I heard a rumor that this was not how the script initially was going to turn out, in the original draft, it got to this point but Wesley sided with his friends instead of Picard. Would’ve been interesting to see what direction that would’ve gone in.
We have seen Captain Picard annoyed, sensitive, resolute, regretful, determined... every emotion between fearful and angry. But honestly, I think this was actually the most legitimately PISSED OFF we saw him in the entire series of TNG.
He says this but lies and keeps secrets from Starfleet and many powers for his own advantage. Using his moral code as justification. "Its ok to tell a lie to protect someone"
WES: I choose not to answer, sir. PICARD: You choose not to answer? *WES: I'm just doing what you told me to do years ago, sir.* *PICARD: And remind me what I told you to do years ago?* *WES: "Shut up, Wesley!"* *PICARD: Very well, Mr. Crusher.* DISMISSED!
This hits differently now that we know the only reason Wesley agreed to go through with the maneuver was because Locarno told him Picard would be proud.
Picard never doubted Westley beling on the Bridge until he lied about the manoeuvre that led to another cadets death. Which confirms tgat he didn't think it was an issue when he was bullying "Mr Broccoli" with other members of the senior staff, just for being socially awkward. Behaviour that was repeated by young Mr Crusher during the build up to this cadets death, as he and the rest of the flight squad knew the guy who died wasn't confident in performing the manoeuvre but they all bullied him into it. Where was your "duty to the truth" then Picard? You directly enabled this by continuing to allow Westley Crusher to continue as "Acting Ensign" and keeping this character flaw off hiz personal records when applying to the academy.
It's a great episode. But I cannot get over the silly idea that these cadets thought that they could perform a dangerous, illegal maneuver in front of an entire graduating class and not be punished so long as they executed the maneuver successfully. By doing it so flagrantly and publicly, they would guaranty that they would receive punishment.
Look up the shenanigans of the engineering students of CalTech or UBC or MIT or any technical college/university. They conducted elaborate feats like hanging Volkswagon bugs off the sides of bridges, placing exotic art sculptures on roofs, or ruining football fields with lime and burning gasoline to write immortal effigies. Yes, they got in trouble, and their stunts required lots of money to fix/repair, but it also made them legends and they were all graduating anyway so their punishment was minimal.
Fun fact: in the Autobiography of James T. Kirk, it's revealed that Kirk was part of a squadron that witnessed the incident in which the Kolvoord Starburst was banned, nearly getting killed and his roommate was one of the five lost.
This dress down of Wesley by Picard and the dress down of Worf by Sisko in DS9 has to be one of the most nerve-wrecking personal scenes in Star Trek. Whether Picard’s bombastic style, or Sisko’s ice-cold build up, I would have shat my pants in either situation.
I was going to post the same thing. Picard never took his gaze off Wesley, even when moving the computer console out of the way. Brilliant acting and writing right there.
This is REAL Trek! Nobility! Dignity! Truth! Honour! Justice! A bright future for humanity! None of the resentful, pointless seething that makes up nu-Trek.
Notice how there's no music from the time Wesley opens the door to the time Picard dismisses him. The focus and drama is on these characters. A father figure and mentor, and the individual he had placed his future hopes on. Picard enumerates the duty to the truth -- scientific, historic, even personal. He's not as angry as he is disappointed that Wesley would prefer to protect a fellow cadet than to serve even his own personal truth. After all, what kind of officer would Wesley become if he was so willing to cover for another's violations? Violations that are known to be attached to dangerous, unlawful actions which help no one? So many things conveyed in this one scene, in a room, with just two actors. And the focus of the scene, on truth, will remain relevant.
I like this episode, for the most part. It's nice to see more dimension to Wesley's character by having him wrestle with a dilemma like this. But...even if everything went perfectly, they would have still been doing a forbidden maneuver...IN FULL VIEW OF THE ENTIRE STARFLEET COMMAND! Did it never occur to them that they might get in trouble for that? The superintendant would probably have expelled them on the spot to make a point.
If only our former U.S. president Donald Trump could be given a stern but fair verbal slap on the wrist like this and than the world would be a safer place as a result!
If this was such a well known maneuver, why does it take John Luke Pickard to uncover it? The entire Star Fleet Academy was in on the whole thing, they wanted to have the appearance of an investigation, but still cover it up.
Picard: "The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth!" Sisko: "So, I lied, I cheated, I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But most damning thing of all, I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would."
Wesley Crusher was ready for Picard
Is this why Paris changed his name.😂
I think this is the closest Picard has ever came to backhanding Wesley.
Woody: Malloy, is that you?
In Locarno’s defence he did pilot Voyager back to the alpha quadrant. Errr. Wrong timeline.
Close to the dress down Picard gave Riker with the mutiny on Pegasus.
I heard a rumor that this was not how the script initially was going to turn out, in the original draft, it got to this point but Wesley sided with his friends instead of Picard. Would’ve been interesting to see what direction that would’ve gone in.
Larcano had to change his name to Tom Paris after this
We have seen Captain Picard annoyed, sensitive, resolute, regretful, determined... every emotion between fearful and angry. But honestly, I think this was actually the most legitimately PISSED OFF we saw him in the entire series of TNG.
It is the guiding principle on which Starlfeet is based!! - ever wise Picard.
"Cadet, I asked you a question am I correct?!"
Dont grass
Brutal. No other word for it. Except maybe “deserved”.
He says this but lies and keeps secrets from Starfleet and many powers for his own advantage. Using his moral code as justification. "Its ok to tell a lie to protect someone"
Picard: I'm not angry, I'm disappointed. Wesley: I choose not to answer. Picard: Now I am angry.
