Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Q
He did WHAT in the comics?
A being capable of bending time, space, and reality to his will - and yet who spends that power playing pranks on people and summoning mariachi bands - is someone who physically cannot go unnoticed.
This is arguably why, despite his (relatively) short amount of appearances in Star Trek, Q is one of the most iconic characters in the entire franchise, outside of our main crews. No one character has ever worked so well as both a hero and a villain, and provided equal amounts of comedy and awe.
However, this ability to fit into almost any scenario is exactly what makes it difficult to find out many things about Q. Since creators know people like him so dang much, they sneak him in wherever they can as a little extra treat to fans - with the trickster appearing in novels, comics, and everything else under the sun.
Similarly, you can be a dyed in the wool fan and never know about how Q was initially created or received - because this would require you to have read some very specific books, or otherwise have some Betazoid level mind reading skills.
10. He's Inspired By Lord Byron
Deciding how to play Q was surely one of the most difficult parts of playing his character. Alien figures fascinated with testing others is as old as Rumplestiltskin, and Q being basically omnipotent only added further vagueness to how he'd be best played.
Whilst devising how he would play Q, John De Lancie revealed an unusual - but not surprising - source of inspiration: Lord Byron, a famous (and somewhat infamous) poet. Byron himself is iconic enough, but he's especially well known for one particular quote, which Lady Caroline Lamb used to describe him after their first meeting; "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".
As surreal as it is to compare a Victorian era English poet and a galactic god-like being, the more you compare the two, the more you realise they are... weirdly similar.
It's an unusual place for Lancie to have taken inspiration from for sure, but all the better for how out of left field it feels. Thankfully, though, Q seems to share in Byron's theatrics without sharing in his love of being involved in romantic scandals. Otherwise, who knows what love triangle he could have gotten involved in.