A Tribute to Captain Picard

(Guest Post by Carl Cranney)

I was surprised at the depth of emotion I felt upon learning of Sir Patrick Stewart’s passing. I have recently been watching “Star Trek: The Next Generation” with my 10 year old and 8 year old and had been pleasantly surprised at how well the show holds up after 40 years. I think in large part that is because of Stewart’s acting. It takes a certain kind of gravitas to be explaining ethics to a person wearing latex prosthetic face coverings all while dressed in basically pajamas, and yet to have everybody on the edge of their seat, enraptured with watching you monologue, but that’s what Patrick Stewart gave us. He anchored that cast and that premise with his dedication to the craft of acting that a lesser actor would not have been able to pull off. 

Of course he gave us a lot more than Captain Picard. I had two different friends tell me they had seen him in “Othello” where he played Othello and the rest of the cast was black, inverting the racial makeup of my favorite Shakespeare play. What an experience that must have been! I regret, sadly, that my exposure to him in Shakespeare was limited to the screen. And his time as Professor X, or as Pharaoh Seti, or Scrooge, or on Sesame Street (either doing Shakespeare or yelling at a Number 1 to shape up), or as a foul-mouther British Journalist on “Blunt Talk,” or any number of a variety of roles that he had, showed that he was versatile in his craft. It also showed that he didn’t take himself too seriously, even if he took his vocation seriously. We could use more of that in the world. But since this is LDS Geeks, I’m going to focus mostly on how he brought Captain Picard to life, and why that particular role meant so much to so many. 

It was interesting to me to try to watch TNG with my 10 year old the evening of his passing. I gave her two options of episodes to watch, either “The Drumhead,” where he gives one of the great speeches of his character, or “The Mind’s Eye,” where he is paid one of the highest compliments in the entire show by a Klingon, “You swear well, Picard.” She picked the one where he swears, of course, but we’ll get to “The Drumhead” later. Maybe I should have just forced her to watch “The Inner Light.” (We didn’t have time to watch “Chain of Command,” since it’s a two-parter, plus it’s a little intense.) But the fact that there were so many great Picard episodes to choose from is a credit to Stewart. Sure, the writers get some credit, but it’s his acting that makes all of their words stand out, that make me want to be a better person, a better man, a better human. There are episodes from the show about Troy, or Worf, or Data, or any of the other characters, but it’s telling that none of them stand out the way the episodes focused on Picard do. Those other episodes have good writing, and interesting ideas, and are executed well, but there’s just something about Picard staring out the Enterprise window as the credits roll that shows that we’re dealing with a level of acting that the others simply don’t reach. (This is not an insult to them, but an indication of the generational talent Stewart was.) 

As a firm believer in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and as a professional religious academic-type, I also think one of the reasons that Picard stands out to everybody is that he can stand out to everybody. I’m reminded of a teaching from a Jewish Rabbi, when asked why God created atheists. After a pause, the rabbi responds “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all—the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his actions are based on his sense of morality. Look at the kindness he bestows on others simply because he feels it to be right.” That was Picard. (And actually, because of Picard, I will never accept the argument that one must believe in God to be a moral person.) Picard always seemed to strike the perfect balance between standing for one’s principles, respecting other people and their choices, and finding compromise. That is a balance I have rarely seen struck so perfectly. You always knew that Picard was thoughtful and careful, yet firm and unyielding when the moment called for it. That is a character that we can all admire and try to emulate. 

I have seen many tributes to Patrick Stewart/Captain Picard on social media since his passing. Maybe it’s the algorithm feeding me Star Trek (I think the algorithm knows me well enough to know that’s my major point of contact with Stewart). However, I suspect that it’s the fact that his Jean-Luc Picard was a subtle anchor in so many different people’s lives. Perhaps, like me, many have suddenly been confronted with the effect this character has had on them. In a world where so much ink is spilled on what it means to be a good person, I submit there are not many better example of what it means to be a good man than Captain Picard. The tributes to Stewart show that. (And as a sidenote, I really mean a good man here. Despite the manosphere invoking some pretty toxic nonsense when talking about what it means to be a “real man,” Captain Picard showcases the hollowness of their examples. I’ll take him over some macho viking any day of the week.) 

So thank you, Sir Patrick Stewart, for all the good that you brought into the world, particularly through your role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Rest in power. (Warp power, of course.) 

Carl Cranney has a PhD in theology and is co-host of the “Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree” podcast. He has watched literally every episode of every “Star Trek” TV show. (“The Next Generation” is his favorite. Usually.) He lives in Springville, Utah, with his wife and 4 kids. 

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