Jean-Luc Picard

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Star Trek character
Image:Picard1.jpg
Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard
Race Human
Gender Male
Hair color Grey (balding)
Eye color Bluish-brownish Grey
Current rank Captain
Home planet Earth
Affiliation Starfleet
Portrayed by Patrick Stewart

Jean-Luc Picard is a character in the Star Trek fictional universe, the captain of the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Enterprise-E. He was played by British actor Patrick Stewart in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and resulting films. The character was devised by Gene Roddenberry and named after Dr. Jean Piccard, a Swiss scientist and high-altitude balloonist. While there is no official source of the name Picard, the character makes occasional allusions to his "famous ancestors" — presumably Jean, Auguste, and Jacques Piccard.

Contents

Life before command of the Enterprise-D

Jean-Luc Picard was born in La Barre, France, Earth on July 13, 2305 to Maurice and Yvette Gessard Picard. As a child, he dreamed of adventure and exploration and caused "quite a stir" by leaving his family's generational vineyard and applying to Starfleet Academy. As of 2379, both of his parents are deceased. His brother, Robert, and nephew, René, were his only remaining family and were killed in a fire in 2371. He failed his first entrance exam into Starfleet Academy, but was subsequently successful in being admitted. He graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2327 at or near the top of his class.

Shortly after his graduation, Picard briefly stayed at Starbase Earhart waiting for his assigned ship to arrive. While there, he was stabbed in the heart by one of three Nausicaans during a fight at the Bonestell Recreation Center. The damage was irreparable, and his natural heart was replaced with an artificial heart. This event became a turning point for the young Picard in which he learned 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 captain upon the death of the 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 Battle of Maxia in the Maxia Zeta system in 2355, versus an unknown combatant later found to be a Ferengi D'Kora class starship, by inventing and using a tactic known as the "Picard maneuver", which resulted in the loss of the Ferengi vessel with all hands. After the loss of the Stargazer, Captain Picard was court-martialed in 2356 but cleared of wrongdoing. (It should be noted that a court martial is standard Starfleet procedure whenever a ship is lost, as has been the tradition of navies throughout history. There may or may not have been actual criminal charges brought against Picard; the phrase 'court martial' simply refers to any formal military legal inquest.)

What Picard did during the next nine years until he took command of the Enterprise-D has mostly remained unrevealed; he may have commanded a ship or served at a space station during that time. During this period, it is certain, however, that he was further molded into the familiar accomplished diplomat and tactician of Star Trek, but with an illustrious career still ahead of him. In one episode he makes reference to an event that occurred between his Stargazer and Enterprise-D years where his ship had responded to a distress call.

Personal life and interests

When enjoying the comforts of home on the Enterprises-D and -E, Picard drank Earl Grey tea. This was obtained from the replicator with the command "Tea, Earl Grey, hot". He learned to play a Ressikan flute when interfaced with a space probe carrying the memories of a man and his civilization long after it was destroyed (TNG: "The Inner Light); on occasion, he practiced his flute with the ship's computer. Jean-Luc Picard is a highly private man with diverse intellectual interests who enjoys classic literature, archaeology, physics, fencing, horseback-riding and his scale models of various Starfleet vessels. A fan of Berlioz, among others, his musical interest is also evidenced by his instruction of Data on how to "feel" music, to evoke the right human response. His love of Shakespeare is also shown throughout the series through his sharing with Data.

Dixon Hill

Image:STManhunt.jpg
One of Picard's favourite holodeck programs is a fictionally fictional (fictional within this fictional world) detective Dixon Hill, who seems to be an homage to Sam Spade.

Dixon Hill's adventures take place in 1940s San Francisco on Earth, a welcome diversion from a life of interstellar travel. Picard first played the program alone, but later, Data, Beverly Crusher and others were interested in the program too, so they joined in as friends of Dixon Hill.

The world of Dixon Hill contains many regular characters that only exist within the holodeck scenario, including the criminal bosses Cyrus Redblock and Nicky the Nose.

