Encounter At Farpoint
Now, this was a lot better than I remembered it as being. John de Lancie pretty much steals the scene every time he's on screen. He's a wonderful presence from the off, and you're never quite sure where you are with him. Otherwise, though, the story's pretty ho-hum. There's way too much "pilot"ing going on here, whereby things happen, and stuff is set up, just to show off the newness of the show. The most notable example of this is when they split the saucer section for a really spurious reason (I'm reasonably sure I'm right in saying this doesn't happen again until the Generations film, aren't I? Heck, they don't even split for the Borg in BOBW...), and also the backstories of Jean Luc & Beverly's and Riker & Troi's repesctive histories seems shoehorned in. But, overall, not too bad.
Hide and Q
This was another one that surprised me. Q's temptation of Riker was a lot better than I remembered, and I'd forgotten the glorious moment when Wesley gets a spike through his guts. Even the game he gets them to play isn't too bad. Still, despite this, it remains one of the weaker Q episodes... especially when it's up against these next two;
Q-Who
Before they started fucking around with continuity, this was humanity's first encounter with The Borg. The way how Q maliciously flings the Enterprise halfway across the galaxy (well, two years away at maximum warp...). This episode is one of those rare beasties; an episode where the good guys can in no way be said to have won; faced with a choice of being crushed by the Borg or submitting to Q, Jean Luc wisely chooses the latter. It's a stunning, powerful, episode that sets the stage for what remains the best Star Trek ever, thus far; The Best of Both Worlds.
Deja Q
From the relentless doom of the previous Q episode, we get a complete inversion with an episode that's got some of the funniest moments of Trek ever. Taking the omipotent Q and making him human worked brilliantly. The look on Q's face as Mr Worf chucks him in the brig... priceless! It's a testament to the versatility of John de Lancie's acting skills that he's able to portray these varying facets to Q's character equally well; you've never quite sure when playful Q will turn in to vengful Q... brilliant.
Q-Pid
But, it couldn't last. This episode is the nadir of Q TNG episodes, and pretty much only comes to life when Q is on screen (not enough, in this episode). The Robin Hood sequences really don't work, and are only enlivened once, by Worf's best ever line; "Sir, I protest, I am not a merry man"... Overall, quite a dull episode.
Still, 5 TNG episodes down, three to go... and then there's the DS9 episode (*shudder*) and the Voyager ones... Hmm...
Actually, you know what... I'm surprised they never had Q in Enterprise; I know, in terms of continuity it would not have worked... but hey, continuity stated they should never have had the Borg or Ferengi in that show, but they still did. : )
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