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Q's fate

Vanyel

The Imperious Leader
Premium Member
Q has been around for billions of years, according to the Female Q in Voyager's The Q and the Grey, she implies an age of at least 2 billion years. Assuming Q is about the same age and maybe some Q are older, can't versions of themselves from before Q's death still be around to taunt or teach lessons to other crews. The Q can go to the Big Bang and possibly the very end of the Universe. So have we really seen the last of Q or any Q?
 
Q has been around for billions of years, according to the Female Q in Voyager's The Q and the Grey, she implies an age of at least 2 billion years. Assuming Q is about the same age and maybe some Q are older, can't versions of themselves from before Q's death still be around to taunt or teach lessons to other crews. The Q can go to the Big Bang and possibly the very end of the Universe. So have we really seen the last of Q or any Q?
This was never explained by the writers in the series, the Picard writers chose to dismiss the rest of the continuum in a rather blasé fashion if you ask me! Maybe they were unaware that there was actually a Q Continuum, or just chose to dismiss it as it would complicate things for the story? I actually thought that the whole of Picard season 2 took place in the Continuum for quite a considerable part of the season, it was the only way that I could explain the often bizarre storyline to myself in my head, but that is another story. What you ask though @Vanyel might never be explained on screen. Luckily, I for one, like many other people *really* enjoy speculating! My thinking is that the Q and the Continuum are one and the same - an omnipotent pocket universe full of multiple personalities which all represent facets of the same consciousness with our ‘John De Lancie Q being it’s focal point of origin. Imagine a form of multiple personality disorder developed as a result of going insane (or getting very, very bored) through a combination of omnipotence and being alone for billions of years. If an omnipotent consciousness became bored, of course it would create a civilisation of sorts for itself - it has the ability to do so as a result of it’s own omnipotence. It might even forget that it had done so over millennia. The Q continuum could have been a range of Q’s personalities projected in to a continuum using it’s omnipotent power like light through a proverbial spectrograph in to a to giant celestial spectrum of ‘colourful characters’, a coherent and sometimes chaotic whole characterised through projection in to a collection of characters which make up Q’s various guises which over time it started to treat as separate to itself. It’s a bit like a child building a universe’s worth of imaginary friends but the child actually thinks that those characters are real. At one point there was civil war in the Q Continuum, again this could have been a result of Q forgetting that it was one and the same with all the other Q, they all stopped treating each other with the love that one gives to ones self, which caused internal conflict within Q’s own consciousness. This could have been the first sign that things were not quite right with Q and the continuum. He would also never be able to find a ‘mate’ within his own consciousness, he would have to procreate with an external form of life - he failed to continue the Q Continuum’s legacy by failing to have a child with a mortal such as Captain Janeway. Maybe he procreated off screen with another mortal? Mating within the continuum itself would just create another internal projection of the continuum, not a separate entity thus would be an evolutionary dead end for the continuum. Perhaps by the 25th century something else went wrong in the continuum, something bad had caused it to collapse in on itself to down to ‘the source’ - Q itself. This could possibly mean that Q was originally formed in a Big Bang type scenario, what we see depicted in Picard season 2 could be a result of the end of the Q Continuum via it’s imploding back in on itself in some kind of ‘big crush’. This big crush of course can only be perceived by us mere mortals via interactions with John de Lancie Q. He simplified the end of his universe by showing us his death and that of the continuum in a comprehendible format.

like I said, this has not been explained by any of the writers so all that we can do is fill in the blanks with the few scraps of information that we have.
 
Because of time travel, he could be back. He won't, though.

In fact, because of time travel, the dying Q who visited Picard could well be billions of years older than the Q of "All Good Things"

Also Q has fallen out with the Continuum on more than one occasion and his family too, so I have zero qualms with him "dying alone"
 
From Disco, we know the Federation won't have any contact with the Q Continuum after the 26th century. So I guess, there could theoretically be another visit or ten during the 25th and 26th centuries, but after that, no more Q at all.
 
Oh, and my theory in answer to @Vanyel ’s original question (sorry I got carried away and forgot to answer) is that Q can never appear again to a future crew beyond the late 24th/early 25th Century as their ‘hour glass’ bubble existence ended in the 25th century. Perhaps Q can only travel within their own ‘lifetime’ or the span of the ‘Continuum universe/bubble/it’s minds/consciousness existence’. This could explain why we never got to see the far future anomaly from All Good Thing’s which was observable by the USS Pasteur before it was formed, thus potentially growing in *both* directions of the passage of time. Q could only take Picard as far forward as the late 24th century when the anomaly was formed due to the Continuum’s life, and thus that of Q itself, ending not much longer after this date. On the reverse journey though time though, as the Q Continuum came in to being before life on Earth was initiated, he was able to take Picard back to see the primordial gue that sparked life on our planet and therefore to observe the larger ‘anti time’ anomaly - Q and the continuum existed at this point of time in the universe so could travel there. If the anomaly had indeed continued to grow *forward* in time as well a backwards, then we could have observed the anomaly in the far future beyond the 25th century, but Q just did not have the ability to show Picard this far future because of it’s own mortality which prevented Q from travelling beyond the future events as depicted in All Good Thing’s, and in the prime timeline episode beyond Farewell. This could also mean that Q knew exactly when it was going to ‘die’ as this limitation of it’s powers was observable… Q’s erratic and irrational behaviour in Picard season 2 could be explained by the Continuum’s foreknowledge of it’s imminent ‘death’. The fact that Picard had messed something up in the ‘last minutes’ of the Continuum’s existence caused Q to panic, knowing that there is not much time left to help resolve the resulting mess and destruction (and have a bit of fun with Picard in the process).

