Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Tapestry (1993)

John de Lancie: Q

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard : You having a good laugh now, Q? Does it amuse you to think of me spending the rest of my life as a dreary man, with a tedious job?

  Q : I gave you something most mortals never experience: a second chance at life. And now all you can do is complain?

  Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard : I can't live out my days as that person. That man is bereft of passion, and... and imagination! That is not who I am!

  Q : *Au contraire*. He's the person you wanted to be, one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth, one who was less like me. The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did *not* fight the Nausicaans, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realized how fragile life is... or how important each moment can, and should, be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or took charge of the Stargazer's bridge when its captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe... And he never, *ever,* got noticed by *anyone.*

  Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard : You're right, Q. You gave me the chance to change, and I took the opportunity. But I admit now: it was a mistake.

  Q : Are you asking me for something, Jean-Luc?

  Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard : Only for a chance to make things the way they were, the way I now realize they must be.

  Q : Before, you died in sickbay. Is that what you want?

  Lt. J.G. Jean-Luc Picard : I would rather die as the man I know is truly within me - with a full life, a *real* life, behind me - than have my name on the biography I just listened to.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Q, what is going on?

  Q : I told you. You're dead. This is the afterlife. And I'm God.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [laughs scornfully]  You are not God!

  Q : Blasphemy! You're lucky I don't cast you out or smite you or something. The bottom line is, your life ended about five minutes ago, under the inept ministrations of Dr. Beverly Crusher.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : No... I am not dead. Because I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you. The universe is not so badly designed.

• Jean-Luc Picard : Q. Even if you *have* brought me back in time, somehow, surely you must realize that any alteration in this timeline will have a profound impact on the future.

  Q : Please! Spare me your egotistical musings on your pivotal role in history. Nothing you do here will cause the Federation to collapse, or galaxies to explode. To be blunt, *you're important, but you're not that important.*

• Q : Well, let's see... You've managed to get slapped by one woman, a drink thrown in your face by another and alienate your two best friends. Doing pretty well so far.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [about his time as an ensign]  I was a different person in those days - arrogant, undisciplined... with far too much ego, but too little wisdom. I was more like you.

  Q : Then you must have been far more interesting. Pity you had to change.

• Q : Now that you've shuffled off the mortal coil, we're free to spend a little time together.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : A little time together? How much?

  Q : Eternity.

• Q : I see you've found your Nausicaan friend. You seem unimpaled so far.

  Jean-Luc Picard : I'm sorry to disappoint you.

• Q : ... Attention on deck, Ensign Picard!

  Jean-Luc Picard : ... Q.

  Q : That's "Captain Q" to you, young man.

• Jean-Luc Picard : What if I don't avoid the fight? What if I won't make the changes?

  Q : Then you die on the table - and we spend eternity together.

  Jean-Luc Picard : Wonderful!

  Q : I'm glad you think so.

• Q : Welcome to the afterlife, Jean-Luc. You're dead.

• [Picard wakes up in Marta's bed, but finds Q lying next to him] 

  Q : Morning, darling.

  [Picard jolts and covers himself with the bedsheets] 

  Q : Feeling a little jumpy this morning? Are we... guilty, perhaps?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I don't feel guilty about anything, Q.

  Q : No? "We're just friends, Q, nothing more."

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : And we're still friends.

  Q : So what's next?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [beat]  I don't know. What I do know is, things will be different.

  Q : I'm sure.

• Q : You never told me you were such a ladies' man.

  Jean-Luc Picard : I wasn't. I was a puerile adolescent, who allowed himself to be led by his hormones instead of his head.

• Q : Did I interrupt anything sordid, I hope?

• Q : [mimicking a German doctor]  Vell, vell, vell... vat seems to be ze trouble, Lieutenant Picard?

• Q : Flowers! Is there a John Luck Pickurd here?

• [Corey has accepted the Nausicaan's challenge for a game of dom-jot] 

  Jean-Luc Picard : He's gonna lose. The Nausicaan is cheating.

  Q : Really? I'm beginning to like these Nausicaans.

• Q : I see you've found your Nausicaan friend. You seem unimpaled so far.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I'm sorry to disappoint you.

  [Q laughs] 

  Q : [Corey is playing Dom-jot with the Nausicaan]  Ensign Zweller seems to be doing well.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : He's going to lose - the Nausicaan is cheating.

  Q : Really? I'm beginning to like these Nausicaans.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : If history repeats itself, Corey will figure it out later tonight, and then he'll want revenge.

  Q : And will you help your best friend avenge this injustice?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I did last time. I rigged the table so that he would win in a rematch.

  Q : [incredulous]  Picard! You cheated! I'm impressed!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : It was a stupid mistake. The Nausicaan didn't take kindly to losing... nor his friends. They were outraged. They wanted a fight. I gave them one.

  Q : That's a beautiful story.

  [points at his chest] 

  Q : It gets you right here. Doesn't it?

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Q, what have you done?

  Q : I've done exactly as I promised. I returned you to the present.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : But this is not the present I remember. You said nothing would change.

  Q : Nothing has changed, Jean-Luc... except for you. But then again, that's what you wanted, wasn't it? To change the man you were in your youth? Well, you did it. This is the man you are today. And you should be happy. You have a real heart beating in your chest, and you get to live out the rest of your life in safety, running tests, making analyses, and carrying reports to your superiors.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : If I'm really dead, then my only regret is dying and finding you here.

  Q : You wound me, Jean-Luc.

• Q : It wasn't very smart of you to take on three Nausicaans, was it?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : No, it wasn't.

  Q : And did I hear a laugh? It's so unlike you, Jean-Luc, to have a sense of humor, especially about getting stabbed through the back.

• Q : Why do you persist in believing that life and death are such static and rigid concepts?