The Q and the Grey (episode)

Q has a novel idea for ending civil war in the Q Continuum: have a child with Captain Janeway.

Teaser
After witnessing a supernova from the closest distance any Starfleet vessel has ever been, Captain Kathryn Janeway heads to her quarters for the night. When she arrives, she is startled to find Q in her room. He attempts to proposition her with his odd sexual advances but Janeway tells him to go away. However, he takes this as playing hard to get, and leaves, but with the intention of returning soon.

Act One
The next day, Commander Chakotay and the captain are interrupted by the appearance of Q again. Q thinks that Janeway is attracted to Chakotay because of his tattoo, and produces one on his face, but bigger, which doesn't impress the captain or Chakotay at all. They both walk out on him.


 * "Captain's log, stardate 50384.2. Q's unannounced visits continue. Since I suspect he's up to something more than pursuing me, I've instructed the crew to take every opportunity to uncover his true motives."

Lieutenant jg Tom Paris and Ensign Harry Kim are enjoying the resort-themed holoprogram, only for their holo-consorts to be whisked to Q's side. They then ask Q what he really is here for, citing that his visits to the Enterprise were more than they seem. Casually, Q states that he had tried everything to woo Janeway, from filling the bridge with roses, to writing love songs and serenading her in her bath. But at every attempt, she rejects him, so he asks the two for advice. Paris advises that he quit while he is ahead. Q then goes over to the bar, asking for another drink, but Neelix refuses to unless he explains his intentions; Q tries to ask him about Janeway's "favorite things". Neelix states that he can't bribe the captain and Q retorts that is exactly what he does, doing things for her. Neelix snaps that he is "respectful, loyal and sincere", qualities that Q could never possess.

Later on in the day, the captain is in her ready room again and hears a small whining sound from behind her desk. Investigating, she finds a Red Setter puppy waiting for her. Janeway recognizes that it is a "gift" from Q and remains unimpressed. Q appears again and tries to cajole her into mating with him. Then, a female Q arrives suddenly.

Act Two
The female Q disapproves of Q's interest in the captain and all three go onto the bridge as Chakotay calls Janeway. Another supernova is in progress, and Kim confirms that there are actually three other supernovae happening at the same time. Janeway grasps the idea that since it is too coincidental that these supernovae are going critical and presumes that Q is somehow involved in the supernovae, which the female Q confirms. With the knowledge that USS Voyager couldn't outrun the shock waves quickly enough to avoid damage, Q transports himself and the captain to the Q Continuum, as the female Q tries to follow.

Act Three
Janeway finds herself in a recreation of the American Civil War, which is a representation of the Continuum. Q explains that the Q Continuum is at war with itself and various factions are trying to obliterate each other using powerful weapons, which are simultaneously causing the supernovae across the galaxy. Q also explains that the acts of Quinn (a Q encountered by Voyager before) have brought unrest to the Continuum, with two main sides arising – the ones who wish for individuality and separatism and the others who want the status quo. Q, unfortunately, appears to be on the losing side, the one wishing for separatism. He then explains that he wishes to end the war by adding Human DNA into the Continuum and having a baby, something that hasn't been done before. Suddenly the house they're standing in is bombarded with bullets and cannonfire and Q is hit and starts bleeding. A voice from outside the house tells Q to surrender but Q shoots back, and is hit again. Janeway manages to get him out of the house and to a friendly camp.

Act Four

 * "First Officer's log, stardate 50392.7. While we don't fully understand the astrophysics underlying her plan, the female Q has suggested several modifications which may allow Voyager to enter the Continuum."

On Voyager, the shock waves hit, hurtling the ship off course and damaging the warp drive. Fortunately there's no major damage but the female Q has remained on board and is slightly injured. Her link with the Continuum has been lost and the crew attempts to find a way into the Continuum to rescue the captain.


 * "First Officer's log, supplemental. We've laid in a course for the point in space where the female Q says we can enter the Continuum and find the captain."

The female Q suggests flying straight into one of the numerous supernovae, after explaining that they're not normal supernovae but echoes of the battle in the Continuum. With a few shield modifications, Voyager enters the Continuum.

Janeway convinces Q that the Continuum should stop fighting and try to find a non-aggressive way to resolve their problems. She then suggests that Q should mate with his female Q companion. The captain goes to the opposing side's headquarters and speaks to the colonel in charge. He doesn't agree with her and sentences both Janeway and Q to death.

Act Five
Just before Janeway and Q are to be shot the next day, the crew of Voyager arrives in the area, fully clothed in period costume, with weapons, and rescues the captain and Q. The Q female and Q mate, simply by touching fingers together. This done, everyone from Voyager is returned to normal space.

