Star Trek: The Next Generation: I, Q

By: Peter David, John de Lancie

Narrated by: John de Lancie

Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

The Maelstrom, a metaphysical whirlpool of apocalyptic proportions, is pulling all of reality into its maw, devouring the totality of time and space while bringing together people and places from throughout the universe. The Q Continuum pronounces that the end of everything has come, but Q refuses to meekly accept the complete termination of all he has known. Defying the judgment of the Continuum, he sets out to derail doomsday at whatever the cost. Q is joined in his quest by his young son, little q, as well as by two displaced Starfleet officers. Snatched from the U.S.S. Enterprise by the inexorable pull of the Maelstrom, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data have no choice but to accompany Q on a hazardous journey into the very heart of the vortex, where they will encounter wonders and dangers enough to render Q himself speechless. Almost.

©1999 Paramount Pictures, All Rights Reserved; AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc. (P)1999 Paramount Pictures, All Rights Reserved

Wonderful!

My husband and I listened to this on a road trip and adored the writing, De Lancie's performance, and everything else about this book! It felt EXACTLY like a Star Trek episode and that's exactly what we wanted!!

Any story with Q in it is bound to be good

John de Lance is a wonderful reader, especially for a story involving Q.

Deceptively captivating

Omnipotent Being Q played by John De Lancie.
His voice and tone as good as you would expect.
The story is good but not great. Very good quality but a bit odd in places over all a good listen. If you have a few hours to spare I will recommend this . But you should not go out of your way to hear it ... Unless you at a de Lancie fan :)

music louder than voice.. really?

I bought this to enjoy listening to go to sleep, I've read the hard copy before and know it's a great story. but the loud woodwind instrument totally ruins it.

That's my Q.

Growing up, John de Lancie defined my idea of the “omnipotent being” as a carefree, whimsical and somewhat infantile entity. In “I, Q”, his saga-spanning character traits are brought to face with continuum-sized physical and philosophical challenges not thoroughly explored in his series appearances, in an adventure which – for once – places Q at the helm and employs Picard and Data in reluctant supporting roles. Faced with the threat of the end of the universe in the apparent form of the natural termination of time and space, Q wrestles with questions of powerfulness and powerlessness, his own mortality, his ability to work together with the Enterprise officers (of course), relations and quarrels with other Q, the significance of family, and his own attitude toward the divine.

Because it’s larger than life, the story's premises and facts are sometimes as silly as Q is, blowing the proverbial airlock door off the realm of current-day scientific viability and well into that of the wilder imagination.

Not just because he was a co-writer, De Lancie is the only appropriate performer, and his dramatic, sarcastic and intrigued peroration – the delightfully entertaining main attraction here – is tastefully enhanced by sound and music throughout. Though he doesn’t even attempt Picard’s accent (perhaps the only suggestion in all of Star Trek that Q isn’t truly omnipotent), he conveys Data surprisingly well, and has moments of dialogue among Klingons, Romulans, Borg and more.

Marnie Mosiman – a one-time guest actor from The Next Generation and De Lancie’s apparent companion – makes a charming guest appearance in this production as well, bracketing Q’s own story with an evocative prologue and epilogue.

A fun book!

Have you listened to any of John de Lancie’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to John de Lancie and Leonard Nimoy in both the Spock vs Q and now Lancie in this and really enjoyed his performance playing Q in all of them.

Any additional comments?

There is a harp piece playing in the background while Q does a monologue about 25 minutes from the end of the book - I would be most appreciative if anyone recognizes it and can tell me the name of the piece. I am learning harp and I really like the song. Thank you.

could have been better

I really wanted to like this story, but the plot was hard to follow amidst all the asides, the louder than necessary background music, and Mr de Lancie's whispering narration. I think I should have read the book instead of listening to an audio version, because there's a lot of interesting parts to the story that I wish I could have actually heard. I would probably recommend the book, but I wouldn't say I recommend the audiobook.

fun story

I really enjoyed this story. q is a favorite character of mine even though he is frustrating at times. this was a fun story!

What a Wonderful Book and Addition of Star Trek.

I didn't think I would really like this, but when Q started telling his story I couldn't stop until the book was over. I definitely enjoyed this.

good story

I thought that the book was written well and a good part of any fans collection.