Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. Here's one that required a bit of CG...
PICTURE: It's true that the Penalty Box on the show looked like nothing at all (or could look like anything), but this CGI representation is excellent! There's a lot of craft that went into this one. The base is based (can I say that?) on Q's courtroom chair, with the same gargoyles and all. The cage itself is the familiar Q-net chain links, but shaped like we've never seen them before. Another excellent display of design. The background is the black void, and Tasha is in an appropriately penitent pose. While I can't give full points because the image doesn't match the actual events of the show, I can go as high as 4.7 for bringing all those elements together so adroitly.
LORE: The Q-uote helps explain the game text quite well, and the last phrase has Q's usual poetic flair, putting this one in the successful pile. Perhaps mentioning Tasha is too specific, but she IS in the pic. Okay, a good 3.8 here.
TREK SENSE: Works just like in the show (or almost). When somebody gets put in the box, it is merely in suspension, unusable. But since there's only room for one in the box, anyone that gets put here after the first sends the former occupant to out-of-play land (nothingness). The random selections are fine since there's no real method to Q's madness. He's like an Armus with one-liners. The only less than satisfying feature is that, if nullified, the occupant goes back to hand. This is not what happened on the show, since Tasha didn't have to re-report to an outpost. And the only real problem has more to do with the way Q-Flashes work than how this card does. Namely, that the "game" with the Penalty Box should entirely occur on the same Q-Flash (or else the joke or threat isn't as good), but duplicate Q-cards encountered during the same Flash are discarded, so... no go. Still hits an easy 4.2.
STOCKABILITY: Certainly one of the most powerful Q-cards available (especially outside of the Dilemmas), this one has an effect no matter what. You place a personnel (unfortunately at random) effectively out-of-play (in the Box, though still, technically, in play). Unusable. When another Q-Flash is encountered, hopefully you've peppered the side-deck with enough Boxes that that first target is taken out of the game permanently, and another personnel is now incommunicado. Even if your opponent decides to Kevin the Penalty Box, he'll still have to re-report the personnel normally. Real killer as far as Q-cards go. A 4.
TOTAL: 16.7 (83.5%) Card gets penalized very little, actually.
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