Great acting moments in TNG
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The episode where the judges daughter comes aboard to investigate a possible Romulan sabature and the investigation becomes a witch hunt. Good performances throughout that episode.
The episode where Picard returns home after being abducted by the Borg.
Picard being interrogated by the Cardassian when he, the Doctor, and Worf were on the secret mission.
Data reciting a poem about his cat.
The episode where Picard returns home after being abducted by the Borg.
Picard being interrogated by the Cardassian when he, the Doctor, and Worf were on the secret mission.
Data reciting a poem about his cat.
Picard is moving. He is nearly hyperventilating.
Stewart directed: note camera slow reveal for emphasis (he also directed Hero Worship, cited above.)
Reminiscent of Stewart's wordless Karla scene with Alec Guiness in Tinker Tailor.
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Picard (On the show) was never really a temper loser though, at least not with his crew. Barring his screaming at Riker while influenced by Sarek's emotional effect, the closest he's ever gotten was while dressing down Wesley in First Duty, or when he quickly snaps at Guinan about Hugh the BorgLikewise, you get the sense from Stewart that if Riker stayed in the room just one iota longer, Riker would become Picard's unpleasant sounding board, with yells of anger strong enough to trigger the shieldsIf I were Riker, I'd want to get out of there ASAP to prevent that from happening, too.
I never really got that impression from Picard. More likely it would be the kind of response he gave Worf, after Worf refused to aid the dying Romulan in The Enemy. He probably would have just dismissed him, which is probably why Riker just left. It was clearly time to dismiss himself, & he knew the captain well enough to have figured that out ahead of time, without being told so
I look at it this way: if you're *really, REALLY* angry and seething about something (and Ro's actions definitely qualify), you're pretty likely going to yell at the person closest to you in order to vent, regardless of whether that person has anything to do with it or not. Leaders are only human, after all. Everyone was pretty intimidated by Picard in the first season, so it's best not to chance being that one person.
Yeah, Riker knew it was time to dismiss himself (and like I said, he's not only innocent, he also tried to be a good guy about it), but what if he stayed just a bit longer? Boom goes the dynamite
Any anger he expresses is always precise, & measured, & never indiscriminate. That's his whole character
Picard (On the show) was never really a temper loser though, at least not with his crew. Barring his screaming at Riker while influenced by Sarek's emotional effect, the closest he's ever gotten was while dressing down Wesley in First Duty, or when he quickly snaps at Guinan about Hugh the Borg
I look at it this way: if you're *really, REALLY* angry and seething about something (and Ro's actions definitely qualify), you're pretty likely going to yell at the person closest to you in order to vent, regardless of whether that person has anything to do with it or not. Leaders are only human, after all. Everyone was pretty intimidated by Picard in the first season, so it's best not to chance being that one person.
Yeah, Riker knew it was time to dismiss himself (and like I said, he's not only innocent, he also tried to be a good guy about it), but what if he stayed just a bit longer? Boom goes the dynamite
Any anger he expresses is always precise, & measured, & never indiscriminate. That's his whole character
Except famously in First Contact (as you say, that's not on the show, yet follow me here). But that's the whole point of that scene -- that he's so careful and measured that he never allows himself to let loose. And when he does there, he sides with Lily, the woman who just had a rather fierce exchange with him. It's also the same in Family when he just about has it with his brother Robert, which ends up in an uncharacteristically emotionally-charged physical altercation. Compare that, say, to the way he sternly rebukes Worf when the latter asks to be reassigned away from a group of Klingons, and Picard is definitely not a man you want to piss off in any way. Controlled? Sure. Intense? You bet. But this is isn't about habit, this is about those extreme circumstances that cause one to break habit.
As routine as humans can be, we've got to be allowed to let loose occasionally. Some of the best moments in Trek come from when our heroes act in ways we wouldn't expect, which is especially true of Picard -- when it came to saving Vash, defending Lwaxana, or dissing the Sheliak. We shouldn't take the crew for granted as strict archetypes, the "whole character" isn't just that. Picard's allowed to have moments of extreme anger, just like anyone else. But if Picard is always so careful and controlled, if he blows his top then you know something incredibly bad just happened.
Name any Trek main player and what their "whole character" is, and there are probably a half dozen examples of that person contradicting their "whole character," intentionally done by the writers, and done so only because it's rare and it magnifies the situation. Data's emotionless? Give him emotions in a few episodes (or make him a hologram capable of emotions). Worf is a brave warrior? Make him cower a couple times. Spock is a being of logic? Make him an emotional wreck. etc. etc, but make sure the events are so infrequent that they still have resonance. It's the same deal with Picard -- have him so reasoned and stoic 99% of the time that when he does get intensely angry, you know shit has hit the fan. It's about the exception that makes him the rule.
Anyone who is literally never a "temper loser" is in reality a ticking time bomb. For Picard this happens once in a blue moon, but when it happens, it's rather big, as his brother Robert and Lily have learned. But each time Picard allows himself to blow up, it tends to be rather therapeutic and beneficial for him, too -- his fight with Robert ended because they both burst out laughing at AND with each other and ultimately reconciled, and he ended up agreeing with Lily about saving the crew. Both times, the emotional release was needed for his mental clarity.
