AboutDeran McKean Expertise I am a 38 year fan of all the incarnations of Star Trek from the original show to the newer incarnations, to the books, comics and toys. I can answer most questions regarding the storylines and characters including their non-screen histories.
Experience Thirty-Eight years of collecting Star Trek merchandise, pouring over the books, comics and attending a number of conventions
Education/Credentials I have a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and an MBA
Question Ok, I'm sorry about the non-Trek questions.
So, would you think that the Guardian is also older than Nagilum? Older than Organians? Trelane? I think that Q is definitely older than the Guardian. (Q must be older than any other Star Trek race, in my opinion.) Q told Janeway that the Q 'have always existed,' which means their lifespan is infinite.
Let's say Q approached Apollo, the Edo god, Nomad, Borg Queen, and a Metron, and told them he was a superior being, much superior to any of them.
Each of them responded by laughing hysterically (like the way Data laughed uncontrollably in "Deja Q"). How do you think Q would react? Not care, or punish them?
The reason I thought a power-stripped Q might have a chance against the Great Link is because we know that the former Q still retains much intelligence. But I forgot that the Calamarain were obviously not stopped by Q, so certainly the Great Link wouldn't be either.
If Q, Data, the Hologram Doc, Apollo, a Douwd, the Companion, and a Krenim (while he's in the time ship) told Nagilum that they don't age and cannot die of old age (all of the evidence suggests that this is true for these beings), then would Nagilum want to talk to them, or would he be bored by their inability to die by aging?
Do you think Quinn (and other humanoids infected by a symbiont) would age slower, or at the same rate?
Would you think Borg drones die of old age? We know that they begin as babies, then as children, etc., and they do increase strength as they age. So I would think that eventually they would die of old age, but I'm not sure.
Thanks for your answers. I'm guessing I exasperate you sometimes by asking so frequently, but I do like Star Trek.
Answer Hi John -
No problem, okay on to the answers....
Yeah I would have to say Q is probably the oldest of the races we've met thus far but I do think the Guardian is older than Nagilum, the Organians and Trelane.
The Organians indicated that they had once been like Kirk's people, indicating that they must have evolved over the course of millions of years into their current form, I think the Guardian was probably around when the Organian ancestors first climbed from the primordial ooze of their planet of origin.
I think Q probably would take Apollo down a peg or two just because of the self styled god's attitude. He'd probably do the same to Nomad and the Borg Queen but I doubt he'd bother much with a Metron or the Edo God. He might but my thought was he liked the banter that he engaged in with Picard and might enjoy a similar experience with Nomad, the Queen and Apollo. My thought is the Edo God would just take whatever Q dished out in a stoic fashion, which would probably be boring for Q.
Yeah Q seemed to retain his knowledge (or at least some of it) while made human so, I doubt he'd have much luck against the Great Link.
I doubt Nagilum would bother much with the beings you mention as they had somehow completely circumvented the very thing he was trying to study. That would make them somewhat less aware of the experience of death and inferior subjects for Nagilum's study.
Actually, I think Quinn might age faster than normal because the symbiont was stimulating and increasing chemical production, muscle fiber activity and metabolism to unprecedented rates. I think that would cause the host body to burn out much quicker.
I think eventually a drone's tissues would reach a point where the cells had replicated themselves so much that they began to experience flaws. (What in 'regular' humans is referred to as aging.)
My guess is that the Collective keeps replacing the aged tissue with cybernetic parts until practically nothing remains for the mechanical implants to be grafted on to. I think that's why we often see drones with differing amounts of implants and/or implants in different locations. Eventually the tissue would become completely useless (i.e. die) and the cyborg parts would be recycled.
Well I'm glad there are still fans out there despite the commercial failures of Nemesis and Enterprise. Things looked pretty bleak for a while so I'm glad there are people like you out there that still enjoy Next Generation and DS9!
