Q-Less
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 7 February 1993
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 46531.2
- DIRECTED BY
- Paul Lynch
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 407
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Robert Hewitt Wolfe; story by Hannah Louise Shearer
Picard's old flame Vash returns from the Gamma Quadrant with a haul of treasures and an uninvited companion, just as the station starts losing power.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Dax returns from the Gamma Quadrant with Vash, the archaeologist and adventurer who has been exploring there. O'Brien recognises her from the Enterprise, and soon he recognises her stowaway too: Q, who wants her back. As unexplained power drains hit the runabout and then the station, Q pesters Vash, sends Dr Bashir to sleep when he asks her to dinner, and tries to provoke Sisko. Unlike Picard, Sisko is in no mood for games: when Q challenges him to a boxing match, Sisko knocks him down with one punch. Vash, meanwhile, teams up with Quark to auction her Gamma Quadrant finds. The bidding climbs for a mysterious crystal, which turns out to be the cause of the trouble: it is a living embryo draining energy as it grows. Beamed into space just in time, it hatches into a new life form and flies off into the wormhole.
- 01Hannah Louise Shearer's pitch featured Vash but not Q. He was added when Robert Hewitt Wolfe wrote the script, which earned Wolfe a staff job.
- 02The boxing scene was meant to show how Sisko differs from Picard. John de Lancie noted that Sisko simply hit Q on the nose.
- 03John de Lancie's only appearance as Q on Deep Space Nine, and Jennifer Hetrick's third and final appearance as Vash.