Story By: Shawn Piller
Directed By: Cliff Bole
Rating: **** (out of 5)
The problem with �The Q and the Grey� is the Q continuum. Ever since TNG�s pilot episode �Encounter at Farpoint� Q has been a menace to the Star Trek universe and his people. They�ve been a race of omnipotent being, almost Godlike except they aren�t Gods, and their existence never fully understood or explained. But �The Q and the Grey� makes a very bad mistake near the final act. Voyager creates a singularity to enter the Q continuum. Creates a singularity? So no longer is the Q Continuum an issue of mind not being able to comprehend; but something that can be entered like an alternate dimension. Well, I hate this idea.
�Death Wish� was acceptable because it was something that Quinn created in the mind for Janeway, but yet something physical also. Quinn�s metaphor was created so that Janeway Company could make sense of everything. Even here in �The Q and the Grey� it�s great using the American Civil War as a metaphor for the Q Civil War and saying that the weapons are disastrous and powerful Q weapons but being seen as a normal pistol or rifle. However by having Voyager, the human ship with limited resources, actually entering the Continuum, in its metaphoric form from normal space, and than being able to save Janeway and Q is ridiculous. It�s also ridiculous to have Chakotay believing that �there must be another way to the continuum.� It�s iffy but somewhat acceptable that Q bleeding means he is actually injured, that a side issue anyway.
Continuing my rants, we are told that Q wants to breed because he wants to add compassion and other human emotions into the continuum so he chose humans, who he also put on trial a mere ten years ago. But how will this end the war? If Janeway did breed with Q, what is it Q thinks would make the war halt right there and then? Even mating with the Q-ette; how would that end the war? And if it�s not possible for Q to mate with another Q then how does it happen? There is also a reason needed for why the Q and Q-ette loose their powers. Don�t tell me the Q have a mega-computer that gives them their powers and it was destroyed during the war?!
All this is enough for me to lower the scoring even more, but �The Q and the Grey� is saved by leaving enough clues for us to fill in by ourselves, maybe even room for another Q episode. It doesn�t have the same impact it should�ve had; it doesn�t succeed �Death Wish� like it should�ve, but it was still fun and there was some meaning, even if it is a bit of a loose cannon.
The point of �The Q and the Grey� really comes down to how the Q with all the omnipotence have yet to discover how to deal with social problems within their society. They may be all powerful but they are also almost as drone-like as the Borg. They aren�t allowed to properly explore their individuality. The difference between the Borg and the Q is that the Q can become different, the Borg, as Borg and not their former species, can�t.
Of course, the meaning is somewhat the underneath layer with all the fun going on. I loved Q�s complete disregard for social graces when he first arrives. I love the way he says what he wants without any thought as too how people might feel. He calls Janeway Kathy and says that foreplay with a Q can last for decades etc! I love Q�s wit, and I love John De Lancie�s perfect portrayal. Q-ette is played by Susie Plakson (Keylar in TNG), but I can�t say she was wonderfully played.
Other than that, I loved the actual mating of Q and Q-ette at the end, and seeing Q�s baby with the little uniform and Q having already taught him to knock small planets out of orbit! I also enjoyed the Q-Paris-Harry scene in the holodeck, plus Q�s humble sorry to Janeway when they are tied up and ready to be executed. The CGI was very nice and the sets of the American Civil War were wonderfully detailed, and wonderfully destroyed!
I said it before and I say it again; this was a bit of a mess � but it was fun!