10 Star Trek Quotes That Made Us Trekkies
3. "I'd Bring An Umbrella."
This is admittedly the most personal inclusion on this list. It's not what made this writer a Trekkie, but it certainly helped solidify his fandom. There's something to be said for the sheer beauty in the pragmatism of Captain Janeway, even before her alternate future self had (somewhat) 'formally' adopted the approach. When you're the only Starfleet captain in thousands of lightyears, theoretical musings can be a luxury, but Janeway gives her dose of realism with a heart.
In Dragon's Teeth, the Vaadwaur Gedrin starts to philosophise to Janeway over the supposedly 'uncourageous' final hours of his former wife. There is also a degree of beauty in his rainy day allegory — in fact a reworking of a quote from Yamamoto Tsunetomo's The Hagakure: A Code to the Way of Samurai — but, elegant as it appears, Janeway immediately recognises the false equivalence. "Rain is one thing. Plasma bombs are another," she adds. Gedrin might feel the "principal is the same," but the captain is far too smart to ever accept such rigid logic and is already one step ahead: "I'd bring an umbrella."
The umbrella becomes, then, a symbol of what it means to be a Star Trek fan. Janeway's play on Gedrin's extended metaphor reminds us that we can all diffuse a tense situation with kindness, with words and wit rather than anger and diatribe. When it rains, that means bringing an umbrella for everyone, not just for those you agree with.