Line #66 Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tng_hideandq_hd_198.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Use the Power of the Q, Riker!]]
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4	'''Original air date:''' November 23, 1987
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6	Q returns to the ''Enterprise'' to tempt Commander Riker into joining the Q Continuum with the lure of Q's powers.
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8	----
9	!!This episode contains examples of:
10	* ActorAllusion: Of course [[Creator/PatrickStewart Picard]] would read and know the works of Shakespeare, Q.
11	* BigNo: Q, at the end of the episode, when he is being pulled back into the Continuum, against his own will.
12	* BuffySpeak: It seems as though nobody can come up with a better term for "beast-men dressed like Napoleonic soldiers with nineteenth century muskets that shoot energy blasts" than "vicious animal things."
13	* CaptainsLog:
14	** While trapped alone on TheBridge, Picard complains that he can't even make a recording. Poor guy.
15	** Q then mockingly make his own log entry describing the ''Enterprise'''s situation.
16	-->"Starlog entry. Stardate...today..."
17	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Q is still being written as a largely hostile SufficientlyAdvancedAlien, who here is revealed to be acting out of concern that humanity will someday surpass the Q. It wouldn't be until his next appearance that he evolved into the TricksterMentor that he would act as for the rest of the show's run.
18	* DeadlyGame: Q subjects the crew to one, in order to test Riker.
19	* DealWithTheDevil
20	* DeathOfAChild: Near the end, Riker goes on a rescue away mission where a young girl is among the fatalities from a cave-in. Riker decides not to use his Q power to bring her back to life, though the decision weighs heavily on him.
21	* DestructoNookie: Worf and the Klingon woman provide a brief glimpse of this. No furniture-throwing, though.
22	* DrunkWithPower: Riker, temporarily.
23	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
24	** When Worf blows off the Klingon woman that Riker creates, he says that she is from a world now alien to him. While this is the first, albeit indirect acknowledgement that Worf was raised among humans, future episodes show him to be ''extremely'' proud of his Klingon heritage, and even blowing off the idea of dating any non-Klingon (albeit he'd later backtrack on that). He'd probably still have rejected the woman, but because there'd be no challenge in seducing someone specifically created to please him.
25	** One of Q's lines implies that the peace between the Klingons and Federation came about as the result of the former suffering a devastating military defeat at the hands of the latter. It would later be established in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' that the impetus for peace was the explosion of the Praxis moon rendering it unviable for the Klingons to maintain their military.
26	* EldritchAbomination: Q first appears as an "Aldebaran Serpent", which looked like a floating bubble with three cobras sticking out of it.
27	* FirstNameBasis:
28	-->'''Riker:''' Everyone looks uncomfortable.\
29	'''Picard:''' Perhaps they're remembering that old quote, "Power corrupts--"\
30	'''Riker:''' "And absolute power corrupts absolutely." Do you believe I haven't thought of that, Jean-Luc?\
31	'''Picard:''' And have you noticed how you and I are now on a first-name basis?
32	* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: When the crew don't like his Aldebaran Serpent form, Q switches to his normal John de Lancie.
33	* GoryDiscretionShot: When Worf gets stabbed by one of the soldier creatures, the camera cuts away at the moment the bayonet actually enters his body. Inverted, surprisingly enough, by Wesley's own impalement, which is depicted in a shot that's shockingly graphic by TV standards of this era.
34	* HumansAreSpecial: The Q believe this, and are afraid of it. The purpose (according to Q) of tempting Riker into joining the Q Continuum is to give the Q knowledge of humanity's special qualities, which they can use to head off humanity's advancement before the species surpasses the Q themselves.
35	* IGaveMyWord: Riker promises Picard not to use his new powers.
36	* InstantDeathStab: Worf and Wesley are both stabbed through the abdomen. In Worf's case at least, it's clear that he dies within seconds.
37	* ItsOkayToCry: Q puts Tasha into a "penalty box" and threatens to kill her if someone else makes a penalty. She cries, and is embarrassed about it, but Picard says that crying in the penalty box is fine.
38	* LargeHam: Creator/JohnDeLancie is particularly over-the-top in this episode.
39	* LeeroyJenkins: Worf when he attempts to fight the Napoleonic soldiers, getting a bayonet in the gut and setting the stage for [[TheWorfEffect seven years of getting his ass kicked]].
40	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The aforementioned beast-men dressed like Napoleonic soldiers with [[SchizoTech nineteenth century muskets that shoot energy blasts.]]
41	* NoManShouldHaveThisPower: Q turns Riker into a RealityWarper, if not a PhysicalGod. This is the conclusion that Picard, and later Riker, come to, so Riker refuses to use his power.
