episode #10: Hide and Q

HIDE AND Q - episode #10, first season / Air Date: 11/23/87
written by C.J. Holland, Gene Roddenberry; Directed by Cliff Bole
BELOW: Q in a Field Marshall's uniform..

The Enterprise is on its way to help a colony where mining explosions have taken place when a familiar energy grid stops the ship - it's Q (John de Lancie); he's ba-a-a-ck (from the first episode). This time, he sends the bridge crew, excluding Picard, to some unknown planetoid where they have to face off against animal-like creatures dressed in Napoleonic uniforms. This seems very simple, a simplistic version of The Savage Curtain from TOS, with even similar death scenes (a fake Lincoln was speared in the old episode).
But, the true intent of Q's game is to see what happens when Riker is bestowed with Q powers -- how will Riker handle this limitless power? That's when it gets intriguing (and now we have a comparative to Where No Man Has Gone Before, the pilot of TOS). The story structure is not great here - Riker gets the power rather late in the episode - but it does get pretty interesting in the final act, when Riker magically hands (or tries to) various gifts to his shipmates. Riker gradually, even subtly, changes his behavior before these climactic scenes. Also, since this involves Q, there are some amusing moments - he is less sinister here than in Encounter at Farpoint - check out his scene in the monk's robe.
At the same time, Q usually provides an intriguing moment or two - he places Yar in a deadly 'penalty box' but abruptly removes her from this bad spot after she shows distress - is this out of compassion? It seems unlikely, and yet...
btw, the unknown planetoid as depicted here recalls the standard alien planets seen on TOS - it has that fake backdrop feel to it - strange in that this is 20 years later and the Trekmakers were not able to advance on the aesthetic presentation. Finally, I found Riker's stance in a couple of scenes to be peculiarly comical - he stands with his arms folded, head slightly raised, presumably to convey arrogance; it looks way overdone. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10