Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

The Neutral Zone (1988)

Patrick Stewart: Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Photos 

Quotes 

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : This is the 24th century. Material needs no longer exist.

  Ralph Offenhouse : Then what's the challenge?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : The challenge, Mr. Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.

• [Crusher reports on 'Sonny' Clemonds's extensive drug abuse in his earlier life] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Sounds like someone who hated life, yet he had himself frozen, presumably so he could go through it all again.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : Too afraid to live, too scared to die.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy.

  Ralph Offenhouse : You've got it all wrong. It has never been about possessions. It's about power.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Power to do what?

  Ralph Offenhouse : To control your life, your destiny.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : That kind of control is an illusion.

  Ralph Offenhouse : Really? I'm here, aren't I? I should be dead, but I'm not.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Clare, after she faints at the sight of Worf]  Welcome to the 24th century.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Data]  They were already dead. I mean, what more could have happened to them?

• Ralph Offenhouse : [over comm]  This is the worst run ship I have ever been on. You should take some lessons from the QE2. Now, that's an efficient operation!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Data, identify: what is a QE2?

  Lt. Commander Data : It was a passenger liner, which mostly traveled Earth's Atlantic Ocean during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : He's comparing the Enterprise to a *cruise ship*?

• Ralph Offenhouse : Captain, I didn't mean to come on so strong. It's just that I've built my whole life on knowing what's going on, and for the first time I feel... completely out of touch. It's, uh, making me crazy. You can understand that?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : That's the first thing you've said I do understand. And, please, stay off the com panels.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to the crew]  Stay sharp, no surprises. I would rather out-think them than out-fight them.

• Commander Tebok : Captain Picard, because your actions are those of a thoughtful man, I will tell you this. Matters more urgent caused our absence... now witness the result. Outposts destroyed. Expansion of the Federation everywhere. Yes, we have indeed been negligent, but no longer.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Commander, we've made some progress. Let us not ruin it with unnecessary posturing.

  Commander Tebok : Your presence is not wanted! Do you understand my meaning, Captain? We are back.

  [the Romulans close the channel] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to himself, but loud enough for the Bridge crew to hear]  I think our lives just became a lot more complicated.

• [several Federation and Romulan outposts along the Neutral Zone have been destroyed] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to the Romulans]  Who is responsible?

  [the Romulans look at each other] 

  Ralph Offenhouse : They haven't got a clue! They're hoping *you* know, but they're too arrogant to ask!

  Commander William T. Riker : You're out of line, Mister!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Yes, but it's a correct assessment.

• Commander William T. Riker : [about the 20th-century Humans]  Having them on board is like a visit from the past.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : That would take us in the wrong direction. Our mission is to go forward - and it's just begun.

• Commander Tebok : Your presence is not wanted. Do you understand my meaning, Captain? We... are back!

  [the warbird departs] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I think our lives just became a lot more complicated.

• [last lines of Season 1] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : There's still much to do; still so much to learn. Mr. La Forge - engage!

• Lieutenant Worf : What gives them the right to enter Federation space?

  Commander Tebok : Silence your dog, Captain!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Lt. Worf's question is valid.

  Subcommander Thei : To even ask such a question implies that we need permission. We do not.

• Capt. Picard : [informing the Castaways of developments while in the briefing room]  Here is what I propose; you can't stay on the Enterprise, but I have arranged for us to rendezvous with the USS Charleston, bound for Earth. They will deliver you there.

  Ralph Offenhouse : Then what will happen to us? There's no trace of my money, my office is gone... What will I do? How will I live?

  Capt. Picard : This is the 24th century. Material needs no longer exist.

  Ralph Offenhouse : Then, what's the challenge?

  Capt. Picard : [pauses]  The challenge, Mr Offenhouse, is to improve yourself! To enrich yourself! Enjoy it.