Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Starfleet officer in the fictional Star Trek universe. He is the main character of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the four Star Trek films that followed, in which he commands first the USS Enterprise-D and, later, the USS Enterprise-E. He was played by English actor Patrick Stewart.
The character was devised by series creator Gene Roddenberry and named after Dr. Jean Piccard, a Swiss scientist and high-altitude balloonist.
Overview
Jean-Luc Picard was born in Labarre, France, Earth on July 13, 2305 to Maurice and Yvette Gessard Picard. By 2366, both of his parents were deceased. His brother, Robert, and nephew, René, were his only remaining biological family, but they were killed in a fire in 2371 (Star Trek: Generations).
As a child, he yearned for adventure and caused "quite a stir" by leaving his family's generational vineyard and applying to Starfleet Academy. Picard failed his first entrance exam into Starfleet Academy, but was subsequently admitted. Be became the first freshman to win the Academy marathon at Delulin II. Picard graduated in 2327.
Shortly after his graduation, Picard briefly stayed at Starbase Earhart in 2328, waiting for his assigned ship to arrive. While there, he was stabbed in the heart by one of the three Nausicaans with whom he helped start a fight at the Bonestell Recreation Center. The damage to his heart was irreparable and required replacement with a parthenogenetic implant. This prosthesis is later replaced twice: in 2365 because of defects in the originally installed model ("Samaritan Snare") and in 2369 because of damage sustained when Picard is shot in the chest point-blank with a Lenarian compressed tetryon beam weapon ("Tapestry"). This was a turning point for the young Picard, forcing him to realize that his arrogance was the main reason he was nearly killed.
Picard served as first officer aboard the USS Stargazer (NCC-2893) in 2333 and became commanding officer upon the death of his captain in battle. For the next 22 years, Picard commanded the Stargazer on a mission of exploration.
During his command of the Stargazer, Captain Picard won the 2355 Battle of Maxia against a Ferengi starship. During this battle, Picard devised a new tactic that later became known as the "Picard maneuver", which resulted in the loss of the Ferengi vessel with all hands. However, the Stargazer suffered irreparable damage during the battle and had to be abandoned (The Battle"). Per standard procedure, Picard was court-martialed for the Stargazer's loss, but was exonerated ("The Measure of a Man").
Throughout his service, Picard often enjoyed "Earl Grey tea" when he found a moment to relax, reflect, or study. Picard was somewhat of a "Renaissance man", having diverse interests, including classic literature, archaeology, physics, fencing, and horseback riding.
A fan of Berlioz, among other composers, Picard's interest in music was evident through his playing of a Ressikan flute. He learned to play the instrument while interfaced with a space probe, which suddenly infused him with the life-experiece and memories of an alien man and his civilization, long since destroyed ("The Inner Light"). On occasion, he practiced this flute with the ship's computer. His love of music and theatre, particularly Shakespeare, was shown throughout the series by his tutelage of android Data, instructing Data how to "feel" through such works, and evoke the right human response.
As a senior officer, Picard was a mentor for numerous characters, particularly Data. Picard also shepherded child prodigy Wesley Crusher - the son of colleague Dr. Beverly Crusher, and Picard's best friend, Lt. Commander Jack Crusher who was killed in 2354 while serving with Picard aboard the Stargazer. Picard field promoted Wesley to Ensign in "Where No One Has Gone Before".
Picard and Beverly Crusher
After Jack Crusher's death, Picard and Dr. Crusher grew to become very good friends. Simultaneously, there was always a hint of romantic attraction between the two. Their affection, however, was never admitted until a psi-wave device, which allowed them to sense each other's thoughts, was implanted in the two by an the Prytt of Kesprytt, in the episode "Attached".
Also, in one of Q's timelines in the final episode "All Good Things...", Picard had married and divorced Crusher, who had been promoted to Captain of a medical ship. She retained his name, which led to a moment of confusion when "Captain Picard" was addressed on the bridge of Beverly Picard's starship.
Dixon Hill
One of Picard's favourite holodeck programs is that of metafictional detective Dixon Hill, who seemed to be an homage to fictional detectives Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade.
The adventures of "Dixon Hill" took place in the holodeck-version of 1940s San Francisco, and was a welcome diversion for Picard, who first played the program alone. But later, Data, Beverly Crusher and others were interested, and soon joined in as friends of Dixon Hill. The world of Dixon Hill contained many regular characters that only existed within the holodeck scenario, including the criminal bosses "Cyrus Redblock" and "Nicky the Nose".
