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In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Tapestry," Captain Picard has a near-death experience. He encounters Q and is given a chance to change a pivotal moment in his past. My question isn't about the moral or thematic meaning of the episode's alternate timeline, nor is it about whether the lesson learned was valuable. Instead, I am specifically looking for canonical, in-universe evidence to determine if Picard's experience was a genuine, physical time travel event caused by Q or if it was a purely psychological hallucination brought on by his near-death state.

Did Q physically manipulate time, or was the entire sequence a mental projection designed to teach Picard a lesson? Is there any dialogue or event in "Tapestry" or subsequent episodes that confirms the experience was a literal time travel event within the Star Trek universe?

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  • Given that Q can travel through time and change events with absolutely no effort, and has done so on several occasions, a better question might be to ask why would he create an illusion with no stakes at all, when he could play a high stakes game by doing it in real life, which is what he's known for. Or, to put it another way, why would he settle for an illusion when he can create the real thing with real consequences, with the exact same amount of effort? Commented Aug 25 at 16:25
  • @AaarghZombies I suspect there is a negligible difference between an illusion and our reality for a Q other than reality is naturally occurring. But parsimony implies keeping the time line identical would be easier with just quantum leaping Picard into the moment he was stabbed in the original timeline - especially since he was laughing anyway - which is how I hope to go. Commented Aug 25 at 17:05

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After a close examination of the episode, I conclude is not possible to make any dogmatic conclusions that the allegedly altered timeline survived or existed.

And a quick glance at Memory Alpha doesn't seem to mention any "Hey did we sleep together?" follow-ups to the episode - but someone would have to read every novel.

EDIT: The Apocrypha section in Memory Alpha for TNG Tapestry does mention Q discussing the events of the episode later. (Obviously the novel Q-Squared, or any novel is not strict canon. It's just fun Beta canon you may enjoy for your personal canon.)

Honestly, I thought Marta and Corey were both dead the way Picard spoke in the past tense but they both lived on in Beta canon. Their deaths definitely would have made it impossible to prove in-universe. Marta and Corey being the only other witnesses to the events of Tapestry for Picard to compare events with (and Q).

Point of Logic 1: It is ambiguous whether the entire episode was a near death experience.

Point of Logic 2: Q could in theory do whatever he wants when he returns Picard to the moment just before the stabbing.

So that's two Bayesian strikes against the altered timeline.

Context

Once "play it safe" Picard avoids the fight with the Nausicaans he is instantly taken to the worst life imaginable - serving as a low level officer on his own ship the Enterprise.

When Q gives him the option to reset his fate back to the original - he is taken immediately back to the stabbing incident.

Given how identical the events are the viewer naturally assumes the altered events of the episode are still intact. BUT - we have not seen Picard's original past. We only see the stabbing on the heavenly "this was your life" replay. And so Q could have returned Picard to either version possibly.

Afterall this is an artificial timeline where Picard was going to end up in that confrontation no matter what because Q is controlling things. So much so I don't think that the similarity to the moment just prior to Picard going back to the future proves anything. Your opinion may vary - but that just establishes it's impossible to prove.

(Trivia: In heaven, if you watch closely you can see a Nausicaan lose his wig at the edge of the screen.)

So now there is no way to prove if there are three versions of the event or two. Specifically, 1. the original past with the stabbing, 2. the altered past with no fight, and 3. the altered past with the choice to fight to keep the timeline post-stabbing intact.

1 and 3 might be the same or different. And 2 and 3 might be a dream anyway.

Altered Past Version

NAUSICAAN: Coward. Like all Starfleet you talk >and you talk, but you have no guramba.

COREY: Why don't we find out.

PICARD: Don't be a fool, Corey. Look, there are plenty of other people to play dom-jot with. Now just go about your business.

Q Gives Picard the Choice to keep the Original Timeline Version

NAUSICAAN: Coward. Like all Starfleet. You talk and you talk but you have no guramba.

PICARD: What did you say?

NAUSICAAN: I said, you are a coward.

PICARD: That's what I thought you said.

Edit 2: I see in this question Picard's description of events in the original past is different.

Why are Captain Picard's Nausicaan recollections different?

PICARD: I stood toe-to-toe with the worst of the three (Nausicaans), and I told him what I thought of him, his pals, his planet, and I possibly made some passing reference to his questionable parentage..."

I suppose it is left to the viewer whether this happened in the past Picard returns to once he chooses to be stabbed. Again, I can't tell if timeline version 3 has version 1 or 2 in its past.

See Also: Tapestry Transcript at http://chakoteya.net/NextGen/241.htm

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Marta_Batanides

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cortan_Zweller

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tapestry_(episode)

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  • Frustrating that the question is an appeal to "canon". Ultimately, a reasonable explanation could be that Q was involved, but that the alternate timeline was merely a Q induced extrapolation in Picard's mind. OR Picard, being the intelligent and introspective individual we know him to be, made the extrapolation himself and had a deeply inciteful dream. Commented Aug 26 at 15:23
  • @StephenBreen In theory it was possible for Picard to check if he were inclined to (which I don't think he is.) IF Marta or Corey were alive still - he could ask what they remember. The deeper question if Q merely alters brain states, memories, and sense data or creates an entire universe is very philosophy 101 type stuff and there's no way to prove anything at that point - as everything indicates either action would be trivial for a god. Personally, I've always regarded it as a near death experience and not a Q episode - or at best undecidable. Commented Aug 26 at 15:42
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I believe there is reason to believe that this was a true 'Q' episode and not just in Picard's mind.

The primary evidence to me is that in spite of Picard immediately being knocked unconscious, he is aware of the exact nature of his injury.

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  • Uncertain that this could not be because the entire experience is being interpreted by Picard as a memory... Much as we sometimes update, revise or devise explanations for elements of dreams on waking and cannot be certain that they were or were not part of the dream as "experienced". Commented Aug 26 at 15:20

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