15 essential Captain Picard episodes to get you pumped for his return
“All Good Things” Parts 1&2 (S7E25)
Picard perks: Old man Picard, Picard in PJs, annoyed Picard, Picard and friends.
What it’s about: Captain Picard is suffering a series of time shifts from the end of his life, to the present, to his first mission on Enterprise. He is suffering from some form of dementia as well. However, events in one time period don’t seem to be affecting each other at all, as a new Captain calling red alert before leaving the dock should leave an impression.
Perhaps the most amusing parts are the future segments, where we see old man Picard arguing with his former crew to get to the Devron system. Although they all think he must be mad, they have so much respect for him that they put their faith in him anyway.
It is quite different from the constant questioning and roadblocks of the past. At this point, the crew does not yet understand and trust their captain. Not only that, but “Tea. Earl Grey, hot” hasn’t even been programmed into the replicators yet!
We find out that Q is behind all of it, the series is coming full circle at the conclusion of the pilot’s trial. “You destroy the world,” Q tells Picard. “You are guilty, of being inferior,”.
Picard does eventually figure out that there is a temporal anomaly that destroyed the Devron system. It must be scienced from these three different points in time to prevent it from spreading and destroying humanity. For the further back in time you go, the larger the anomaly becomes. At the beginning of life on Earth, the anomaly has completely taken over Earth’s sky. But the anomaly reverts cells back to a previous state, thus, no life occurred on Earth.
The three Enterprises meet up at the anomaly in their separate times. Each one is destroyed following Picard’s orders. This collapses the anomaly and saves mankind, and it somehow saves all the Enterprises as well. Science fiction!
Each of Picard’s friendships is put to the test, even his bizarre friendship with Q. “You had a hand in helping me get out of this,” he says to Q. “I was the one who got you into it. A directive from the continuum. The part about the helping hand, though, was my idea.”
In the epilogue, all the senior officers we have grown to love over the years are playing a hand of poker. Picard joins them for the first time. He looks around the table at his friends and says, “I should have done this a long time ago,” to which Troi answers, “you were always welcome.”
Picard quotes:
- “It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged.”
- “I know it is difficult for you to understand… But I want you to believe that I’m doing this for a greater purpose and that what is at stake here is more than any of you can possibly imagine. I know you have your doubts about me, about each other. All I can say is that although we have only been together for a short time, I would trust each of you with my life. So, I am asking you for a leap of faith… and to trust me.”
- “So, five-card stud, nothing wild… and the sky’s the limit.”