Picard's Finest Moment

[Anji]

Being raised on TOS it was very difficult for me to get used to a new captain of the Enterprise. As a matter of fact, I resisted it until friends told me I must watch TNG. I wasn't sure whether this new captain had what it took to be the captain of THE Enterprise.

What was the moment for you, when you saw Picard do or say something and you thought, "Yeah, he's the Captain." What was Picard's finest moment?

 

[Pseudo]

Simple.

Klingon: Federation Ship Enterprise. Surrender and prepare to be boarded.

His Bridge on fire and his crew dead, Picard leaps over the Tactical Console in one final act of courageous defiance.

Picard: That'll be the day.

 

[Admiral Shran]

That's easy for me too....

Picard: "What shall it be, Tomalak?"
Tomalak: "You will still not survive our assault."
Picard: "And you will not survive ours, shall we die together?"
Tomalak: "I look forward to our next meeting, captain."

 

[Red Ranger]

The first ep, when he says to Q, "No. The same old story is the one we're seeing now. Self-righteous life forms eager, not to learn, but to prosecute, to judge, whatever they don't understand or can't tolerate!"

From the get-go, he was the captain of the Enterprise, as far as I was concerned. As for other finest moments, I'd say his best one was in Chain of Command, Pt. II, when he defiantly shouts to Gul Madred, "THERE . . . ARE . . . FOUR . . . LIGHTS!"

 

[RyuRoots]

Picard has way too many awesome moments to pin one as his finest.

All of the above posted so far were excellent. Picard's statement to Satie and his quiet talk with Worf at the very end in The Drumhead were great too, I think.

 

[Anwar]

Oh of my favorites was how he turned the tables on the contract-obsessed Sheliak, then when they called back to say "Uh, we're willing to negotiate" he put them on hold for one minute while he did nothing but walk around and clear dust off the ENT-D's inaugural plaque.

 

[trevanian]

Simple.

Klingon: Federation Ship Enterprise. Surrender and prepare to be boarded.

His Bridge on fire and his crew dead, Picard leaps over the Tactical Console in one final act of courageous defiance.

Picard: That'll be the day.

Agreed on that choice ... too bad that was in an alternate universe, one I'd have preferred to have been watching.

With that one out of the equation, it has to be when he concedes to Q in Q WHO -- the one Picard moment that has a bit of Kirk in ERRAND OF MERCY or McCoy in ARENA where the principal has to question what he just plain-out accepts, and seems like he might grow from the experience. But with Picard, he never reaches that level of awareness again for me.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

Simple.

Klingon: Federation Ship Enterprise. Surrender and prepare to be boarded.

His Bridge on fire and his crew dead, Picard leaps over the Tactical Console in one final act of courageous defiance.

Picard: That'll be the day.

That is an excellent moment, one of my absolute favorites. However, as stated above that is an alternate time line.

That's easy for me too....

Picard: "What shall it be, Tomalak?"
Tomalak: "You will still not survive our assault."
Picard: "And you will not survive ours, shall we die together?"
Tomalak: "I look forward to our next meeting, captain."

This is the one that gets my vote. I absolutely love that scene! This is one of those moments where our erudite captain shows he is quite capable of being completely badass when he needs to be.

Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

[Pseudo]

Agreed on that choice ... too bad that was in an alternate universe, one I'd have preferred to have been watching.

That is an excellent moment, one of my absolute favorites. However, as stated above that is an alternate time line.

Wow, you folks are being picky! I just thought that it was a moment in the show, not in the Next Gen time-line. Which by the way is now also a redundant alternate universe after the events of Star Trek XI, but we'll let that slide.

In which case it's a toss up between:

Jean-Luc Picard: There...are...four...lights!

Jean-Luc Picard: You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy. "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged.

Guinan: Consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do, because it's too difficult and too hazardous. With an army of Datas, all disposable, you don't have to think about their welfare, or you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.
Jean-Luc Picard: You're talking about slavery.
Guinan: I think that's a little harsh.
Jean-Luc Picard: I don't think that's a little harsh, I think that's the truth. That's the truth that we have obscured behind...a comfortable, easy euphemism. 'Property.' But that's not the issue at all, is it?

