Captain Picard Birthday Celebration: Engage!

Today is Captain Picard Day! Celebrate the eloquent, sassy, sometimes ornery, but always suave space captain with some of the best memes and a brief history of the character as portrayed by Sir Patrick Stewart.

He’s Really British for a French Dude

French parents Yvette and Maurice brought Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the U.S.S. Enterprise, into this world in 2305. He did have an older brother named Robert, though their relationship wasn’t an integral part of Star Trek.

Picard and his brother both suffered from the Terran illness Shalaft’s Syndrome. This causes the afflicted person to be extremely sensitive to sound. Picard has an affinity for the works of William Shakespeare and also loves tea.

The show attributes his more British habits to French culture and the French language having lost favor, thus becoming more obscure.

He also had to get a parthenogenetic implant after being stabbed in the heart.

One of his biggest legacies is the Picard Maneuver, a warp-speed starship battle tactic. It is a bit of a “hail mary” since you have to execute high warp speeds to make the ship appear in two places at once, confusing the enemy.

He also has a longstanding relationship with the entity known as Q. From the very first episode of Star Trek: Next Generation, Q torments and tricks the Enterprise crew.

But enough with the history — let’s get to the memes.

A Character who Transcends Media Formats

Many Captain Jean-Luc Picard memes involve videos like the one above which has been around for ages now. It’s one of my all-time Star Trek-themed bops and no one can convince me it isn’t one of the best songs on the planet.

But there are newer memes, too, like the following one making an obvious pun. But how cool would it be if smartphones came with your very own android?

Some of you other internet fossils like me might remember the following meme type from years and years ago. There were loads of them and they all show who people are in various scenarios or how other people view us.

Memes….truly the most comprehensive and complex of post-modernist Dadaist humor.

But my newest favorite is this Next Generation theme song with lyrics video that has somehow not yet gone viral. Seriously, how is this not everywhere by now?

More Than Memes: a Role Model

Even though my favorite Star Trek is Voyager (fight me), Next Generation is a fantastic series. Captain Picard is, hands down, one of the most memorable characters in all of the series.

Picard readily admits his shortcomings, but puts forth all his effort in every endeavor. He is never afraid of learning new things (even if he isn’t very good at it). He rewards hard work and constantly stands out as the moral center of this Star Trek series.

Celebrate Captain Picard day in your own way or simply binge watch the show! You can find it ad-free on Netflix or watch it with ads on Hulu.

But no matter what you’re doing this weekend, next week, or next year, remember the immortal words of Captain Picard whenever you need motivation: make it so.