Star Trek: Every Q Episode Ranked Worst To Best

12. Q-Less

Q-Less was the fifth episode of Deep Space Nine's first season, falling into place at a time when the show itself was still discovering itself. The story originated with Vash only and no Q. However, a rewrite was ordered and Robert Hewitt Wolfe began his career on the show by fleshing out this plot. The idea was to have Q appear on the station in a believable manner that wouldn't have it appear that the producers were simply moving the popular guest star from one series to another.

The results are quite mixed.

Armin Shimmerman was quoted as saying that John de Lancie behaved as though he was the series regular, while the rest of the actors were the guest stars, something de Lancie has commented on. He said that only way he knew how to approach the role was to be the Q he had been on the Enterprise. In continuity, that idea certainly makes a lot of sense.

However in practice, he seems quite out of place. His boxing match with Sisko, while fun, shows how wildly different the relationship he had with Picard was. With Picard, Q enjoyed a battle of words. With Sisko, he gets a punch in the face. The episode is unfortunately not the best example of Q as a character.

He appears too caught up with Vash, a character who is never seen again after this. If she was so important to him, why wasn't she the woman of his dreams rather than Captain Janeway?

A sadly poor entry on Q's Trek journey.