Star Trek: Every Q Episode Ranked Worst To Best

This third season entry is probably the first time that the character that we today know as Q was born. Stripped of his powers, John de Lancie is forced to exist as a human on board the Enterprise, in an episode that ramps up the comedy while still trying to teach Q something about the nature of humanity.

Infamous not only for Q's celebrations at the end but his gift of laughter to Data, this is the episode in which prankster Q hits the ground running.

This episode would prove to be the first appearance of a Q other than our Q and would also serve as the source for the famous Picard facepalm meme. It was initially designed to all be a ploy by Q to establish himself as a hero. The original plot would have seen the Federation edge toward war with the Klingons, only for Q to step in and save the day from a situation that he engineered. This was quashed by Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman, who wanted the story to be a more straightforward God-comes-to-Earth tale.

This allowed a new humility to develop in Q, ultimately allowing the audience to better identify with him. It was a challenging episode for de Lancie in particular, not least due to the fact that his nude scene could not be faked!