“Q-Less” is an episode to feature one of the more memorable and enjoyable characters of the Star Trek franchise: none other than Q himself. And yet, while Q remains thoroughly entertaining, the stories around him do little to come to the help of the episode. Indeed, rehashing yet another TNG character feels like a gratuitous and vulgar attempt to latch DS9’s successes onto the momentum from TNG. Crossover between the two series isn’t a bad thing – provided it it’s done with a purpose. That really isn’t the case here.

And besides, Vash was never all that interesting begin with. Why bother excavating her character yet again?

Yes, indeed, Captain Picard’s old flame, Vash, has once again surfaced – this time as a passenger on a shuttle returning from the Gamma Quadrant. Her arrival on board DS9 is the trigger for three plotlines. The first follows her attempts to beat back Q’s unrelenting requests to continue their partnership. The second involves her association with Quark to cell artifacts from the Gamma Quadrant. And the third is a hopelessly over-technical danger which threatens to destroy the station.

In both of her TNG episodes, Vash was best served by the reactions of those around her – moreso than anything she did herself. And yet again, that proves to be the case. Here, Q’s taunts become increasingly amusing, to the point where he blurts out such gems as, “Picard and his lackeys would have solved all this technobabble hours ago.” (to Sisko) and “Enterprise? Oh yes, weren’t you one of the little people?” (to O’Brien). Q, it seems, almost never disappoints.

Unfortunately, his character, and Vash’s rejection of him, are merely part of a subplot. Instead, we’re subjected to Vash’s typically greedy schemes – in this case, getting Quark to arrange an auction to sell her wares. Admittedly, the scenes are amusing – but that is thanks to Quark, who also manages yet another memorable series of quips with Odo.

The final plot is, as Q says, all about the “technobabble.” The details are rather pointless and meaningless. The reason for all the drama is that one of Vash’s “artifacts” turns out to be a kind of egg for an “embryonic lifeform” – which just so happens to be the cause of all the techie trouble. And in typical Trek fashion, the problem is solved a mere moments before everything goes boom.

On the whole, “Q-Less” is an entertaining, yet hollow episode. Q is, once again, the reason for the episode’s success – though O’Brien’s insights from the Enterprise are enjoyable, as are the differences between Sisko and Picard in dealing with Q (best illustrated when Sisko slugs Q, prompting the following exchange between the pair:

“You hit me… Picard never hit me.”
“I’m not Picard.”

But the rest is hardly worth noting. It certainly doesn’t help having the episode revolve around such a vapid character as Vash.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine