Star Trek: 10 Best Captain Picard Speeches
7. The Line Must Be Drawn Here
Star Trek: First Contact
Quite frankly, this is the go-to answer when the question is ‘what happens when Picard loses his cool?’ Star Trek: First Contact was a massive departure for the crew of the Next Generation. A new Enterprise arrives, while the Borg return. Finally, Picard is to be tested against his greatest enemy.
Stuck in the past, with dozens of drones slowly working their way through the ship, Worf advises Picard to set the auto-destruct. Consumed as he is by his need for revenge, Picard accuses Worf of cowardice, before storming into the observation lounge.
The film badly needed the character of Lily Sloane, a viewpoint character who was unconcerned with the chain of command or Picard’s own reputation. She walks in and immediately takes him to task. What the audience wasn’t expecting was the voracity of his reply.
‘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 the pay for what they’ve done.’
He betrays his own heart here, finally allowing his thirst for vengeance to swim to the surface. While another outburst follows, it is this moment that truly shows Picard for what he was in danger of becoming, were it not for a splash of cold water in his face.