Q-Less

"Q-Less" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), and aired February 8, 1993.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the planet Bajor, as the Bajorans recover from a brutal decades-long occupation by the imperialistic Cardassians. This episode features guest appearances from two recurring characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation: Vash (Jennifer Hetrick), a former love interest of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and the powerful trickster Q (John de Lancie). In the episode, Vash arrives at Deep Space Nine after traveling with Q in the Gamma Quadrant for some time, trying to avoid Q and sell artifacts including a mysterious alien crystal. The episode was Hetrick's final performance as Vash, and de Lancie's only appearance as Q on Deep Space Nine.

Two former writers from TNG, Hannah Louise Shearer and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, wrote the episode. While it would be Shearer's last Star Trek credit, Wolfe's work on the script led to him joining the writing team on DS9. The producers wanted to introduce Q to the show in a seamless manner; when Shearer proposed a Vash-centric story, Q was added to the script. "Q-Less" highlights the differences between DS9 and TNG by comparing the reactions of Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Captain Picard to Q. On its first broadcast, "Q-Less" received Nielsen ratings of 12.8 percent, placing it as the fifth most watched episode of the season. Reception was mixed, with reviewers criticizing the imbalance of time spent with Vash and Q in contrast to the rest of the cast, as well as the unnecessary technobabble in the story and the MacGuffin-like plot device represented by the crystal.