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

Picard and Beverly Crusher

There had always been a hint of some kind of romantic attraction between Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher, the chief medical officer on the Enterprise-D, but it was not revealed until it was forced into the open by a device implanted in the two by an alien species that allowed them to read each other's thoughts in the episode "Attached". In one of Q's timelines in the final episode "All Good Things...", he had married and divorced Crusher, who had been promoted to Captain of a medical ship. She retained his name, which led to an amusing moment of confusion when "Captain Picard" was addressed on the bridge of Beverly Picard's starship.

Command of the Enterprise-D

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Image:Jean-Luc Picard1.jpg

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The series The Next Generation began with Picard's assumption of command of the new Galaxy class starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), Starfleet's new flagship, on stardate 41124. On her first mission, circa stardate 41153.7, Picard was called upon as a representative for the human race, to stand trial before Q. Picard eventually persuaded Q to give humanity a chance, and this was left as is (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"). Circa stardate 47988 in 2370, Q staged another trial to test Picard; Picard duly passed the test and humanity was saved (TNG: "All Good Things...").

In relation to the Battle of Maxia, Bok, a Ferengi DaiMon, later found the hull of the Stargazer, and brought it back to Picard, whom he accused for the murder of his son, who was onboard the enemy vessel. Using mind control, he subjected Picard to intense memories of the events, which led him to attack the Enterprise-D; this was prevented by Picard's crewmembers ("The Battle"). Some years later, Bok found a man, Jason Vigo, whose DNA he altered to appear as if he was Picard's son. He planned to introduce him to Picard, and then kill him, to serve as retribution for Picard having a part in his son's death. This plan was subverted when it was discovered that Jason Vigo was not actually Picard's son ("Bloodlines").

Captain Picard was captured and assimilated by the Borg circa stardate 43989.1 in 2366; his Borg designation was Locutus of Borg (Latin for "he who has spoken", as a perfect participle). He was later rescued by his first officer, Cmdr. William Riker and deassimilated by Dr. Beverly Crusher and Lt. Cmdr. Data. During Captain Picard's time with the Borg, he became a mouthpiece for that race in dealings with the Federation during their attempt to assimilate Earth (although, as was later shown in Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen had planned on making Locutus her equal). He traveled onboard the Borg cube ship that participated in the Battle of Wolf 359, where an armada of thirty-nine Starfleet starships tried in vain to stop the cube from attacking and assimilating Earth. The cube was eventually stopped when Picard was rescued, and members of the Enterprise-D crew were able to issue a command to the Borg Cube that caused it to self-destruct. After this conflict, Captain Picard took time out to visit his family in La Barre, France, while the Enterprise underwent repairs at Earth Station McKinley, for damage it had sustained during the battle (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds"). 

 His assimilation and time spent in the collective is later revealed to have had a profoundly disturbing effect on Picard's life.

Assimilation of Picard provided the Borg access to all of his experience and knowledge, including that of Federation and Starfleet tactics and technology. This was a contributing factor to the overwhelming Borg victory in the Battle of Wolf 359. On the other hand, after being rescued, Locutus' link to the 'hive-mind' allowed the Enterprise-D crew to force the invading Borg into an unnecessary regenerative mode and overload the cube, effectively causing the self-destruction of their vessel. Also, his residual 'link' with the Borg helped Picard destroy the Borg cube in the later Battle of Sector 001, thereby averting another attempt at systemic assimilation.

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. Captain Picard was later rescued and restored as captain of the Enterprise-D.

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Picard nearly died when he was attacked at a diplomatic conference. His artificial heart was damaged in the attack. 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.

At one point, Data estimated that there is only a 17% chance that Picard would be so indecisive in a crisis as to contact Starfleet for instructions.

Star Trek: Generations

Circa stardate 48650.1 in 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-D 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 D-12 class 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-D, which meant she too would be destroyed. 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 after, the temporal Nexus took Captain Picard and Soran, while the mass/gravity 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, despite his career emphasis and bachelorhood (and regrets), 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 Veridian III. 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, Picard was chosen to command the new USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E). Approximately a year after this, the Borg launched another incursion into Federation space to assimilate Earth, circa stardate 50893.5. Due to 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 – after learning of the destruction being caused by the invading Borg – and his crew decided to go and engage the Borg.

