Hide and Q by: CJ Holland and Gene Roddenberry from a story by: CJ Holland and directed by: Cliff Bole

 

“Hide and Q” is written by: C.J. Holland (a pseudonym for Maurice Hurley) and Gene Roddenberry, from a story by: C.J. Holland, and is directed by: Cliff Bole.  It was produced under production code 111, was the 10^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was broadcast on November 23, 1987.

 

John de Lancie as Q was honestly the best thing about the pilot to Star Trek: The Next Generation “Encounter to Farpoint”, despite being added to fill time and bring the episode to the requested time slot.  It only makes sense to make Q a recurring character in the series, and because of how television was produced the return would come only eight episodes later in “Hide and Q”, and it’s an episode with once again a lot of problems.  Like “Encounter at Farpoint”, “Hide and Q” is an episode that was originally assigned to one writer, current head writer of the show Maurice Hurley in his first script.  It’s telling of the chaotic production that Hurley as a writer would contribute several scripts for the first two seasons before leaving the position and the show.  Hurley would request his name to be pulled from the writing credit of the episode, the third time this has happened this season with a writer and “Hide and Q” is an episode that is largely competing between two visions.  Gene Roddenberry as a writer has rarely turned in effective scripts, look at my extensive reviews of the original series, but he is a man who at least understands ideas and the idea behind “Hide and Q” is a solid one.  Star Trek likes a lot of godlike aliens, the Q are godlike aliens, but what actually happens if those godlike abilities are given to a main character of the show.  How would they react and perhaps more importantly how would the rest of the crew react?  While it is still a premise very much connected with the original series’ way of doing things, it is trying to push it forward to see what can be explored with these new characters.

 

The major problem of the episode is honestly the decision of who to give the godlike powers to, instead of following up “Encounter at Farpoint” establishing a particular chemistry between Q and Picard due to de Lancie and Patrick Stewart just clicking and playing off one another, it is Riker who is given the powers of the Q as a test.  The test is to bring a member of humanity into the Q, seeing how Riker will use the powers to change those around him.  At least that’s where the episode attempts to go with it, as an episode “Hide and Q” feels like it wants to be about power corrupting but by only being 45-minutes long and devoting the first half of that episode to a faux battle scenario on a planet where Riker has to learn that he has been given the powers to save himself and his crewmates, there isn’t enough time to really explore Riker being corrupted by power.  Jonathan Frakes as an actor is clearly working with the material, in the back half of the episode he alters his delivery to be more like John de Lancie, as well as some of his posture to be more stiff.  The stiffness doesn’t really work since de Lancie is a very physical actor, but Frakes is making interesting choices in the role.  It’s a role that doesn’t really fit the character of Riker, the back half of the episode has the crew immediately distrust him and Riker becomes immediately serious and graven with these powers, but Frakes is making the best of a bad situation.  His portrayal of Riker giving up the powers, ending with Picard getting Q to disappear, never to interfere with humanity again, is actually quite good even if the script is incredibly weak in terms of actually showing the corruption.

 

Patrick Stewart as Picard, while relegated to the background and foil for Riker for much of the episode because Hurley and Roddenberry are trying a different relationship, actually gets the best scenes in the episode.  The scene with Picard and Q trading Shakespeare quotes is the best scene of the episode, drawing on the fact that you have Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart and haven’t yet allowed him to go full Shakespeare.  It’s particularly sad because outside of Stewart, de Lancie, and Frakes, the rest of the cast is poorly served, Tasha Yar once again is forcing Denise Crosby to just cry and be punted to the side.  Sadly Yar’s fate was spoiled for me, at least in terms of for this first season, and I can see exactly why Crosby made the decisions she did.  Cliff Bole returns to direct this episode, having directed “Lonely Among Us” which while not a strong episode, at least looked good, and Bole once again is doing his best and succeeds whenever the episode is on the Enterprise, but the planet Q forces the battle on is a set that I don’t think anyone could shoot convincingly.  This is also an episode that for whatever reason wants to have its first half be really concerned with the Enterprise going to a rescue, but either Hurley or Roddenberry seemed to have forgotten to include this at the forefront of the characters’ minds when the episode actually gets going until Riker uses his powers and it becomes relevant to the plot again.

 

“Hide and Q” is honestly guided by the motivation of because the plot says that is what needs to happen.  Because the episode doesn’t show Riker’s descent into corruptive power, it has to be put in exposition.  The big climax of the episode really suffers from Roddenberry’s view of not having conflict guiding the characters: what makes Riker reject the powers is giving his friends gifts and them rejecting them.  Wesley is turned into an adult, Geordi is given his sight, Data the option of humanity, and Worf given a mate (another example of this show’s objectification of its female characters which is a recurring problem).  They all reject these gifts and that is what makes Riker snap and give the powers back.  This is honestly on paper an interesting conclusion, but it is not earned as we haven’t had Riker fall at all.  The only evidence is Riker not saving an already dead little girl, because Picard asks him not to.  This scripting decision feels like cowardice, “Code of Honor” shows that death can be undone in certain circumstances and “Hide and Q” doesn’t actually want to sit with any of the implications of the ability to bring someone back from the dead so they don’t even attempt it.  It would actually be the perfect way to introduce conflict in line with Gene Roddenberry’s misguided view of no interpersonal conflict, this would be a philosophical conflict between the characters and is truly what holds “Hide and Q” back from hitting hard as an episode.

 

Overall, “Hide and Q” like “Encounter at Farpoint” is an episode with a lot of potential.  The direction is certainly a lot better, even with one particularly bad set that is saved by going insane with de Lancie’s over the top marshal costume.  Gene Roddenberry not allowing interpersonal conflict, and heavily rewriting what I imagine was a much stronger script is really what brings this down.  Wherever a decision needs to be made for character dynamics or the plot, Roddenberry decided to make the wrong choice in focusing on Riker and then not allowing him to actually have any moral failings with being given the godlike powers.  It’s marginally better than “Encounter at Farpoint” but it is still another miss in what is clearly a season of television with so many production issues that needs a true guiding hand.  4/10.