The Squire of Gothos (TOS)

The A-Story: 

Oops, not that.

I’ve never read David’s Q-Squared, but Trelane being a Q is one of the few retcons that kinda makes sense. Rewatching The Squire of Gothos, it’s also evident that Encounter at Farpoint at least took some inspiration from this episode. Just the way Trelane uses his power is fairly similar to Q in TNG’s premier. I mean…

Of course, here the twist is that Trelane is really just a spoiled brat of a child. Lots of power, yes, but a spoiled brat nevertheless. Had TOS been even the tiniest bit serialized, I have no doubt Trelane would have showed back up a few times, much like Q did. In fact it always felt like Trelane was a recurring character, but I think that is because William Campbell shows up, perhaps just as famously, as Koloth in both TOS and DS9.

I think the best part of Campbell playing Trelane is that when you rewatch it, it’s pretty obvious that Trelane is essentially playing a child. Campbell does a great job both hiding it and at the same time playing as how a child would think an adult would act. However Trelane does come off as more one-note than Q did in his initial appearance. Of course we would later see Q grow and evolve to be a more complicated character. It would have been interesting if a serialized TOS could have done the same with Trelane.

Still it’s fun seeing Kirk outwit a child.

Favorite Dialogue:

KIRK: That’s your problem, Trelane. Everything is easy. It’s given you a bad habit. You’re not aware of it, but you have it. You don’t think, Trelane. That’s your problem. You miss opportunities, like your anger before and mine right now. Oh, you enjoy it, but you couldn’t have accomplished it without me, and you know why? Because you’re a bumbling, inept fool.

(Sounds like Tr… er *POLITICS THREAD!*)

So, what do y’all think?