After defeating the Borg cube near Earth, a Borg sphere ship was released from that ship. This sphere created a temporal anomaly and went into Earth's past to try to assimilate the human race. Their plan to do this was to prevent first contact, a historic event in which Zefram Cochrane tested the first warp drive and in doing so made contact with another alien race (the Vulcans) for the first time.

Due to Captain Picard's and the Enterprise-E's efforts, this was not allowed to happen. Earth was not assimilated and the Enterprise-E returned to the year 2373.

Star Trek: Insurrection

In 2375, Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E were called to the rescue of 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 Bak'u planet because of the metagenic healing properties of the rings around the planet which have the effect of reversing age, as seen on some Enterprise-E crew members. During this mission, Picard fell in love with a local inhabitant, and this further strengthened his resolve to stop the Bak'u 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 (emperor).

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 ship, the Scimitar, and its superweapon. Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E 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 later returned to Earth for repairs.

A scene deleted from the final version of Nemesis shows that Picard and the Enterprise-E crew were given a new mission. With a new first officer, they set out on to explore space where no one had gone before. It also shows him sitting in a new command chair; upon discovering the new chair had seat belts, Picard replied, "About time."

Key episodes and milestones

Episodes in which Picard's character is expanded or takes a key role:

Quotes

Picard: "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!"
– Picard's introduction spoken during the opening credits of each episode.

Picard: "Make it so!"
– Picard's common utterance to crew to execute an order; various episodes.

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: "They took everything I was! They used me to kill ... and to destroy. And I couldn't stop them! I should've been able to stop them. I tried so hard!"
Robert Picard: "So my brother is a human being after all. This will be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time."
– Picard's tearful confession to his brother Robert in "Family".

Picard: "Reports of my assimilation have been greatly exaggerated."
– Picard's take on Mark Twain when emerging on the Enterprise-E bridge in Star Trek: First Contact.

Q: "It's an unknown – isn't that enough?"
Picard: "If you'd earned that uniform you're wearing, you'd know it's the unknown that brings us out here!"
– "Encounter at Farpoint"

Picard: "There are four lights!"
– Picard's final retort to Madred after being released from Cardassian captivity in "Chain of Command: Part II".

Picard: "One thing is clear: you'll never look at your hairline the same way again."
– Picard to Jason Vigo, his supposed newly-found son, in "Bloodlines".

Picard: "Dr. Fesbinder gave an hour long dissertation on the ionization of warp nacelles before he realized that the topic was supposed to be psychology."
La Forge: "Why didn't anybody tell him?"
Picard: "There was no opportunity. There was no pause. He just kept talking in one long incredibly unbroken sentence moving from topic to topic so that no one had a chance to interrupt. It was really quite hypnotic."
– A humorous scene in "Timescape".

Picard: "Shut up, Wesley!"
– Picard in "Datalore".

Picard: "You have the bridge ... Mr. Troi."
– Picard to Riker, just after his marriage to Troi is interrupted by a Starfleet mission, in Star Trek: Nemesis.

Music about Picard

Danish musician DarkMateria made a musical tribute to Captain Picard featuring sound samples of Picard over a techno beat. [1] The song became a small Internet fad which was eventually made into a YTMND that helped the site become what it is today (See YTMND's origins). In August 2005, the YTMND hit 1,000,000 views. [2] Other popular creations from this song include two popular music videos... A Flash Cartoon on rainbow animations, and another Version created with The Sims 2 and Star Trek: Bridge Commander.

The American musician Bryan Erickson, recording as Velvet Acid Christ, also recorded a song called "Futile" featuring samples of Picard, both as himself and as Locutus, and samples of the collective voice of the Borg, set to a techno-industrial track. His first recording contract was with the German label Off Beat, and while "Futile" was not included on a domestic American release until many years later, it became very popular in Germany and provided VAC's first widespread recognition. Several remixes of "Futile" have been released, with different sets of Picard samples. VAC also recorded a song called "Disflux" that features samples of Picard, Worf, and Data.

Fanon media about Picard

  • The Picard song - [3]
  • The Sims 2 Music Video - [4]
  • Flash Music Video - [5]
  • Picard on YTMND - [6]
  • Remix Wars vol. 4 featuring "Futile" by Velvet Acid Christ - [7]

External links

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