star trek who said make it so

Make It So: The 10 Greatest Quotes From Star Trek's Captain Picard

Captain Picard is possibly the most verbose captain in all of Star Trek, as proven by his greatest and most inspiring quotes of all time.

In all of science fiction, there are few characters as complex as Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Captain Jean-Luc Picard . From the start, Picard was older than the usual TV hero, and he had far less hair too. He was stern, confident, and more than willing to yell at his crew on the Enterprise, which was something Captain Kirk was far less likely to do.

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But under all his stoicism, Picard has an artificial heart that beat with a love for the arts and all living things. Picard is a man who sees greatness in everyone and pushes himself and his peers to be better. He never has contempt for others, but he's also not very good at expressing his true feelings. But when the words do come to Picard, they are like poetry. These are but a handful of things Picard has said that capture his true essence...

10 “Seize The Time! Live Now! Make Now Always The Most Precious Time. Now Will Never Come Again.”

While it took Jean-Luc Picard seven years to finally sit down with his crew and play poker, it would be a grave mistake to say he led a less than full life. A bar fight ended with him stabbed through the heart, necessitating a replacement. But what makes that story special is that as Picard looked down to see his would-be mortal wound, he laughed.

He laughed because even at that young age, he believed one thing above all else: life is meant to be lived. Of course, one can live a full life and not get stabbed in the heart, but Picard had his own path to take.

9 “It Is Possible To Commit No Mistakes And Still Lose. That Is Not Weakness, That Is Life.”

As any Trekkie can tell you, to be a commander in Starfleet, a cadet must first go through the Kobayashi Maru scenario. This test places the cadet in the captain's chair and puts them in a no-win scenario. Captain Kirk famously beat the Kobayashi Maru scenario by cheating because he never believed in the idea of a no-win scenario.

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Captain Picard, meanwhile, learned the true meaning of the Kobayashi Maru scenario: sometimes you can not win, but how you handle yourself in defeat is just as important. Picard, if nothing else, always met every scenario with grace and courage.

8 "There Can Be No Justice So Long As Laws Are Absolute."

Every society needs laws. Laws lay out the blueprints for a just society and without them, there is nothing that will hold a society together. But laws cannot be considered absolute, because morality exists in a grey area. A law that does account for the circumstances that led to the breaking of the law is not upholding justice, but creating injustice.

This is an issue humanity has long worked to understand and by the time Captain Picard is flying into the final frontiers, we have learned how to balance laws and justice. As part of his mission for Starfleet , Picard looks to share that knowledge with other civilizations.

7 "There Are Four Lights"

The idea is simple: show a person four lights, and tell them that if they say there are five they will no longer be tortured. The goal is to break that person's will, to make them bend to the torturer's whim, thus giving the torturer full control. When Jean-Luc Picard was taken captive and tortured by the Cardassians, they used this method against him. Picard would not break.

No matter how much they hurt him, the Captain would always defiantly respond with "There are four lights." This is the power that the mind of a strong-willed person has. No matter what is done to them, they will not give in.

6 "Things Are Only Impossible Until They're Not."

History is made by the impossible being conquered. From the first person creating fire to mankind breaking free from the chains of gravity and launching into the skies and placing a foot on the moon, things that once seemed like a fool's dreams have time and again become milestones that have been met and surpassed.

For Captain Picard, traveling at speeds faster than light and using teleportation devices to hang out on previously undiscovered countries makes all of the impossible things seem far more possible. As with all of Star Trek , the joy is in believing that the impossible will, one day, be very possible.

5 "There Was A Time You Looked At The Stars And Dreamed Of What Might Be."

Jean-Luc Picard, like so many heroes before him, understands the importance of dreams. He knows that the person who strives to be more and create more than what exists now is who makes the universe a better place. With each dream realized, new dreams come into being, helping everyone reach greater heights. But as we dream of bigger and better things, we must remember where we started and appreciate how far we have come.

In this instance, Picard was speaking to his evil clone Shinzon who had lived a life of pain, but the idea stands for us all. We all dream of a better world and our place in it.

4 "If We're Going To Be Damned, Let's Be Damned For What We Really Are."

Above all else, Jean-Luc Picard believed it was imperative that a person lives up to their personal beliefs. This doesn't mean a person needs to be perfect, quite the opposite. What it means is that a person needs to stand up for what they believe in and be ready to deal with the consequences.

This quote comes from the very first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation . As the omnipotent being Q watches the crew of the Enterprise so he can judge all of the human race, Picard makes it clear to his crew what he expects: for them to be true to themselves and the ideology of mankind.

3 "There Are Times, Sir, When Men Of Good Conscience Cannot Blindly Follow Orders."

Sometimes, Star Trek  explores the differences between following orders and doing what is right. Rules can be unjust or cruel, and it is up to each person to decide for themselves what they are willing, or unwilling, to do. For Picard, his beliefs are clear.

He will never intentionally harm a living being if it can be avoided, even if that means going against orders from his higher-ups. There is bravery in refusing to carry out unjust orders. It is a bravery that Picard and the crew of the Enterprise exhibited on more than one occasion.

2 "Villains Who Twirl Their Mustache Are Easy To Spot. Those Who Clothe Themselves In Good Deeds Are Well-Camouflaged."

Fiction tends to make the bad guys easy to recognize. They do clearly evil things in clearly evil ways. In reality, a lot of bad people are great at hiding their true colors behind a façade of kindness and charity. Captain Picard knows this, and he makes it clear that this is still a problem in the far off future.

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As the Captain of the Enterprise, there are hundreds of people who depend on Picard to keep them safe. Part of that safety comes from Picard's ability to recognize a wolf in sheep's clothing, and this is something he is well aware of.

1 "Open Your Mind To The Past... To History, Art, Philosophy. And Then... This Will Mean Something."

Star Trek is about just how great humanity could become if we learn to move past our biases and work together to create a better future. The episodes usually focus on smart people facing difficult problems and coming up with smart answers. No franchise has led more people to become scientists, engineers, or doctors more than Star Trek.

But at its heart, Star Trek is about what makes life worth living and what it means to create a legacy. Stories about good people doing good will inspire future generations. Art, music, and literature are as much a part of what makes mankind great as the science we have discovered. To Picard, you can not have one without the other.

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Revisit Picard’s Words of Wisdom From ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ (VIDEO)

Everyone remembers “Make it so,” “Engage,” and even “Tea. Early Grey. Hot.”

But the  U.S.S. Enterprise captain also had more eloquent moments throughout  The Next Generation ‘s seven seasons.

Here are 10 to revisit — each available to stream on CBS All Access — while you anxiously await  Star Trek: Picard ‘s 2020 premiere.

“Justice” (Season 1, Episode 8)

The primitive Edo people are loving but surprisingly resolute in this: The punishment for all infractions, even if unintentional, is death. Capt. Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) must show the powerful “God” ship ruling the Edo that, in life, exceptions do matter when youngest crew member Wesley Crusher ( Wil Wheaton ) faces execution over a minor accident.

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Picard Says: “There can be no justice so long as laws are absolute.”

“When the Bough Breaks” (Season 1, Episode 17)

Picard is outraged when the Aldeans — who are infertile and desperate to repopulate their world — kidnap the children aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to continue their civilization. When the cause of the sterility is found to be fixable, he persuades them to accept a less drastic course.

Picard Says: “Things are only impossible until they’re not.”

“Coming of Age” (Season 1, Episode 19)

Picard and Wesley each face tests of their mettle. The captain bristles over an investigation to decide whether his logs accurately depict the U.S.S. Enterprise ‘s missions. Wesley, meanwhile, is among the finalists vying for a single open spot in Starfleet Academy. When another candidate is chosen, Wesley’s commander/mentor reminds him that doing your best is the real victory.

Picard Says: “The only person you’re truly competing against is yourself.”

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“the offspring” (season 3, episode 16).

Lt. Cdr. Data ( Brent Spiner ) uses technological advances to create an android, named Lal, based on his own neural interface. The captain is initially shocked to hear Data refer to Lal as his child, but in another instance of Picard championing open-mindedness, he refuses Starfleet’s request to remove Lal for observation, having come to see Data’s parental love.

Picard Says:  “There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders.”

“Allegiance” (Season 3, Episode 18)

A lesson about wrongful detention: Picard has been imprisoned with three others in a mysterious holding cell and replaced aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise with an imposter. After he realizes the situation is an elaborate ruse, aliens appear and explain they were using him to study leadership.

Picard Says: “Imprisonment is an injury, regardless of how you justify it.”

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“the wounded” (season 4, episode 12).

How can a commander who has seen the tragedy of war manage to later keep the peace? That is Picard’s dilemma when confronted with a renegade Federation captain bent on upending a new treaty with the violent Cardassians. Picard convinces the man to back down but also understands his motives, later explaining to Chief O’Brien ( Colm Meaney ) that some men wear their bitterness forever.

Picard Says: “When one has been angry for a very long time, one gets used to it. And it becomes comfortable, like…like old leather. And finally it becomes so familiar that one can’t ever remember feeling any other way.”

“Darmok” (Season 5, Episode 2)

Over seven encounters in 100 years, the Federation and the Tamarians have each failed to understand the other’s language. Picard is transported to a nearby planet with the Tamarian captain, who seems to offer a knife for combat. Instead of taking up arms, Picard, with time and persistence, forges a historic bond of respect between them.

