Shuttle Pod 26: Captain Picard’s Best Speeches

Picard is the kind of captain who can energize his crew with an inspiring speech right around the climax of an episode. Is Picard the best speech-giver in all of Star Trek? This week, the Shuttle Pod crew take a look at Picard’s best speeches.

Subscribe to Shuttle Pod: The TrekMovie.com Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music and Pocket Casts!

Listen to the podcast to hear Picard’s best speeches and our thoughts on each, plus rewatch these classic moments below.

Menage Troi

“In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, for they in thee a thousand errors see. But ’tis my heart that loves what they despise, who in despite of view are please’d to dote. Shall I compare the to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”

First Duty

“You even sat in my chair. I was annoyed. Presumptuous child playing on my ship. But I never forgot how you already knew every control, every display. You behaved as though you belonged on the Bridge. And then later when I decided to make you an acting ensign, I was convinced you could be an outstanding officer. I’ve never questioned that conviction, until now. The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth. Whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based. If you can’t find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened you don’t deserve to wear that uniform. I’m going to make this simple for you, Mister Crusher. Either you come forward and tell Admiral Brand what really took place, or I will.”

And, the obligatory “Picard Song” that pulls heavily from this speech:

A Matter of Time

“I know, Professor, “What if one of those lives I save down there is a child who grows up to be the next Adolf Hitler or Khan Singh?” First year philosophy students have been asked that question ever since the earliest wormholes were discovered. But this is not a class in temporal logic… It’s not hypothetical, it’s real. Can’t you see that? A man’s life, his future, hinges on each of a thousand choices. Living is making choices.”

First Contact

“I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We’ve made too many compromises already. Too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again! The line must be drawn here, …this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done.”

Star Trek: Generations (ending)

“Someone once told me that time is a predator that stalks us all our lives, but I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, reminds us to cherish every moment, because they’ll never come again. What we leave behind is not is important as how we lived. After all, Number One, we’re only mortal.”

Measure of a Man

“You see, he’s met two of your three criteria for sentience, so what if he meets the third. Consciousness in even the smallest degree. What is he then? I don’t know. Do you? (to Riker) Do you? (to Phillipa) Do you? Well, that’s the question you have to answer. Your Honour, the courtroom is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevancies until we are left with a pure product, the truth for all time. Now, sooner or later, this man or others like him will succeed in replicating Commander Data. And the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this creation of our genius. It will reveal the kind of a people we are, what he is destined to be. It will reach far beyond this courtroom and this one android. It could significantly redefine the boundaries of personal liberty and freedom, expanding them for some, savagely curtailing them for others. Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him to servitude and slavery? Your Honour, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well, there it sits. Waiting. You wanted a chance to make law. Well, here it is. Make a good one.”