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Summary
Cosmic tricker Q ( John de Lancie ) is the closest that theStar Trekfranchise has to a ghost of Christmas past tense , present , and future . There ’s much debate over whether Christmas exists in Gene Roddenberry ’s secular vision of the future , but severalStar Trekcharacters are cognizant of Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol . For example , a repentant Lt . Tom Paris ( Robert Duncan McNeill ) allude to Dickens ' classic Christmas narrative in theStar Trek : Voyagerpilot when he concern to being visited by three spook in the night . Before that , Lt . Commander Data ( Brent Spiner ) tried to further his reason of human emotions by playing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the holodeck .
So , disregardless of whetherStar Trekcelebrates Christmas , the story of Scrooge and the spook that convince him to change his ways endures into at least the 24th one C . Charles Dickens ' classic Christmas account has also distinctly influencedStar Trek ’s writers , who have either consciously or unconsciously adapted its themes to various episodes . Three of the most notable of these Dickens - inflectedStar Trekstories feature article Q , who aptly fulfills the role of Scrooge ’s three ghost .
Screen Rant interview John de Lancie and his Word Owen about their work with FanFair Signatures practical autographs and Q ’s bequest in Star Trek .
Q Was Picard’s Ghost Of Christmas Past In TNG’s Tapestry
The classicStar Trek : The Next Generationepisode " Tapestry " shopping mall on a key second from the early lifetime of Captain Jean - Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) . When his synthetical heart is compromised by a terrorist attack , Picard ’s life history cling in the balance . To make matter worse , hisStar Trekarch - scourge , Q appears as an angel , offer Jean - Luc a second probability at life . Q take Picard back in time to Starfleet Academy , where he dedicate him a chance to avoid the near - black stabbing at Starbase Earheart . However , it soon becomes clear that without that near - dying experience , Picard would n’t have become captain of the USS Enterprise - D.
Interestingly , " Tapestry " was initially believe by writer Ronald D. Moore as a more overtStar Trekversion ofA Christmas Carol . entitle " A Q Carol " , it would have seen the cosmic trickster take Picard to three primal moment from his life . As well as the stabbing at Starbase Earheart , " A Q Carol " would also have render a traumatic event from Jean - Luc ’s puerility , and the death of his in effect friend , Jack Crusher . However , Star Trek : The Next Generationexecutive manufacturer Michael Piller felt that Moore ’s take on Charles Dickens was formless , so the writer refocused the episode on just one traumatic case - the stabbing .
TNG’s Finale Was Star Trek’s Version Of “A Christmas Carol”
Star Trek : The Next Generation ’s stopping point , " All Good Things … " was Ronald D. Moore ’s most successful attempt at remake Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol . Co - compose with Brannon Braga , " All Good thing … " presents Jean - Luc Picard with his yesteryear , present , and future , to redeem the whole of creation . Q is revealed to be Picard ’s pathfinder through these disparate thread of his personal history , as he concludes the trial of humanity he lead off right smart back inTNG ’s pilot . By this full point , it ’s clear that , like the touch inA Christmas Carol , Q want Picard to learn the right example , lay aside the universe , and ultimately save himself .
There ’s an interesting similarity between the end of theStar Trek : The Next Generationfinale and Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol , too . Both Picard and Scrooge are fundamentally changed by the visual sensation they experience from their eleemosynary spook . By the ending ofA Christmas Carol , Ebenezer Scrooge learns the true meaning of Christmas and sit down down with the Cratchit phratry for a huge festive feast . In the final scene ofStar Trek : The Next contemporaries , Captain Picard finally sits down with his crew for a poker plot .
Voyager’s Best Q Episode Owed A Debt To “It’s A Wonderful Life”
Although the Greco-Roman James Stewart movieIt ’s a Wonderful Lifeis a Christmas classic in its own right field , it depict heavily from Charles Dickens . BothIt ’s a rattling LifeandA Christmas Carolare about the bray train of capitalist economy being at odds with the true import of the holidays . Clarence , the saint who essay to convince Stewart ’s George Bailey not to take his own living , is an otherworldly visitor in the vein of Scrooge ’s three ghosts . By showing George how his living has improved the lives of countless others , Clarence saves the shinny family military personnel ’s life in clock time for Christmas .
Star Trek : Voyager ’s good Q episode , " Death Wish " in effect throw John de Lancie as Clarence to the suicidal Quinn ( Gerrit Graham ) . Quinn is a fellow Q who has grow trite of immortality and seeks the terminal frontier , last itself . To argue for life , Q show Quinn three people whose animation he has positively impacted , include Commander William T. Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) . UnlikeIt ’s a Wonderful Life , however , it ’s Q , rather than Quinn , who is changed by his experiences , as he comes around to Quinn ’s direction of thinking . All the best Christmas stories are about buyback and a fresh lookout , and Q ’s new view on immortality would define his subsequentStar Trekappearances .
All episode ofStar Trek : The Next GenerationandStar Trek : Voyagerare available to stream on Paramount+ .
