Hide and Q

"Hide and Q" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and originally aired on November 23, 1987, in broadcast syndication. The story was originally written by Maurice Hurley but went under numerous re-writes by the show's creator Gene Roddenberry. The episode was directed by Cliff Bole, and saw the return of John de Lancie as Q.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, Q returns to the USS Enterprise following his original encounter with the crew in "Encounter at Farpoint". Q transports the bridge crew to a landscape where they are attacked by humanoids and grants Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) the powers of a member of the Q Continuum, which he is forced to use to resurrect both Worf (Michael Dorn) and Wesley (Wil Wheaton). Riker promises never to use the powers again, but after a rescue mission he breaks down and grants each of the bridge crew a wish, which they refuse, with Riker subsequently rejecting his new powers. Q is recalled to the Continuum in failure.

Writer Maurice Hurley requested and later regretted that he be credited under the pseudonym C.J. Holland in protest against Roddenberry's re-writes. The problems with the scripting of the episode changed the way the staff handled subsequent script developments for the series. Bole subsequently praised the abilities of de Lancie during the course of filming the episode. Reviewers thought that while the episode was predictable, the relationship between Q and Picard (Patrick Stewart) was praised, and "Hide and Q" received average overall scores.