Picard Says: “In my experience, communication is a matter of patience and imagination. I would like to believe that these are qualities that we have in sufficient measure.”

“The Inner Light” (Season 5, Episode 25)

For 25 minutes, a beam from a puzzling space probe renders Picard comatose. During that period, the probe also causes a confused Picard to experience, in his mind, an entirely separate adult life — love, fatherhood, and aging — as a man named Kamin on a climate-challenged planet called Kataan. Whatever the identity, though, he recognizes that every moment counts.

Picard Says: “Seize the time…. Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.”

“Attached” (Season 7, Episode 8)

Picard and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) beam down to planet Kesprytt, looking to further their relations with the Kes people. Suspicious, the neighboring Prytts intercept the visitors and lock them up. The two are now able to read each other’s thoughts, and the ever-deductive Picard assures that things will work out.

Picard Says: “There is a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle; it’s just a matter of finding it.”

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“all good things” (season 7, episodes 25 and 26).

In the series finale, Picard is manipulated through past, present, and future experiences by the devious godlike entity Q (John de Lancie), who insists the captain will do something to destroy humanity. Picard at first refuses to be thusly tried, but with his crew’s assistance in all three periods, he finds a solution — and makes it so.

Picard Says: “We are what we are, and we’re doing the best we can. It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged!”

Stark Trek: Picard , Thursday, January 23, 2020, CBS All Access

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Star Trek: The Next Generation Quotes

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Source: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Speaker: Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Make it so.

The line is spoken by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, in the TV Show Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) .

Twenty-one years after the original Star Trek series premiered, the Enterprise returned to TV with Star Trek: The Next Generation . Everything was bigger and better: a more diverse cast, flashier effects, and Patrick Stewart as a much better captain—and actor—than William Shatner. (Sorry, Bill.)

How did the creator, Gene Roddenberry, bring Trek back to TV? Maybe he walked into Paramount and said, "Make it so." That's Captain Jean-Luc Picard's catchphrase first spoken in the very first episode, "Encounter at Farpoint." 

Stewart and the rest of the cast continued to "make it so" for seven seasons.

Where you've heard it

When someone wants you to carry out their orders, they'll tell you "make it so." It's up to you to figure out how to do that.

Additional Notable References

• One of about 9,234 Frozen parody songs, " Make it So "
• At Christmastime, Make it Snow
• A book on design lessons learned from sci-fi, titled Make it So

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back here it is, on a scale of 1-10..

It's fine when Patrick Stewart says it, but until you've commanded a starship, led the X-Men, and played Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, maybe you shouldn't be so demanding. But if you must use this or any other Star Trek quote, this guide will teach you how to do it well.

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W hy's T his F unny?

The Origins of 11 Famous Star Trek Lines

By rick marshall | nov 6, 2015.

Few franchises have had the cultural impact of the various Star Trek television series and movies, and nowhere is that more evident than in the snippets of dialogue that have become a part of the American vernacular—and in some cases, found their way abroad, too. Here are 11 of the most notable Star Trek catchphrases, as well as a little more information about their origins.

1. "Live Long and Prosper"

The Vulcan greeting and the finger-separating hand gesture that accompanies it first appeared in the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series , during an episode titled “Amok Time.” Spock himself (actor Leonard Nimoy) has made no secret of the fact that the gesture and phrase were his idea, and that he based them on Orthodox Jewish blessings he remembered from his childhood. In the Jewish blessing, the position of the fingers forms the Hebrew letter “Shin,” which represents the name “Shaddai” (Almighty God). Nimoy put his own spin on the traditional gesture by holding up just one hand (instead of both) and changing up the verbal blessing slightly.

2. "Highly Illogical..."

While Spock never shied away from questioning the logic of those around him—usually Kirk—it wasn't until the second season that he took things up a notch and deemed the actions of the native inhabitants of planet Omega IV “highly illogical” in the episode titled “The Omega Glory.” Previously, it had always just been “illogical” or, in rare cases, “most illogical,” but it took a pair of natives attacking Kirk in a jail cell for Spock to pair his trademark raised-eyebrow reaction with the term “highly illogical.” The phrase would then be repeated in several more episodes, as well as the subsequent films and J.J. Abrams' reboot of the franchise.

Bonus: “Highly Illogical” was also the name of Leonard Nimoy's 1993 music album featuring several songs he recorded in the 1960s (including “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”) as well as a few new tunes.

3. "Beam Me Up, Scotty"

One of the most interesting aspects of this phrase—a request directed at Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott for transport back to the USS Enterprise—is that it was never actually uttered in any of the Star Trek television series or movies. More often than not, the command was akin to “Three to beam up” or more directly, “Beam them up,” with the closest approximation being “Beam us up, Scotty” in a few episodes of the Star Trek animated series. However, William Shatner did say this line while reading the audio version of his novel Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden .

4. "I'm A Doctor, Not A..."

Everyone knows that Dr. Leonard McCoy is not an engineer, a coal miner, or an escalator, but that never stopped him from reminding his fellow crew members. The first time DeForest Kelley uttered his famous catchphrase as we know it was in a first-season episode titled “The Devil in the Dark.” In that episode, McCoy saw fit to let Kirk know that he was a doctor, not a brick-layer. It's worth noting that an earlier episode, “The Corbomite Maneuver," had him asking Capt. Kirk, “What am I, a doctor or a moon-shuttle conductor?” but it wasn't until much later in the season that we got the full line that would later be heard in just about every subsequent series, as well as the Star Trek films. The line even made it into J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot, with Karl Urban (as McCoy) exclaiming, “I'm a doctor, not a physicist!”

5. "Make It So"

Captain Jean-Luc Picard's signature line was a part of Star Trek: The Next Generation from the very start, with actor Patrick Stewart uttering what would become his character's most memorable catchphrase in the pilot episode, “Encounter at Farpoint.” The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry himself, so it's likely that he wrote the line for Picard, though the phrase has been in use for quite a while in military circles as a way to tell someone to proceed with a command.

6. "To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before..."

The infinitive-splitting opening narration for each episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (with the exception of the pilot episodes) was famously recited by William Shatner, but the actual origins of the line are uncertain at best. Some reports suggest that it was inspired by a 1958 White House press booklet promoting the space program, though some have speculated that it came from a statement made by explorer James Cook following an expedition to Newfoundland. Writer Samuel Peeples, who authored the pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” is often credited with the decision to make the phrase such a significant part of the series. The line was eventually repeated—with a few minor tweaks—in each iteration of the series and films.

7. "Khaaannnn!"

Possibly the most meme-friendly line of dialogue ever to come out of the Star Trek universe, this scream of rage originated in (no surprise here) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Left marooned on a dead planet by the evil villain Khan then taunted about his predicament, Kirk let loose with a primal roar—and the rest was viral-video history.

8. "I'm Givin' Her All She's Got, Captain!"

Much like “Beam me up, Scotty,” this famous catchphrase often associated with USS Enterprise Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in Star Trek: The Original Series was never said in this exact form by actor James Doohan in the series or subsequent films. The closest approximation is a line in the second-season episode “The Changeling,” when Kirk asks Scotty to divert more power to the ship's shields. Scotty responds with, “Giving them all we got.” However, Doohan did utter every word of the famous line as part of a cameo in 1993's Loaded Weapon , in which he turns up as a panicky police officer trying to fix a coffee machine. Similarly, Simon Pegg used the same line “I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!” in 2009's Star Trek reboot, in which he plays a young Montgomery Scott.

9. "Nuclear Wessels"

Russian crew member Pavel Andreievich Chekov's inability to pronounce the letter “V” became a recurring joke after the character was introduced in the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series as the ship's navigator. While it made for some funny moments throughout the series and subsequent movies, one of the most memorable pronunciation gaffes occurred during Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , when Chekov begins asking passers-by in 1980s San Francisco where he can find “nuclear wessels.” Even though Walter Koenig had been playing the character for almost 20 years before The Voyage Home hit theaters, the two-word line soon became indelibly connected with his portrayal of the character.

10. "Resistance Is Futile"

This famous line was first uttered by robotic aliens The Borg in the epic third-season finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation , titled “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1.” Not only did the 1990 episode offer up one of the greatest cliffhangers in television history, but it also coined a phrase that would live forever in the nightmares of fans—mainly because it was recycled for use in countless other series and films down the road.

11. "Set Phasers To Stun"

It was established early on in Star Trek: The Original Series that the phasers used by the crew of USS Enterprise had a “stun” setting (as mentioned in “The Man Trap” episode), and both Kirk and Spock often found themselves instructing their crewmates to use the non-lethal capabilities of their standard-issue weapons. However, it wasn't until the second season of Star Trek: The Animated Series that we first heard Kirk issue the command “Set phasers to stun.” The line eventually became an oft-repeated order in subsequent series, turning up in both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation , as well as many of the movies (including 2009's reboot).

This article originally appeared in 2013.

Star Trek: Picard gives the captain’s catchphrase “tradition” a twist

By mike poteet | apr 21, 2023.

NOTE: This post contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Picard series finale.

As the teaser trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 reminded us, starship captains in the franchise these days need to have a catchphrase. “Everyone who sits in the chair has ‘their thing,’” Ortegas tells Spock. Presumably, Spock is in command only temporarily. Even so, Ortegas expects him to “have his thing” because she thinks it’s some sort of Starfleet tradition. Who knows? Maybe it’s even an item on the “ Enterprise bingo” card.

