TNG: “Deja Q” and “A Matter of Perspective”

Date: April 2, 2020

Season 3, Episodes 13 and 14

Musical Accompaniment: Italian Restaurant Music, as I miss salty Italian meats and cheeses an awful lot right now.

Interstellar News: The weather was beautiful today and Professor Zoom had a teeth cleaning and two baby teeth extracted, so he’s been super clingy all afternoon.

Favorite Quotes from “Deja Q”:

Q: This is getting on my nerves, now that I have them.

A really good line from Q.

Worf’s One-Two Punch: Q: “What must I do to convince you people?” Worf: “Die.”

Data’s Not Really An Android: Q: “Who does he think he is, giving me orders.” Data: “Geordi thinks he is in command here, and he is correct.”

“Deja Q” opens with a grave situation on Bre’el IV as one of their moons is about to crash into the planet, oh and then a naked Q drops onto the bridge – fascinating. Q has apparently been kicked out of the Continuum, stripped of his powers, and is now just a pathetic excuse for a human. Q is taken to the brig and the Enterprise is scanned by the Calmarians who have it out for Q. They attack him twice, the second time damaging Data who tries to save him, Guinan stabs him, and he’s got terrible back pain… so he’s just having a rough go of this whole “human” thing.

The Calmarians are interfering with the mission of trying to move the moon so Q does a strange thing and steals a shuttle craft so the Enterprise can do its thing undeterred. This conjures another Q who was watching our Q and can’t believe our Q would do anything selfless ever, maybe he’s learned his lesson? As such, the other Q reinstates our Q with his powers as long as he behaves. Q dispatches with the Calmarians, reinstates the moon to its orbit, and gives Data the gift of hysterical laughter. We end with Q celebrating with a mariachi band and disappearing as quickly as he arrived.

This was such a FUN episode. There are a few things I don’t get, like why was Q able to steal the shuttle craft so easily and why wasn’t he detected BEFORE he was out. I distinctly remember earlier episodes there are warning when the shuttles are powering on and such. I also don’t get why the Enterprise doesn’t just try to talk to the Calmarians and how Q doesn’t die but Data is super damaged. It all makes for a wonderful plot of Q doing the unthinkable and sacrificing himself, even if he was pulling a “suicide by cop”. Good thing he didn’t come back as a Klingon or Worf would have given him SO MUCH SHIT for trying to die without honor. It’s also the shortest anyone has actually been human and I’m not really sure Q has learned his lesson. The best part was Data, who isn’t actually human, being the best professor of “Muggle Studies” as he tried to help Q who now had everything Data has always wanted. I’ve got to take off two points for the items I listed above, but it was so much fun I’m assigning this episode 9 pickle spears.

Favorite Quote from “A Matter of Perspective”:

Data: Interesting.

Picard: Oh, thank you. In what way?

Data: While suggesting the free treatment of form usually attributed to Fauvism, this quite inappropriately attempts to juxtapose the disparate cubistic styles of Picasso and Leger. In addition, the use of color suggests a haphazard mélange of clashing styles. Furthermore, the unsettling overtones of proto-Vulcan influences…

Picard: Thank you, Mr. Data.

Picard thinking he did an awesome painting and Data ripping it to shreds.

“A Matter of Perspective” has Riker about to beam aboard when there’s a dip in power and the station explodes, though Riker appears in the transporter stream moments later. Dr. Apgar, the only man on the station, was not so lucky and is now dead. Investigator Krag from Tanuga IV beams aboard and wants to arrest Riker for murder! Before Picard will give his answer, they rig one of the holodecks to recreate witness testimony.

Riker’s testimony is first. His version shows him as being all first officer professional but Mrs. Apgar being a total flirt and Dr. Apgar walking in and assuming the worst. Krag reveals he believes Riker shot his phaser before he beamed over, and there’s an indication something came from Riker’s exact position. Mrs. Apgar’s testimony is next. Her version shows Riker to be an aggressive flirt and attempted rapist. The last witness is Dr. Apgar’s assistant who relays hearsay testimony. Even though Picard knows Riker would never, there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial and he’s inclined to hand Riker over.

Throughout the testimony there are strange occurrences of radiation happening throughout the ship. Data and Wesley believe there is a pattern and La Forge puts together a final bit of testimony regarding what really happened. Dr. Apgar tried to kill Riker but the Krieger wave bounced off the transporter beam and hit the reactor, causing the station to blow up. This means it was Dr. Apgar who killed Dr. Apgar, and all because he thought he was going to get caught selling weapons.

The only thing I liked about this episode is that it used the holodeck to do some cool crime scene investigation, and now I want to watch a TV show that is like Star Trek meets NCIS where they have an Abby who makes holodeck crime scene recreations… make it so! Anyway, we’ve a Starfleet officer be accused of a crime before when McCoy was accused of a crime in “Albatross” and when Scotty was accused of murder in “Wolf in the Fold”. Each time the crew of the Enterprise is able to do a better job than the cops and it makes me wonder what type of police academy the 23rd and 24th centuries have. I also liked the Krag seemed to be good at his job and had a sound theory, but also knew when he was beat. However, the whole notion of Riker flirting that outrageously with someone else’s wife doesn’t sit well with me, as every time we see him flirt he’s after clearly single women. Oh well, each season is bound to have a bad episode or two, and this one is one of them. 3 bummers assigned to this episode.

TA Out!