That kind of racialized thinking was still fairly common in the 80's. Even Justin Trudeau was at it.

The conversation is saying so much about what people think the right is, especially, that in a post scarsity world, it only ends the way it does in ST, because it's left leaning.

I think they were very good or very bad. I remember thinking "not Q again" in a similar way to getting a bit fed up with The Master seemingly being behind everything in Doctor Who in the 70s and 80s.

But Q provided a personal highlight in that episode where he lost his immortality (I think) and when needing help said "I would be eternally grateful... which doesn't mean as much as it used to, I admit."

But here's a good clip

Q was great. He introduced the best ever ST villains (The Borg, in 'Q Who') but he also had some great lines. JDL and Stewart had great chemistry.

Tapestry is in my top 3 favorite episodes.

Q: 'Welcome to the afterlife Jean-Luc. You're dead!'
Picard: 'I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you. The Universe is not so badly designed'

Oh cool, a TNG discussion! I love TNG!

Was Q a villain or the best ally the Federation ever had? I argue the latter. Clearly Q's obnoxious and mischievous. Clearly he exposed the Enterprise to danger. Still, all of his actions contained valuable lessons. One key example: he helped the Federation identify the Borg risk early so that they had time to better prepare. He also consistently cut through the arrogance of Picard and the Enterprise crew and taught them humility. He even (inadvertently? deliberately?) suggested the right way to solve several difficult problems (e.g."change the gravitational constant"). Perhaps he truly was a benevolent super-genius. Also, he was beautifully written and played. One of the best characters ever in Star Trek.

I would agree with your argument. While in his first appearance he 'put humanity on trial' it was actually pretty clear that in the end he wanted humanity to succeed and would help us along (in his own way) when he could.

I don't think he liked Sisko though.

'You hit me! Picard never hit me!'

But remember there were some cheesy 'turn the tables' episodes as well! There was the episode where society was run by big, beautiful women who kept men around as weak playthings. Riker of course managed to charm his way into their panties ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_One . This also was a 'first season' mess (very laughable, though).

Compare that episode's childish moralizing to the much more sophisticated 'social commentary' in the episode where they encounter an androgynous race -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ou...ext_Generation)

"The Outcast" is the 117th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season.

In this episode, Riker falls in love with Soren, a member of an androgynous race which finds gender specificity unacceptable

I mean, that was pretty out there for its time!

Will have to watch that one.

I wonder how it would be received today?

Seen on Reddit today:

Stealing that.

For a little light relief ... I'm still following the RWNJ / Qultists from time to time, for amusement. This post on Reddit reports on a particularly amusing / idiotic qultist / patriot activity ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Qult_Headqu...al_from_a_cvs/

Basically, a 'Patriot' (that's what the Qanon folks call themselves) stole a vial (which he calls a 'vile') of vaccine with the intent of finding out 'what is really in there' (the qultists think it's full of Bill Gates nanotechnology to change our DNA and / or kill us all ...).

I've started reading this Reddit Sub (which makes fun of the Qult) rather than reading the actual Qult posts, as it's easier on my brain ..

Oh goody, an objective and credible scientific evaluation of the vaccine's properties. I'll look forward to the results of his research.

Probably about as accurate as the current Arizona vote audit, also being carried out by RWNJs!

Can I return my vaccine please? My internet signal keeps dropping, it's not what I was promised.