In the real world, this “tradition” of a mandatory captain’s catchphrase reaches only as far back as Star Trek (2009), when Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) gave the order to go to warp speed as “punch it.” Two occurrences may not a catchphrase make, but Greenwood played the moment as though it were. And the captain’s catchphrase Anson Mount’s Pike uses—“Hit it”—in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 and in Strange New Worlds is all but identical, confirming Alex Kurtzman’s job description for Starfleet COs includes coming up with a signature saying.

No doubt the captain’s catchphrase came about as a tip of the hat to the inimitable way Jean-Luc Picard intoned “make it so” and “engage” in Star Trek: The Next Generation . (Let the record show we first heard the latter order from Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Pike in “The Cage.”) Captain Kirk didn’t have a recurring catchphrase, nor did Captain Sisko. Ryan Britt argues that an angry “do it” constituted Captain Janeway’s catchphrase .

But Captain Burnham’s adoption of “let’s fly” in Discovery , coupled with Saru’s brief search for a catchphrase of his own that series’ third season, established the tradition as a trope not to be ignored. Even Dal, in Star Trek: Prodigy , tried one of his own (“Go fast!”).

In the series finale of Star Trek: Picard , the “tradition” of the captain’s catchphrase is trotted out once again. This time, however, it’s handled with a twist.

Star Trek: Picard doesn’t disclose Seven’s captain’s catchphrase

Near the end of “The Last Generation,” as the recently rechristened Enterprise -G prepares to embark on a shakedown cruise, First Officer Raffi Musiker and Ensign Jack Crusher ask Captain Seven of Nine what her command catchphrase will be. Indeed, they make a bigger deal out of the catchphrase than anyone has before:

"RAFFI: “Engage”? “Make it so”? “Take her out”? There’s a long history of this. Your first official act of command. Writing the opening line to your legacy.JACK: So then—what’ll it be?"

The revisionist insistence that all Starfleet captains coin a unique catchphrase continues. What kind of grandiose nonsense is this? Do all starship commanders assume they will be so successful, so worthy of future generations’ attention, that they are writing their legacies from their very first day in the center seat?

But then, thankfully, “The Last Generation” throws a curve ball. The camera cuts away from the scene just as Seven opens her mouth, draws a breath, and starts to speak. We don’t hear the order she gives. We don’t get to find out what her catchphrase is.

The moment feels refreshing and right. Seven of Nine has never been one to conform to others’ expectations—not from the time Voyager separated her from the Borg, not while she served as a Fenris Ranger, and not while she was Captain Shaw’s XO on the Titan . Given that Shaw suggested, in the performance review he recorded for her, that any rules Seven might break “might have already been broken,” maybe it stands to reason the same goes for a stubborn adherence to this command catchphrase ritual.

Maybe she said, “A captain’s catchphrase is irrelevant.”

But even if Seven does adopt a captain’s catchphrase, it’s best left to the audience to ponder what it might be. Leaving the moment unheard and unfinished gives a sense of new, wide open possibilities more than anything else in Picard season 3 did. Seven is at the beginning of a new chapter in her life, surely with many grand adventures ahead of her and her Enterprise ’s crew.

Leaving this scene unresolved is an unexpected and exciting choice and a beautiful way to honor the potential Seven’s captaincy represents. It’s a welcome invitation for the audience to use its imagination about what comes next, something Star Trek at its best has always done.

Next. Star Trek: Picard saw Jonathan Frakes giving a touching sendoff to a Trek icon. dark

Star Trek’s Best Captain Catchphrases

By Ryan Britt

Each Star Trek captain had a distinct identity, perhaps best illustrated by their choice of catchphrase to illustrate their personality.

The OG Captain Kirk was known for his command, “Execute!” In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , he uses the decisive phrase twice .

Slightly less cool was Edward Jellico, captain of the USS Enterprise-D, who liked to tell Riker and Troi to “Get it done!”

An inexplicable standing ovation resulted when Kirk uttered his less-used “Take us out!” among reporters in Star Trek Generations .

Generations also found Captain Picard using a phrase he wasn’t usually known for: “Just do it!”

Captain Lorca kept it simple in Star Trek: Discovery . When he wanted to activate the spore drive, he commanded, “Go!”

Star Wars may have originated the phrase “Punch it!” but in the 2009 Star Trek reboot movie, Captain Pike used the command twice.

Anson Mount’s Captain Pike prefers “Hit it!” which is likely to be heard again in Strange New Worlds in 2021 or 2022.

Captain Freeman of the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks experiments with catchphrases, including “It’s warp time!” and “Warp me!”

Captain Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager said “Do it!” in a forceful way that almost commanded immediate compliance.

Michael Burnham debuted her Starfleet captain catchphrase recently on Star Trek: Discovery , commanding, “Let’s fly!”

Captain Jean-Luc Picard corners the market on catchphrases with his Star Trek: The Next Generation usage of “Make it so!”

This utterance is second only to Picard’s other well-known command, perhaps Star Trek ’s greatest catchphrase: “Engage!”

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• Patrick Stewart: How <i>Star Trek: Picard</i> Was Really Supposed to End

Patrick Stewart: How Star Trek: Picard Was Really Supposed to End

I n 2018, my agent informed me that two acclaimed screenwriters, Alex Kurtzman, who had co-written the Star Trek movie-franchise reboot starring Chris Pine, and Akiva Goldsman, an Oscar winner for Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind , wanted to meet with me about a new TV series they had in mind. Its premise? It revisited Jean-Luc Picard as he was now, in his later years. My instant reaction? “No, definitely not interested. Sorry.”

Fifteen minutes later, perhaps hedging a little, I called my agent back and told him that I would meet with Alex and Akiva, but only to explain why I was not interested in reentering the Star Trek realm. It was the polite thing to do, after all.

I met with Alex at the Hotel Bel-Air for lunch. For some reason, Akiva was not present, but Alex had brought with him Kirsten Beyer, a prolific author of Star Trek novels, and screenwriter James Duff, who co-created the Kyra Sedgwick show The Closer . I sighed inwardly—clearly, I was about to be pitched.

By way of a preamble, I made it clear to my lunch hosts that I was proud of the work we had done on The Next Generation and the four feature films that followed. I had very much enjoyed being Jean-Luc and kept him close in my heart. But. I was done with him. I had said everything I wanted to say about him. His journey, as far as I was concerned, was complete, and for the remainder of my life, I was eager to find work as far away from Star Trek as possible, to keep moving forward as an actor. I thanked Alex, Kirsten, and James for their time and interest, but that was that.

It will not surprise you that they pushed back.

They all said, in different ways, that they did not feel that Picard’s story was over. Seventeen years had passed since Nemesis , the final movie featuring The Next Generation cast. That was a long time ago, but Picard’s life had not ended. In fact, his life might very well have taken a radically different course post- Nemesis .

“How so?” I asked.

My hosts were ready for this and bombarded me with questions. Was Picard still a captain? Was he still in Starfleet? Had he been promoted? Had he retired? Did he still have his château in France? Did he have a wife or partner? What was his relationship with the Borg after all this time?

But mostly, they raised questions about Picard’s emotional state. He was an older man now—was aging changing him, as, perhaps, it was changing me? 

Whew. I needed to think about all of this.

When we adjourned, we agreed that they would get me a memo presenting their ideas and that I would give it some consideration.

The memo that arrived was over 10 pages long, and I studied it very carefully. I had a series of talks with my wife Sunny because committing to such a project would have a big impact on us, tethering me to a fixed schedule and a return to L.A. after our wholehearted embrace of Brooklyn.

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We decided that revisiting Picard was worth considering, and I asked for another meeting. This time, Akiva Goldsman was in on the discussion. He spoke compellingly of his personal vision for a new series and mentioned that he was keen to involve Michael Chabon, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay I had loved. That really got my attention.

I told Akiva and his team that I would return for Star Trek: Picard , as the series was to be called, if they met the following conditions:

• The series would not be based on a reunion of The Next Generation characters. I wanted it to have little or nothing to do with them. This was not at all a mark of disrespect for my beloved fellow actors. Rather, I simply felt it was essential to place Picard in entirely new settings with entirely new characters. Perhaps Picard might encounter Riker or Dr. Crusher in the second season, but such encounters were not to be the series’ raison d’être.
• Picard would no longer be serving in Starfleet, and he was not to wear any kind of uniform or badges.
• The series would run for no more than three seasons.

It was clear to me that the writing team was not entirely thrilled with these conditions, but basically, they were all agreed to. The no-uniform rule was the toughest one for them to stomach, for some reason, and more than once, I was asked to reconsider my hard line. I stuck to my guns.

But once I committed to being Jean-Luc again, I committed fully. I told the new program’s producers that I wanted to announce Star Trek: Picard with a splash—by making a surprise appearance at the 2018 edition of the annual Star Trek Las Vegas convention.

I wanted it all kept hush-hush, with no mention whatsoever of my being in Las Vegas. Somehow, the secret never leaked. When I strode out to center stage, dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans, I was greeted with a thundering round of applause that I took a moment to enjoy. I told the audience a few familiar stories of my early days on Star Trek: The Next Generation , which were received appreciatively. I talked about how I had long thought that our four feature films marked the end of the line for Jean-Luc. That elicited a few groans.

Then I sprang it on ’em: “Jean-Luc Picard is back.” Whoooo! Hoots of joy, more applause, lunatic shouts of glee. That moment alone made returning to the Star Trek universe worthwhile, and we hadn’t yet shot a scene.