It was thought by some fans that the character of Dixon Hill was an attempt to re-use the themes of the original Star Trek episode "A Piece of the Action". The Star Trek novel "A Hard Rain" takes place almost completely in Dixon Hill's world, with only brief interludes taking place in the "real" world of Star Trek. If not for certain oddities (such as dead people coming back to life), the novel reads pretty much like a normal detective novel.
Dixon Hill novels:
- "The Big Goodbye"
- "The Long Dark Tunnel"
- "The Parrot's Claw"
During the events of "Star Trek: First Contact", Picard used a holodeck simulation of a Dixon Hill story ("The Big Goodbye", chapters 12 and 13) to confound and kill pursuing Borg drones with gunfire from a Tommy Gun: this weapon had the ability to kill the Borg only because Picard turned off the holodeck safety protocols.
Command of the Enterprise-D
Picard was given command of the new Galaxy class starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), on stardate 41124 (14 February 2364).
On her first mission, Picard was inadvertently called upon as a "representative" for the human race to stand trial before the enigmatic "Q". Picard eventually persuaded Q to give humanity a test, and this was left as is (in the series premier "Encounter at Farpoint"). The "test" ended nearly seven years later on stardate 47988 (26 December 2370), when Q staged another trial. Picard duly passed the test and humanity was saved (series finale "All Good Things...").
In 2365, Q facilitated Starfleet's first formal contact with the Borg. After Q hurled the Enterprise-D some 7,000 light-years away, Picard and crew encountered a single, immense Borg cube ship in the nearby J-25 Solar System. The Enterprise was vastly outmatched, fled, and was only spared when Picard pleaded with Q to return them to Federation space ("Q Who?").
The following year, Picard was asked by Chancellor K'mpec of the Klingon Empire to serve as an impartial Arbiter of Succession in the transfer of power upon K'mpec's imminent death, which was known to be caused by poison. Soon afterwards, Picard scrutinized two challengers: Duras and Gowron. During the succession process, which occurred on the Enterprise-D, Duras killed Klingon Ambassador K'Ehleyr, the mate of Security Officer Lt. Worf; in turn Worf later killed Duras ("Reunion").
In late December 2366 - early January 2367 (circa stardate 43989.1), Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D engaged a single Borg cube headed straight for Earth. During these engagements, Picard was abducted and assimilated by the Borg. Designated "Locutus of Borg" (Latin for "he who has spoken"), he was used as a representative for the Borg in its attempt to force Earth's unconditional surrender and as a prelude to assimilating it and the entire Federation.
Picard's assimilation provided the Borg access to all of his experience and knowledge, including that of Federation and Starfleet tactics and technology. This led to the overwhelming Borg victory in the Battle of Wolf 359 where a flotilla of thirty-nine Starfleet starships assembled to halt the Borg advance. On the other hand, after Locutus was captured by Cmdr. William Riker (field promoted to Capt.), then effectively unassimilated by Dr. Beverly Crusher and Lt. Commander. Data, Locutus' link to the 'hive mind' allowed the Enterprise crew to command the invading Borg to enter into a regenerative state. This caused an overload of the cube's power systems and resulted in its self-destruction in Earth orbit ("The Best of Both Worlds").
After the Borg incident, while the Enterprise-D underwent extensive repairs at Earth Station McKinley for damage it had sustained during the incursion, Captain Picard rehabilitated and took time to visit his family in France ("Family"). His assimilation and time spent in the collective was revealed to have had a profoundly disturbing effect on his life; and as a result of relaying these traumatic memories, Picard was able to partially reconcile long-simmering differences with his brother, Robert.
Later, during a covert mission against the Cardassians in 2369, Picard was captured and held hostage for questioning on Federation military secrets. During this time, Captain Edward Jellico was placed in command of the Enterprise-D. Captain Picard was later rescued and restored as the ship's commanding officer ("Chain of Command").
Picard nearly died when he was attacked at a diplomatic conference. His artificial heart was damaged in the attack and was afterward replaced again.[1] For a few minutes, Picard hovered between life and death. Q apparently came to him in this state and offered to let him change the mistake that resulted in his needing an artificial heart. He took Q up on that offer, but came to regret that mistake when he realized that the event had been such a turning point in his life that it shaped everything that he had done during his career. Picard was shown an existence where his career had gone nowhere and was unlikely to do so. When Picard told Q that he would rather die than live that life, Q released him ("Tapestry").
