Star Trek: 10 Best Captain Picard Speeches
3. Seize The Time
The Next Generation: The Inner Light (Season 5, Episode 25)
The Inner Light, written by Morgan Gendel, is both a simple story of a life lived in the space of a few minutes, and the character-defining evolution of Picard’s character. At least, until the next episode aired. One of the episode’s greatest strengths, that it is so profoundly affecting, leads to a weakness – it is rarely discussed after this.
However, on Kataan, Picard, or Kamin, lives a full life. He lives long enough to see his daughter begin to grow, leading to his imparting a haunting, crucial piece of advice to her.
‘Seize the time, Meribor. Live now. Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.’
Kataan, facing drought and eventual destruction as it is has no future. Therefore, the people who helped to shape it would die out. Though at this point in his journey, Picard has adapted to life as Kamin, a part of him remembers that. He knows that in some way, he has been transported to a place that had, and always would have, a countdown timer over it.
Rather than despair, Picard reminds Meribor that in every moment, there is possibility and potential. It is an idea that would be revisited in Star Trek: Insurrection, along with the character of Anij. The final scene of the episode, showing Picard holding on to the Ressikan flute, a tangible piece of a time gone by, hammers this home.