"This is not a class in temporal logic!"
And now, for a little change of pace from football... here's one of my all-time favorite bits of Star Trek dialogue. It's from the episode "A Matter of Time," and Captain Picard is trying to convince a time-traveler -- who claims to be a historian from the future -- to use his foreknowledge to help Picard decide whether to take a risky action that could save, or kill, millions of people on the planet below. Here it is, for your viewing and/or Brendan-mocking pleasure:
"It's not theoretical, it's not hypothetical, it's real!"
Wow. Totally random. Thanks.
You've always liked Picard's rants, haven't you? I seem to recall you finding immense pleasure in his rant from First Contact: "The line must be drawn here--this far, no further!"
Posted by: Josh Rubin | Sep 30, 2007 2:27:07 PM
Mmmm. Patrick Stewart. He's an awesome actor.
Posted by: Becky | Sep 30, 2007 3:59:43 PM
Picard rants are awesome. Though I find his non-ranty performance as the calculating and evil Sejanus in 'I, Claudius' to be amongst his best, and scariest work.
Patrick Stewart's from my home town, y'know! Huddersfield, West Yorkshire! Yay!
Posted by: Peter Evans | Sep 30, 2007 4:25:32 PM
The "time traveler" doesn't have an ethical or moral dilemma about this particular scenario because he is from the past, not the future. How does THAT impact the debate?
Posted by: Mad Max, Esquire | Sep 30, 2007 4:55:05 PM
Yes, but Picard didn't know that at the time of the debate.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Sep 30, 2007 4:56:53 PM
Yes, but the "time traveler" did. He was comfortable with his beliefs because they were irrelevant in this particular situation. Now, he may have had moral or ethical concerns related to deceiving Picard, but he could afford to be non-chalant about a situation for which he actually had no insight.
Posted by: Mad Max, Esquire | Sep 30, 2007 5:10:01 PM
Great episode. Everything I ever needed to know about leadership and ethics, I learned from Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Posted by: kcatnd | Sep 30, 2007 5:17:30 PM
"And *I* will make them PAY for what they've done!"
Posted by: Mike | Sep 30, 2007 5:53:32 PM
:)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ye9bEP-bec4
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Sep 30, 2007 8:06:24 PM
That Captain Ahab thing as a regular thread in the Star Trek movies. Remember Captain Kirk in The Undiscovered Country (Those Klingon bastards killed my boy...or some such thing).
Posted by: Angrier and Angrier | Oct 1, 2007 1:10:15 PM