What if Q was simply a man in a holodeck?

[Baffalo]

"I'm afraid the holodeck will be society's last invention"

I was watching some of Chuck's reviews because even while working on other things (such as colliding stars together in Solar 2 just for shits and giggles), he's funny to listen to. So his reviews of TNG: True Q and TNG: The Tapestry came up, and in listening to them, I suddenly had this thought. Q, the omnipotent god-like being bouncing around the universe... could easily be a human who has forgotten about himself in the holodeck. And if you think about it, it's hard to dissuade.

First off, let's consider this. Q has the ability to alter the galaxy, or the universe, on a whim. He often gestures to accomplish this task, much like some video game players use macros to issue quick commands. He appears when and where he wants, controlling the universe in a grand scheme of his own design and changing the rules to suit his own goals. There are episodes where he loses his powers, but then he never remains without powers for very long. He never ages, hinting that perhaps he can simply bounce around and recreate any fantasy he wants.

While I'm sure someone's going to try and dice this theory up, it's interesting to note that if someone with the fantasy of manipulating the world or even the universe on a grand scale wanted to, and had access to a holodeck, they could create this image of themselves as a god among men. So what if Q, master manipulator of time, space and beyond, was simply a man who fantasized of manipulating everyone, and so happened to have a personal reason for picking on Starfleet. Someone with the need to control like that would probably fail a psych eval during the Academy admittance. That someone would have a reason for imagining themselves controlling a ship full of Starfleet personnel.

And if you further this out a bit, it would explain a few other things. Someone who wants to create this fantasy will often need to program in new situations and challenges, and so why not create races that are uniform and mono-cultured? Who cares about all the facets of a true civilization, just create a new situation and send the Enterprise on her way. Toy with the crew, play games, introduce new scenarios. You're a god. You can pop in if things get too boring. After all, you want to gloat in front of your human toys don't you? Just don't do it too often or they might figure out what's really going on.

[Cesario]

I have this other thought. What if the entirety of Star Trek wasn't real? What if there was this special effects house that was faking the whole thing?

The ships? Just scale models.
The characters and crew we've come to know and love? Actors.
All the one-episode-wonders that should have world shattering implications that were seemingly forgotten? That's because the writers didn't want to deal with those implications so casually swept them under a rug.

The motivation? Entertaining a television audience.

It explains everything! We have to tell the people!

Seriously, though, I think this entire field of thought is one step away from disregarding suspension of disbelief entirely, and not particularly useful or productive. I have an intense, personal dislike for shows that "reveal" that the entire show was nothing more than the dying dreams, coma fantasies, or written work of one of the characters, because it breaks the fundamental agreement with the audience that enables suspension of disbelief in the first place.

Q is a neigh-omnipotent being in-universe, because in-universe is not defined as a fictional unreality one layer removed from our universe. If there is a reveal that Benny Rustle really did write all of Star Trek, in-universe will still mean a place where the United Federation of Planets is a real organization, and where Ben Sisco really is the Emisary to the Prophets.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

What if it's all an autistic boy's dream.

[JPaganel]

Given that episode with Moriarty and his girlfriend getting to explore the world in a memory cube, that doesn't sound all that far-fetched.