Walking back into her ready room, the captain finds Q there, with his new son on his knee, speaking baby words. He thanks her for saving the Q from extinction and asks her to be his son's godmother. She accepts and Q and his baby leave.

Memorable Quotes
"l'm stuck here with you mortals while Q is probably in the process of irreparably harming the Continuum with that woman. Hmm! Tossed aside for someone five billion years younger! If it weren't so laughable I would cry."
 * - Female Q

"I want you out, but first, get rid of this bed."

"I have no intention of getting between those Starfleet-issue sheets. They give me a terrible rash."

"Since you won't be getting in the bed, I wouldn't worry about it."
 * - Janeway and Q

"My cosmic clock is ticking!"
 * - Q

"Foreplay with a Q can last for decades!"
 * - Q trying to seduce Janeway

"I've never figured out what you see in this big oaf anyway. Is it the tattoo? 'Cause mine's bigger!"

"Not big enough."
 * - Q and Janeway, about Chakotay, with Q making a huge tattoo appear on his face

"I know I don't have any right to feel this way, but this bothers the hell out of me."
 * - Chakotay, after Janeway said that Q wanted to mate with her

"What are you doing with that dog?

(Q and Janeway look at the puppy the Captain's holding)

... I'm not talking about the puppy."
 * - Female Q, to Q (and Janeway)

"Hmm... well, there is one possibility, but somehow I don't think this rickety barge or your half-witted crew members are up to the challenge."

"May I remind you, madam, that this 'rickety barge' and its 'half-witted crew' are your only hope at the moment."
 * - Female Q and Tuvok, about trying to return to the Q Continuum

"I've always liked Klingon females. You've got such... spunk."
 * - Female Q, referring to Lt. Torres
 * Suzie Plakson, who plays the Female Q also played K'Ehleyr, another Klingon/Human hybrid.

"May we presume that this conflict is also responsible for the weakening of your powers and your inability to return to the Continuum?"

"The Vulcan talent for stating the obvious never ceases to amaze me."
 * - Tuvok and Female Q
 * Another ironic quote, as Plakson also played Dr. Selar, a Vulcan.

"You know, I have really had it with this superiority complex of yours."

"It's not a complex, dear; it's a fact."
 * - B'Elanna Torres and Female Q

"I know that you're probably asking yourself: why would a brilliant, handsome, dashingly omnipotent being like Q want to mate with a scrawny little bipedal specimen like me?"

"Let me guess, no one else in the universe will have you?"

"Nonsense! I could have chosen a Klingon Targ, a Romulan empress, a Cerelian microbe..."

"Really?! I beat out a single cell organism?! How flattering."
 * - Q and Janeway

"Commander, I needn't remind you that close proximity to a supernova will crush us whether or not we time it perfectly."

"You're so negative."
 * - Tuvok and Female Q

"Q... you're bleeding!"
 * - Janeway

"You'd be surprised what innovative munitions can be created by one immortal being who's set his mind on killing another."
 * Q, to Janeway

"You might call them... galactic cross fire.''"

"It's terrible, isn't it? "

"But it's also a wonderful opportunity."

"I fail to see anything wonderful about a war."

"War can be an engine of change."
 * Q and Janeway, talking about the war in the Q Continuum

"If it's any consolation, there are those in the Continuum who will remember us as martyrs."

"I'd rather skip that particular honor."
 * - Q and Janeway

"Fire!"

"I'm hit, I'm dying!"

"Q!"

"What?"

"They're not firing at us."

"They're not?!?"
 * - Colonel Q, Q  and Janeway

"Why don't I give you two some privacy?"

"Oh, Kathy, don't you like to watch?"
 * - Janeway and Q, just before the Qs mate

"That was it?!?"

"You had your chance. Don't go crying about it now."
 * - Janeway and Q, after witnessing the Qs mate

"You! Helm boy!"
 * - Female Q, to Tom Paris

"You! Bar rodent! Another one of these (pauses briefly when an attractive hologram goes walking by) fruity concoctions."
 * - Q, to Neelix

"By the way, did I tell you how smart he is? I've already taught him how to knock small planets out of orbit."

