Patrick Stewart

[Thaluikhain]

The first time I ever saw this episode, this scene floored me (admittedly it's more powerful within the context of the entire episode), and my first thoughts were: "Patrick Stewart's such a bad-ass."

To me, there's a much better scene from that one. Picard tries to persuade Data that it's all a good idea, and then Data asks why this sort of thing doesn't happen to humans.

And Picard sits there and says nothing.

So Data says "I see" and leaves.

And Picard sits there and says nothing.

It'd be very easy for the show to simply have Picard be the enlightened hero, and have everyone who doesn't immediately support Data be evil, but they did much better than that. Picard totally failed to recognise his prejudice, and gets called out on it. Realising it was very uncomfortable, but then he accepts it and fights against it.

(Of course, IRL, he'd had gotten pissed off at Data, started talking about reverse android hate and how the PC police are always trying to oppress organic beings because machines were mistreated in the dim past which never happens now or whatever)

 

[SckizoBoy]

Firstly, the old Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. His scene with Alec Guiness is amazing. The interaction between the two is fierce, despite Stewart never saying a single word. It's all just watching his character think about what Guiness is telling him, and watching Guiness attempt what he knows from the start is an impossible task.

Holy shit, his performance in TTSS is awesome, even though he says hardly anything and his total screen-time is a couple minutes, he totally steals the whole episode when he appears. He's that awesome, though Alec Guinness (also among all time top actors in my book) matches the level of his performance (albeit differently).

 

[silver wolf009]

There was a rendition of Halmet I recently watched where he played both King Hamlet's Ghost and Claudius. It was interesting to see him approach Gertrude from two different angles.

But what makes that the best, even if unfaithful, adaptation is that it has Patrick Stewart and David Tennant as Claudius and Hamlet.

That's right fuckers, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Tenth Doctor acting Hamlet. Awesome.

 

[eimatshya]

*snip*

Ah, yes, this scene:

Spoiler: Data defends his position

I agree, that there is a lot to like about this scene, as well. However, it never hit me the same way the one I initially posted did. It felt a little out of character for Picard. It seemed out of place for him to cave to a demand that went against his principles and to try to convince Data to go along with it. Still, as you pointed out, it does make the episode more nuanced by forcing the characters to stumble through the issue instead of immediately starting out on the "right side" and holding fast to that position. It added more growth and exploration, even if it did so by making some of Picard's actions a bit incongruous with his overall persona.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I'm sorry but whenever I think of the man, I think of this.


I do enjoy Next Generation quite a bit but I love the original more. I also like it when he plays a king.