OOC Muse Inquiries 1 - Canon
Crossposted from muse_academy, originally posted Mar. 17. OOC post.
Prompt Number:Prompt Week 1
Title: Muse Inquiries: Canon
OOC, obviously. Q's mun here. I rather like that this particular prompt community has prompts for muns to talk about the muses, because I actually almost never get to talk about what I'm doing with this journal. :-)
1. Discuss, in some detail, the primary canon source that you draw your muse from.
Star Trek: The Next Generation describes a futuristic quasi-utopian society where humanity has joined (in fact more or less founded) a peaceful interplanetary multi-species coalition called the Federation. Starfleet is a quasi-military organization that exists to explore, make first contact, manage diplomatic relations, perform rescue operations, and defend the Federation, and the show focuses on the officers in the command structure of the flagship of Starfleet. It's pretty much as PC as the 1980's could get. There's no interpersonal conflict, everyone gets along with everyone else, everyone is pals, everyone is smugly secure in the superiority of their moral beliefs. And then here comes this guy with godlike superpowers who does things like puts them on trial for the crimes of humanity, who exists primarily to stir up conflict, challenge the main characters (in particular the captain, Jean-Luc Picard), present them with logical and philosophical problems, and expose them to things their philosophy may not have left them ready for.
In Star Trek: Voyager, the character's role changed -- instead of challenging the main characters, the stories dealing with him in Voyager presented *him* with challenges, and explored his role in his own society to a much greater extent than we'd seen in the previous show.
2. Are there other canon sources for your character that you have not explored? For example, are there books, other shows, etcetera, that deal with your muse’s canon?
Yes. There are several books that deal with the character, and I only treat the ones as "canon" that fit the view of the character that I feel best fits the view from the TV series or that make sense. Some of the books have been contradicted by canon, and some I feel contradict the entire spirit of the series.
3. How well do you know your character’s entire canon? Would you call yourself an expert?
Yes. I've seen all the episodes (this isn't hard, there are only 14 of them) and read all the books that feature this character. I *haven't* seen all the episodes of the two series he appears in, but he's a recurring guest character who only actually shows up in 14 episodes total.
4. If someone who never knew the canon of your muse asked you the three most important things they needed to know about him/her, what would those three things be?
Q has godlike power, but is a person, not a god -- he is not presented as, nor does he act like, a supernatural being or a being worthy of worship (or of being demonized, for that matter.) He's a witty asshole who thrives on interpersonal conflict and uses his powers and his sarcasm to stir things up, make people confront things they didn't want to deal with, and to hit people at their emotional weak points -- he doesn't necessarily care about what he pretends to be offended by so much as that *you* care about it. And you can't necessarily trust anything he says -- half of what he says is lies, and the other half is truth spoken in such an overblown tone of voice that it *sounds* like lies -- but, fundamentally, even though he uses untruth, exaggeration and subterfuge to get at it, his goal seems to be to uncover the truth about reality, or to make you uncover the truth about yourself.
5. How much do you ignore/bend/twist/manipulate your muse’s canon, to suit your needs in roleplaying? Be honest.
Not very much. I do really, really hammer on the concept that the character has no inherent gender, which was established in an episode of TNG and then ostentatiously ignored in an episode of Voyager that, although important to the character's story arc, was really badly written. I also overlook the jealousy and implied eternal monogamy that appears in that same episode, because those tropes don't interest me and because they don't fit the character's other appearances... and he's someone who performs and puts on a show for his audience to an extent that you can't necessarily trust anything he says, or even anything his people say. My view of the character may be more inherently benevolent and altruistic than many other authors, although I feel canon backs me up, and I try very hard not to whitewash him.
6. Does your muse have a canon relationship that you dislike and/or pretend doesn’t exist? It can be familial, sexual, romantic or adversarial. If it is an OC, do you add on such relationships to justify roleplaying scenarios?
I dislike the relationship *as established* between him and his "companion", who was essentially portrayed as his jealous, shrewish wife, because it makes no sense to me that eternal beings who don't reproduce and have no gender would have a concept of monogamy or "possessing" an individual. But I don't need to pretend it doesn't exist, because canon ended it... and in fact what I usually do is explain away the parts I don't like, the monogamy implications and stated jealousy of his human objects of desire on her part, by going into more detail into *her* character and trying to explain how she could ever have been someone this character would have loved, and making her into someone with more depth than "Q's jealous wife". He's usually pretty down on her when I play him in the journal, though, because in canon, she dumped him and disowned their son, which isn't likely to make him feel good about her.
