Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

The Drumhead (1991)

Michael Dorn: Lieutenant Worf

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Lieutenant Worf : [referring to Admiral Satie]  I believed her. I, I helped her. I did not see what she was.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Mister Worf, villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged.

  Lieutenant Worf : I think... after yesterday, people will not be so ready to trust her.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Maybe. But she, or someone like her, will always be with us, waiting for the right climate in which to flourish, spreading fear in the name of righteousness. Vigilance, Mister Worf - that is the price we have to continually pay.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : The Seventh Guarantee is one of the most important rights granted by the Federation. We cannot take a fundamental principle of the Constitution and turn it against a citizen.

  Lieutenant Worf : Sir, the Federation *does* have enemies. We *must* seek them out!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Oh, yes. That's how it starts. But the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think. Something is wrong here, Mister Worf. I don't like what we have become.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : This is not unlike a... a drumhead trial.

  Lieutenant Worf : I do not understand.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : 500 years ago, military officers would upend a drum on the battlefield. They'd sit at it and dispense summary justice. Decisions were quick, punishments severe; appeals denied. Those who came to a drumhead were doomed.