Once we started filming, I was relieved and pleased to find myself discovering a new gear in which to play Jean-Luc. Having reviewed my work in Blunt Talk , I’d come to recognize that at times I was being a bit heavy in my delivery, hitting words too firmly and delivering my lines too theatrically. I was determined to remedy that. Also, my voice has grown more ragged with age. So for the Jean-Luc on the precipice of turning 80, I found a tone that was softer and gentler, and it really worked.

My whole career had been, to a degree, defined by my speaking voice and its power. Yet now, in acknowledging the limitations that Picard and I faced as older men, I found my voice more full of expression and spontaneity than before. I could also hear my brain and my feelings connecting to this voice, bringing forward a nuanced, autumnal Picard who was new to me and, I hoped, the show’s viewers.

Read More: Patrick Stewart on That Logan Scene, the Poop Emoji and American Citizenship

The writers did a remarkable job of inventing new characters, such as Picard’s former Starfleet first officer Raffi Musiker, who struggles with substance abuse, and Agnes Jurati, a cybernetics expert who ultimately gets assimilated into the Borg. The producers did an equally fantastic job of landing the blue-chip actors Michelle Hurd to play Raffi and Alison Pill as Agnes. I couldn’t wait to share our show with the world. 

The first season premiered in 2020. We shot the second and third seasons of Star Trek: Picard back-to-back, making up for lost time after COVID-19 shutdowns. Little by little, as the producers wore me down, I softened on my hard-line conditions regarding how I would participate in the series. Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes had reprised their characters in the first season, and Marina Sirtis, whose character Deanna Troi is now married to Riker, made a one-off appearance. By our second season, Q had reared his head, meaning a return for John de Lancie, and Whoopi Goldberg put in a couple of very valuable appearances as Guinan. For good measure, throughout the series we were also joined by the brilliant, beautiful Jeri Ryan, reprising her role as the ex-Borg drone Seven of Nine from the late-1990s TV series Star Trek: Voyager .

For season 3, our last, Terry Matalas, by then Picard ’s showrunner, told me that the studio wanted a full Next Generation reunion. Ugh, just what I had firmly said I didn’t want. But that had been three years ago. Now I was less resistant, having enjoyed working with Jonathan, Brent, Marina, John, and Whoopi. As an executive producer, I had a say in how we might go about achieving such a reunion. I told Terry, “I like the idea, provided that we don’t bring them all back at once. Let’s trickle them back in.”

It was essential to me that each TNG character came into the picture because he or she had a specific contribution to make and it wasn’t just sentimental window dressing. If Jean-Luc had changed so much over the years, so, too, surely, had the other members of the Enterprise crew. The writers, bless them, took this to heart.

Read More: How Star Trek First Made It to the Screen

The final season’s premiere episode, written by Terry, found Picard in a relaxed state of post-Starfleet life, proclaiming to his Romulan minder, Laris, played by the fine Irish actress Orla Brady, “I’m going to sip Saurian brandy and think about writing my memoir.” (Hey, I could relate to that!)

Then, out of nowhere, Jean-Luc receives a distress call from none other than his former chief medical officer and occasional lover, Dr. Beverly Crusher. Hello and welcome back, Gates McFadden!

And as he plots to rescue Dr. Crusher and ward off an unknown enemy who is keen to abduct her son, Jack—who is also, we learn, Picard’s child—Jean-Luc gradually rounds up the only people he can trust: his old Enterprise gang. Hello and welcome back, Gates, Brent, Jonathan, Marina, LeVar Burton, and Michael Dorn! (I especially liked Worf’s pacifist reappearance with a white goatee.)

And also, a grudging hello and welcome back to Starfleet badges and uniforms. Everyone else wore them, but Terry Matalas, knowing of my reservations, worked out a compromise. Picard’s outfits had the same silhouette as the Starfleet uniform but looked more like everyday street clothes, with no two-tone color scheme.

The third season came off magnificently. But its final scene, in which the reunited crew is gathered around a table with drinks, sharing a toast, is not how it was originally supposed to end. I had a different idea, which I brought to the writers a few months before we wrapped the series.

“What I’d like to see at the end of the show,” I told them, “is a content Jean-Luc. I want to see Picard perfectly at ease with his situation. Not anxious, not in a frenzy, not depressed. And I think this means that there is a wife in the picture.”

You see, the line between Jean-Luc and me has grown ever more blurred. If I have found true love, shouldn’t he?

The writers came up with a lovely scene. It is dusk at Jean-Luc’s vineyard. His back is to us as he takes in the view, his dog at his side.

Then, off-screen, a woman’s loving voice is heard: “Jean-Luc? Supper’s ready!”

Is it Beverly Crusher’s voice? Laris’s? Someone we don’t know? It isn’t made clear. But Sunny was set to record the lines.

Heeding his wife’s call, Jean-Luc turns around, says to his dog, “C’mon, boy,” and heads inside. Dusk fades to night, and Picard fades into history.

But this scene was never shot. And I am sort of to blame. Our final day of shooting season 3 was a bear, with a very long to-do list. About eight hours in, I realized we were in for a 14- or even 16-hour day. Brutal. And I was booked to fly to New York the first thing the following morning. So I made a suggestion to the production team.

“Look,” I said, “the scene with the dog will take no time to shoot, but it will take hours to set up the lighting and the green screen and all that. We don’t have those hours. So let’s not shoot that scene today. I can come back at any time you like and take care of it. Just me and the dog.”

The production team was grateful and relieved. And I was assured that we would take care of the final scene upon my return from New York.

But I never got a call. When I made a few inquiries, I kept getting put off. Finally, someone told me, “The studio doesn’t want to do it. It’s too expensive and they think it’s unnecessary.” Unnecessary? I thought it was crucial to the completion of Picard’s arc. But so be it: the TV series ended with the toast, which is a warm, emotional send-off to my favorite Starfleet crew. Either way, you now know of my original intent.

So is that it for Jean-Luc Picard?

Most probably, but never say never. I am gently pushing Paramount to let us do one single Picard movie. Not a Next Generation movie, as we have already done four of those. This would be an expansion and deepening of the universe as we’ve seen it in Star Trek: Picard . I’ve discussed this with Jonathan, Brent, and LeVar, and they are all game. Jonathan is my first choice to direct it.

Copyright (c) 2023 by Camm Lane, Inc. From the book Making It So by Patrick Stewart to be published by Gallery Books, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Printed by permission.

Correction, Sept. 28

The original version of this story misstated the writer of the season 3, episode 1 of  Star Trek: Picard . It was Terry Matalas, not Matalas, Akiva Goldsman, and Michael Chabon.

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Every Time Picard Said 'Make It So,' Ranked By How Well They Made It So

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is not a man of few words. He's prone to grandiose speeches about morality, ethics, and the nature of humanity. To put it bluntly, this dude loves to hear himself talk. But sometimes, the situations the Enterprise-D finds itself in are so dangerous that it requires brevity and stern command. That's when Captain Picard unleashes his ultimate rhetorical tool - three little words that Picard (and an evil Picard clone) uttered 77 times over the course of the Star Trek : The Next Generation television series: "Make it so."

From main cast members like Commander Riker (aka "Number One"), Lieutenant Commander Data, and Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge to guest stars we never see again, a variety of characters are told to "make it so" in the seven seasons of TNG . There's even an episode in which Picard tells someone to make it so five times in the span of an hour!

How well they made it so is up for debate. Sometimes, the orders are carried out perfectly, and all is well on the Enterprise. Other times, the making it so is totally bungled - or worse, causes an inadvertent calamity on board the ship. Vote up all the times Picard's trademark order was followed properly.

To Data In 'The Pegasus'

What Was The Situation?  Starfleet has located the long-lost USS Pegasus in the Devolin system, which is perilously close to the Romulan Neutral Zone. Admiral Erik Pressman, former captain of the Pegasus, orders Picard to either recover the remains of the ship or wipe it out to prevent the Romulans from finding it.

A sensor sweep reveals the Pegasus is deep inside an asteroid. Pressman would prefer to salvage the ship, so Geordi suggests blanketing the asteroid with high levels of ionizing radiation. Because there is so much of that type of radiation in the area, the Romulans won't be able to discover the whereabouts of the ship. 

Did He Make It So?  Data initiates an ionization field pulse. The deception works, giving the Enterprise enough time to begin its salvage operation.

To Data, A Final Time, In 'All Good Things...'

What Was The Situation?  After all that trouble, the Pasteur can't find any anomaly. Klingon birds of prey and battle cruisers have been dispatched to the area after receiving reports of a rogue Federation vessel entering their territory. Crusher wants to return to Federation space while there's still time, but Picard is adamant about continuing the search for the anomaly. Data says he can modify the main deflector to emit an inverse tachyon pulse, which would allow them to scan beyond the subspace barrier.

Did He Make It So?  Data says it will take 14 hours to complete the modifications and the scans. Knowing the danger her crew is in, Captain Crusher orders Data to complete his scans in six hours. If nothing is found, they return to Federation space.

To Castillo In 'Yesterday's Enterprise'

What Was The Situation? In an alternate 24th century, Lieutenant Castillo of the Enterprise-C declares his willingness to take over for his dearly departed Captain Garrett and lead his ship back in time to certain demise in an entanglement with the Romulans that will bring peace to the galaxy and restore the timeline.

