Star Trek’s Worst Showrunner Perfected Its Best Villain

The observation that Maurice Hurley knew Q better than most comes from influential TNG writer Melinda M. Snodgrass (best known for writing the Data-centric episode “The Measure of a Man.” She pointed out that “Q Who,” the episode that properly introduced the Borg, was the only Q episode that Hurley ever wrote. But the showrunner had the perfect measure of this godlike creature: as Snodgrass said, he “always thought Q was here to teach us a lesson, to guide and instruct us.”

To longtime fans of Star Trek, Maurice Hurley’s observation about Q seems downright logical…after all, the franchise has long since transformed this omnipotent alien into a prickly force for good. But when Q appeared in the premiere episode of The Next Generation (“Encounter At Farpoint”), he felt like a throwback to the many godlike aliens who vexed Captain Kirk back in The Original Series (particularly Trelane). 

Q seemed downright malicious in that debut episode, and he was even worse in his next appearance, “Hide and Q.” This is an episode where the powerful being tempts Riker with the powers of the Q Continuum, and the commander is obligated to use those powers to resurrect Worf and Wesley Crusher. They were casualties of Q’s menagerie of monsters, and these first two appearances made it seem like the sole purpose of his immortal life was to vex Picard and his crew.

However, when Maurice Hurley wrote “Q Who,” he gave the titular villain a different purpose. When Picard rejects Q’s absurd request to join the Enterprise crew, the omnipotent being throws the ship into Borg space, marking Starfleet’s first official encounter with these bionic baddies. After realizing they are helplessly outmatched, Picard swallows his pride and begs Q to help, prompting the alien to immediately return the ship to safety.

As written by Maurice Hurley, Q sees himself as a particularly brutal teacher, one who isn’t afraid to hurt a few people in order to teach others a painful lesson. In this case, he taught Picard and the crew about their own limitations and about the existence of the Borg, but this knowledge came at the expense of 18 crew members’ lives.

Picard later muses Q might have done the right thing by introducing them to the Borg, an observation which is later proven right when Starfleet’s anti-Borg research (which they would never have had without Q) helps the Enterprise prevent the Borg’s first attempted invasion of Earth.

Looking back, it’s fair to say that Maurice Hurley created the definitive version of Q, and his idea of this character stuck around even longer than the showrunner. Hurley was out by season 3, but the idea of Q as a brutal teacher continued: he taught Picard about the dangers of regrets in “Tapestry” and the dangers of fumbling a beautiful woman in “Qpid.” He even helped Picard save humanity’s future twice over, first in the TNG finale “All Good Things” and again in season 2 of Picard.

Maurice Hurley remains one of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s most controversial figures…he was a man who allegedly tampered with scripts, and he clashed with the actors so much that it temporarily drove Gates McFadden away. But in his one episode writing for the character, Hurley created the perfect version of Q, one which has dominated the franchise ever since. And without this puckish version of Q, the franchise would never be the same.