Star Trek: Generations
Circa stardate 48650.1 (25 August 2371), the Enterprise-D was pulled into an elaborate scheme hatched by Dr. Tolian Soran. He wanted to return to a spatial anomaly known as the Nexus and was prepared to go to any lengths to achieve this. He led the Enterprise on a chase, culminating on Veridian III, where he was confronted by Captain Picard. Soran intended to disrupt Veridian's stellar core and cause it to explode, altering the region's gravity and thus the Nexus' course by bringing it to Soran on Veridian III. Soran did not care that his actions would destroy the entire Veridian system including the inhabited planet Veridian IV.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise-D was involved in a battle with a Klingon Bird of Prey commanded by the Duras sisters, Lursa and Betor. The Bird of Prey was destroyed but not before causing a warp core breach on the Enterprise. Riker ordered an emergency saucer separation: the saucer section of the ship crash-landed on Veridian III and the stardrive section was destroyed in space. Shortly afterward, the temporal Nexus took Captain Picard and Soran, while the stellar shock wave destroyed the planets, including all the inhabitants of Veridian IV and the entire crew of the Enterprise-D on Veridian III.
By entering the Nexus, Picard found himself in an alternate reality in which all his wishes were fulfilled: one of which was to have a family. After being informed of his new situation by Guinan, Picard chose to enter another dimension of the Nexus where he found legendary Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk, who had himself entered the Nexus while onboard the Enterprise-B's maiden voyage. There, both he and Kirk decided to return back in time to stop Soran and prevent the Nexus from destroying the Veridian system. Kirk was killed in the final confrontation but Picard managed to avert the Nexus' diversion and shortly after Soran died as well.
After the surviving crew of the Enterprise-D was rescued, Picard was given command of the Enterprise-E, a new Sovereign class starship.
Command of the Enterprise-E
Star Trek: First Contact
On stardate 49827.5 (28 October 2372), Picard was chosen to command the new USS Enterprise-E (NCC-1701-E). Nine months after this, circa stardate 50893.5 (22 November 2373), the Borg launched another invasion of the Federation: a single Borg cube again headed straight for Earth. Because of Captain Picard's previous involvement with the Borg and his alleged emotional instability, Starfleet Command factored out the Enterprise-E as part of the task force, ordering them to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone instead. However, Captain Picard and his crew, after learning of the destruction being caused by the invading Borg, decided to engage the Borg.
During the Battle of Sector 001, Picard's residual "link" with the Borg (as a result of his prior assimilation) enabled Picard and the task force to destroy the Borg cube near Earth, thereby averting another attempt at systemic assimilation. Prior to the cube's destruction, a smaller sphere ship was released from the Borg cube, creating a temporal anomaly which sent the Borg 300 years into Earth's past, where they could more easily assimilate humanity. The Borg intended to prevent first contact, a historic event in which Zefram Cochrane tested the first warp drive and, in so doing, made contact with another alien race (the Vulcans) for the first time. The Enterprise fired on and destroyed the sphere while it fired at Bozeman, Montana.
When it was discovered that the Borg had secretly boarded the ship in an attempt to seize control and assimilate the crew, Picard personally led the fight against them. He became obsessive in his efforts. Lily Sloane - Dr. Cochrane's assistant - confronted Picard about this obsession, likening him to Captain Ahab in his self-destructive pursuit of Moby Dick, and eventually convinced him to moderate his enthusiasm for the fight. Consequently, Picard ordered his crew to abandon ship in order to self-destruct the Enterprise-E. Picard stayed on board to rescue Data, who was captured and being subverted by the Borg. Data, however, was surreptitiously playing along and did so for long enough to strike at a key moment, stopping the Borg and saving the ship.
Star Trek: Insurrection
In 2375, Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E were called into a region of space known as the Briarpatch to rescue Data, who suffered a malfunction while on a mission secretly observing an apparently technologically undeveloped culture. While visiting the planet he was working on, the crew discovered a plot to relocate the planet's inhabitants in order to supplant them with a new race. Furthermore, the planet had properties that caused greatly slowed aging and rejuvenation in the inhabitants. This new race, the Son'a, were interested in the Ba'ku planet because of the metagenic healing properties of the rings around the planet which had the effect of reversing age, as seen on some Enterprise crew members. During this mission, Picard fell in love with a local inhabitant, and this further strengthened his resolve to stop the Ba'ku from being relocated.
Star Trek: Nemesis
Circa stardate 56844.9 in 2379, Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E were ordered by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway to the Romulan Neutral Zone to investigate peace overtures from the Romulan Senate. Upon arrival, they discovered that Shinzon, a Reman, had gained control of the Romulan Senate and became the new praetor.
After further meetings with Praetor Shinzon, it was discovered he was a clone of Picard, created to replace him and recover information about Starfleet. Owing to the unstable nature of Romulan internal politics, this plot never came to fruition. Even though he was a clone, Shinzon was missing some vital parts of his DNA that he needed from Captain Picard and it was emphasized that the same "noble Picard blood" flowed through him, but he walked a different path. On top of this, he had a plan for domination of the quadrant using his advanced warship, the Scimitar, and its superweapon. Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise stopped this from happening but suffered severe damage and crew losses, most notably Data who sacrificed himself to save Picard and destroy the Scimitar.
