2006-05-26

Is there a Jon Luck Pikerd here?

From Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode 141
Tapestry


Q:
I gave you something most mortals never experience... a second chance at life. And now all you can do is complain?

PICARD:
I can't live out my days as that person. That man is bereft of passion and imagination. That's not who I am.

Q:
Au contraire. He's the person you wanted to be... one who was less arrogant, and undisciplined as a youth. One who was less like me.

The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember.

That Picard never had a brush with death... never came face to face with his own mortality... never realized how fragile life is... how important each moment can be... so his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda... going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves...

He didn't lead the Away Team on Milika Three to save that ambassador... he didn't take charge of the Stargazer's Bridge when its Captain was killed... and no one ever offered him a command.

He learned to play it safe. And he never, ever got noticed by anyone.

PICARD:
You're right. You gave me the chance to change and I took that opportunity. But I freely admit now that it was a mistake.

Q:
Are you asking me for something, Jean-Luc?

PICARD:
Yes.

Give me a chance to put things back to the way they were before.

Q:
Before, you died in Sickbay. Is that what you want?

PICARD:
I would rather die as the man I was... than live the life I just saw.


For Context.

1 comment:

Jon Clarke said...

That was just on Spike yesterday. Did you TiVo it?

I used this episode to convince Renee TNG was a good show. Didn't work.