"And I thought you were going to teach him about love and conscience."
 * - Q and Janeway, about the baby Q

"l'm really not cut out to be a wet nurse."
 * - Q to Janeway

Title, Story and Script

 * The title of this Star Trek: Voyager episode is a reference to both the Civil War poem "The Blue and the Gray", by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907), as well as a 1982 miniseries about the Civil War. Co-executive producer Jeri Taylor noted, "Instead of the Blue and the Grey, it's the 'Q and the Grey.'" (Star Trek Monthly issue 23)
 * This episode was written by staff writer Kenneth Biller after he was selected to write a Q installment for Voyagers third season. Biller found it ironic that, although he was the least avid of the Star Trek fans on Star Trek: Voyagers writing team, the episodes he was assigned to write – for the third season of the series – included both this installment and the Borg episode . (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 84)
 * This installment was highly influenced by past Q episodes. As this Q episode was Ken Biller's first one, he watched the previous such episodes from the other series in an attempt to familiarize himself more with the character, for the writing of this episode (Voyager's second Q installment). Ken Biller eventually chose to elaborate on an idea that Shawn Piller (the son of co-executive producer Michael Piller) had for an episode: Q desiring to mate with Janeway. Biller also took inspiration from the first Q episode of Star Trek: Voyager,, which had proceeded from a story thought up by Shawn Piller. For example, the concept of the Q Civil War was influenced by Q warning, in that episode, that the suicide of any Q would have disastrous repercussions for not only the Continuum itself but also the entire galaxy. Concerning the genesis of his idea for the Q Civil War, Biller related, "I thought, what would happen if there was a war in the Q Continuum? It would have all sorts of disastrous implications for the space that we were flying through. We started to refer to it as the Q civil war." Biller also reused, from "Death Wish", the idea of Q demonstrating the Q Continuum to Janeway in a way that she could conceive of it. The writer recalled, "In a previous episode Q took everybody to the Continuum, and [showed] it to them in a way that their puny little minds could comprehend. It suddenly occurred to me that if Q was trying to make Janeway understand that the Q were having a civil war, he would allow her to perceive it in a way that she would have some cultural context to place it in, like the American Civil War." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 89)
 * Ken Biller took particular delight in scripting the Q scenes. He said, "I loved writing Q... I found myself really enjoying writing the part." (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 44)
 * The shooting script of this episode begins by describing the starfield in the episode's opening shot with the superfluously poetic phrase, "The quintessence of celestial serenity." The scene description for the lavish room of the mansion where Q takes Janeway includes a production note that reads, "This could be a redesign of the Drawing Room set from Janeway's holonovel." The script also dates the Union officer's uniform that Q wears as being from "circa 1861," and does not include the scene that is set in Engineering, involving Torres and the Q female.
 * Many revisions were made to this episode's script, continuing through preproduction. Ken Biller explained, "Up until the episode started shooting [...] I was in constant revisions, re-writing and revising the script [....] We started prepping the show about three weeks after I started writing it." (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 44)
 * The episode's final script draft was submitted on.

Cast and Characters

 * Ken Biller was involved in the casting of this episode. (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 44)
 * Before portraying the female Q here, Suzie Plakson also played the Klingon/Human hybrid K'Ehleyr and the Vulcan Dr. Selar on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Accordingly, in this episode, the female Q comments about both species.
 * Q actor John de Lancie was handed his script for the episode mere moments before appearing on stage, with Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew, at the convention Star Trek 30: One Weekend On Earth, on Saturday . (Star Trek Monthly issue 22)
 * John de Lancie ultimately liked this episode. He enthused, "'The Q and the Grey' was very good [....] It was well-rounded, creative and fun." However, De Lancie was negatively critical of at least one of the episode's elements. "There were some choices made in it that I personally didn't agree with," he said. "There is always a problem when you make the choice of showing something like the baby Q at the end. I just didn't think showing the baby was a good thing to do." (Star Trek Monthly issue 34, p. 21)
 * This was the third of three Star Trek episodes on which John de Lancie and director Cliff Bole collaborated, they having previously worked together on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes and . Cliff Bole believed that his responsibilities, regarding a guest star (such as De Lancie) who was reprising a role, were not only to help the actor retain the aspects of performance that had originally made the character so popular. "We also try to take a step beyond that, if the script has opened that door," Bole said. "The script for 'The Q and the Grey' did open the door a little. John's character is so malleable and they'll bend it in any way they need to for the given story." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)
 * John de Lancie felt that a sexual tension that came naturally to scenes between himself and Kate Mulgrew – as members of opposite sexes as well as actors hired to, in the words of De Lancie, "put zing into stuff" – was somewhat avoided in this episode. "I think that with 'The Q and the Grey' we kind of put some of that tension on the back burner," De Lancie commented. "Janeway was able to fend Q off and there was another character involved for Q, a female Q." (Star Trek Monthly issue 34, p. 22)
 * Cliff Bole was of the opinion that, during the making of this episode, Kate Mulgrew thoroughly enjoyed performing alongside John de Lancie. "He and Kate played very well," Bole noted. "I think she enjoyed it because it was a chance for her to get away from her regular players and really have an event with a guest star." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15) Indeed, Mulgrew herself noted, "I always love working with John de Lancie, so I very much enjoyed 'The Q and the Grey'." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 84) Mulgrew also counted this as one of her eight favorite installments of Voyagers third season and stated, "The Q and the Grey' was a very creative use of Q." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #14, p. 32)
 * The experience of collaborating on the episode with Kate Mulgrew and John de Lancie was enjoyable for Ken Biller. He remarked, "I had [a] great time working with Kate and John de Lancie on it, who I think were terrific together." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 89) In addition, Biller said, "I found myself really enjoying [...] working with John de Lancie." (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 44)
 * Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill cited this episode as an example of the Voyager crew being written as more humorous in Voyager's third season than they had been in the previous two seasons. "Q obviously has a history of being a very funny character," McNeill observed, "but they allowed all of us to have a few of the same sorts of moments Q has all the time. We all got to deliver a few comic lines." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11)

