Editing Hide and Q (section)

==Production==
[[Image:Marinasirtis2008.jpg|thumb|The absence of her character in this and other episodes in season one led [[Marina Sirtis]] to believe she was being cut from the show.|alt=Marina Sitris|258x258px]]
Writer Maurice Hurley requested that his contributions to this episode appear under the name of C.J. Holland because of the number of extensive re-writes by the show's creator [[Gene Roddenberry]]. Hurley later described the situation as a "misunderstanding" as the situation was subsequently resolved and proved to be a turning point for the series in how scripts were produced. Subsequently Roddenberry spent less time conducting detailed re-writes.<ref name=nemecek42/> Some of the elements of Hurley's original story expanded on the back story of [[Q (Star Trek)|Q]]'s species, explaining that there were only three Qs but another hundred thousand residents on their planet who required relocation as the planet was dying. These elements didn't subsequently make it into any future episodes.<ref name=nemecek42/> The episode marked the return of [[John De Lancie]] as Q. [[Cliff Bole]] was returning as a director for the series, and knowing that de Lancie would appear as Q, Bole watched "[[Encounter at Farpoint]]" in order to maintain Q's tone. He found after shooting began that his research wasn't required as de Lancie slotted back into his previous role naturally.<ref name=nemecek42>[[#Nemecek1995|Nemecek (2003)]]: p. 42</ref> Bole later described the episode as "a lot of fun" and de Lancie as "a joy and a creative guy to work with".<ref>{{cite web|title=Catching Up With Trek Director Cliff Bole, Part 1|url=http://www.startrek.com/article/catching-up-with-trek-director-cliff-bole-part-1|publisher=Star Trek.com|access-date=November 10, 2012|date=January 26, 2012}}</ref> De Lancie would next return in the [[Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2|second season]] episode "[[Q Who]]".<ref>{{cite news|last=Handlen|first=Zac|title="Q Who?"/"Samaritan Snare"/"Up The Long Ladder" |url=https://www.avclub.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-q-who-samaritan-sna-1798165417|access-date=January 25, 2022|newspaper=A.V. Club|date=July 8, 2010}}</ref> Meanwhile, the removal of the character of [[Deanna Troi]] from this episode alongside three other episodes made actress [[Marina Sirtis]] believe at the time that she was about to be cut from the show.<ref name=nemecek28>[[#Nemecek1995|Nemecek (2003)]]: p. 28</ref> Elaine Nalee guest starred as a female survivor, while William A. Wallace appeared as the adult Wesley Crusher.<ref name=nemecek28 />

The theme of the episode, where a humanoid gains the powers of a god, is a recurring theme from ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', having featured in several episodes including the second pilot "[[Where No Man Has Gone Before]]" and "[[Charlie X]]". The most similar episode from ''TOS'' is "[[Plato's Stepchildren]]", where the character Alexander also rejects god-like powers in a similar manner to Riker in "Hide and Q".<ref name=wagner39>[[#wagnerlundeen1998|Wagner, Lundeen (1998)]]: p. 39</ref> The premise would once again be revisited in the [[Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1|season six]] episode "[[True Q]]".<ref>{{cite news|last=DeCandido|first=Keith|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "True Q"|url=https://www.tor.com/2012/10/02/star-trek-the-next-generation-qtrue-qq/|access-date=January 27, 2022|newspaper=Tor.com|date=October 2, 2012}}</ref>