Did He Make It So? Castillo and Lieutenant Tasha Yar escape a Klingon onslaught and travel back in time to the 23rd century, where they make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the Klingon outpost on Narendra III from a Romulan incursion. Peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire is achieved. The timeline is restored.

To La Forge In 'Schisms'

What Was The Situation?  The rift the aliens are using to board the Enterprise is growing, which threatens the ship's hull integrity. Geordi is using a containment field to prevent the rift from getting any larger, but it's not working. Containment field integrity is set to fail in approximately 14 minutes. Picard asks Geordi if he can divert more power to the containment field. Geordi says that, at best, he can augment the field with auxiliary power, but it won't make all that much of a difference.

Did He Make It So?  Geordi's enhancement works only so well, but it does give Riker enough time to return to the Enterprise before they have to shut the rift with a gravitron pulse.

To O'Brien In 'The Wounded'

What Was The Situation?  Chief O'Brien's former commanding officer, Captain Benjamin Maxwell, has gone rogue, firing on a Cardassian science station, a freighter, and a Galor-class cruiser. Picard feels he has no choice but to retaliate against Maxwell's ship to maintain the fragile peace between the Federation and the Cardassians, but O'Brien believes he can reason with his former captain if given the chance to beam aboard his vessel, the USS Phoenix.

Riker reminds O'Brien that Maxwell will never lower his shields to allow anyone to transport over, but O'Brien knows there is a window of 1/50 of a second between the Phoenix's high-energy sensor sweeps where the shields drop and he can (theoretically) transport over. It's a risk O'Brien is willing to take.

Did He Make It So?  O'Brien successfully beams over to the Phoenix and gets Captain Maxwell to stand down.

To Lynch In 'Skin of Evil'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise has lost contact with Shuttlecraft 13, which crash-landed on the planet Vagra II. Simultaneously, the warp drive has been taken offline so the engineering staff can complete preventative maintenance on the dilithium crystals. The Enterprise has only the impulse drive at its disposal as the crew attempt to mount a rescue for the downed shuttlecraft and the crew members inside it.

Engineer Lieutenant Leland T. Lynch informs Picard that they have finished their maintenance and only minimum warp speed is recommended. Picard demands Geordi hit warp eight, which causes Lieutenant Lynch to protest. Picard says his order must be followed and commands Lynch and La Forge to make it so.

Did He Make It So?  The Enterprise safely achieves warp factor eight and arrives at Vagra II to begin the rescue attempt.

To La Forge In 'Hollow Pursuits'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise's matter/anti-matter injectors have jammed due to invidium. Geordi recommends flooding the injector pathway conduit with liquid nitrogen to neutralize the issue.

Did He Make It So?  The liquid nitrogen solves the problem and the anti-matter injectors come back online.

To La Forge In 'Time's Arrow, Part I'

What Was The Situation?  Data, along with two malevolent alien beings, has traveled back in time to August 11, 1893. Picard implores his crew to come up with a way to replicate the time portal Data and the aliens traveled through so they might rescue him and preserve the timeline. Geordi explains that it won't be easy to replicate what Data did. At best, they can create a contained subspace field, but they'll require a phase discriminator to get the .004 variance they need.

Did He Make It So?  Geordi builds a phase discriminator that creates a subspace field large enough to encompass the entire away team. They travel back to 1893 and rescue their friend.

To Riker, Again, In 'The Most Toys'

What Was The Situation?  Commander Riker and the crew correctly deduce that Kivas Fajo staged Data's destruction in order to capture him. To find his ship, Riker advises Picard to put out a coded level two query to all Federation outposts in the area that might have traded with Fajo in the hopes of deducing his whereabouts. 

Did He Make It So?  The Enterprise finds Fajo, rescues Data, and Fajo is put into custody.

To Troi, Data, La Forge, and Worf In 'The Loss'

What Was The Situation?  Geordi, Data, and Troi have devised a solution to the two-dimensional being problem. Troi figures out that the beings are drawn to the cosmic string as an instinctual urge, much like a moth to a flame. Data suggests replicating the subspace frequency of the cosmic string's atomic particle decay. Geordi believes the Enterprise can use its parabolic dish to amplify and reflect those frequencies back to the cluster of two-dimensional beings.

Did They Make It So?  The simulation of the cosmic string works and causes the cluster to briefly change course, giving the Enterprise the opportunity to escape.

To Data, Again, In 'The Pegasus'

What Was The Situation? After entering the asteroid to salvage the Pegasus, the Romulans "accidentally" close the fissure and lock the Enterprise inside the rock. The Romulan commander, Sirol, offers the crew asylum aboard his ship. That would allow the Romulans to capture both the Pegasus and the Enterprise. Any attempt to cut through the asteroid from the inside would cause it to collapse, destroying both ships.

In a panic, Riker suggests using secret technology onboard the Pegasus: an illicit Federation cloaking device that would allow the Enterprise to pass through solid matter. Riker thinks the cloak could be adapted for use on the Enterprise. Data says it is theoretically possible to do that, but it will take several hours to make it so.

Did He Make It So? The cloak works and the Enterprise escapes. The ship decloaks in front of the Romulans, then Picard informs Sirol that Admiral Pressman and Starfleet flouted the Treaty of Algeron, which forbids the Federation from developing cloaking technology.

To Young Ro And Young Guinan In 'Rascals'

What Was The Situation? A transporter mishap turns Picard, Ensign Ro, and Guinan into 12-year-old children. As those three grapple with their newfound youth, the Enterprise is taken captive by a band of Ferengi marauders. Li'l Picard devises a plan to regain control of the ship, but he needs Young Guinan and Tiny Ro to make their way through a Jefferies Tube to get to Main Engineering without being detected.

Did They Make It So? Kid Ro and Baby Guinan travel through the adult-sized Jefferies Tube without much trouble.

To Riker In 'The Royale'

What Was The Situation? A Klingon battle cruiser discovers pieces of an unknown vessel in the upper atmosphere of the planet Theta VIII. The Enterprise is sent to investigate. Commander Riker suggests beaming up a fragment of the ship for closer analysis. 

Did He Make It So?  The vessel fragment the Enterprise beams up is a bit of brushed aluminum with some markings on it. Ever the student of history, Riker identifies the markings as the insignia of the United States Air Force.

To La Forge, Again, In 'Phantasms'

What Was The Situation?  In order to learn more about the interphasic parasites, Picard theorizes that they can examine Data's dreams. Geordi says they can interface with Data's positronic matrix, but it will take an hour to finish the procedure.

Did He Make It So?  They crack Data open and wander through his dreams. It becomes clear the interphasic parasites infected the warp core and have to be exterminated.

To Worf In 'Cost of Living'

What Was The Situation?  Systems are critical thanks to the nitrium parasite. Atmospheric systems are down to 27%, below tolerable oxygen limits. Worf recommends evacuating decks 20 through 24.

Did He Make It So?  Yes. Evacuees are directed to decks nine and ten. Emergency life support is diverted to those decks as well.

To Riker In 'New Ground'

What Was The Situation? A test of the new soliton wave transportation technology goes awry, destroying the test ship and damaging the Enterprise in the process. The wave grows in strength and is on a course to collide with the colony at Lemma II. A plan is devised to dissipate the wave with photon torpedoes; the result of those torpedoes blowing is the flooding of any decks meant to be covered by the aft shields, which were lost in the initial soliton wave mishap. Riker recommends evacuating sections 24 through 47 on decks 35 through 38.

Did He Make It So? Yes, but more importantly, Worf has to save his son Alexander from a fire in one of the ship's biolabs.

To Dr. Crusher In 'Ethics'

What Was The Situation?  The transport ship Denver has struck a gravitic mine left over from the Cardassian conflict. The ship, its crew of 23, and more than 500 colonists bound for the Beloti sector have suffered significant damage. Dr. Crusher asks for all three shuttlebays to be converted to triage centers and for all civilians with medical training to assist with the injured.

Did She Make It So?  Yes, but more importantly, Dr. Crusher needs to repair Worf's spine so he can walk again!

To Riker In 'The Outrageous Okona'

What Was The Situation?  An interplanetary vessel locks lasers on the Enterprise. As even the smallest school-aged child knows, lasers can't even penetrate the Enterprise-D's navigational shields. But Commander Riker is a stickler for procedure, and regulations state that he must call for a yellow alert. Picard rolls his eyes at what he calls a "very old regulation," but he concurs.

Did He Make It So?  Yes, plus Picard orders the shields lowered and speed reduced. Picard is totally having a laugh here.

To La Forge In 'The Quality of Life'

What Was The Situation?  Data believes the exocomps, worker droids designed to learn and adapt to a variety of situations, have achieved sentience. He points to an exocomp that refuses to enter a dangerous situation, which is a sign of self-preservation instinct. Geordi suggests putting that exocomp in a simulated threat scenario to see how it responds.

Did He Make It So?  The exocomp repairs a "malfunctioning" Jefferies tube, but also fixes the false alarm, proving the exocomp is smart enough to know the danger was a ruse.

To Data In 'Timescape'

What Was The Situation? Picard, Data, Troi, and Geordi return from a conference to find that the Enterprise and a Romulan ship are stuck in time stasis right before a warp core breach. To prevent the destruction of both ships, Picard declares that they must be able to move time backwards in order to prevent a power transfer that caused the core to breach. Data suggests using his tricorder to manipulate the effects of the temporal aperture so they can move forward and backward in time.

