he's transformed into a strapping, tall and exceptionally hunky man. We then cut to Geordi [=LaForge=] leering at the new Wesley and saying, "Hey, Wes. Not bad." It has been noted by several sources that [=LaForge=] was originally supposed to be gay, but this is the only time it appears to be shown on screen, in this season one episode. Thereafter, it is NEVER EVER EVER EVER mentioned again, and the [=LaForge=] character eventually falls in love with a holodeck character then eventually an actual woman, and they live happily ever after. BLAM.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The make-up that John de Lancie wears as Q-as-Data is decidedly patchy, with bits of de Lancie's skin visible around the base of his neck, especially in the HD remastering of the episode.
* TakeThatScrappy: Probably unintentional, but Wesley Crusher gets gorily stabbed through the stomach by a "vicious animal thing". The image was popularly captioned "Wesley gets the point."

* DesignatedHero: While it's debatable whether or not it was right for Riker not to use his powers to save the little girl, Picard's opinion on the matter is decidedly atrocious. Instead of trying to kindly assure Riker that it was best not to play god, he was smug and snide to the point where he all but congratulated Riker for letting her die.

* FridgeBrilliance: Why do the Napoleonic soldiers look like "vicious animal-things"? Because that makes them out to be savages, which is how Q describes humanity itself.

* HilariousInHindsight: As the internet likes to point out, 25-year-old Creator/WilWheaton did not end up looking like [[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/File:Wesley_Crusher,_age_25.jpg 25-year-old Wesley Crusher]]. Creator/GeneRoddenberry was perhaps a little too optimistic.

* HarsherInHindsight: Picard using ''Hamlet'' to give his idealistic view of humankind makes Q very agitated. So agitated, in fact, that this might've been what inspired Q to [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E16QWho let the Borg loose on them.]] Could there be a better species to put humanity (and Picard) in their place?
* HilariousInHindsight: As the internet likes to point out, 25-year-old Creator/WilWheaton did not end up looking like [[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/File:Wesley_Crusher,_age_25.jpg 25-year-old Wesley Crusher]]. Roddenberry was perhaps a little too optimistic.