Anger is so much better than disappointment in my opinion
WES: I choose not to answer, sir. PICARD: You choose not to answer? *WES: I'm just doing what you told me to do years ago, sir.* *PICARD: And remind me what I told you to do years ago?* *WES: "Shut up, Wesley!"* *PICARD: Very well, Mr. Crusher.* DISMISSED!
I have the DVD s for this and it still works in French, German, Italian and Spanish :-)
5 dead? Lets see Paul Allen's manoeuvre.
So importand in a time where lies and unreason become modern and truth.
Wil Wheaton deserves a lot more credit for this episode.
God, Crusher is so fucking annoying.
This hits differently now that we know the only reason Wesley agreed to go through with the maneuver was because Locarno told him Picard would be proud.
Picard never doubted Westley beling on the Bridge until he lied about the manoeuvre that led to another cadets death. Which confirms tgat he didn't think it was an issue when he was bullying "Mr Broccoli" with other members of the senior staff, just for being socially awkward. Behaviour that was repeated by young Mr Crusher during the build up to this cadets death, as he and the rest of the flight squad knew the guy who died wasn't confident in performing the manoeuvre but they all bullied him into it. Where was your "duty to the truth" then Picard? You directly enabled this by continuing to allow Westley Crusher to continue as "Acting Ensign" and keeping this character flaw off hiz personal records when applying to the academy.
Playing the DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet saddens me after watching this scene. People clearly didn't learn anything from this episode.
It's a great episode. But I cannot get over the silly idea that these cadets thought that they could perform a dangerous, illegal maneuver in front of an entire graduating class and not be punished so long as they executed the maneuver successfully. By doing it so flagrantly and publicly, they would guaranty that they would receive punishment.
Look up the shenanigans of the engineering students of CalTech or UBC or MIT or any technical college/university. They conducted elaborate feats like hanging Volkswagon bugs off the sides of bridges, placing exotic art sculptures on roofs, or ruining football fields with lime and burning gasoline to write immortal effigies. Yes, they got in trouble, and their stunts required lots of money to fix/repair, but it also made them legends and they were all graduating anyway so their punishment was minimal.
It didn't end well for Locarno. Lower decks final episode of season four.
Fun fact: in the Autobiography of James T. Kirk, it's revealed that Kirk was part of a squadron that witnessed the incident in which the Kolvoord Starburst was banned, nearly getting killed and his roommate was one of the five lost.
Wesley: I choose not to answer, sir. Picard: So you have chosen death?!!
You can actually see the heartbreak in Picard’s eyes as he dresses down Wesley. Brilliant performance by Mr. Stewart
"They want to execute him for killing flowers by accident." "Seems harsh, but what can we do? Go with the man Wesley!"
Just don't do what movie Picard does.
Wesley is really full of something if he thinks he can jerk Picard around!
Bottom line: When comes to Starfleet regulations and honesty, don’t cross Picard. Riker made the same mistake with the USS Pegasus situation.
Wesley trying to get out of the lecture on a technicality will always be hilarious!
This dress down of Wesley by Picard and the dress down of Worf by Sisko in DS9 has to be one of the most nerve-wrecking personal scenes in Star Trek. Whether Picard’s bombastic style, or Sisko’s ice-cold build up, I would have shat my pants in either situation.
Wesley deserves what he gets. Not his finest moment.
this clip changed my life and shaped who I became. Thank you Mr. Wheaton, Sir Stewart, and Star trek as a whole.
The not Tom Paris chapter.
0:54 - 1:04 How intense were these ten seconds of silence and eye contact 🤯
I was going to post the same thing. Picard never took his gaze off Wesley, even when moving the computer console out of the way. Brilliant acting and writing right there.
This is REAL Trek! Nobility! Dignity! Truth! Honour! Justice! A bright future for humanity! None of the resentful, pointless seething that makes up nu-Trek.
I love telling the truth because the truth hurts people hard
Patrick Stewart bringing his A game
"But captain..." "Shut up, Wesley!"
"Eh huhuhuhuheh. You said duty" - Butthead
Notice how there's no music from the time Wesley opens the door to the time Picard dismisses him. The focus and drama is on these characters. A father figure and mentor, and the individual he had placed his future hopes on. Picard enumerates the duty to the truth -- scientific, historic, even personal. He's not as angry as he is disappointed that Wesley would prefer to protect a fellow cadet than to serve even his own personal truth. After all, what kind of officer would Wesley become if he was so willing to cover for another's violations? Violations that are known to be attached to dangerous, unlawful actions which help no one? So many things conveyed in this one scene, in a room, with just two actors. And the focus of the scene, on truth, will remain relevant.
I like this episode, for the most part. It's nice to see more dimension to Wesley's character by having him wrestle with a dilemma like this. But...even if everything went perfectly, they would have still been doing a forbidden maneuver...IN FULL VIEW OF THE ENTIRE STARFLEET COMMAND! Did it never occur to them that they might get in trouble for that? The superintendant would probably have expelled them on the spot to make a point.
No, they would have gotten a few demerits and had to scrub some bulkheads for a week.
If only our former U.S. president Donald Trump could be given a stern but fair verbal slap on the wrist like this and than the world would be a safer place as a result!
The first duty is to the truth.
If this was such a well known maneuver, why does it take John Luke Pickard to uncover it? The entire Star Fleet Academy was in on the whole thing, they wanted to have the appearance of an investigation, but still cover it up.
Picard: "The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth!" Sisko: "So, I lied, I cheated, I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But most damning thing of all, I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would."