Did He Make It So?  You bet he did. Data uses a remote-controlled tricorder to move time backwards so they can perform the necessary tasks to save the ship.

To Riker In 'The Neutral Zone'

What Was The Situation? The Enterprise approaches Tarod IX, which has been wiped out by an unknown force. Riker suggests the Enterprise go to red alert, in case of a Romulan strike. Worf agrees. Picard, as the voice of reason, reminds his senior staff they're still investigating and to hold off on making a rash judgment. Riker compromises by recommending yellow alert status. Picard agrees.

Did He Make It So? Yup. Taking a non-hostile posture pays off, as the cloaked Romulans in the area were testing the Enterprise to see if it would fire first.

To La Forge In 'Angel One'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise-D has arrived at the class M planet Angel One, a civilization ruled entirely by women. Lt. La Forge has asked for permission to enter orbit around Angel One.

Did He Make It So?  Yes. The Enterprise orbits Angel One for the rest of the episode. Things don't go awry until Commander Riker beams down to the surface.

To La Forge In 'The Mind's Eye'

What Was The Situation? An unauthorized transport has taken place aboard the Enterprise, sending supplies to a rebel base on the Klingon Krios colony. Unbeknownst to the crew, Geordi was snatched and brainwashed by the Romulans into helping them aid the rebels' plan to destabilize the Klingon outpost - while framing Starfleet for the deed. Picard asks Geordi for help discovering the source of the unauthorized transport, so Geordi (who has no clue he's responsible) theorizes that he can find the answer by tracing power flows at the time of the incident.

Did He Make It So? The plan works. Data and Geordi find out the transport took place in Cargo Bay Four, but there's no record of the transport. Only someone really, really smart could have falsified the transporter record. A really, really smart person like Geordi.

To Data In 'Cost of Living'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise is beset by a space parasite that feeds off nitrium that's stuck to the ship's hull. Data suggests an exanogen gas barrier, which is known to slow down the progress of metal parasites.

Did He Make It So?  Yes. It buys the crew some time while they come up with a means to coax the parasites off the hull.

To La Forge In 'In Theory'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise must navigate a nebula that's tearing holes in the fabric of space and damages any matter that comes in contact with it. Riker and Geordi concoct a plan in which a shuttlecraft is piloted in front of the Enterprise to scan for anomalies, giving the ship the navigational lead time to avoid the holes in space.

Did He Make It So?  Picard himself volunteers to pilot the shuttlecraft.

To Riker In 'The Best of Both Worlds, Part II'

What Was The Situation?  In Picard's ready room, Riker and Commander Shelby debrief their captain on what's next now that the Borg threat has been neutralized. Riker says a course to Station McKinley has been laid in, where the Enterprise will undergo repairs.

Did He Make It So?  A haunted Picard tells Riker to make it so, and the Enterprise limps home.

To Riker In 'The Vengeance Factor'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise is investigating the robbery of a Federation outpost, which the crew believe was carried out by a rogue group of Acamarians called "Gatherers" - space pirates that use the spoils of their thievery to sustain their society. Data finds evidence of a Gatherer camp on the planet Gamma Hromi Two. Riker suggests an away team beam down to have a look.

Did He Make It So?  Riker beams down with Worf, Geordi, and Data. They discover their suspicions were correct and make contact with the Gatherers.

To O'Brien In 'Unnatural Selection'

What Was The Situation?  An aggressive virus is causing the infected to age rapidly. O'Brien says they can use the transporter to filter out changes in Dr. Pulaski's DNA caused by the virus, but only if they can locate her trace pattern. Picard realizes that if they use a DNA sample from a recent blood test prior to her exposure to the disease, they can filter out the genetic change. To do that, O'Brien is ordered to patch a molecular matrix reader into the biofilter bus. He also has to concern himself with a possibly overloaded waveform modulator. Whatever that means.

Did He Make It So?  Yup. Dr. Pulaski goes back to being just kind of old instead of really old.

To Data In 'The Best of Both Worlds, Part I'

What Was The Situation? "The USS Lalo departed Zeta Alpha Two on a freight run to Sentinel Minor Four. At twenty-two hundred hours and twelve minutes, a distress signal was received at Starbase 157. The Lalo reported contact with an alien vessel described as cube-shaped. The distress signal ended abruptly. She has not been heard from since." - Admiral Hanson

Picard asks Data how long it will take to reach Starbase 157 at warp factor nine. Data responds: "One hour, 17 minutes, sir."

Did He Make It So?  "Mister Worf, dispatch a subspace message to Admiral Hanson. We have engaged the Borg." - Captain Picard

To Data, Again, In 'Clues'

What Was The Situation?  The Enterprise crew discover they have unwittingly encountered a xenophobic, isolationist alien species called the Paxans. Their memories of the incident were wiped, and Data was asked to maintain the ruse that the crew were only unconscious for a few moments. This was to prevent the Enterprise from getting curious enough to discover the Paxans' homeworld again. Picard agrees to another memory wipe, but this time with fewer clues to pique their curiosity when they wake up. Once the wipe is complete, the crew members awaken and Data once again suggests a probe to examine the class M planet. 

Did He Make It So?  This time, Picard is satisfied with the probe and Data's explanation. The ship departs Evadne IV.

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6 “Star Trek” Catchphrases And How To Work Them Into Everyday Conversations

“Star Trek” has been a part of popular culture for nearly 50 years now, so it was inevitable that many of the popular lines from the show would work their way into our vernacular. Most of us know a “Star Trek” catchphrase or two, but working them into casual conversation can be a bit of a challenge. That’s where our handy guide comes in! Read on for six classic “Star Trek” lines and how to use them…

Catchphrase #1: “Make it so!”

Who Said It/What It Means: This curt three-word phrase was Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s standard way of issuing an order, often immediately followed by a sexy sip of earl grey tea.

How To Use It In Real Life: Every time you would normally say, “Yes.” Example:

Barista: Would you like cream in your coffee? You: MAKE IT SO.

Catchphrase #2:  “Live long and prosper.”

Who Said It/What It Means: This is the phrase associated with the Vulcan salute hand gesture, most famously used by Commander Spock. It’s a traditional Vulcan way to convey good wishes.

How To Use It In Real Life: Vulcans use this saying as both as a greeting and a farewell, but there are so many ways to work this lovely sentiment into your everyday conversations. Sub it out for the traditional “have a nice day,” sign off your emails with it, or try it in its hip text form, “LLAP.” Example:

Friend: TTYL You: LLAP 🙂

Catchphrase #3: “Resistance is futile.”

Who Said It/What It Means:  This is Borg-speak for “You don’t stand a goddamn chance,” and to put it simply: Borg don’t fuck around.

How To Use It In Real Life: As awful as it is to hear this phrase from the Borg, it’s actually a pretty awesome line when you need to get your point across. Use it to shut down naysayers of your new proposal at a work meeting, persuade a friend to join Twitter, or convince your crush to go on a date with you.   Example:

Cable Provider: I’m sorry, but that upgrade is not part of your package. You: Resistance is futile! Cable Provider: Well, maybe I could bend the rules just this once.

Catchphrase #4: “Set phasers to stun.”

Who Said It/What It Means: Pretty much everyone (well, at least the good guys) who has ever carried a phaser with the intention of temporarily incapacitating the enemy rather than killing them has used this handy phrase.

How To Use It In Real Life: Whenever something stops you in your tracks or shocks you. Example:   “I saw the hottest guy in the elevator today. It was like, daaaaamn, set phasers to stun!”

Catchphrase #5: “Beam me up, Scotty!”

Who Said It/What It Means: Captain Kirk actually never said this exact phrase (seriously!), but it comes from his frequent requests to be transported back to the Starship Enterprise from whatever strange land he was exploring. “Scotty” is the name of his chief engineer, Montgomery Scott.

How To Use It In Real Life: As an alternate way to say “I’m on board,” or “Count me in.” Example:

Friend: Do you want to go to the Solange concert this Saturday? You: Obviously! Beam me up, Scotty!

Catchphrase #6:   “Hailing on all frequencies!”

Who Said It/What It Means:  Chief Communications Officer Uhura used this line when attempting to send out messages, AKA hails, to other starships or space stations. Hailing on all frequencies indicated an across-the-board effort to reach the message receiver, no matter what frequency they were on.

How To Use It In Real Life: This phrase is so perfect for the digital age we live in, because it sums up the exasperating experience of trying to get in touch with someone via phone, text, Facebook, email, Twitter (and often getting no response!). Example: “I’ve been hailing him on all frequencies, but I haven’t heard a peep!”

Original by Winona Dimeo-Ediger

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Published Jun 23, 2019

The Fans Have Spoken, And Picard's Best Catchphrase Is...

Was it 'Make it so,' 'Engage,' or something else?

StarTrek.com

StarTrek.com celebrated Captain Picard Day with a week's worth of party tips , a " Make it so " compendium, and a Special Message from Number One . And now we're closing out the festivities by sharing the definitive results of our most recent Twitter poll, in which we asked, "Which #Picard catchphrase is your favorite?" and let fans pick from "Make it so!," "Engage!" or "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot" Thousands of you... made it so:

In honor of #CaptainPicardDay , which #Picard catchphrase is your favorite? #StarTrek #PicardDayParty — Star Trek (@StarTrek) June 16, 2019

The winner was clear.