I also tend to downplay any interest he might really have had in Kathryn Janeway, because it was pretty clear to me on watching the episodes that he had no real chemistry with her, was incompetent at trying to be seductive (whereas he was much more genuinely seductive with other characters), and in the episode where he wanted a baby he gave up the notion of reproducing with Janeway in favor of having a kid with his "wife" far too easily for me to believe he ever genuinely wanted Janeway. Also, because she rejected him, so now he's got a vested interest in pretending he never really wanted her all that badly. However, I do like his relationship with her as a friend (well, he considers her a friend; she probably considers him a nuisance.)
7. If your character is set in a particular canon timeline, how do you create a possibility for them to roleplay in other timelines without breaking canon, too much?
I don't, usually. The character can travel in time, so I can have him show up anywhere in time, space or the multiverse. If I wanted to play him in a different timeline relative to *his* life, I would probably create a different journal for it.
8. What one thing in their canon is the most difficult to work with?
The fact that the most dramatic and important thing that ever happened in Q's existence (possibly second most dramatic if you count his becoming human) happened in a horribly, horribly written episode. Almost everything I don't like about the canon is in that one episode.
9. What canon personality traits annoy you the most?
The character is actually written to be annoying, and sometimes it just gets over the top. Sometimes the actor who plays him visibly gives up on trying to actually do anything decent with really crappy material and decides to chew the scenery instead, and while a little bit of histrionics fits the character, the over-the-top stuff doesn't work.
10. Do you believe that you adhere to the canon core of your muse? Be honest.
Yes, I do. Despite the fact that no one appears to have been thinking about the character in terms of *his* personal arc of growth, or in fact even tracking his continuity very closely, when the series was written, I have come up with a cohesive storyline that pretty much explains everything we see him do, while not violating any of the essence of the character. Some of the elements I work in that are technically not canon -- such as his being in love with Picard -- have been stated by series writers or the actors themselves to be backstory that they considered probably true at the time but couldn't make explicit.
Prompt Number:Prompt Week 1
Title: Muse Inquiries: Canon
OOC, obviously. Q's mun here. I rather like that this particular prompt community has prompts for muns to talk about the muses, because I actually almost never get to talk about what I'm doing with this journal. :-)
1. Discuss, in some detail, the primary canon source that you draw your muse from.
Star Trek: The Next Generation describes a futuristic quasi-utopian society where humanity has joined (in fact more or less founded) a peaceful interplanetary multi-species coalition called the Federation. Starfleet is a quasi-military organization that exists to explore, make first contact, manage diplomatic relations, perform rescue operations, and defend the Federation, and the show focuses on the officers in the command structure of the flagship of Starfleet. It's pretty much as PC as the 1980's could get. There's no interpersonal conflict, everyone gets along with everyone else, everyone is pals, everyone is smugly secure in the superiority of their moral beliefs. And then here comes this guy with godlike superpowers who does things like puts them on trial for the crimes of humanity, who exists primarily to stir up conflict, challenge the main characters (in particular the captain, Jean-Luc Picard), present them with logical and philosophical problems, and expose them to things their philosophy may not have left them ready for.
In Star Trek: Voyager, the character's role changed -- instead of challenging the main characters, the stories dealing with him in Voyager presented *him* with challenges, and explored his role in his own society to a much greater extent than we'd seen in the previous show.
2. Are there other canon sources for your character that you have not explored? For example, are there books, other shows, etcetera, that deal with your muse’s canon?
Yes. There are several books that deal with the character, and I only treat the ones as "canon" that fit the view of the character that I feel best fits the view from the TV series or that make sense. Some of the books have been contradicted by canon, and some I feel contradict the entire spirit of the series.
3. How well do you know your character’s entire canon? Would you call yourself an expert?
Yes. I've seen all the episodes (this isn't hard, there are only 14 of them) and read all the books that feature this character. I *haven't* seen all the episodes of the two series he appears in, but he's a recurring guest character who only actually shows up in 14 episodes total.
4. If someone who never knew the canon of your muse asked you the three most important things they needed to know about him/her, what would those three things be?