Filming Sites

 * The exterior scenes of this episode were shot in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, an oft-used filming location well known for its observatory (where scenes of Star Trek: Voyager had previously been filmed, for the earlier third season episodes and ). (Star Trek Monthly issue 27, p. 61)
 * The mansion interior set was constructed on Paramount Stage 9. (Star Trek Monthly issue 27, p. 61) In accordance with the script, the mansion's interior was a revamp of the Gothic drawing room from Janeway's holonovel. (Delta Quadrant, p. 155) The set had originally been constructed on Paramount Stage 16, however. (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 19)

Production

 * This episode was produced in September . (Star Trek Monthly issue 20) The first day of production was Wednesday, which was also actress Roxann Dawson's birthday; during a break from filming bridge scenes on that day, craft services personnel presented Dawson with a birthday cake, bedecked with candles. (Star Trek Magazine issue 158, p. 46)
 * Ken Biller assisted with this episode's production, including further revising the script. When the episode was almost completely filmed, Biller explained, "I've been spending a lot of time on the set for 'The Q and the Grey', doing production rewrites and making line changes or small script changes as we've gone along [....] We had lots of production meetings and optical effects meetings about how we were going to shoot the show and how we were going to stage it. There are some ground battles in it and we had to conceive of ways to have most of those battles taking place off-screen while still suggesting that they were going on. That's been my project for the last month or so, and meanwhile I've been fitting in story meetings and story breaks [the latter being meetings at which a script is 'broken' into its component acts and further revised] on episodes that my colleagues have been working on." (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 44)
 * When Janeway and Q are about to be executed, the camera performs a quick zoom on each of their faces. This is reminiscent of many old Western movies.
 * During filming of the civil war scenes in Griffith Park, Star Trek Monthly reporter James Swallow visited Paramount Stages 8 and 9, at the Paramount Pictures lot, to find the area was dark and virtually deserted. Swallow discovered that the bridge set on Stage 8 housed life-size cardboard stand-ups of Voyagers regular cast, and that Robert Picardo was present too, using his time off to plan for the upcoming episode (which he was not only due to appear in, playing his usual character of The Doctor, but also to direct). In addition, Swallow found that the set for Voyagers shuttlebay contained "dozens of parked bicycles". (Star Trek Monthly issue 27, p. 61)
 * One week later, James Swallow returned to the Paramount Pictures lot to discover that – although it was the first day of filming on – one more scene of this episode, involving Q actors John de Lancie and Harve Presnell, was scheduled to be filmed later that day. (Star Trek Monthly issue 27, p. 61) Ken Biller commented, "Even though we've officially started shooting the next episode, 'Macrocosm,' we're going to have to shoot one more scene [for 'The Q and the Grey'] tonight." This complication was due to the production period of the previous episode,, having overrun. (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 44)
 * During this episode's production, Cliff Bole wanted to make more of the story's American Civil War setting than he was ultimately able to. He later complained, "I wish we could have done more Civil War stuff [....] I wanted to open it up and not play so much on stage. But budget and time constraints dictated otherwise." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)