" MAKE IT SO " pic.twitter.com/UPzpzTHjjX — NETFLIX NATE (@NateonNetflix) June 17, 2019

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Star Trek: Picard Filmed The Seven Of Nine Captain Catchphrase Fans Didn't See

The final scenes of "Star Trek: Picard" saw Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) commanding the newly christened Enterprise-G (previously the Titan-A), taking her ship out on a brand new exploratory mission, exhilaratingly adding to the "Star Trek" legacy. Her first officer was her ex-girlfriend Commander Musiker (Michelle Hurd), and the ship is being piloted by Ensign La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) Geordi's daughter. Notably, Jean-Luc Picard's son Jack (Ed Speleers) sat at the captain's left hand serving as her special council. 

Just before leaping to warp, the crew turns to their captain in expectation, wondering how she's going to give the order to activate the engines. Picard previously said "Engage" on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," as well as "Make it so." Other captains have adopted other dramatic phrases such as "Let's punch it" (Pike in the 2009 "Star Trek" film) or "I would like the ship to go. Now." ( Spock on "Strange New Worlds" ). What was Captain Seven's "catchphrase" going to be? 

As a fun tease, Seven took in a breath to give the order, and then the showrunners cut away before audiences could hear her answer. It seems we'll never know what her version of "engage" will be.

It turns out, however, that Seven did have a catchphrase. In a recent interview with ComicBook.com , "Picard" showrunner Terry Matalas revealed that they shot an unused scene wherein other characters gave a reaction to her saying "her line," but that the scene was edited out at the last minute. What was the phrase? Matalas was frustratingly coy.

Disappointment

"Picard" contains a fun post-credits tease involving Jack and Q (John De Lancie), the trickster god who once gave Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) such trouble. The scene wasn't just a wink for fans, but was fully intended to tease out a (still not-in-production) spinoff series that Matalas would like to call "Star Trek: Legacy."  That was ultimately the final scene in the series, but, it seems, Matalas has orchestrated one more. He described it thus: 

"We had a few options, and we actually shot a post-post-credit to them reacting disappointed to it, and she's like, 'This is a work in progress.' But it's better left as a mystery that we hope to see it one day. Yeah. We'll see. It was pretty great though."

A wise cut, one might say. Leaving "Star Trek: Picard" on a shot of disappointed ensigns may not be the epic send-out the series might need. 

Yes, it seems that the tease of not hearing Captain Seven's "Engage" was an act of deliberate withholding. Matalas was clearly hoping that frustrated fans, wanting to hear the catchphrase, would write letters to Paramount, imploring that "Star Trek: Legacy" be given the green light, and that Seven be allowed to say "Let's kick this pig," or whatever it might be. That Matalas claims he knows what the phrase is, well, that only sweetens the pot. Hey, Trekkies, keep writing letters. 

Now for the fun speculation: Captain Seven of Nine learned her command skills mostly from Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) on "Star Trek: Voyager," so one might assume she would imitate her. Janeway merely said "Engage," however, and Seven would need something more in her own personal character. Given that she is a former Borg, might I suggest "Comply"?

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Book excerpt: "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You" by Bill Maher

Updated on: May 12, 2024 / 10:20 AM EDT / CBS News

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In his new book, "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You" (to be published May 21 by Simon & Schuster), Bill Maher, the opinionated host of HBO's "Real Time," rails hilariously against what he sees is wrong with America, from its culture wars to its political stagnation.

In the excerpt below, Maher takes aim at those who brazenly invoke the standards of today to rewrite history in ways that even "Star Trek" would think go too far.

Don't miss Robert Costa's interview with Bill Maher on "CBS Sunday Morning" May 12!

"What This Comedian Said Will Shock You" by Bill Maher

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The Past and the Furious

You can get creative with a novel, a TV show or a movie, but history books? That's not supposed to be fan fiction. How we teach our kids history has become a big controversy these days, with liberals accusing conservatives of wanting to whitewash the past—and sometimes that's true.

But the woke want to abuse to control the present, and in 2022 a scholar named James Sweet caught hell for calling them out for doing just that. He criticized a phenomenon known as "presentism," which means judging everyone in the past by the standards of the present; it's the belief that people who lived a hundred or five hundred or a thousand years ago really should have known better.

Which is so stupid—it's like getting mad at yourself today for not knowing what you know now when you were ten. Stupid me, spending all that time raising Sea-Monkeys and playing with slot cars and ogling old Playboy s in the woods behind my house.

Who doesn't have moments from your past that make you cringe? Who hasn't said "I can't believe I said that, I can't believe I thought that, I can't believe I did that ..." You ate dirt, you wanted to be a Ghostbuster, you shoplifted gum, you tried to be a white breakdancer. You wanted to marry Scott Baio.

I did incredibly stupid things that of course I regret. I smoked. I was into numerology. And astrology. And Christianity. I read Hemingway.

Yes, because we hadn't yet grown into the persons we would become—and humanity writ large is just the collective version of that.

Did Columbus commit atrocities? Of course. But people back then were generally atrocious. Everybody who could afford one had a slave, including people of color in other parts of the world.

The way people talk about slavery these days, you'd think it was a uniquely American thing that we invented in 1619. But slavery throughout history has been the rule, not the exception: the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the British, the early Americans—all the way up through R. Kelly.

The Holy Bible is practically an owner's manual for slaveholders. The word "slave" comes from "Slav," because so many Slavic people were enslaved, and they're as white as the Hallmark Channel. Who do you think gathered the slaves from the interior of Africa to sell to slave traders? Africans, who also kept their own slaves. Humans are not good people. We're a species prone to making others of our species our bitch. And the capacity for cruelty is a human thing, not a white thing, even though that doesn't jibe with the current narrative.

But in today's world, when truth conflicts with narrative, it's the truth that has to apologize. Being woke is like a magic moral time machine, where you judge everybody against what you imagine you would have done in 1066, and you always win. Professor Sweet is right about presentism: it's just a way to congratulate yourself about being better than George Washington because you have a gay friend, and he didn't. But if he were alive today, he would, and if you were alive then, you wouldn't.

Portland Public Schools teach kids that the idea of gender being mainly binary was brought here by white colonizers. The curriculum guide says, "When the United States was colonized by white settlers, their views around gender were forced upon the people already living here."

Not even Star Trek would try that story, where they discover a planet and give them separate bathrooms. It's like they finally discovered a Unified Theory of Wokeness, incorporating all their ideas about race, gender and colonizers. Like the New World was a great big diverse dance club and the Pilgrims were the bridge-and-tunnel crowd who came in and ruined everything.

The play I, Joan was presented in London recently, written by Charlie Josephine, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. The play portrays Joan of Arc as—surprise—nonbinary with they/them pronouns. Which, if you think about it, makes even less sense because Joan, being French, spoke a language where every noun is masculine or feminine. Joan says in the play, "I'm not a girl. I don't fit that word," as if she's a character on Euphoria .

And while it's true Joan did wear pants, that's what the soldiers wore—and she was soldiering. But in the retelling, Joan would rather die than stop wearing men's clothing. But Joan of Arc wasn't executed by the fashion police—her trial went on for over two months, we have the transcript—and not once did she complain about being misgendered.

Which is not to say there isn't truth to the old rubric that history is written by the winners, and it is subjective. Napoleon said history is just a fable we all agree on. And he should know, because he was a deaf woman named Diane.

But it's also true that much of history is indisputably factual, because we have artifacts and coins and birth records and archaeology and somebody in Mesopotamia kept a record of how much grain they ate. It's not all up in the air to change or delete or reinvent based on what makes you feel better today.

A couple of years ago they made a movie called The Aeronauts about the scientists who broke the record for the highest altitude reached in a balloon. In fact, they were both men, but the movie made one of them a woman because, as the director explained, "representation is important." So true. Women never get enough credit for the things they didn't do. Meryl Streep should play Seabiscuit, so every girl will know she too can grow up to be a racehorse.

       From "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You" by Bill Maher. Copyright © 2024 by Bill Maher Productions, Inc. Excerpted with permission by Simon & Schuster, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Get the book here:

Buy locally from  Bookshop.org

For more info:

• "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You"  by Bill Maher (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available May 21
• "Real Time with Bill Maher" on  HBO  and  Max

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Star Trek: Discovery's Tig Notaro Told Us The Awful Original Name For Her Character And The Cool Origin Of The Name Jett Reno

W hen ranking the coolest members of the crew on Star Trek: Discovery , I don't think it's much of a conversation about who is sitting in the top spot. Commander Jett Reno joined the crew in Season 2 , and while she does pop in and out of the show due to real-life actor Tig Notaro's comedic pursuits, all her appearances result in awesomeness. I think part of it lies in the name itself, and my thoughts on that only strengthened when the actress told CinemaBlend the original name for her character and the cool origin for the finalized moniker.

I had the honor of speaking to Tig Notaro shortly before "Labyrinths" became available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription , and I made a somewhat embarrassing confession in telling the actress there have been times when I mistakenly called her character "Janet Reno." You know, the same name as the first female U.S. Attorney General. I was ultimately happy about the admission, however. When I asked if she ever made the same mistake, she revealed the original name that was pitched for her character by Alex Kurtzman:

I have not tripped up. When I first was presented this role, the character's name was Denise Reno. I told Alex that I just did not feel like a Denise Reno.