See what you've done. You've went and made my nice easy choice complex!

 

[Whoa Nellie]

Wow, you folks are being picky!

I represent that remark.

Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

[Too Much Fun]

Some great ones mentioned so far. I love the one in "Ensigns of Command" too. Maybe the moment when I was most impressed with him is when he lays the verbal smackdown on Maddox in "The Measure of the Man". I love when he stands up to people. What's that episode where he swears at a klingon and the klingon says "You swear well, Picard. You must have klingon blood!"?

 

[SRFX]

THE FIRST DUTY OF EVERY STARFLEET OFFICER IS TO THE TRUTH! WHETHER IT BE SCIENTIFIC PROOF, HISTORICAL TRUTH OR PERSONAL TRUTH. IT IS THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE ON WHICH STARFLEET IS BASED. AND IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT WITHIN YOURSELF MR. CRUSHER TO STAND UP AND TELL THE TRUTH...YOU DON'T DESERVE TO WEAR THAT UNIFORM.

(May be paraphrasing a bit as the memory of The Picard Song is more vivid in my memory than the episode, The First Duty).

This scene is a double whammy because not only is Picard kicking verbal ass, Wesley is getting chewed out like a bitch.

 

[Admiral Shran]

What's that episode where he swears at a klingon and the klingon says "You swear well, Picard. You must have klingon blood!"?

I believe it's "The Mind's Eye."

 

[Red Ranger]

THE FIRST DUTY OF EVERY STARFLEET OFFICER IS TO THE TRUTH! WHETHER IT BE SCIENTIFIC PROOF, HISTORICAL TRUTH OR PERSONAL TRUTH. IT IS THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE ON WHICH STARFLEET IS BASED. AND IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT WITHIN YOURSELF MR. CRUSHER TO STAND UP AND TELL THE TRUTH...YOU DON'T DESERVE TO WEAR THAT UNIFORM.

(May be paraphrasing a bit as the memory of The Picard Song is more vivid in my memory than the episode, The First Duty).

This scene is a double whammy because not only is Picard kicking verbal ass, Wesley is getting chewed out like a bitch.

Yep, it's the best Wesley smack-down. My other favorite Picard chew-out was when he questioned Riker in The Pegasus about what really happened on that ship. Riker says he has to take it up with Admiral Pressman, and Picard yells, "I'm taking it up with you, Will!" Riker then tells him Pressman has ordered him not to discuss it even with Picard. Picard says he has to trust Riker but then adds that if he discovers his trust is misplaced, "then I shall have to reevaluate the command structure of this ship. Dismissed!" In other words, I'll fire you as first officer! Good moment, and a rare sense of tension between the two.

 

[SRFX]

I really wish there'd been more tension between Picard and Riker. It's one of the things that appealed to me about early Voyager.

Although they eventually toned Chakotay down into a cardboard yes-man, so that didn't really last.

 

[Tom Riley]

The Picard Song

YES. I sang that part in my head as I read it.


I'd have to decide between the Sheliak one, and the aforementioned incident with Tomolak, what was that from, The Defector?

 

[Admiral Shran]

The Picard Song

YES. I sang that part in my head as I read it.


I'd have to decide between the Sheliak one, and the aforementioned incident with Tomolak, what was that from, The Defector?

"The Defector," correct.

 

[sbk1234]

I think it was Farpoint, when he tells Q "Get off my ship!"

 

[tomalak301]

Given she recently passed away, I've been having The Drumhead on my mind lately. The scene where Satie says, "I've brought down bigger men then you Picard" and then he so calmly knocks her down several notches. It's just one of those diplomatic don't mess with Picard moments that makes him such a great character.

 

[SilentP]

I don't know if we're counting the TNG movies, but having recently watched part of Insurrection, I was struck by this line:

How many people does it take before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people DOES IT TAKE, admiral?

The whole verbal beatdown he gives the admiral here is pretty cool to watch. The way his voice becomes louder, angrier and more accusing as he raises the hypothetical number was well delivered I thought.