Q Continuum The Q Continuum was an extra - dimensional plane of existence inhabited by a race of beings known as the . The term could also refer to the Q society itself . As a race , the Q were immortal , but not absolutely omniscient or omnipotent ( according to Quinn ) . They possessed the ability to alter , create , or destroy virtually any form of matter or energy , and to affect time in essentially any way they chose . Their apparent abilities included moving entire asteroid belt s and star s , creating alternate timeline s , and affecting universal states of nature such as the gravitational constant . Q , when discussing the dangers of allowing Amanda Rogers to develop her abilities without supervision , offhandedly remarked that she would be capable of destroying the entire Milky Way Galaxy by accident . In fact , the only time a Q was seen as " un " able to do something was during a period where their powers were reduced or revoked by the Continuum . ( ) The Q claimed to have always existed , and their origins ( if they had any ) , are unknown . ( ) Based on descriptions by numerous Q , including the Q later known as Quinn , as well as Amanda Rogers ( the child of two Q in Human form ) , the Q Continuum was a very highly ordered society , but also a virtually stagnant one . In the beginnings of what Quinn called the " new era " , the Q engaged in constant dialogues of discovery and other universal issues . However , eventually , the Q came to realize that they had experienced , observed , or discussed literally everything imaginable . This resulted in the virtual shutdown of the Continuum as a society , as the immortal beings simply saw no point in even conversing with one another anymore . This resulted in one of the Q , Q , deciding to simply use his powers to stir up trouble and cause chaos , simply because there was nothing else to do . As a result of Q ' s rebellious behavior , Quinn , a respected philosopher in the Continuum , decided that he wanted to shake things up even further by committing suicide , as he not only saw no purpose in continuing to exist , but wanted to break the monotonous stagnation afflicting the Continuum . The Continuum , however , stopped him from doing so because they were unable to predict what sort of societal chaos might result in the Continuum as a result of a Q committing suicide . Quinn was imprisoned on a rogue comet for eternity to prevent him from ending his own life , until he was accidentally released by the crew of the in 2372 . In a courtroom hearing to determine his right to political asylum , Quinn described the Continuum as a lazy , old roadhouse along a deserted desert highway – he argued that the road could take them to anywhere in the universe , but the Q had already been everywhere . In addition , everything both old and new had already been discussed , and so the roadhouse was silent – there was nothing left to say . Therefore , Quinn argued that being forced to remain alive was a continued burden to him , a burden that he did not want to continue to bear . Q argued that the death of a Q would create chaos in the Continuum . " Voyager " captain Kathryn Janeway ruled in Quinn ' s favor , granting him asylum . A day later , Quinn committed suicide . ( ) As a result of Quinn ' s action , the Continuum was plunged into a massively destructive civil war that set the " Freedom Faction " against the traditional Q . The two factions were able to construct weapons that could even compromise the immortality of a Q . When these weapons were fired in the Continuum , this resulted in massive damage to subspace , causing some star s in normal space to go supernova . Eventually it damaged subspace to such an extent that Q outside of the Continuum lost their powers and immortality . Q had the idea of mating with Janeway to produce a being with the powers of a Q , and to put the morals of a Human to use in order to end the war . The crew of " Voyager " flew through a supernova into the Continuum with help from a , who had lost her powers and could not return without " Voyager " s help . " Voyager " s crew quickly overpowered the Q by using Q weapons . A ceasefire was called . Q mated with the female Q instead of Janeway and the damage to subspace was restored . ( ) Later on , the new Q became an intergalactic troublemaker . He started wars between innocent races , knocked planets out of orbit , detonated Omega molecule s , and created havoc in every way he could . His mother disowned him , humiliated by his actions . Q , however , followed him , cleaning up all the damage . Under advice from Janeway , Q implemented punishment on the boy . Q dumped him on " Voyager " , and , with the help of the " Q government " , took away his powers . , as he was called by his father , had one week to become a good citizen , or he would be sentenced to eternity as an Oprelian amoeba . Junior did well for the first few days , until he stole the " Delta Flyer II " . After his friend Icheb was injured , however , he returned to " Voyager " . Janeway made him apologize to the ship he attacked , which was in fact Q , who masqueraded as a likely target to test his son ' s attitude . When Judgment Day came , Junior was still found unworthy of being a Q , but was good enough to be a Human . After this sentence , Q threatened to leave the Continuum unless his son was allowed to stay . After further pleading , the Continuum agreed to grant the young Q ' s powers back to him on the condition that his father act as his guardian and supervisor " in perpetuity " , or at least until he could prove himself worthy . ( ) Apocrypha . The history of the Q Continuum is explored in the , which features flashbacks to Q ' s " youth " , including him being sentenced to safeguard Earth as punishment after his actions released a powerful entity known as " 0 " into the universe when Earth was damaged in the last stage of the war with 0 and his allies , which included Gorgan and the Beta XII - A entity . The conclusion of the trilogy sees 0 briefly return to this universe , achieving a level of power temporarily beyond even Q himself as his insanity from millennia of solitude allows him to warp reality at a fundamental level that Q would never be able to do without risking damage to himself . The series revealed that the Continuum was responsible for the creation of the Galactic barrier and for the imprisonment of the entity they knew as on the planet dubbed " " by Sybok . This barrier was weakened as a result of the civil war in the Continuum , which was what allowed 0 to make his return , but later repaired after 0 was exiled yet again . In " The Eternal Tide " , it is revealed that the Q Continuum manifested as a creative force to " oppose " the destructive potential of the Omega Continuum after it was disrupted and the decay of the universe accelerated . " Voyager " is later able to slow down the decay to a more tolerable level – shortening the universe ' s lifespan by a few million years rather than by trillions – as the only way to completely halt and undo the disruption would have erased the Q Continuum from existence as their creative force was no longer " needed " . " Eternal Tide " also reveals that there are at least six rules that the Q must obey , with number six being " Don ' t bring the dead back to life " , as the consequences of such an action can be problematic as not even the Q fully " know " what happens after death .