I 100% agree with her. I've seen a lot of Tig Notaro's movies and shows , and if she would've had the name "Denise" in any of them, it would've bugged me. It's certainly not a name that fits the cocky and capable demeanor of Jett Reno, who she's previously stated is based on Star Wars' Han Solo. Plus, the name makes me think of actress Denise Crosby, and I'm still upset about her character's exit in Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Jett Reno is the best name, regardless of how similar it sounds to former employees of the United States government. As it turns out, there is someone that Tig Notaro based the name on, and it's a connection readers may be shocked they didn't put together sooner:

[Jett Reno] is kind of an ode to Joan Jett. I don't know, it just struck me as like, ‘I feel like this character is Jett Reno,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, I like that,’ and people have definitely pointed out that it kind of sounds similar to Janet Reno. But, because I came up with the name and I pictured Jett so concretely in my brain. I would never, I don't think, ever trip up on that.

When it comes to badass women in pop culture, a rock icon like Joan Jett ranks pretty highly. It's no wonder then that Tig Notaro would like to have her character named after The Runaways guitarist, and the homage is just subtle enough I never really saw the connection until she brought it up. If only there was a scene where she tells another character to put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

It's good that Jett Reno got a moment to shine in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, especially considering that none of the cast and crew knew the show would be canceled until wrapping the initial production. Had they known, one would wonder if maybe additional concessions would've been made to put Saru into more of the season, as Doug Jones had press commitments elsewhere during shooting.

Many fans know by now that Discovery was granted extra filming after wrapping up production to film a coda to give the series a satisfying conclusion. We here at CinemaBlend can only speculate on what will be featured in the final scene of the series, but I know a good number of us hope it's a setup for more upcoming Trek shows down the road. Additionally, let's hope Jett Reno appears in at least one of them because I'm done with seeing Tig Notaro in Star Trek just yet.

Star Trek: Discovery streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Tune in for the final episodes of the series and, hopefully, some unexpected surprises for fans to really put a cap on this wonderful series.

Social media slams Harrison Butker for 'sexist' commencement speech: 'You kick a silly little ball'

Harrison Butker , a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, has become one of the internet's most hotly discussed people after a commencement speech he delivered earlier this week went viral for its message rife with rhetoric that has been widely recognized as misogynistic and homophobic.

Butker managed to make enemies of several groups with his 20-minute speech, including but not limited to women and female-presenting people, Swifties, the LGBTQIA+ community, Jewish people , people of certain political parties and people impacted by COVID.

"I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you," Butker said at one point during his speech at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts institution in Atchison, Kansas. "Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world."

He went on to say that his wife would agree with the assertion that "homemaker" is the most important position for a woman, saying, "I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother."

He also took time to crusade against Joe Biden and the LGBTQIA+ community, disparaging the existence of Pride month and speaking on "dangerous gender ideologies."

More: Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker's speech was ugly. He's only part of a bigger problem.

"Not the deadly sins sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it," Butker said, "but the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify Him."

Butker also shared his thoughts on COVID-19, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported has killed nearly 1.2 million people in the United States.

"While COVID might have played a large role throughout your formative years, it is not unique," Butker said. "The bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for the degenerate cultural values and media all stem from pervasiveness of disorder."

Multiple petitions have since been created to demand Butker's resignation or dismissal from the league.

Harrison Butker dubbed 'Smallest Man Who Ever Lived' after Taylor Swift quote

Despite these assertions and his criticism of working women, Butker also quoted Taylor Swift in his speech, one of the most successful music artists of all time who currently boasts a $1.1 billion net worth, according to Forbes.

"This undue familiarity will prove to be problematic every time," Butker said, referring to Swift's relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. "Because as my teammate's girlfriend says, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.'"

Naturally, this did not land well with Switfies, who quickly began using another song to describe him: "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived," a track from Swift's recent album "The Tortured Poets Department. "

The backlash came in two-fold for Butker's insistence on calling Swift his "teammate's girlfriend," considering Swift is an international superstar and Kelce's fame and net worth trail significantly behind her own.

More: Chiefs' Harrison Butker strikes against Pride Month, lauds wife's role as 'homemaker'

Social media users slams Butker's 'hypocrisy' and 'ignorance'

The irony of Butker's mother being an accomplished physicist with multiple degrees was likewise not lost on the internet. Elizabeth Keller Butker MS, DABR, is a Clinical Medical Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine.

Between her MS in medical physics from Georgia Institute of Technology and her nearly 40-year career in the field, social media users couldn't help but point out that Keller Butker not only didn't appear to stay home in her kitchen, as her son attested is the primary role of women, but also worked a lucrative career that benefited her son and the family's financial situation greatly.

The people of TikTok quickly took to the platform to start a trend of empowered women sharing their many accomplishments, with some pointing out that their jobs as scientists, doctors, teachers and beyond require more education and know-how than "kicking a ball."

Many set their videos to the song "Labour" by Paris Paloma , a feminist anthem that explores and pushes back at the historical subjugation of women.

One such video posted by user "World.of.grace" shared a slideshow of her accomplishments, including working through nursing school, graduating with the highest honors and becoming a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit.

"But you kick a silly little ball," she says in the penultimate slide before sharing an image of herself in a football uniform with the caption "What, like it's hard?" Beneath the video, she clarifies "I wasn't the kicker, I was the cornerback."

Another TikTok, posted by MIT engineer and space expert Emily Calandrelli, challenged universities to "maybe let women choose your commencement speaker next year," accompanied by a video of herself preparing to deliver a different commencement speech with the caption "there are better options." The post has more than 4 million views and 1 million likes.

Other videos under the sound compared the speech to a scene from "The Handmaid's Tale," warning women, "When a man like this feels comfortable making that speech at a college graduation in 2024, we are in danger, ladies."

"You kick around a football for a living. You and me? We aren't the same" said user @brittany.hoyle after sharing her credentials as an educator. "I won’t stand for disrespect from a man whose job is to kick a ball for triple my salary a year," she said in the caption.

Another woman going by the username @triplediesel hopped on the trend to discuss being raised by a single mother and going on to graduate Cume Laude with a BS in biomedical science while working two jobs, conducting and presenting research at prestigious institutions, and the process of applying to med school.

"You kick a ball for a living," she said on the final slide which featured a picture of Butker. "We are NOT the same."

NFL responds, Chargers take a jab at Butker

The NFL has already made efforts to separate themselves from Butker's comments, though many fans online have expressed distaste for what they feel to be a lackluster response from the league.

"Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity," said Jonathan Beane, the senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer at the NFL, in a statement. "His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."

Former Kansas City commissioner Justice Horn also took to social media to condemn Butker , saying "Harrison Butker doesn't represent Kansas City nor has he ever. Kansas City has always been a place that welcomes, affirms, and embraces our LGBTQ+ community members."

Other teams in the NFL jumped on the opportunity to diss Butker. The Los Angeles Chargers, known for sharing videos that poke fun at rival teams, posted its yearly NFL rollout schedule on Wednesday, a video made using The Sims and featuring digital characters look-alikes resembling teams and players.

The social media team couldn't help but take a jab at Butker, placing his character, complete with red number 7 jersey, in the same kitchen he told women to get back into during his speech.

Maren Morris, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager react to Harrison Butker's speech

Butker's speech was so unpopular with so many that it prompted outcry not only from average netizens but also from celebrities and public figures.

Singer-songwriter Maren Morris shared a clip of the speech on her Instagram stories soon after the video began to circulate, saying "I choose the bear," a reference to a trend in which women choose between encountering a bear or man in the woods and explain why. (Hint: the trend went extra viral after women began answering "the bear" by and large, opening up a conversation of violence committed against women by men.)

Maria Shriver, author, member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of The Women's Alzheimer's Movement, also shot back with a post on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram .

"What point was Harrison Butker really trying to make to women in his graduation speech about their present-day life choices? Did he really want them, aka us, to believe that our lives truly only begin when we lean into the vocation of wife and mother?" Shriver wrote.

"As a woman who has leaned into my vocation of living a meaningful life and working inside and outside the home to not only raise good humans but also raise up our country in various ways, I think it's demeaning to women to imply that their choices outside of wife and motherhood pale in comparison to that of homemaker," she added.

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager of "The Today Show" also ripped the speech, discussing it during a segment and pointing out, "Well, I’m where I am today because I have a husband who leans into his vocation which is being an equal partner, and I tell him that all the time. But also, who is he to tell us?"

Journalist and former sportscaster Lisa Guerrero also posted on X , addressing the NFL directly, saying: “Hey @NFL – If you want to continue to grow your female fan base and any other marginalized group (straight white men are already watching your product), come get your boy."

Even Flava Flav got in on the action, sharing a post on X, formerly Twitter, reading: "Sounds like some players need to stay in their lanes and shouldn’t be giving commencement speeches."

Whoopi Goldberg defends Harrison Butker amid controversial speech

A few prominent names defended Butker, including Whoopi Goldberg who said on talk show "The View" that she "likes it when people say what they need to say."

"He’s at a Catholic college, he’s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs and he’s welcome to them. I don’t have to believe them. I don’t have to accept them," the co-host added. "The ladies that were sitting in that audience do not have to accept them."

Some commentators on social media also expressed support for Butker, arguing that he is practicing free speech or saying that he was simply right in his statements.

"Not a word Harrison Butker says here should be remotely controversial. He’s 100% correct," said T.J. Moe , a contributor to the conservative media site "The Blaze," in a post with 8.7k likes and 2.2k reshares. "Those trying to convince women that being assistant VP of lending & intentionally childless at age 40 is more fulfilling than making a family and home are evil."