Star Trek: The Q Continuum Was Introduced Before TNG (Thanks to a Retcon) (2024)

The Q Continuum is a long-beloved artifact of Star Trek history, and its mischievous ambassador, Q (John de Lancie), has been a welcome guest star since his first appearance in The Next Generation's premiere event. The origins of the Continuum and their omnipotent forces remain a mystery, but John de Lancie himself would voice some likely suspicionsabout the roots of Q in 2008, and hetraces a direct link between Q and one of Star Trek's iconic original episodes, "The Squire of Gothos." And that link is bolstered by the fan-favorite novel Q-Squared, which reveals that Trelane is a Q, after all.

"The Squire of Gothos" has a familiar premise. The Enterprise is hijacked from focusing on their primary mission when Kirk and Sulu disappear. It's not long before the rest of the crew is confronted with a 14th-century castle and its humanoid ruler. Introducing himself as Trelane, general and self-styled Squire of planet Gothos, Trelane bounces from foppish to petulant whenever Kirk and his crew won't play along. Trelane eventually puts the crew on trial for treason and insurrection, his courtroom as anachronistic as the rest of his playhouse. It's only the intervention of his family that stops the execution, two energy beings revealing that the godlike power is a spoiled child, left alone too long with his toys.

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Though Q's disruption of the new Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint" has a sharper point, the playfulness and petulance he displays have a familiar ring to it. Fond of theatrics and anachronisms and placing Picard on a still-running trial for the future of humanity, the similarities to Trelane were quickly pointed out toQ's inventor, Gene Roddenberry. According to The Fifty Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross,the preproduction crewtried to stop the introduction of Q because he was sosimilar to Trelane. But Roddenberry brushed off their fears, assuring themthat fans would love this new take on familiar territory.

John de Lancie also recognized the similarities when he was cast, and speculated privately that Roddenberry had drawn from previous experience, looking for what had worked before. Q was, as de Lancie explained in a 2008 interview foran enhanced rerelease of the original Star Trek DVDs, "kind of carrying that baton through time." With de Lancie's work and clear fondness of the character, Q would become more than a spiritual successor to Trelane. They're both complicated and mercurial entities, butQ has a subtler sense of morality.

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The link between the Continuum and the troublesome Squire of Gothos deepened in 1994. Tie-in Star Trek novels are typically non-canonical, but some novels had a bigger impact than others, and writer Peter David became a welcome resource for new Q adventures. Q-Squared elevated what the fandom long suspected into a widely accepted fact. Trelane is revealed to be a Q, and more than that, the book sets up the clear assumption that de Lancie's iconic Q is one of the spoiled squire's parents.

It's a wild ride for Picard, who gets approached by Q in one of his more humble moments. Trelane is drunk on power, and his spoiled nature has turned him into a reality-destroying threat. AsTrelane's influence warps multiple timelines out of joint, he inadvertently sets a course towards his own death and rebirth as a Q, setting him up as theslightly less powerful being that meets Kirk in his future. And while it'stechnicallynot canon, it's not easy to find StarTrek fans who don't accept the connection as fact, either.

As a Q, Trelane's since made fewer appearances than his sire, but his impact may arguably be greater. Without Trelane, Star Trekwould be a less bizarre place. Roddenberryplayed a huge gamble on how well he understood what would delight fans waiting for new Star Trek adventures, and by turning to the playful Squire of Gothos to build his spiritual successor,Gene came out theclear winner.

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