Reception

 * At the One Weekend On Earth convention, performers Kate Mulgrew and John de Lancie engaged in some repartee regarding this episode. Mulgrew explained for the crowd, "Q is going to attempt to procreate, hold on to your hats, with yours truly!..." and slyly added, "John's been trying to get me for years." De Lancie responded by groaning and exclaiming, "I'm glad my wife's not here!" (Star Trek Monthly issue 22)
 * Practically as soon as this episode was announced, the installment generated an enormous amount of fan response, including gossip that Janeway would indeed become the mother of Q's offspring. "Which she is not about to do," Jeri Taylor clarified, prior to the episode airing, "in spite of rumors that were flying around the country and the Internet that she is going to have his child. This is one of these amazing things where other people created the rumor, and then wrote me all kinds of nasty letters blaming me! It was actually kind of annoying." (Star Trek Monthly issue 23)
 * Jeri Taylor was, nevertheless, pleased with the way the episode turned out. She commented, "At any rate, the episode has come out very well. It's a lot of fun." (Star Trek Monthly issue 23) She also enthused, "I think 'The Q and Grey' was a lot of fun [...] and had some important things to say." (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 11) In fact, Jeri Taylor selected this episode as one of her favorite installments from Voyagers third season. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 89) In addition, Taylor cited this episode as one of several that she collectively referred to as "some very fun adventures in our November period" (another such installment being ), noting that they were airing due to her conviction that Voyagers crew members, in the third season of Voyager, should have more fun than they had had in the previous two seasons. (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #10)
 * Jeri Taylor's positive opinion of this episode was shared by both Cliff Bole and Kenneth Biller. Bole remarked, "I'm very happy with the way the episode turned out. This one and 'Meld' [another installment that Bole helmed] are my favorites." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15) For his part, Ken Biller enthused, "'The Q and the Grey' was a blast." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, 89)
 * This was the first regular episode of Star Trek: Voyager whose debut airing followed the release of a Star Trek film. The first airing of the series' pilot episode,, was two months after the release of , but this episode was originally broadcast merely five days after the release of (which had, however, been produced between April and July 1996 – a few months before this episode's production phase). It was, in fact, suggested at the time that this Q episode was an attempt to appeal to Star Trek: The Next Generation fans whose appetites had been whetted by First Contact. (Beyond the Final Frontier, p. 301)
 * This November sweeps episode was heavily promoted. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, 98) It achieved only a 4.7 Nielsen rating, however, with an 8% share. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, 98; )
 * John de Lancie watched the episode with family members, who enjoyed it. De Lancie later remembered, "I watched that show with my children, my wife and my father, and they all thought it was one of my most successful shows as Q." (Star Trek Monthly issue 34, p. 21)
 * Cinefantastique rated this episode 2 out of 4 stars. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 98)
 * Star Trek Monthly scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars, defined as "Warp Speed". (Star Trek Monthly issue 27, p. 60)
 * The unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 156) gives this installment a rating of 7 out of 10.

Continuity and Trivia

 * Voyagers crew are the third starship crew, in Star Trek continuity, to witness a supernova. The crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) witness the Beta Stromgren supernova in while the original Enterprises crew witness two supernovae, Minara in  and Beta Niobe in . According to Harry Kim in this episode, Voyager sets a new record for being the closest ship to view a supernova, being less than two billion kilometers away when the supernova occurs.
 * When Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris and Kim enter the Q Continuum on the "Union" side to rescue Janeway and Q, they wield possibly the most powerful weapons ever used by humanoids, the Q weapons, which they perceive as Civil War firearms.
 * In this episode, Q confirms that the Romulan Star Empire once had an empress.
 * This is the second of three appearances of Q on Star Trek: Voyager. His other appearances in the series include not only the second season installment but also the seventh season episode.
 * Q's quote about how the Q have never reproduced before is interesting as, in, Amanda Rogers' parents are established as having been members of the Q Continuum and obviously procreated (although in their case, Amanda's parents conceived her by normal human means, rather than the 'Q method' shown in this episode). In the same episode, Q tells Dr. Crusher that he "desperately" hopes she is right in claiming that he will never understand the appeal of humanoid babies. However, he is clearly emotionally attached to "Junior" by the end of this episode.
 * In this episode, Q teasingly refers to Chakotay as "Chuckles" and to Neelix as "bar rodent". The former nickname somewhat stuck, among fans, but the latter did not. (Delta Quadrant, p. 155)
 * An unofficial, fan-used nickname for the female Q is "Suzy Q", owing (at least partly) to the fact that the character was portrayed by Suzie Plakson. (Delta Quadrant, p. 155)
 * In the novel I, Q (written by Peter David), the female Q is referred to as "Lady Q" while her child is known as "q".

Video and DVD releases

 * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.6,
 * As part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek - Greatest Battles:
 * As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection
 * As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Q collection

Special guest stars

 * Suzie Plakson as female Q
 * Harve Presnell as Colonel Q
 * John de Lancie as Q

Uncredited co-stars

 * Brett as infant Q Junior
 * Nolan as infant Q Junior