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Old 11-13-2022, 04:12 AM
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Nate the Great Nate the Great is offline
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Q: Well. to put it simply, we're omnipotent. There's nothing, nothing we can't do.
AMANDA: And what do you do with this power?
Q: Anything we want.
AMANDA: Do you use it to help others?
Q: I think you've missed the point, my dear.

I don't think she has. What the Q actually does is one of the most conflicted issues in all of Trek. Sometimes they're totally indifferent to mortal species, sometimes they act like self-appointed judges and mentors to mortals, sometimes they like to play games with the mortals like Mr. Mxyzptlk, sometimes they're just another alien race that happens to be of a higher power level, etc.

Furthermore, it's infuriating how much they don't seem to care about any race other than humanity.

AMANDA: No, think about it. Really think. If suddenly you could make anything happen, what would it be?
CRUSHER: Well, I would probably want to heal people. People who are hopelessly ill.
AMANDA: Would you bring your husband back?
CRUSHER: Amanda, I don't know.

I prefer to think that there's a limited time window during which a Q can resurrect people. If Q can bring back anyone who died at any time at any location, that introduces philosophical and ethical questions that couldn't possibly be adequately explored in a single episode.

DATA: I have some information regarding Amanda Rogers' parents. Records indicate that they died in Topeka, Kansas. Their home was destroyed during a tornado.
PICARD: A tornado? Why wasn't it dissipated by the weather modification net?

if someone ever makes a fiver, I hope they insert a Wizard of Oz joke here. In any case, it staggers the mind to think of how much control you'd have to have over the atmosphere to prevent tornadoes and hurricans from happening. It's almost like the genetic enhancement debate, but for weather.

DATA: The bodies were found in the rubble after the storm had passed.

So did Amanda's parents voluntarily lock off their powers to the point that their bodies became fully human, or did the Q Continuum create simulated corpses to avoid further suspicion?

Q: You're attracted to him.
AMANDA: I am not.
Q: I think you are. How repulsive. How do you stand that hair all over his face?

This seems needlessly petty. I'm pretty sure that there are some Q Continuum members with facial hair. Furthermore, why is Q so biased against Riker? Is he still bitter about "Hide and Q"?

AMANDA: Do you love me?
RIKER: More than anything.
AMANDA: You're right. None of this is real. I thought it would be romantic, but it's empty.

It's nice how Amanda figured this out faster than Riker did in "Hide and Q".

PICARD: You would be so despicable?
Q: Don't be naive. You have no idea what it means to be Q. With unlimited power comes responsibility. Do you think it is reasonable for us to allow omnipotent beings to roam free through the universe?

You have to wonder why he can't lock Amanda into human form like her parents so she can't use her powers or be a threat. Later he'll say that she can choose to not use the power, but that didn't work very well with Riker.

PICARD: Yes. I recall how you used your superior morality when we first encountered you. You put us on trial for the crimes of humanity.
Q: The jury is still out on that, Picard, make no mistake.

I presume that they knew how the series had to end even this early.

PICARD: I would put human morality against the Q's any day. And perhaps that's the reason that we fascinate you so. Because our puny behaviour shows you a glimmer of the one thing that evades your omnipotence, a moral centre. And if so, I can think of no crueller irony than that you should destroy this young woman, whose only crime is that she's too human.
Q: Jean-Luc, sometimes I think the only reason I come here is to listen to these wonderful speeches of yours.

Time to link to the Picard Speech compilation again.

AMANDA: I hope I can come back and see you.
CRUSHER: You're a Q. You can do anything you want.

Oh, the speech I could make on this point.

Memory Alpha

* Last appearance of Q in TNG where anyone other than Picard sees him.
* Amanda's precise status among the Q is explored and she is killed in the VOY novel "The Eternal Tide."

Nitpicker's Guide

* Phil also wonders about the medical tricorder thing.
* He also thinks that the Q didn't care about humanity before "Encounter at Farpoint" and that this is in conflict with Amanda's parents settling on Earth. I see no conflict. Q made it clear that the Farpoint mission marks a point where humanity had spread too far into space without being ready. There's a difference between monitoring and interfering. They obviously knew about humanity, like they know about all other races.
* If there's an emergency on Tagra IV, how come it doesn't seem like the Enterprise is at warp at any point during the episode?
* How come Amanda never wears a commbadge? This is a valid point, since we've seen people with a far less official status have commbadges.
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