Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Jean-Luc Picard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jean-Luc Picard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | July 13, 2305 |
| Home planet: | Earth (Le Barre, France) |
| Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Posting: | USS Stargazer executive officer, commanding officer USS Enterprise-D commanding officer Celtris III special operations USS Enterprise-E commanding officer |
| Rank: | Captain |
| Actor: | Patrick Stewart |
Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which aired from 1987 to 1994, as the captain of the Federation flagship Enterprise-D. The character also appears in the Next Generation-era films -- Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis -- and has a cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is depicted as a deeply moral, highly intelligent man who is a master of diplomacy and debate. Picard prefers to peacefully resolve disputes rather than fight, although as captain of the most powerful ship in the fleet he is well equipped to do so, and when forced into combat, he is quite capable as a commander.
Contents |
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry named Picard for one or both of the twin brothers Auguste Piccard and Jean Felix Piccard, and derived Jean-Luc Picard from their names.[1][2]
Patrick Stewart, a Shakespearean actor,[3] was at first considered for the role of Data.[4]
Picard was born in La Barre, France, in 2305 and dreamed of joining Starfleet.[5] He failed his first Starfleet Academy entrance exam, but was subsequently admitted and became the first freshman to win the Academy marathon.[5] His academic training in archaeology is mentioned in several Star Trek: Next Generation episodes. Shortly after graduation, he was stabbed in the heart by a Nausicaan; the organ was irreparable and required replacement with a parthenogenetic implant.[5] Picard eventually served as first officer aboard the USS Stargazer, and later commanded the ship for 22 years.[5] During that time, he invented a starship combat maneuver that would become known as the Picard Maneuver.
Star Trek: The Next Generation depicts Picard's command of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D).[6] The pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint" presents the crew's mission to investigate Farpoint Station being sidetracked when Q (John De Lancie) makes Picard humanity's "representative" in a trial charging the species with being a "dangerously savage child race".[6] Picard persuades Q to test humanity, and Q chooses as the test's first stage the crew's performance at Farpoint.[6] The trial ends seven years later, in the series finale "All Good Things...", when humanity is absolved by Picard's demonstration that the species has the capacity to explore the "possibilities of existence".[6]
The third-season finale, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I", depicts Picard being assimilated by the Borg.[5] Stewart asked Roddenberry to keep Picard a Borg for a few more episodes beyond the third-season finale, as he thought that would be more interesting than simply restoring Picard in Part II.[4]
Picard works with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek: Generations to fight the film's villain, Soran (Malcolm McDowell). Commanding the new USS Enterprise-E, Picard again confronts the Borg in the following film, First Contact. He fights a species' forced relocation in Insurrection, and in Nemesis encounters Shinzon (Tom Hardy), a Romulan-made clone of himself.
One of the recurring themes of The Next Generation involves Picard having a long-standing love of ship's doctor Beverly Crusher from his cadet days. He was initially reluctant for her to serve on the Enterprise, as she was the widow of one of his good friends Jack Crusher and he felt guilty for his feelings toward her. She obviously reciprocated, but the two evaded the issue until the seventh season episode, Attached, in which they were connected by a neural transponder and forced to acknowledge their feelings for one another. Beverly expresses a wish that they remain simply friends for the time being, and Picard reluctantly agrees. They remain close in later installments and the subsequent movies.
