TNG Flashback: Hide and Q

Nine episodes into the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the series did its first sequel (of sorts) to one of its own episodes, the episode "Hide and Q." The powerful alien from the pilot episode ("Encounter at Farpoint") returns to stir up some mischief, but it's quickly revealed to be a pretext for tempting Riker. The commander has been given the powers of the Q, and is asked to join their "Q Continuum" so they may incorporate the human compulsion for self betterment. Will Riker accept these god-like powers and leave the crew behind?

I remember being very entertained the first time around by the various Q episodes throughout the run of The Next Generation. And I've also been impressed by the acting of John de Lancie in the many other guest starring roles he's performed in rafts of other shows I've watched over the years. So I was that much more surprised to find this episode not nearly as good as I'd remembered.

Going right back to Q so soon in the series has a slight scent of desperation for ideas about it. The genesis of the episode may not actually have been that, though. I even noted in my review of that first episode that the Q element of the story was certainly the best thing about it. The idea for this episode probably just came from writers watching the footage coming in from that episode being filmed, and deciding this was a successful thing they should revisit as soon as possible.

It's odd, though, that Q goes to Riker in this episode, not Picard. There was a notable scene from the pilot where Q stopped taunting Picard long enough to admit some kind of grudging respect for Riker, and it's easy to imagine the writers drawing a line from that to this episode. But the writers of later seasons would rightly focus Q stories back on Picard. The real clash was always between them, with this brief battle against Riker an odd side note.

There's another big Trek inspiration at play in this episode, though: the classic series episode "The Squire of Gothos." That episode featured a powerful alien with godlike powers known as Trelane, who forced the crew to participate in games for his amusement... until his parents came to take him back home for discipline. While the "godlike super alien" aspect of this had been lifted already upon Q's creation for "Encounter at Farpoint," the actual portrayal on both the page and in the finished product did treat Q and Trelane as reasonably different kinds of characters, I thought. But not so here. Q basically is Trelane in this episode. Q's costume and setting changes that seemed more for dramatic effect in "Farpoint" are all about fun and games here. He's more playful here, even buddy-buddy in moments, rather than serious and adversarial. And in the end, other members of the Continuum come to whisk Q away against his will.

There are odd pacing problems with the story. Q takes a full third of the episode in revealing the point of his visit, and it's several minutes more before we're shown that Riker has been given the powers of the Q. That leaves no time to truly show any of the temptation or corruption Riker feels because of those powers; he more or less instantly turns arrogant, with upthrust chin (and low camera angles).

But the real omission, I think, is that there's never any serious consideration given to accepting Q's offer. Picard just immediately assumes the answer must be no. They're all in the business of exploration and self-betterment. Wouldn't joining the Q be the ultimate opportunity for all of that? Is their power truly such a corrupting influence? Q never really did anything that nasty to this point in time. Maybe Riker could change them as much as they changed him? (That's the actual hope of the Q, in fact.) If nothing else, maybe it would keep the Q off their backs enough so that they wouldn't keep running into giant force fields in space every eight or nine weeks.

The proof of the Q powers' corruption is supposed to be demonstrated in the final act, where Riker is invited to give a gift to each of his friends to demonstrate how much he cares for them. But I find it a weird sequence where the characters' reactions don't feel entirely authentic. Riker starts talking gifts, and Dr. Crusher somehow immediately knows something is about to happen to Wesley. She tries to hustle Wes out of the room, but Riker "makes him 10 years older" (by transforming him into a soap opera extra). And the teenager who has whined fairly regularly about not being treated with the respect of an adult decides that "it's too soon for this" and that he wants to get there on his own. What?

Riker offers to turn Data into a human, but Data stops him before Brent Spiner even gets out of makeup. Not having any feelings of any kind, how can Data decide that, essentially, being made human this way wouldn't "feel right?" What's the difference between a Q shortcut and the emotion chip he receives seven years and one movie later?

Riker offers Geordi normal eyesight. We saw Geordi consult with Dr. Crusher about this very thing in the first episode, and then pine for it under the effects of intoxication in "The Naked Now." But suddenly, he refuses it, and all he can offer for explanation is "I don't like who I'd have to thank." Again, a bit peculiar, if you ask me. But maybe my thinking is too much of "an outdated, 20th-century nature" (as the speechifying 24th-century heroes might put it), and I just don't understand.

There are a few good moments in the midst of all this, though. John de Lancie once again gives a great performance. He's particularly good in a scene where he trades Shakespearean barbs with Patrick Stewart. Stewart also has a more tender moment as Picard when he consoles Tasha in the "penalty box." It's a false moment of jeopardy that doesn't actually threaten the character for more than a moment, but Denise Crosby does show some cracks in Yar's emotional armor, and then berates her own weakness in a believable way.

This episode also has a rare Dennis McCarthy score that I actually like. It has fun militaristic elements for Q's "vicious animal things," including even a few phrases from La Marseillaise. There's an interesting mock choir for Q's appearance as an ancient monk, and weirdly sinister music for the brief moments of the Klingon mating ritual we see.

Other observations:

• What's with the title, exactly? I mean, "Hide and Q" / "hide and seek," I get that. But that's not even a pun. Doesn't it have to rhyme or something?

• Q shows up in a Starfleet admiral's uniform near the beginning of the episode. It's a flashier style than the admiral uniforms we'd see later, and has a lot of interesting detailing that shows up wonderfully on the Blu-ray remaster.

• The exact wager made here between Q and Picard is that if Q loses (and he does), he will "keep[ing] out of humanity's path forever." As I recall, the details of this bet are fudged considerably in Q's next appearance, in the second season. (But they had to write John de Lancie back onto the show somehow.)

• Counselor Troi doesn't appear in this episode, hastily written out in Picard's opening monologue as being off the ship for some reason. Presumably Marina Sirtis wasn't available for this episode, or she had an "only this many episodes per season" contract and the writers decided to use one of her "off weeks" here. But it's a shame, really. Given Troi and Riker's back story, I think there was a huge lost opportunity here in seeing how she would have reacted to Riker's situation, and how she might have talked him out of joining the Q much more effectively than Picard.

• While on Q's imaginary planet, Worf is sent ahead to scout the enemy soldiers' camp. But Geordi uses his VISOR to track Worf the whole way, even spotting the camp before Worf reaches it. I have to ask, if Geordi can do that, why send Worf?

• Speaking of Worf, he really gets a lame gift from Riker in the whole gift-giving sequence at the end of the episode. Wes gets adulthood, Geordi gets sight, Data is offered humanity -- these are all things they could not possibly get any other way. By contrast, Riker basically offers to take Worf to a whore house, conjuring up a Klingon female for him to have sex with. What does it say about Worf if, like those other gifts, it's something he actually can't get for himself?

• We learned about "the Picard Maneuver" -- the starship combat tactic -- in the episode "The Battle," but the term was later used humorously by the fans to describe the captain's trademark tugging on his uniform. I thought this didn't really start happening until the introduction of the two-piece uniforms in season three, but there's a moment here in this episode where Patrick Stewart sits and then tugs at his waist to smooth his uniform. The first ever "Picard maneuver?"

I guess performance counts for a lot with me, because when I rank this episode in relation to others, I conclude that I should be giving it a C. Content-wise, though, it seems a lot worse than that on paper. I guess the writers ultimately felt the same way I do, as they did end up bringing back Q (a lot) after this, despite a less than stellar episode.