42	* OhNoNotAgain: Geordi's reaction to everyone getting transported back to the planet with the "vicious animal-things."
43	* PatrickStewartSpeech: One of the best in the series.
44	-->'''Picard:''' Oh, I know Hamlet. And what he might say with irony, I say with conviction: "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god!"\
45	'''Q:''' Surely, you don't see your species like that, do you?\
46	'''Picard:''' I see us one day becoming that, Q. Is that what concerns you?
47	* PrecisionFStrike:
48	--> '''Riker:''' Dammit! Dammit to HELL!
49	* QuoteToQuoteCombat: Involving Shakespeare, one area in which Picard can easily hold his own against Q.
50	* RashPromise: Picard asks the Q-empowered Riker to promise not to use these new powers, and he does. It doesn't take long before he regrets it, as on an away mission he finds a recently deceased child that he could save if it weren't for that vow.
51	* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Riker could have used his powers to help countless people.
52	* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem:
53	--> '''Q:''' "Fairness" is such a human concept. Think imaginatively! This game shall, in fact, be...''[[LargeHam completely unfair!]]''
54	* ShipTease:
55	** When Geordi is given his sight, he looks at Tasha and says, "You're more beautiful than I ever imagined."
56	** Tasha and Picard also get one when he comforts her while she's crying and she looks at him and says, "Captain. Oh, if you weren't a captain..." before [[MomentKiller Q interrupts]].
57	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Several, from Q, Picard, and Data, quoting ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', and ''Theatre/AsYouLikeIt''. For example:
58	-->'''Q:''' Hear this, Picard, and reflect: "All the galaxy's a stage."\
59	'''Picard:''' "World," not "galaxy"; "all the world's a stage."\
60	'''Q:''' Oh, you know that one. Well, if [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare he]] was living now, he would have said "galaxy."
61	* ShownTheirWork: When Picard makes his PatrickStewartSpeech and quotes ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', he notes that while Hamlet was sarcastic when listing humanity's virtues, he himself is being sincere, thus averting AnalogyBackfire. Unsurprising given Creator/PatrickStewart's Shakespearean background. Somewhat averted later on when Data quotes another famous ''Hamlet'' line ("To thine own self be true") to justify turning down Riker's offer to make him human. While in the modern day the line has entered popular usage unironically, the character who says it in the play is a bit of a windbag and isn't really supposed to be taken seriously. (Though this could also be FridgeBrilliance, since it's been well-established that Data has trouble with human concepts such as irony and would be less likely to make such a distinction in tone.)
62	* SmugSnake: Q, in tempting Riker to hold onto his new powers and abandon his shipmates.
63	* SmugSuper: Riker starts acting like a cocky {{Jerkass}} once he realizes what power he has been given.
64	* StockFootage:
65	** The first shot, depicting medical crewmembers hurrying out of sickbay, is recycled from the pilot, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounteratFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]".
66	** The vfx shots of the ''Enterprise'' stopped by Q's net are also taken from the pilot.
67	* TemptingFate: Data notes how their phasers are vastly superior to French muskets. Turns out that the "vicious animal things" are using energy weapons that just look like muskets.
68	* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Riker gives Geordi actual eyes, which lets him appreciate Tasha's attractiveness, but Geordi [[KeepingTheHandicap asks to stay blind]], saying "I don't like where it came from."
69	* WhatTheHellHero: We know that Picard hates children, but did he just give Riker a pat on the back for ''not'' using his powers to save a dying child?
70	-->'''Riker:''' I could have saved that little girl!\
71	'''Picard:''' You were right not to try!
72	* WouldHurtAChild:
73	** Wesley tries to help the impaled Worf, but gets impaled himself.
74	** Picard demands that Riker let a little girl remain dead despite having the power to save her.
75	* WrittenInAbsence: Troi has been left on Starbase G-6 to catch a shuttle home on leave, prior to the opening scene.
76	* YourHeartsDesire: Q encourages Riker to give his friends on the ''Enterprise'' what they most desire. [[BatmanGambit Captain Picard tells him to go ahead.]] However Data rejects the opportunity to BecomeARealBoy because it would be no more real to him than his android self. Wesley is made an adult, but he says that [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts he would prefer to grow up naturally]]. Geordi's blindness is cured, but even though he's smitten by the sight of Tasha Yar's beauty, [[DealWithTheDevil he doesn't want to owe Q any favors]]. And Worf is offered a Klingon mate, whom he rejects as [[YouCantGoHomeAgain she's from a world that's now alien to him.]]

Context Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