Your So-Called Life

Q: 

The Borg is The Ultimate User.

 They're unlike any threat your Federation has ever faced. 

They're not interested in Political Conquest, Wealth or Power as you know it. 

They're simply interested in Your Ship, 

its Technology. 

They've identified it as something they can consume.

RIKER: 

You brought us here, 

you exposed us to Them, 

and you cost us the lives 

of our shipmates 

Q: 

Oh, please. 

PICARD: 

Number One —

Eighteen of Our People have died. 

Please, Tell Us this is 

one of Your Illusions.

Q:

Oh, no. This is as real 

as your so-called 

“Life” gets.

(And he vanishes) 

In the revised final draft of the script, in the scene in the observation lounge where Riker confronts Q about how he exposed the Enterprise to the Borg, which led to the deaths of eighteen crewmembers, his temper flares and he moves to assault Q, who warns Riker to stop or he would kill him. 

In the final aired version, Q merely dismisses Riker's comments with an "Oh, please." 

This is the only Q episode that Maurice Hurley wrote. Melinda M. Snodgrass commented, "Maurice Hurley always thought Q was here to teach us a lesson, to guide and instruct us."