Picard first became involved with Klingon politics in 2367 when Council Leader Klingon K'Mpec formally requested that he become Arbiter of Succession to decide between Gowron and Duras following K'Mpec's death. As Arbiter, Picard ruled that Gowron was the only one of the two candidates to lead the Klingon Empire. He was aided by Klingon Emissary K'Ehleyr "The Emissary"
With the start of the Klingon civil war, Picard refused to let the Federation be drawn into the internal conflict but successfully defended the Klingon/Romulan border from Romulan transport ships. "Redemption, Parts I & II"
When Ambassador Spock goes to Romulus without Federation knowledge, Picard is ordered to find the errant Ambassador whose style of "cowboy diplomacy" is not easily tolerated within Starfleet Command. In order to get to Romulus undetected, Picard sends a message to Gowron, the Klingon Council Leader via B'ljik, a lowly junior adjutant: "Tell Gowron, Leader of the High Council of the Klingon Empire, that his Arbiter of Succession, Jean-Luc Picard, needs a favor." The Captain is after a cloaked vessel, and for it, he is willing to offer his "gratitude." Pressing the junior adjutant, he adds, "And please add that if he is unable to provide a ship, I am sure there are others in the Klingon Empire who would be willing to help me. And then they would have our gratitude." "Unification"
Many often contrast Picard's leadership style to James T. Kirk's: Picard is deemed to know "how to gather and use data better than any other Star Trek captain" and his leadership style "is best suited to a large, process-centric, either geographically identical or diverse team."[7] Both Kirk and Picard are considered to be attentive to the needs of their respective crews.[8]
In 2001, a mashup techno song featuring voice samples from Picard was released.[9] After being used on the viral media site YTMND in 2004, it garnered significant attention, receiving over 3 million views and prompting nearly 100 similar YTMND pages.[10][11] At the end of 2005, it was considered to be the most popular page on the site.[12] After reaching high levels of popularity, it was incorporated into dozens of viral videos and machinima.[13][14]
- ^ University of California, Berkeley et al. [and informal sources on Jean Piccard talk page] (2003). Living With A Star: 3: Balloon/Rocket Mission: Scientific Ballooning. The Regents of the University of California.
- ^ Piccard, Elizabeth (2004-01-23). Talk of the Nation: Science on Stage. National Public Radio. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.
- ^ Phillip Brochbank, ed., Players of Shakespeare Cambridge: Cambride University Press (1995)
- ^ a b James Hatfield, George Burt, Patrick Stewart: The Unauthorized Biography New York: Kensington Publishing (1996)
- ^ a b c d e Okuda, Mike and Denise Okuda, with Debbie Mirek (1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53609-5.
- ^ a b c d Nemeck, Larry (2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-5798-6.
- ^ Paul Kimmerly & David R. Webb, "Leadership, The Final Frontier: Lessons From the Captains of Star Trek" CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering Oct. 2006
- ^ John D. W. Beck & Neil M. Yeager, The Leader's Window: Mastering the Four Styles of Leadership to Build High-Performing Teams New York: Wiley (1994): 38
- ^ Dark Materia's homepage Creator of the song
- ^ The Picard Song profile page
- ^ The Picard Song's asset page
- ^ [http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/healthscience/atoz/article_766393.php OC Register: healthscience - Techno file: 'You're the man now, dog' strains at its leash
- ^ The Picard Song video on ifilm
- ^ Google Video listings for "Picard Song"
- Biography of Jean-Luc Picard at the official Star Trek website
- Jean-Luc Picard article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
|
|
|
|---|---|
| The Original Series | Chapel | Chekov | Kirk | McCoy | Rand | Scott | Spock | Sulu | Uhura |
| The Animated Series | Arex | Chapel | Kirk | M'Ress | McCoy | Scott | Spock | Sulu | Uhura |
| The Next Generation | B. Crusher | W. Crusher | Data | La Forge | Picard | Pulaski | Riker | Troi | Worf | Yar |
| Deep Space Nine | Bashir | E. Dax | J. Dax | Kira | M. O'Brien | Odo | Quark | B. Sisko | J. Sisko | Worf |
| Voyager | Chakotay | Doctor | Janeway | Kes | Kim | Neelix | Paris | Seven | Torres | Tuvok |
| Enterprise | Archer | Mayweather | Phlox | Reed | Sato | T'Pol | Tucker |
| Captains of Star Trek vessels named Enterprise | ||||||||||
| Jonathan Archer | Robert April | Christopher Pike | James T. Kirk | Willard Decker | Spock | John Harriman | Rachel Garrett | Jean-Luc Picard | William Riker | Edward Jellico |