If people have no idea what I am talking about in regards to this All Good Thing’s connection, I tried to explain something similar about the anomalies development here. This actually makes even more sense now when connected to Q’s lifespan and mortality. Do we ever see Q send anyone in to the future further than this point in time? Maybe he just couldn’t do it. This could also explain the comment from Discovery season 4 where someone, I forget who, says that the Q Continuum have not been encountered for centuries. They probably just do not exist anymore…

Perhaps we, like the Q, have an ‘hour glass existence’. Perhaps this focal point in time at the start of the 25th century is the beginning of the Star Trek Universe imploding back in on itself just like it did for the continuum itself? This whole implosion could be a result of Q and the continuum ceasing to exist… perhaps they were managing the focal point at the centre of the universal hour glass - helping to manage a big ‘inter galactic food chain/pyramid’ which without them could totally collapse inwards on to itself much like what happened to the Continuum itself as a result of the Q civil war. This might be a universal pattern that repeats on all levels of quantum and meta physics, resonating in coporeal existence and echoing in civilisation, societies, psychology and observable nature and science. Maybe the Travellers can manage this now that the Q are gone if they are up to the job? Perhaps they can help to stop universal implosion and ultimate doom! :D

Maybe this is why they put an hour glass in the opening credits of Star Trek Picard? :shrug:
 
Maybe they were unaware that there was actually a Q Continuum,
I find that unlikely, as the showrunner this season was a fan of TNG, plus there's all the other deep cut references to other series in the franchise, like Assignment Earth and Past Tense. Hell they referenced that one scene in 'Where No One has Gone Before' where Picard sees his mother as an old lady.
 
I find that unlikely, as the showrunner this season was a fan of TNG, plus there's all the other deep cut references to other series in the franchise, like Assignment Earth and Past Tense. Hell they referenced that one scene in 'Where No One has Gone Before' where Picard sees his mother as an old lady.
I missed the Picard mum reference from Where No One Has Gone Before, was it in episode 9 by any chance? Unfortunately, even if from a production standpoint episode 9 was very well produced, it is the only episode of Star Trek in the franchises entire history that has no rewatch value for me, I just found it too upsetting and can not see myself watching it again, but maybe that is because I am too sensitive. I would happily watch Threshold and Move Along Home over episode 9 of Picard season 2… I just can not bring myself to watch it again as a piece of Star Trek that entertains. Why would anybody want that kind of imagery in regards to Picard’s mum in their head? Was it for shock value? Not my cup of Earl grey unfortunately. I think that I rated this episode 5/10.

I think that they made this series (and last series) ‘different in tone’ on purpose so that we can appreciate a more ‘normal’ season 3… I hope… :bolian:
 
I missed the Picard mum reference from Where No One Has Gone Before, was it in episode 9 by any chance?
Yes

I think that they made this series (and last series) ‘different in tone’ on purpose so that we can appreciate a more ‘normal’ season 3… I hope
Don't get your hopes up. That's not the kind of series Patrick wanted.

I think that I rated this episode 5/10.
If you dislike it so much you'd never rewatch it, why did you rate it so highly? Seems odd.
 
Because of time travel, he could be back. He won't, though.

In fact, because of time travel, the dying Q who visited Picard could well be billions of years older than the Q of "All Good Things"

Also Q has fallen out with the Continuum on more than one occasion and his family too, so I have zero qualms with him "dying alone"
Totally agree with this.

John DeLancie's Q has died. He was the one infatuated with humans and Picard in particular. So we could encounter other Q, but the story for this one is over. And it doesn't violate any canon.
 
If you dislike it so much you'd never rewatch it, why did you rate it so highly? Seems odd.

Because I love Star Trek! 5 is the lowest score that I would ever give to any Star Trek episode - unless anything really bad happens to the series next season. The redeeming part of the episode was the Jurati/Borg Queen stuff. I can’t rate anything with my childhood heroes starring in it below a 5. However, this episode did increase my ratings of all preceding Star Trek episodes changing the scales. Threshold for example is now 6/10 instead of 5/10 as episode 9, Hide and Seek, altered the benchmark for me.
 
Maybe Beverley Crusher and Q mated I’m the 2360’s? Perhaps Jack Crusher was a Q personification and no one knew about this? This means that Wesley Crusher could secretly be half Q but just does not know it? This would explain the Travellers interest in Wesley, as well as De Lancie Q’s interest with Picard and humanity… maybe Wesley Crusher can continue the legacy of protecting fixed points in time and the ‘universal hour’ glass focal point(s?) with the Travellers and Supervisors? This might be why the character vanished from the Star Trek universe for so long… he was being prepared for this mission to help save all of time and space when the Q Continuum inevitably collapses in the 25th century. :D
 
Despite initially taking the other side for pragmatic reasons, Q expressed an interest in Quinn's wish to end his immortal life because it was all so drab and boring that he had taken to tormenting lesser life forms to get his kicks, a fact which constantly put him at odds with the guidelines of the rest of the Continuum.

It's the old contention that the gods envy mortals their finite existence because life is all the more precious if you can lose it.

So, my guess if that the compromise the Q reached to end their civil war is that they gave themselves finite lifespans and Q is part of the first generation to die, while some of the younger Q like Amanda Rogers will linger on until the 26th century.

In the meantime, they will have shepherded lower lifeforms through the worst of the Temporal Cold War and feel as if their time has come to step aside. Plus they've left humanity and others in the hands of the Travelers and their agents.
 
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