10 More Crazy Star Trek Fan Theories

Q's supposed reasons for putting humanity on trial in Encounter At Farpoint don't make that much sense when you think about it.

He claimed that humanity was a "grievously savage race" that had ventured way too far from their home, spreading their flaws across the universe like a disease, and demanded that they return home or be destroyed. Why then would Q not put the Klingons on trial? Or the Romulans, the Borg, or the Dominion? All are empires with similar or larger sized territory than the Federation, and have shown much less regard for freedom and the rights of others.

It seems clear that Q's trial was not meant to punish humanity, but rather to teach them a lesson. Some believe that Q (and possibly others in the Continuum) may be training humanity to be their replacements.

Q shared his powers with Riker in the episode Hide And Q, prepared humanity for the invasion of the Borg in Q Who, and the Next Generation finale All Good Things showed Q literally training Picard how to think outside of linear time to correct a disturbance in the past. On top of all this, we learned in the second season of Star Trek: Picard that the Q actually can die naturally (not just at the hands of another Q). This makes the idea of Q training them to take his place even more likely, as does Q's comment at the end of the season that Picard matters to him, and that he's always been one of his favourites.