Picard's creepy imaginary family
- Thread starter Ottens
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I couldn't bring myself to believe that Picard's dream life was a Victorian family with, what, six kids? Picard, who HATES kids for pretty much 7 seasons of the show? And yeah, the six kids being creepy didn't help.
Well, Patrick Stewart is British, so unimaginative Americans at the time went for a Dickensian flavour in his fantasies.
It's stupid I know and I don't think those kids are hella-creepy, but the Victorian dress gives them that feel.
Maybe that was the point?
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The sequence is a head scratcher for sure, mainly for me because it seems to be set in the, what, 19th century? Picard’s feelings on children had long been established, too. I guess it’s possible it’s some latent, unconscious desire to have family—but why would he want that to be centuries in the past? It was almost grossly cloying, as were the kids and adoring wife. The music is gorgeous in this scene, though, and so is the cinematography.
Perhaps it is not just Picard’s fantasy, but an approximation by the Nexus - or an intelligence within the Nexus?
Like, Picard is French but sort of Brit-like and rooted in tradition, so the Nexus extrapolated by creating the Dickensian fantasy.
Same with Kirk - wouldn’t he rather imagine being young and back on the Enterprise, instead of getting back to 1 random old flame?
Yup, Kirk’s fantasy didn’t quite ring true, either. He never ever struck me as a horse and scrambled egg loving kind of country guy (Pike, on the other hand, yes—in fact Kirk’s fantasy seemed almost like a recreation of Pike’s ideal life in “The Cage”). So much about Generations felt inorganic—indeed, the entire film was based on studio mandates and the plot and characterisation felt manufactured to conform to those mandates. In some ways it’s a bit of a Frankenstein film, cooked up in a laboratory and not quite a living, breathing, organic entity. Maybe that’s why I felt so unmoved by it all.
That might explain why it was so easy for Kirk and Picard to leave the Nexus.
I wonder if that was influenced as much by Shatner's own interests but also Star Trek V and the camping scene?
I think part of the whole Nexus sequence is about the paths not taken by Picard and Kirk that has them experiencing some regrets.
After the death of his brother and nephew Captain Picard is wondering about whether he should have had a family. Did he miss something by sacrificing that for his career? That's fresh on his mind when he enters the Nexus so that was his little slice of heaven.
For Captain Kirk he wonders if he had chosen to remain with Antonia instead of returning to Starfleet would things have been different. On the Enterprise-B he is experiencing some sense of loss. His career is coming to a close and he has nothing to really return home to now. What if he made different choices? That's fresh on his mind when he goes into the Nexus.
The Nexus gives them what they want at that moment, and at that moment that is what Picard and Kirk are thinking about.
I've heard elsewhere that the Kirk's horseback interest in GEN did come from Shatner's real-life interest.
Though I don't think that makes it especially unlikely that Kirk could have had such an interest over the years. We really don't see much of the man's personal life outside of Starfleet through the course of the series and movies. His "fondness for antiques" in TWOK, with all those old pistols and nautical stuff in his apartment, could possibly look like it came out of left field just because that was the first time we ever saw that aspect of Kirk's character. In fact, a memo from de Forest Research during the production of TWOK pointed out that Kirk had never collected antiques (source: an antique post made by @Harvey).
Kor
Though I don't think that makes it especially unlikely that Kirk could have had such an interest over the years. We really don't see much of the man's personal life outside of Starfleet through the course of the series and movies. His "fondness for antiques" in TWOK, with all those old pistols and nautical stuff in his apartment, could possibly look like it came out of left field just because that was the first time we ever saw that aspect of Kirk's character. In fact, a memo from de Forest Research during the production of TWOK pointed out that Kirk had never collected antiques (source: an antique post made by @Harvey).
Kor
Either deep down in his psyche he really wanted a family but projected a mental wall and pushed it off - due to being uncomfortable around children for a myriad of personal reasons (not being a good father, dedication to duty, mistaking fish stew as chocolate pudding, etc)... or the scene is supposed to cue the audience (as if it's needed) that Picard is in fantasyland and he has to realize it. I believe the former as it's otherwise too ease a means for Picard to see he's in a dream. (Then again, given that he doesn't say "Oi, Nexus, can you hear me Mr Nexus, I want out of here and plop me to where just before my part in the movie began" and prevent the thing instead of letting his beloeved ship and rare Curly Axnos stone pickle jar thing get crumbled...)
... and given the sheer number of kids, methinks he was watching too many Brady Bunch episodes during his off hours too...
Picard is pretty good with his nephew in "Family". Maybe it's just children he's not related to that he doesn't like.
If I'm being kind to the movie, I'd say maybe Picard's imaginary world was too strongly influenced by his state of mind. He just lost his family, so here he has multiple children. His pain is in the present, so his imagination is set in some kind of dream-like past. And because this is all based on temporary emotions, he can more strongly sense that it's "not right" and doesn't want it. He does not want John Connor and Cindy Brady as his kids, so he skedaddles.
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