Q has godlike power, but is a person, not a god -- he is not presented as, nor does he act like, a supernatural being or a being worthy of worship (or of being demonized, for that matter.) He's a witty asshole who thrives on interpersonal conflict and uses his powers and his sarcasm to stir things up, make people confront things they didn't want to deal with, and to hit people at their emotional weak points -- he doesn't necessarily care about what he pretends to be offended by so much as that *you* care about it. And you can't necessarily trust anything he says -- half of what he says is lies, and the other half is truth spoken in such an overblown tone of voice that it *sounds* like lies -- but, fundamentally, even though he uses untruth, exaggeration and subterfuge to get at it, his goal seems to be to uncover the truth about reality, or to make you uncover the truth about yourself.
5. How much do you ignore/bend/twist/manipulate your muse’s canon, to suit your needs in roleplaying? Be honest.
Not very much. I do really, really hammer on the concept that the character has no inherent gender, which was established in an episode of TNG and then ostentatiously ignored in an episode of Voyager that, although important to the character's story arc, was really badly written. I also overlook the jealousy and implied eternal monogamy that appears in that same episode, because those tropes don't interest me and because they don't fit the character's other appearances... and he's someone who performs and puts on a show for his audience to an extent that you can't necessarily trust anything he says, or even anything his people say. My view of the character may be more inherently benevolent and altruistic than many other authors, although I feel canon backs me up, and I try very hard not to whitewash him.
6. Does your muse have a canon relationship that you dislike and/or pretend doesn’t exist? It can be familial, sexual, romantic or adversarial. If it is an OC, do you add on such relationships to justify roleplaying scenarios?
I dislike the relationship *as established* between him and his "companion", who was essentially portrayed as his jealous, shrewish wife, because it makes no sense to me that eternal beings who don't reproduce and have no gender would have a concept of monogamy or "possessing" an individual. But I don't need to pretend it doesn't exist, because canon ended it... and in fact what I usually do is explain away the parts I don't like, the monogamy implications and stated jealousy of his human objects of desire on her part, by going into more detail into *her* character and trying to explain how she could ever have been someone this character would have loved, and making her into someone with more depth than "Q's jealous wife". He's usually pretty down on her when I play him in the journal, though, because in canon, she dumped him and disowned their son, which isn't likely to make him feel good about her.
I also tend to downplay any interest he might really have had in Kathryn Janeway, because it was pretty clear to me on watching the episodes that he had no real chemistry with her, was incompetent at trying to be seductive (whereas he was much more genuinely seductive with other characters), and in the episode where he wanted a baby he gave up the notion of reproducing with Janeway in favor of having a kid with his "wife" far too easily for me to believe he ever genuinely wanted Janeway. Also, because she rejected him, so now he's got a vested interest in pretending he never really wanted her all that badly. However, I do like his relationship with her as a friend (well, he considers her a friend; she probably considers him a nuisance.)
7. If your character is set in a particular canon timeline, how do you create a possibility for them to roleplay in other timelines without breaking canon, too much?
I don't, usually. The character can travel in time, so I can have him show up anywhere in time, space or the multiverse. If I wanted to play him in a different timeline relative to *his* life, I would probably create a different journal for it.
8. What one thing in their canon is the most difficult to work with?
The fact that the most dramatic and important thing that ever happened in Q's existence (possibly second most dramatic if you count his becoming human) happened in a horribly, horribly written episode. Almost everything I don't like about the canon is in that one episode.
9. What canon personality traits annoy you the most?
The character is actually written to be annoying, and sometimes it just gets over the top. Sometimes the actor who plays him visibly gives up on trying to actually do anything decent with really crappy material and decides to chew the scenery instead, and while a little bit of histrionics fits the character, the over-the-top stuff doesn't work.
10. Do you believe that you adhere to the canon core of your muse? Be honest.
Yes, I do. Despite the fact that no one appears to have been thinking about the character in terms of *his* personal arc of growth, or in fact even tracking his continuity very closely, when the series was written, I have come up with a cohesive storyline that pretty much explains everything we see him do, while not violating any of the essence of the character. Some of the elements I work in that are technically not canon -- such as his being in love with Picard -- have been stated by series writers or the actors themselves to be backstory that they considered probably true at the time but couldn't make explicit.