Trek Thursdays: Trekking Towards Sixty #4 — “Qpid” And “First First Contact”

On September 8th, 1966, an intrepid crew of explorers boldly went where no one had ever gone before on television. At that moment, Star Trek was born. A series that launched a franchise that has kept a firm grip on audiences for decades.

As the 60th anniversary approaches, we here at Comicon.com are ready to celebrate one of the greatest science fiction franchises. While Star Trek has graced the silver screen, most of its life has been on our television screens. So, that’s where our focus shall remain.

Every week through September 8th, we’ll be spotlighting two Star Trek episodes, from any and every iteration, that we feel are some of the greatest. At this point there are over 950 episodes of Trek, so it goes without saying some favorites won’t make the cut for this list of 60.

Things are quite heavy in the world these days.

It almost feels like the mundane or even joyful things of our lives, be they personal hardships or the frivolity of entertainment, can’t be shared. That the scale is so off right now to focus on anything else would be tantamount to negligent or spiteful. A counter to that argument is that we cannot forego our own lives, especially self-care, and hope to solve the bigger issues.

In that vein, the entries for this week are lighter fare in the Star Trek realm. Episodes that have some serious beats to them but are also full of off the wall fun stuff that also is a perfectly welcome part of Star Trek as a franchise and cultural icon.

-RED ALERT: SPOILERS FOLLOW-

“Qpid”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 4, Episode 20 (04/22/1991)

Introduced in the pilot episode, the all-powerful being known only as Q, played masterfully always by the incomparable John de Lancie, has been a thorn in the side of Starfleet captains for decades. A trickster god-like being who sows chaos in his wake but often comes with an attempt to teach a lesson or two along the way.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D were a particular focus for Q over the years. From pushing them into their first encounter with the Borg to trying to learn from them when stripped of all his powers. He even tried to give William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) God-like powers at one point.

For this list though, we’re looking at one of the third or fourth most memorable TNG Q-focused episodes. There were a lot of Q episodes, and not all were good. This one, though, definitely was good.

Synopsis: Captain Picard is thrown for a loop when a former romantic interest, the possibly profiteer archaeologist Vash (Jennifer Hetrick), brings some romantic tensions to the ship. Enter Q, who picks up on the tensions and tries to fix them by sending the whole senior crew into a real, and dangerous, representation of Robin Hood.

“I am not a Merry Man!”

Ah yes, Worf (Michael Dorn), you most certainly are not very merry. I will say though the hat was quite a dashing touch for you good sir.

Picard trying to justify not telling his crew about his romantic fling on Risa underscores where we still are with him at this point. Very buttoned up and by the book in many respects, he has drawn a line between himself and his crew. He cares for them but sequesters himself in many ways. This is a thread that funny enough not only carries through the series, but it’s Q that always seems to provide the chisel to start chipping away at these parts of Picard.

Watching the whole senior crew LARP as figures from Sherwood Forest is beyond fun. Just look at them in their costumes, clearly eating up the chance to do something different, both as characters and actors. Worf might not be having it at that moment, but the others are not afraid to let a grin or a merry tune loose.

In a sense, this sort of works just like any of the looser Holodeck adventure episodes without the constraint of the holographic space. Those constraints generally being something going wrong with the system, the ship, or a person on the ship to warrant being in there predominantly.

The only shame is that we never pick up on the Vash and Q partnership, nor see Vash, ever again in TNG. Instead, the thread is briefly picked up on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the one and only appearance that Q made on that series.

“First First Contact”
Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 2, Episode 10 (10/14/2021)

Frivolity meets seriousness was never more clear in the Trek line than in the much beloved (and missed) Star Trek: Lower Decks. An adult-oriented animated comedy series that quickly proved that within its proverbial chest beat the heart of a full Star Trek fan. Easter eggs, cameos, deep cuts, and references were plentiful in the five seasons the series ran.

What was just as clear though was how much it understood what Trek should be. Speaking to the human condition while exploring the stars, using the comedy to underscore the finer, more important points of the franchise. One episode that showcases that brilliantly was one that capped off the second season of the series.

Synopsis: After always being tasked with things like second contact with alien species, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos gets the chance to take part in first contact. A rendezvous with the U.S.S. Archimedes to assist in contact with the Lapeerians takes a deadly turn. It’s up to the Cerritos to save the day, in their own particular style.

This episode has just about everything going for it when it comes to pulling out the stops.

Right away the captain of the Archimedes is Sonya Gomez (Lycia Naff). Name not ringing a bell? Well that shows you forgot about her short turn on the Enterprise-D beginning with the pivotal episode “Q Who” (See that Q is everywhere!). Ya know, the episode where the Borg made their first appearance and then Ensign Gomez spilled hot chocolate all over Captain Picard.

A bulk of the episode is just some good old fashioned miscommunication chaos. People about to be promoted and secrets blown and snippets of conversations that send people spiraling. All that usual sort of goofy drama including stuff that sitcoms are known for doing — just with that pinch of Star Trek charm and science fiction shenanigans.

Chief shenanigan being that the Archimedes gets disabled by a solar flare induced planetoid explosion. Magnetized ionic plasma and debris makes the ship go into a blackout drift, and no way for the Cerritos to save it without suffering the same fate.

Long story short, after a lot of debate, the solution comes forward to turn off the shields and strip the ship naked. That’s right, the crew assembles to peel the outer hull from the ship, leaving just the inner hull exposed.

It’s an all hands on deck sort of situation that brings in a lot of character beats, hilarity, and some drama and buildup for the next season’s plotline.

Now, comes one of the most important parts. During the era of TNG a reference was made a few times to a place called Cetacean Ops, including it being a piece of background lore in technical manual publications for that series. During the previous episodes of Lower Decks, it also got a name drop, and this episode finally introduces the space.

Say hello to Lieutenant Junior Grades Kimolu and Matt, two Starfleet science division beluga whales. Yes, you read that right. Two uniform wearing (sassy, sentient and possibly horny) beluga whales, who work inside a pool of water connected to a variety of smaller water-filled connected tubes. Their work was vital to safe warp travel, as any disruption could mean that the ship could only travel by sublight.

I freaking love Star Trek.

Come back next week as we dive into two more of Star Trek’s greatest episodes.