The Enterprise-E was later towed to Earth dry-dock. After extensive salvage and reconstruction, Picard resumed command of the Federation flagship, now manned by a mixture of familiar faces and new recruits, continuing its exploratory mission by way of the previously-untravelled Denab system.
Key Episodes
Episodes in which Picard's character is expanded or takes a key role:
- "Encounter at Farpoint" - pilot episode; beginning of long-standing rivalry with Q
- "Coming of Age" - declines promotion to head of Starfleet Academy; reveals he failed his first attempt at the Starfleet entrance exam
- "Conspiracy" - uncovers conspiracy in Starfleet
- "The Measure of a Man" - defends Data's rights as a sentient being
- "Samaritan Snare" - has a heart operation; reveales he has a prosthetic heart
- "Sarek" - mind-melds with Sarek
- "The Best of Both Worlds" - abducted and assimilated by the Borg, beccoming 'Locutus of Borg' until rescued
- "Family" - seeks rest after Borg ordeal, resolves issues he has with his brother
- "Unification" - meets (and mind-melds with) Spock on Romulus
- "The Inner Light" - relives the life of a man on an extinct world
- "Rascals" - turned into a child due to transporter malfunction
- "Chain of Command" - captured and tortured by Cardassians
- "Tapestry" - Q shows Picard's alternate life with different personal choices
- "Lessons" - falls in love with subordinate
- "The Chase" - discovers common DNA heritage among different humanoid species
- "Gambit" - poses as mercenary, discovers destructive Vulcan artifact
- "Bloodlines" - discovers possible son
- "Attached" - abducted by aliens with Dr. Crusher; both altered mentally and share intimate thoughts
- "All Good Things..." - saves humanity from disappearing
- Star Trek: Generations - meets Kirk in temporal nexus
- Star Trek: First Contact - encounters Borg Queen
- Star Trek: Insurrection - challenges Federation authority in forced relocation
- Star Trek: Nemesis - meets and kills diabolical clone, Shinzon
Quotations
Picard: "Shut up, Wesley!" - "Datalore".
Data: Her name is Sarjenka. We have been in regular communication...
Picard: (cutting him off) Data, her species is aware that there is interstellar life?
Data: No, sir.
Picard: (long pause) Oops...
-- Upon realizing the ship has violated the Prime Directive in "Pen Pals".
Picard: "We may not survive, but we must succeed! Let us make sure that history never forgets... the name... Enterprise"
– Picard, before engaging in a hopeless battle with Klingon ships in "Yesterday's Enterprise".
Picard (as Locutus): "I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service us."
– Picard to Riker after being assimilated by the Borg in "The Best of Both Worlds".
Picard: "There... are...four... lights!"
– Picard's final retort to Madred after being released from Cardassian captivity in "Chain of Command: Part II", asserting that he could not be subjugated.
Picard: We have journeyed to countless new worlds... made contact with new species... we have expanded our understanding of the universe...
Q: In your own paltry, limited way. You have no idea how far you still have to go.
Picard: We are what we are, Q -- and we're doing the best we can. It's not for you to set the standard by which we're judged.
...
Picard: We're to be denied travel through space?
Q: No, you obtuse piece of flotsam. You are to be denied existence. Humanity's fate has been sealed — you will be destroyed.
Picard: Q, I do not believe even you are capable of such an act...
-- Picard defending his race against the Q Continuum's trial of humanity, "All Good Things...".
Trivia
The rock band The Refreshments had a minor hit, "Banditos", on their album Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy. The chorus of the song refers to Picard. The lyrics are:
- So give your ID card to the border guard
- Your alias says you're Captain Jean-Luc Picard
- Of the United Federation of Planets
- 'Cause they won't speak English anyways
In 2003, the artist Darkmateria released "The Picard Song" [1], a string of Picard and TNG quotes, set to a techno beat in a manner to sound as if Picard is rapping. The song spread across the web very quickly, also spawning several parodies and tributes, the most famous one being on YTMND. Also based on the song is a Flash animation created by Jeremy Lokken. A more recent (released September 07, 2005) innovation of the song is a Machinima film created in the popular computer game The Sims 2 by Brian Castro. [2]
Notes
See also
External links
- Biography of Jean-Luc Picard at the official Star Trek website
- Jean-Luc Picard at Memory Alpha
- Source for various images of Jean-Luc Picard on Ex Astris Scientia website