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Old 02-08-2020, 01:41 AM
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Nate the Great Nate the Great is offline
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DATA: I've never seen anyone eat ten chocolate sundaes.
Q: I'm in a really bad mood, and since I've never eaten before, I should be very hungry.

Even so...ten chocolate sundaes? That's a bit much.

DATA: The Captain and many of the crew are not yet convinced he is truly human.
GUINAN: Really?
(So she picks up a fork and stabs it into Q's hand)
Q: Argh!
GUINAN: Seems human enough to me.

Come to think of it, wouldn't Guinan's extra senses twig to the fact that he's human? Wouldn't Q's aura look very different now?

Q: This is a dangerous creature. You have no idea. Why Picard would make her a member of the crew and not me

She's not a member of the crew! Even so, Picard trusts her because she has shown trustworthiness. Have you, Q?

Q: Sure, the robot who teaches the course in humanities.
DATA: I am an android, not a robot.
Q: I beg your pardon.

Technically, androids are a subset of robots. I understand why Data wouldn't want to be referred to in terms that place him closer to toasters than people, but he could've put it better.

COMPUTER: Signal patterns indicate intelligence. Unable to derive necessary referents to establish translation matrix.

I like that the Universal Translator isn't omnipotent, but if it can translate The Companion I fail to see why it can't translate the Calamarain.

RIKER: Fighting off all the species you've insulted would be a full time mission. That's not the one I signed up for.
PICARD: Indeed. Human or not, I want no part of you. We will deposit you at the first starbase. Let them deal with you.

The problem here is that while it's unfair for Q to put this burden on them, it would be equally unfair to dump Q onto a starbase. He's familiar with the crew of the Enterprise, anyone else would either treat him with more hostility or offend him with fake hospitality.

LAFORGE: I've been putting together a programme to extend the forward lobe of the warp field. The field coils aren't designed to envelop such a large volume. But I'm attempting to modify their alignment parameters.

A key reason why the Enterprise-E is the discovery of warp field efficiency with "greater z-axis compression." But that means longer and narrower warp fields are possible, not larger forward lobes that can encompass a moon. I shudder to think of the shear stress that would result if you pushed the apple core without pushing the rest of it as well.

Q: I'm not good in groups. It's difficult working in a group when you're omnipotent.

You mean groups with lesser beings. The rest of the Continuum doesn't seem to have a problem working in a group, even during a civil war.

DATA: Yes, Captain. We are unable to encompass the entire moon.
PICARD [OC]: Do you recommend that we proceed?
Q: The two parts of the moon will have different inertial densities.
LAFORGE: Stand by, Captain. I can adjust the field symmetry to compensate.
Q: I doubt it.

So do I.

DATA: Inertial mass of the moon is decreasing to approximately two point five million metric tonnes.

Luna is 73 trillion million metric tons. I'd say the Enterprise is doing a good job, considering the moon now weighs a fraction of a Borg Cube.

LAFORGE: We can try again when the moon comes back to its perigee.
RIKER: And when we drop our shields, the Calamarains go after Q again.
LAFORGE: Commander, he's not worth it.

SF Debris comments that if this WAS a Q scheme, Geordi's comment would be damaging to humanity's cause. But the thing is, even if Q heard Geordi, Geordi is still justified. Any good Q might have done is cancelled out by the grief he has given our heroes.

Q: There are creatures in the universe who would consider you the ultimate achievement, android. No feelings, no emotions, no pain. And yet you covet those qualities of humanity. Believe me, you're missing nothing. But if it means anything to you, you're a better human than I.

Always a touching thought.

Q: Where's the main shuttlebay?
COMPUTER: Main shuttlebay is located on deck four.

This is correct. Must be a fluke.

PICARD: This goes against my better judgment. Transporter room three, lock on to shuttle one. Beam it back into it's bay.
CREWMAN [OC]: Aye, Captain.
PICARD: It's a perfectly good shuttlecraft.

Always loved that little joke.

Q2: Actually, I was the one who got you kicked out. You know, you're incorrigible, Q. A lost cause. I can't go to a single solar system without having to apologise for you, and I'm tired of it.

So...don't refer to yourself as Q? Problem solved.

Q: I'm forgiven. My brothers and sisters of the Continuum have taken me back. I'm immortal again. Omnipotent again.
RIKER: Swell.

Text can't convey the dryness of Riker's line. Classic.

Q: Don't fret, Riker. My good fortune is your good fortune.
(two women are fawning over Will)
RIKER: I don't need your fantasy women.
Q: Oh, you're so stolid, Commander. You weren't like that before the beard. Very well.

He's using "stolid" in the sense of "showing little emotion." Q is missing the point. When it comes to romance, Riker can get his own dates. Or make his own holographic women, which is what Q's fantasy women basically are.

Q: Before I go, there's a debt I wish to repay to my professor of the humanities. Data, I've decided to give you something very, very special.
DATA: If your intention is to make me human, Q.
Q: No, no, no, no, no, no. I would never curse you by making you human.

Thank goodness. There isn't time to cover this idea in the rest of this episode. It's a shame we didn't revisit this idea in another episode, though. There's a short story where an alien race duplicates Data, only the duplicate is Data's memory in a human body that looks like himself.

Nitpicker's Guide

What biofunctions does Data have that need to be lubricated? Change it to pseudobiofunctions and I'd have no problem. He'd still need "tears" to lubricate his eyes in his head, etc.
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