Precisely, hence the uniqueness of the Preemptive Strike conclusion, where he does look barely able to contain his (natural, unforced) emotions.
The reason for his devastation, I hypothesize, is that in other situations, no matter how infuriating, Picard is angry or disappointed in others.
Here, by contrast, he was partly angry at himself. He had been projecting onto Ro his own obsessive passion for Starfleet, but should have known, given her background, that he was placing her in an untenable position. And doing it by absurd threats, as he had earlier - he badly misplayed the strategy and tactics there, and he knew it. Threatening Ro with court-martial to win loyalty?
Picard isn't angry at Ro, he is angry at (and disappointed in) himself. People get angriest when they are really angry at themselves.
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Well, for once you said something with fewer words than me
But yes, I definitely agree with your post and your hypothesis as well, something I hadn't considered with my post. Good points.
I should have been more clear. When I said it's his whole character, I didn't really mean the whole Picard character on the show per say. I really sort of meant Picard's whole character as captain, order & control. As captain of the ship he willfully fits himself to proper "Character", & that character is such that he almost never loses control of his temper with his crew
With his family, I discount that, especially under the circumstances of his recovery, & the reason I qualified myself by speaking about him on the show as opposed to the movies, is because I believe they have done a real hatchet job on the character in the movies, such that it's almost incomparable
On a personal level he shows much range of emotion that he does not allow himself as captain. As the captain however, he really reigns it in, & my overall point is that it would be very unlikely that he'd indiscriminately target the nearest person in the room with any anger with himself over Ro Laren. It is highly likely that he'd just clear the room, & brood. that's really how he does things in his role as captain
With his family, I discount that, especially under the circumstances of his recovery, & the reason I qualified myself by speaking about him on the show as opposed to the movies, is because I believe they have done a real hatchet job on the character in the movies, such that it's almost incomparable
On a personal level he shows much range of emotion that he does not allow himself as captain. As the captain however, he really reigns it in, & my overall point is that it would be very unlikely that he'd indiscriminately target the nearest person in the room with any anger with himself over Ro Laren. It is highly likely that he'd just clear the room, & brood. that's really how he does things in his role as captain
But again, you're talking about consistency, and we're talking about extreme circumstances about a very specific episode. The recovery process from the Borg for him is unique, so it's going to trigger a unique response. Visiting his family is unique (we get one episode of his family, and his personal subplot in Generations highlights his regret over not spending more time with them). Getting a second chance to fight the Collective is unique. If he spends 170 episodes being the Captain Picard that we take for granted, that means there's 6 where he's decidedly not his usual self (I'm sure there are more episodes than that).
If you say unlikely, rather than absolutely, that still means there's still a bit of space for him to lose it. We've seen him act calm and collected 99% of the time. It's the chance that that 1%, the "unlikely," as you call it, that makes the end of Preemptive Strike that much more powerful. Picard took a gamble and lost. Picard trusted someone very dearly, and she failed him. How often does either of that happen to him? If those things happened to him on a more frequent basis, then the last scene as it played out would have a much reduced impact. MY overall point is that him getting ferociously angry would be an extraordinary, but possible, event. Imagine how much anger and frustration it would take to make him blow his gasket. You're treating my point as if I'm saying it's a regular thing for him. The consistency of his stability highlights the very few times when he's unstable.
I honestly don't think Picard is a man you can take for granted. He's a brilliant military man, who's also a brilliant diplomat. He can blow things up, but also discover the origins of civilization. He knows Latin and pulp fiction cosplay. He can fearlessly lead entire fleets into battle but is too shy tell his crew that he has a girlfriend. He can face down gods but is insecure when he's around archaeologists. He is large, he contains multitudes, and he doesn't just stick to what the writers' bible says. As stated before, some of the best moments in TNG come from him purposely not acting like his usual self.
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The last scene with Data and Troy in Tin Man.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. For me, with Stewart hardly moving, there's nothing there to read.
I am not sure what you disagree with specifically. Which of the following assertions do you disagree with?
(1) Picard was breathing deeply at end of scene. His chest was visibly respiring - rising and falling - farther than usual.
(2) Picard was breathing faster than normal (at end of scene);
(3) Picard's jaw was tightly clenched (left rear jaw, seen at beginning of shot);
(4) Picard would have no reason to be rapidly, heavily breathing, with a clenched jaw and immobile facial expression, unless he were likely experiencing powerful emotions and attempting to control them.
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The battle of wills in The Chain of Command.
In the end Picard nailed it, when he said defiantly, "There-are- F.O.U.R lights!"
In the end Picard nailed it, when he said defiantly, "There-are- F.O.U.R lights!"
On a more humorous note: I always enjoyed the acting in the Ferengi episode Menage a Troi in which Picard must overact like a jealous ex-lover to get Troi's mother back from an obsessive Ferengi daimon.
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