“Hide and Q” is episode ten of season one of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise has dropped Counselor Troi off at a starbase where she is catching a shuttle to visit her home and is close enough to a Federation colony to answer an urgent call for medical help after an explosion devastated a mining facility. Dr Crusher is preparing her people when Captain Picard contacts her with new information. 504 colonists have been reported as being injured; is she prepared for that many? She is. The Enterprise is 3.2 hours out when Geordi detects something ahead. A forcefield, one that almost seems like… and Data confirms that it is like the one encountered in “Encounter at Farpoint: Part 1”, deployed by the Q entity.
Picard orders full stop and something appears on the bridge. It’s got Q’s voice but is a floating thing with three serpent-like heads. The Q have studied their recent interaction with humans and are impressed. They have much to discuss., The realisation of humanity’s most impossible dreams. And Q isn’t willing to wait until after they deal with the disaster. He transforms into his human form, in a Starfleet uniform with the rank of admiral.
Picard is not impressed, saying he is no admiral. Q states he isn’t an Aldebaran Serpent either, but they accepted him as such. Q asks, seeing Riker, if the latter finds it amusing. He might, if it wasn’t for the suffering and dying humans. Humans are always suffering and dying, according to Q. Picard is willing to listen – afterwards. Q asks why they distrust him so much. Picard explains in detail. Q is not impressed. He has an interest in Riker, who says there is not time for games. Q disagrees; there’s time for a deadly game. Then takes everyone but the captain from the bridge.
Geordi. Tasha, Data, Work and Riker appear on a planet. Data points out that, given Q’s power, the planet might not even exist. Riker states that at least it won’t be boring. Back on the bridge, Picard is trying, and failing, to contact the rest of the ship and the doors won’t open either.
On the planet, Q now has a fancy uniform and says that good games require rules and planning. How games are played reveals much. Data suggests playing along, as it could provide vital info. Riker goes to speak to Q. He’s given a drink and, when he asks about the others, they are too. Worf pours his away. The Q are interested in the future of humanity. They cannot abide stagnation; change is at their heart. Riker points out that what Q is wearing is not from the future. Q took it from the captain’s mind, as a setting for the game. Data identifies it as from the Napoleonic Era; a campaign tent and the uniform of a French army field marshal.
Games need risk, Q says, something to win, something to lose. If they win, they will get the greatest possible future imaginable. If they lose, it will be disastrous. Can any of them stay alive? And this game is going to be completely unfair. Tasha objects and Q disappears her. She is in the penalty box. There’s only room for one in it; if anyone else gets sent to the box, Tasha will disappear.
Tasha appears back on the bridge and she explains to the captain what happened. Picard is reassuring her when Q appears. He decides that the penalty is over. Picard is not impressed with Q’s latest uniform. Q says that the game is to see if Riker is worthy of the greatest gift. Picard is sure that Riker will defeat Q, just as Picard did. Q suggests a wager then. Picard agrees to the terms and Q says he’s already lost; Riker will be offered something impossible to refuse.
In the captain’s ready room, Q is claiming that Picard doesn’t know the content of his own library. Shakespeare. Captain Picard knows Shakespeare very well. Q’s attempt to quote it against him fails badly.
On the planet, the others have discovered some creatures in French army uniforms, armed with muskets. They are advancing towards them. Muskets won’t have much utility against phasers. Riker tests a phaser to see if it works. It does. The muskets, however, are energy weapons. Q says that Riker has one chance to save everyone; send them back to the ship using the power of the Q.
For that is what Q is offering. The power of the Q themselves. Power beyond imagining. The test is temptation; will Riker succumb to it?