This is a weekly meme created by Dani @ Perspective of a Writer, to show off favourite characters. Be sure to check out their blog! This week’s topic is … A Mischief Maker (Yes, one of those kind of characters, that cause problems and glories in the mess they cause! They can be a good guy, totally grey or black to the bone…)

Well, who better than Q, the ultimate mischief maker! There are actually a whole race of Q, extra-dimensional beings who ‘live’ in the Q Continuum, and who each bear the name Q. Confusing isn’t it?  Their most natural essence is energy, but they are consummate shapeshifters. They are omniscient and omnipotent beings.  Most Q are perfectly content to ignore other species, so far beyond them are the Q. Besides our main Q, others do show up though. It was always my contention that Trelane, from the TOS ep Squire of Gothos, was a baby Q. Many years later, I was vindicated with the release of the novel Q-Squared.

Q, however, loved to f*** with Picard and crew, as well as attempting to pester Captain Sisko of DS9 and Janeway and the Voyager crew. Q first encounters the Enterprise crew as the ship was heading to Farpoint Station. Q sees humanity as inherently dangerous. He puts the Enterprise crew on trial, arguing that humans are warmongers. Picard argues humans are growing beyond that. When the crew save the life of a kidnapped and exploited entity, Q withholds judgement, but says they’ll see him again.  The next time Q shows up, he’s puzzling over if humanity has the potential to eventually evolve beyond the Continuum, and he wants to know how. He chooses Riker, granting him the powers of the Q, but fails to trigger any change in Riker.

Later, Q appears and offers to help humanity learn about regions they couldn’t reach yet, and help them prepare for threats. Picard declines, saying humanity doesn’t need Q’s help. Omniscient, omnipotent, godlike being offers you help, you take it! WTF, Picard. In return, all Q really wanted was to feel needed.  In a bid to get Picard to say he needs Q’s help, Q transports the Enterprise to a different quadrant. Where they get the warning that the Borg were on the way, crossing vast space to assimilate creative species of the Alpha Quadrant. They finally have to ask Q to take the ship back home. Then comes the day when Q needs Picard’s help. He’s been cast out of the Continuum. He could have chosen any form, but he picked human. Annoyed, Picard still agrees to keep him aboard, but no mischief. Q finds it difficult to adjust as a human. Then aliens who’ve learned Q is human start showing up, wanting to kill him. Picard refuses to turn Q over. In the end, Q decides the best thing to do is give himself to the aliens threatening to destroy the ship. His willingness to give his life for the ship’s safety prompt the Continuum to restore Q’s powers, with the admonishment to behave.

Q’s next visit ends up being a lesson about love, when he drops several crew into a Robin Hood scenario where Picard as Hood must rescue his “friend” Vash as Marian. Q takes on the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Vash ends up leaving with Q to learn about the universe from his point of view. Some time later, Q visits the ship thanks to a girl demonstrating Q-like abilities. Turns out her parents were Q in human form. Q takes her back to the Continuum. As the series wound to an end, Q visits them twice more. When Picard’s artifical heart is damaged, he ends up in the afterlife. And who should he meet but Q!  Q says he’s god and Picard is dead. We learn how Picard got the heart, and Q shows him how his live would’ve played out if he hadn’t foolishly gotten into that fight. Q also serves as a sounding board of sorts. In the end, doctors manage to revive Picard. His last visit to Picard is when Q helps him learn more about ”anti-time”.

His DS9 visits were far fewer. He visited, following Vash there after the pair had gone their ways. While on station, he gets punched by Sisko, whosw easier to provoke than Picard. Still, he does help the crew find an artifact threatening to destroy the station. His first Voyager encounter was due to the accidental release of a Q prisoner sealed in an asteroid prison. The prisoner, called Quinn, demands that Q turn him human, Q refuses because Quinn plans to commit suicide. Both beseech Janeyway to mediate. In the end, Janeway ruled in favour of Quinn. Q reluctantly turned him human, and Quinn took his own life. (That ep is a fascinating moral v ethical dilemma. I agree with Janeway’s decision).  When next Q shows, he asks Janeway to bear his child. Thanks to Quinn’s suicide, the Continuum is in disarray, broken into two camps. Q thinks a baby Q would revitalize the Continuum, and would certainly give them something to turn their attention to. Janeway disagrees. She and her crew helped mend the divide. Soon after, Q and a female Q of his acquaintance, have a baby. Janeway becomes Little Q’s godmother. Q took that seriously, once leaving Little Q, now a rebellious, immsture teenager (they grow fast) with his godmother. He hopes time with Janeway will help Little Q mature. During this time, Little Q will not have his powers. The teen finally learns his lesson. The Continuum agree with granting him his powers back, but they also demand the Q must stay with his son always, to keep him from trouble.

Yet, for all the mischief, Q often provided great lessons, or helped them in some way. He’s almost always been helpful, even when being a pita. I like that he doesn’t just do things for them. He helps them figure it out. No framework for relying on his power can be set up.  He wants friends, hence hanging around Picard. I think he really is interested in humanity as an investment. I do kinda think Janeway was nuts for not getting Q to bring Voyager back home. Do whatever the hell he wants to get your crew back home safe.