Of all the amazing characters to come out of theStar Trekfranchise, there is none perhaps more divisive among fans than that of the Q.A nefarious race of godlike beings, their arrogance and self-importance often makes them a villain of each episode they appear in. However, theyoften straddle the line between friend and foe.
The main Q to appear across the franchise is the one played by John de Lancie, popping up inThe Next Generation,Voyager, Deep Space 9(rather memorably) and evenLower Decks.But he is not the only Q to pop up across the shows. One of the more unique Q’s was Amanda Rodgers, a one-off character who subverted a lot of what is known about the still mysterious Q. Just who was she, and how is she important to theStar Trekuniverse?
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Rodgers, played by Olivia d’Abo, was, at least to her knowledge, a human born on Earth in 2351. She was born to what everyone thought were two normal humans, and was orphaned when they were killed ina freak tornado accidentwhen Amanda was a baby. Taken into foster care, she was raised by two Starfleet officers, marine biologists, and grew up in a fairly normal way. Unbeknownst to her, however, her biological parents were in fact two Q’s who had assumed human form to escape the Continuum. Together as humans they conceived Amanda, the first Q known to be born in such a manner. The Continuum, being the near-omnipotent beings they are, found out, and executed them both under the pretense of a tornado.
Amanda’s upbringing was that of a normal,fairly well-off, Starfleet family. The only difference was that Amanda occasionally experiences weird moments of Q-related power. She did not know of her true nature, assuming she was human like everyone else, but sometimes she found she was able to conjure up objects out of nowhere. Perhaps as this was something that happened infrequently while growing up she never really questioned this, and never had it fully addressed by anyone, so she grew up never really thinking about it. Her occasional blips of Q power brought her to the attention of the Continuum, who were concerned but saw her as no real threat yet, wondering if it would be best to bring her into the fold or kill her.
At this point in Amanda’s life, they had not made a decision, so they decided to sit back and see what she did. She followed in her adopted parents' footsteps and joined Starfleet, until she was soon selected as one of the few interns aboutthe iconic USS Enterprise. Thus, she was thrust onto theTNGsmall screen. She worked withDr. Beverly Crusher, and everything was going well until about 6 months in to her time aboard, when more and more of her Q related powers started to emerge. Amanda managed to keep it fairly quiet, but the ever-vigilant Continuum decided it was time to send in their ‘humanity expert’ to see what was going on and test her. This was, of course, none other than the familiar face of John de Lancie’s Q.
The familiar Q wasted no time secretly setting up different scenarios to test Amanda, aiming see the full extent of her powers and ability to control them. He first observed her magicking up a litter of puppies in her quarters, confirming not only her power, but the fact that she was still unable to fully harness them. He sest a trap, and makes a large container fall on Riker, a character whomthat Amanda has a crush on. She manages to secretly prevent him from being injured, followed by her containing and reversing awarp corebreach.
Always the showman, and believing he had gathered enough information, Q decides toprovoke his favorite Captainsome more. He goes to Picard, telling him and Amanda all about her true identity. Knowing all of this, she decided she still wanted to stay on the ship instead of join the Continuum. Amanda wants to not only balance being a good Starfleet officer, but also to develop her Q powers, which de Lancie’s Q would help her with. This worked for a while, but as Q had told her at the start, she would not be able to balance them both. Amanda is unable to fully control her power safely while focused on her humanity.
While this was going on, detective Picard went about learning as much as he could about Amanda’s biological parents and their death, discovering the truth about the tornado. Confronting him with this new knowledge, Q comes clean and gives Amanda an ultimatum. She can either join him in the Continuum, or remain a human without Q powers. She accepts the latter, which works until a distress call comes from Commander Riker. A reactor is overloading, spelling disaster not only for the planet he was on, but for him too. There was nothing anyone could do — except Amanda, who steps up and uses her powers to save the day. Having finally accepted her true nature, she tells Q that she is ready to leave with him, but first she wanted to see her adoptive parents once more, and explain to them the situation.
Amanda only appeared for one episode, but opened up a lot of questions about the Q race. They were already a culture steeped heavily in mystery. How they came to be and how their powers worked were never truly fleshed out, but with Amanda’s conception a new question arises about whether new Q’s could be made. Despite the episode ending with Amanda asking Dr. Crusher if she might be allowed to return one day to check in, this was the last time she appeared, her story never being complete. This said,withPicardseason 3 coming up, it’s possible they might choose to bring her back. But until the show is released new year audiences will just have to keep guessing.
