# Picard is such a wimp
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 2, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576 "2010-06-02T00:19:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/1 "2010-06-02T00:19:55Z")
should have used Hugh to kill a lot of Borg
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/2 "2010-06-02T00:21:27Z")
And Spock is a _fuckin’ moron_!
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/3 "2010-06-02T00:24:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> And Spock is a _fuckin’ moron_!
Only every seven years.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/4 "2010-06-02T01:00:37Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> And Spock is a _fuckin’ moron_!
And stuff.
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### Author:  [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/5 "2010-06-02T01:04:06Z")
Starfleet in general is pretty incompetent. I think it started with the mentality where you haveheavily armed starships manned by crews using military ranks who are charged with defending the Federation, while still trying to claim to not be a military organization. For most of DS9, I was rooting for the Dominion.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/6 "2010-06-02T01:14:47Z")
> [@2ply](#):
>
> Starfleet in general is pretty incompetent. I think it started with the mentality where you haveheavily armed starships manned by crews using military ranks who are charged with defending the Federation, while still trying to claim to not be a military organization. For most of DS9, I was rooting for the Dominion.
“ **2ply** was the kind of guy who rooted for the bad guys in the movies…they called him **2ply** the Gent.”
At least they didn’t have a leader who telepathically strangled them for even minor acts of incompetence.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/7 "2010-06-02T03:20:47Z")
Eh, he values life. I like the look on his face when they accidentally kill that pregnant thing orbiting that planet. He’s also not amused when they kill the Crystalline Entity, of all things.
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### Author:  [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/8 "2010-06-02T04:17:57Z")
I would be a wimp too, if I had Lt. Worf at Tactical. Has he ever done anything right? One time, Picard ordered Worf to disable a technologically inferior ship and 'ole gorilla fingers blew that ship the hell up. And his explanation? “Sir, I, I don’t know what happened!”
And that [other time](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Parallels_%28episode%29), he tells Worf to fire on the enemy. Now! Fire, Mr. Worf. Fire! And Worf just stands there like a gibbering idiot and stammers “Sir, I don’t understand these controls!” as the enemy unleashed its weapons.
Sadly, he could not demote or remove Worf due to Klingon affirmative action laws in the Federation, so instead, Picard had to shy away from engagements and run from fights even when the Enterprise outclassed the enemy. Otherwise Lt. “Eat any good books, lately” would probably get Picard’s ship blown up.
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/9 "2010-06-02T05:00:12Z")
I was pretty shocked when Picard needed Kirk’s help to defeat Roddy McDowell in Generations. It’s not like McDowell is a Klingon gladiator or something, he was the chimp from Planet of the Apes…not even one of the tough chimps like the Planet of the Apes remake with Marky Mark but the wuss chimps from the Heston version. Kirk isn’t what you would call a master of hand to hand combat either.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/10 "2010-06-02T05:08:02Z")
Picard had his bad-ass moments - didn’t he take out the whole group of bandits that were trying to steal his ship with just his saddle?
The thing about Picard is that he was a product of his times just like Kirk - Kirk was from the ass-kicking, psychedelic, free-love sixties, and Picard was from the touchy-feely, uber-PC eighties.
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### Author:  [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/11 "2010-06-02T06:21:31Z")
::nitpick::
It was Malcolm McDowell in **Generations**. I don’t think he was ever an ape.
/end nitpick
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/12 "2010-06-02T06:50:28Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#):
>
> ::nitpick::
>
> It was Malcolm McDowell in **Generations**. I don’t think he was ever an ape.
>
> /end nitpick
In fact he was Alex the Droog, and a real badass.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/13 "2010-06-02T08:02:56Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> Picard had his bad-ass moments - didn’t he take out the whole group of bandits that were trying to steal his ship with just his saddle?
Why would they try to steal his ship with just his saddle?
Anyway, Picard could get preachy, in the full-blown Hawkeye Pierce tradition.
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/14 "2010-06-02T08:13:54Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> In fact he was Alex the Droog, and a real badass.
Alex the droog was a total wuss too, post-treatment. 😃
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### Author:  [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/15 "2010-06-02T09:45:14Z")
> [@Superhal](#):
>
> Kirk isn’t what you would call a master of hand to hand combat either.
Really? I must have watched a version of ST:TOS in a parallel universe then. Many of these episodes ended with Kirk defeating the baddie in hand to hand combat and usually getting his shirt torn in the process. It is a standing joke in our house whenever we re-watch a classic episode.
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/16 "2010-06-02T09:49:20Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> Picard had his bad-ass moments - didn’t he take out the whole group of bandits that were trying to steal his ship with just his saddle?
Nitpick - they weren’t trying to steal the ship, just to steal some gunk outta the engine that could be sold to terrorists as a deadly poison. Still a reasonably good moment for him.
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### Author:  [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/17 "2010-06-02T10:53:16Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#):
>
> I would be a wimp too, if I had Lt. Worf at Tactical. Has he ever done anything right? One time, Picard ordered Worf to disable a technologically inferior ship and 'ole gorilla fingers blew that ship the hell up. And his explanation? “Sir, I, I don’t know what happened!”
We later found out that Romulans were in the game and whilst it wasn’t said explicitly in that episode I’d imagine there was a deleted scene or something that showed they had interfered with that attack to protect the information the Eurydians had by making the ship explode. I’m certain it wasn’t Worf’s fault.
> [@](#):
>
> And that [other time](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Parallels_%28episode%29), he tells Worf to fire on the enemy. Now! Fire, Mr. Worf. Fire! And Worf just stands there like a gibbering idiot and stammers “Sir, I don’t understand these controls!” as the enemy unleashed its weapons.
Oh come on! Worf had just been quantum shifted from a parallel timeline and was suddenly in front of a completely different console he wasn’t familiar with, in a combat situation no less. It would be like taking your PC out of your hands and giving you a Mac and saying “Set up a new wireless network on this but keep the printer separate - you’ve got five seconds” whilst pointing a gun at you.
Sadly I’ve just realised again that I’m way too much of a Trek geek… ☹
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/18 "2010-06-02T13:43:35Z")
> [@Superhal](#):
>
> Alex the droog was a total wuss too, post-treatment. 😃
But he went back to badass post-post-treatment. He was cured all right.
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### Author:  [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/19 "2010-06-02T14:23:54Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#):
>
> But he went back to badass post-post-treatment. He was cured all right.
Cue the Ludgwig Van…
Now I wish Star Trek had the rights to “Singing in the Rain” during the final fight between Picard and McDowell!
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### Author:  [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picard-is-such-a-wimp/541576/20 "2010-06-02T23:21:16Z")
At least Patrick Stewart has never released an album like “Transformed Man”.
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