Headscratchers / Star Trek: Voyager S3 E10: "The Q and the Grey"

• Why didn't Q reward Voyager for helping them by returning Voyager to Earth? Why didn't Janeway ask for this?
  • Janeway does ask this in "Q2". Q refuses, saying that he can't do all the work for her.
  • And the show would be over.
  • It does come up actually.
    Q: Ah, yes. The crew of the intrepid starship Voyager. Perhaps you'd be interested in sending them home.
    Janeway: You've tempted me with that prospect before. But frankly, your credibility is more than a little suspect. My crew and I will get home. We're committed to that. But we're going to do it through hard work and determination. We are not looking for a quick fix.
    • This exchange occurs at the beginning of the episode, when Q is making an offer in exchange for Janeway's service. Janeway is unwilling to trust Q to hold up his end of the bargain. At the end of the episode, however, Janeway has already provided a valuable service to Q, so she should feel free to ask that he pay her back. It costs her nothing to do so, and Q is probably in the most generous mood possible. She can even play the parent card: "You like having a kid? Well, a lot of my crewmen would like to have kids in the Alpha Quadrant..."
      • John De Lancie has spoken about how this was the main reason there weren't more Q episodes, because the writers worried someone would complain about Q not sending Voyager home (since taking a ship near-instantly from the Alpha Quadrant to the Delta Quadrant was something he demonstrated the ability to do in only his second appearance, back on TNG). To De Lancie, this wasn't even a problem, as he pointed out that even if Janeway directly asked Q to do so, he'd simply refuse.