This is probably my favorite Q episode so far, and yes, it is mostly because it is fun to see some of his antics catching up with him now that he has lost his powers. They continue to tease that Guinan is some sort of powerful alien, but all that ever develops into is that she lives a really long time and some of her species got sucked up the ribbon thing in Generations. This episode is improved a good bit by Picard assigning Data to be the one to teach Q about humanity. It is also clearly smart because assuming Q is human at that point Data could easily overwhelm him if it came to that.
The episode opens with the Enterprise trying to figure out how to stop a moon from falling onto a planet of fishmouthed people. No one understands why this has happened, but they start making guesses when Q suddenly appears naked on the bridge. However Q claims to have been stripped of his powers (and clothes) by the continuum and that he decided to be a human on the Enterprise to be with his buddy Picard. The captain then takes the most reasonable course of action and throws Q into the brig. Nobody trusts Q but he offers to try and use his vast knowledge stop the moon from falling. In engineering he suggests all they need to do is alter the gravitational constant of the universe which gives Geordi the idea of extending the warp field around the moon to decrease its effective mass.
Q gets hungry from all the excitement and goes to Ten Forward with Data who suggests an ice cream sundae might make him feel better. Q agrees to try and orders 10. Guinan shows up and stabs Q in the hand with a fork to see if he is human and he passes that test. Suddenly an energy being shows up and starts torturing Q until Geordi modifies the shields to stop it. When the time comes to try and push the moon Q goes to engineering but is too busy sulking that he isn't in charge to actually be helpful. When they drop shields to push the moon the energy being again attacks Q and Data almost dies trying to help him.
Q doesn't understand why Data would risk his life for him, but when it becomes obvious that they can't push the moon and keep him safe at the same time Q flees on a shuttlecraft. This selfless act is apparently enough to get the Q continuum to give him back his powers. As a parting gift he gives Data a laugh (literally) and moves the moon back to a safe position.
Review: Not in the top ten all time episodes, but this is one of the more interesting Q episodes. It is always fun to watch a god be forced into a mortal husk and Q is particularly bitter about it.
7 out of 10
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