Q Threw the Enterprise Into Borg Space. How Long Would the Escape Really Take?

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Q Who,” Q throws the Enterprise-D about 7,000 light-years across the galaxy into Borg space. We ran that escape at every warp speed on the franchise’s official scale. At Warp 1 it takes 7,000 years. At the very top of the scale it takes under a year. In between, the numbers are stranger than you’d expect. At the Enterprise-D’s normal cruising speed, the crew wouldn’t see home for nearly two decades. And the fastest way out of this problem was never a warp speed at all. In this video: The 7,000 light-year distance from “Q Who” Warp 1 to Warp 4, the escape that never ends Warp 5 to Warp 7, a career or less Warp 8 and Warp 9, where the trip becomes a mission Warp 9.2 to Warp 9.99, the edge of the scale The shortcut that beats every warp factor