S01E13. Qpid
Blood will be spilt! Gregory brings “Qpid,” the 20th episode of season 4 of The Next Generation, written by Ira Steven Behr and Randee Russell and directed by Cliff Bole. Like “Captain’s Holiday,” this episode features the recurring character of Vash (and a lot of misogyny). We discuss historical fantasy, amatonormativity, the ideal woman, power, pedagogy, and Q. We also chat about humor, stage fighting, and queer coding.
Transcripts are in progress and will be added to this post when complete.
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Connections:
- Q drops his imperious act at the end of The Next Generation S07E25-26, “All Good Things.”
- Q tries to convince Captain Janeway to bear his child in Voyager S03E11, “The Q and the Grey.”
- Lwaxana Troi undergoes “super-menopause” (actually the Phase, a period of hyper-fertility and -sexuality) in TNG S02E19, “Manhunt.”
- The Betazoid term of affection, “imzadi,” first appears in TNG S01E01-02, “Encounter at Farpoint.”
- Mr. Homn, Lwaxana Troi’s valet, first appears in TNG S01E11, “Haven.” He’s played by Carel Struycken, who also portrays The Giant and The Fireman on Twin Peaks.
Works Cited:
- Brake, E. (2012). Minimizing marriage. Oxford University Press.
- Bryant, P., Chibnall, C., Collins, J., Collinson, P., Davies, R. T., Gardner, J., Hinchcliffe, P., Lambert, V., Letts, B., Lloyd, I., Minchin, B., Moffat, S., Nathan-Turner, J., Penhale, F., Robinson, J. A., Sherwin, D., Skinner, C., Strevens, M., Tranter, J., Wenger, P., Wiles, J., Willis, B., Williams, G., & Young, M. (Producers & Executive Producers). (1963-present). Doctor who [TV Series]. BBC Television, BBC Wales, BBC Studios, BBC Studios Productions, Bad Wolf.
- Gross, E., & Altman, M. A. (1995). Captains’ logs: The unauthorized complete Trek voyages. Little Brown & Co.
- Director Cliff Bole offers excuses for misogyny in a quotation on p. 219.
- Nordgren, A. (2012, July 6). The short instructional manifesto for relationship anarchy. Tumblr. https://log.andie.se/post/26652940513/the-short-instructional-manifesto-for-relationship
For our next episode, we’ll watch The Animated Series S01E02, “Yesteryear,” written by D. C. Fontana and and directed by Hal Sutherland; and S02E05, “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth,” written by Russell Bates and David Wise and directed by Bill Reed.
Before the Future Came is edited by Lucy Arnold, transcribed by Melissa Avery-Weir, and webmavened by Gregory Avery-Weir.
Our theme is “Let’s Pretend” by Josh Woodward, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.