Star Trek: 10 Best Captain Picard Speeches

The Next Generation: Chain Of Command (Season 6, Episodes 10+11)

Chain Of Command offers some of the most brutal scenes in the entire run of the Next Generation. The stand-off between Picard and Madred, with Patrick Stewart and David Warner going toe to toe, is tense, disturbing, and harrowing. Having studied actual footage of torture, provided by Amnesty International, Stewart sinks into a version of the captain the audience had never seen before.

And yet.

Even at the hands of the Cardassian jailor, and physically bruised and brutalized, Picard manages to keep his mind. Madred gives away too much of his own backstory, revealing that he had been a child on the streets, fighting for scraps. This awakens something in Picard that not many saw coming.

‘Whenever I look at you now, I won't see a powerful Cardassian warrior. I will see a six year old boy who was powerless to protect himself. In spite of all that you’ve done to me, I find you a pitiable man.’

This infuriates Madred, though Picard seems to take enormous spirit from this. It is not the reveal that Madred had a difficult childhood that bolsters him, but rather that there is humanity, so to speak, in every situation. If there is one thing that can be said for Picard, it’s that he looked for the best in every situation – despite the personal cost. So, though he truly had begun to crack at Madred’s line of questioning, he offered a final ray of hope.