The imprisonemnt of "Quinn"

[Captain Picard's Hair]

There were a number of odd things about that episode, but what I've focused on is the treatment of time. It was demonstrated in the beginning of this very episode that the Q have the power to move through time at will, and Q has admonished Picard to not be so "linear" in thought. But, not only was Quinn's imprisonment given as having occurred in a fixed duration of time, but between fixed start and end points as well. The really strange part is that Quinn's objectionable acts were referred to as if they occurred at a specific time.

[Teaos]

Its been said the Q have limits to their power.

The Q could have made the prison so that he could have felt the passing of time.

Because although they may be able to move through time it is obvious they have their own personal time. So the passing of time is the same for them even if that period of time is across several positions in the timeline.

[kostmayer]

A thing I noticed in that episode was Tuvok's defense of Quinn, when he states that Quinn had been imprisoned throughout Rikers lifetime and could not have had any effect on his life - but theres no reason Quinn couldn't have visited Riker in his lifetime, but earlier on in Quinns personal timeline.

[Mikey]

I'd guess that even without our constraints on the concept of time, there has to be SOME dimensional concept of time even for the Q, just in order to reference anything.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

A thing I noticed in that episode was Tuvok's defense of Quinn, when he states that Quinn had been imprisoned throughout Rikers lifetime and could not have had any effect on his life - but theres no reason Quinn couldn't have visited Riker in his lifetime, but earlier on in Quinns personal timeline.

Thank you! I was thinking of this, but didn't explain it well in my post.

[Teaos]

But since Quinn is in existence in Riker life time, trapped inside the astroid, maybe he could be with Riker as well.

Even before his inprisonment he couldnt jump to that point in the future because he was already there in physical form which may be one of the things they cant over come.

We never see multiple version of Q at one point in time.

And the younger Quinn wouldnt think it odd he couldnt get there. He'd just presume his future self is doing something there if he ever tried to get there.

[Mikey]

er... yeah, what he said...

All kidding aside, Teaos does make sense. It stands to reason that even the Q can't go somewhen when they already are.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

As good an explanation as any, I guess

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Q did appear twice in the same room at the same time when he called himself to the stand - but that may have just been an illusion. It would seem to be within Q powers to do this.

[Teaos]

Teaos does make sense.

No need to sound so suprised...

[kostmayer]

So it could be impossible for the Q to exist in two different places at the same time along different points in their own personal time line?

Interesting premise, which is now gonna have me thinking of examples to disprove it.

How old is Q btw? Quinn claimed the Q was an inspiration for him, which suggests that Q has been around, and causing trouble, since Quinns imprisonment. Then Quinn also says that Q was reformed, and 'we paid the price'. I always thought this referred to Q being made human - but this would also have happened during Quinns imprisonment.

[Teaos]

How old is Q btw? Quinn claimed the Q was an inspiration for him, which suggests that Q has been around, and causing trouble, since Quinns imprisonment. Then Quinn also says that Q was reformed, and 'we paid the price'. I always thought this referred to Q being made human - but this would also have happened during Quinns imprisonment.

Well Q said more than once I believe that he has more than a few people he has pissed off across the galaxy. So it would seem humans arent the only ones he messed with.

Maybe Q was punished more than once, impossible to know.

But for the age of the Q... if they are from this universe during this cycle they must have had a beginning. They would have been corporal at one point. So I guess you could say since then, but since they can time hop the time they lived could be much greater than that time to now. Especially if time flows differently in their area of space/time.

[Sionnach Glic]

Perhaps it's something like that "you cant cross your own timeline" thing from DW?

[Mikey]

I read this thread and can't help but think of Zaphod Beeblebrox... and his father, Zaphod Beeblebrox II... and his grandfather, Zaphod Beeblebrox III...

[Monroe]

I read a fantasy book that took place in a world outside of Time. Because people grew old and died on this world they had to explain why that was. They explained it as the duration of something's existance is seperated from the time. This is kind of a hard concept to understand and they devoted way too much time to explain it in the book but basically I thought of a better analogy for us Sci-fi minded people.

Time is slower the faster you travel correct? Reason pilots live .0000000000000000002 seconds longer or some such. GPS Satilites have to adjust for the delay since they exist in a slightly different time than we do. If someone was flying at the speed of light for one day his duration would be one day. But time would be several hundred years. Time is relative and changes at different points in the universe (though Trek never has mentioned this to my knowledge) however Duration is always the same. Although the time in the central of the galaxy is moving faster (?) if you're there for one day youre there for one day even if back home at Earth time has moved by a lot faster.

So if a creature could exist outside of time they would still suffer from Duration. Say Q is a billion years old in duration he could exist anywhere at any point in time in the universe but his duration would never change.