Star Trek: 10 Best Captain Picard Speeches
2. Romulan Lives? No. Lives.
Picard: Rememberance (Season 1, Episode 1)
Star Trek: Picard picks up in the years after the events of both Star Trek: Nemesis, and the Romulan supernova that was first shown in Star Trek 2009. During this time, Picard had been promoted to Admiral and tasked with leading the effort to relocate the Romulan people, a mammoth undertaking that included redirecting a huge amount of Starfleet’s resources.
The actions of the Zhat Vash, a secret sect of the Romulan people, lead to the reprogramming of the androids assigned to the Mars Utopia Planitia fleet yards. They rebel, murdering thousands of people, before destroying all of the resources planned for the Romulan relief effort.
Anger and bitterness begin to creep into Starfleet from this point on. Picard becomes something of a figurehead of the past, from a time before so many lives were lost trying to save Romulan lives.
‘There were millions of lives at stake. (Romulan lives?) No. Lives.’
During an interview on the anniversary of the disaster, Picard is asked why so much effort should have been directed toward saving Romulan lives. His simple counterargument is both brilliant and devastating.
Once people are othered, it is easy to view them as lesser. This starts with language but extends beyond that. Catching that, owning it, was Picard’s way of making sure the people of the Federation remembered that Romulans, also, deserved to live.