52 Ancestors Week 30: Free Space

 

    The irony of this week's blog being called "Free space" isn't lost on me. Anyway, longtime readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan of "Star Trek.  I've used the fonts on various banners, made references to various shows and even made a few quotes here and there. I've had a long, long history with the franchise dating back to the 1980s when my father showed me "Star Trek IV: Save the Whales"....er..."The Voyager Home". A year after that movie was released a new show premiered and helped to herald in an era of unbroken and overlapping adventures in the "Star Trek" universe that lasted a whopping eighteen years with a total of four television shows and several more feature films featuring the cast of the original series and an entirely new cast. The name of the first show was "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and in honor of the franchise's sixtieth year we will be looking at the family history of the captain of the fifth and sixth Federation starship to bear the name "Enterprise". I am of course referring to Captain/Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.

    While it's certainly true that genealogy looks at the past. We must also remember that even fictional characters who exist hundreds of years in the future have family histories. Some characters, like Captain Worf, lost their parents and were adopted by humans. Some characters, like Ambassador Spock, Counselor Deanna Troi-Riker and Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres-Paris are alien/human hybrids who experience the richness and diversity of two worlds. Even the aliens of "Star Trek" like Quark, Kira Nerys and Elim Garak have long and sometimes chaotic family histories as well. The "Star Trek" universe has many interesting families and family stories and Picard's family story is definitely one of the most important as it's rooted in the very foundation of the Federation he fought hard to preserve for decades. From the characters' point of view their past would be our future and their family stories become relatable to those of us living in the real world.

Played by the awesome Sir Patrick Stewart

    In the "Star Trek" universe, genealogy would undoubtedly be pretty easy to sort out despite a few errors popping up from time to time. See "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "11:59" for details.  As far as Jean-Luc goes, his story begins in LaBarre, an actual town in the department of Haute-Saône in France. He was born there in July 13th, 2305 to Maurice and Yvette Gessard-Picard. Maurice owned and operated a vineyard and was more than happy when his oldest son Robert took over the business. Jean-Luc on the other hand....

    Maurice was never fond of the idea of having his son be in Starfleet and yet Jean-Luc insisted on enrolling in Starfleet Academy and ended up graduating in 2327. Over the course of his career he represented the United Federation of Planets in first contact with over twenty alien species including the Borg, the Q-Continuum, and the Ferengi. He was the Arbiter of Succession for the Klingon Empire and later attained the rank of Admiral in 2381 when he spearheaded a mission to evacuate Romulus when their sun went supernova.

    Jean-Luc clearly had a long and fruitful career in Starfleet. However, it wasn't all just seeking out strange new worlds. He got into some serious trouble on more than one occasion. He was stabbed though the chest by a Nausicaan right after graduating from the academy.  He was assimilated by the Borg and was forced to destroy almost forty Federation starships at Wolf 359. And I'm sure NO ONE had a grudge over that incident (See Captain Benjamin Sisko and Captain Liam Shaw). Before taking command of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D in 2364 he was the captain of the USS Stargazer. In 2373, he and the rest of the Enterprise-E crew were transported back in time to April, 2063 where he witnessed Zefram Cochrane launch the first warp-capable starship.

     Jean-Luc did find love eventually and had a romantic relationship with his deceased best friend's wife, Beverly Crusher who served as chief medical officer aboard the USS Enterprise D and E. He did, admittedly, feel bad about having a crush on his best friend's wife for many years. But the got over it and the two became a couple. Beverly already had a son named Wesley with Jack Crusher and after a while he became a sort of father figure to the young man.

    In the 2380s, Picard and Beverly had a child together she named after Jack. Sadly, Picard didn't know about his son for twenty years due to Beverly feeling that Jean-Luc was constantly in harm's way and had a very real need to save the galaxy time and time again. Somewhere along the way his human body failed him due to his Irumodic Syndrome. He technically passed away in 2399 from the disease and his consciousness  was placed in an android body called a "golem". However, it turned out to be false positive and was instead DNA manipulation from when he was assimilated by the Borg.  Later, young Jack was instrumental in saving the Federation in the early 2400s when the Borg and their allies from the Gamma Quadrant threatened our heroes once again. Jack became a Counselor to Captain Seven of Nine when she became captain of the newly christened USS Enterprise-G. 

    As I said earlier, genealogy in the 24th century is very simple since records are readily available, digitized and preserved. There was an episode of TNG where a woman from the 20th century was frozen and found herself in the 24th century. In a matter of hours, Counselor Troi found four hundred years worth of her progeny. Ironically, that episode also gave us the first hint of what was to come--The Borg. And if you thought that cliff notes version of Picard's story was wild, you haven't seen anything yet. Computer, display family history of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.

Picard Coat of Arms as seen in "Star Trek:
Generations".

    Picard's family history is an ancient tale and the admiral himself once claimed that he could trace his family back to the time of Charlemagne. While he was growing up, he was told about the Picards who commanded a French warship at the Battle of Trafalgar, the Picard who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry and the Picard who settled the first Martian colony.

    As seen in the episode, "Journey's End", we found that he had some blood on his tree. His ancestor Javier Maribona Picard took part in the Pueblo revolt in 1680. Javier, a Spanish soldier, took part in the killing of numerous Pueblos in the area that eventually became New Mexico.

    Genealogists know that we are not our ancestors. The sins of the father are not passed down throughout the generations. Nevertheless, Jean-Luc attempted to make amends for his ancestor's crimes. The Federation and the Cardassian Union had a peace treaty where certain worlds would be given to the other power. One world was colonized by descendants of the Pueblos and they refused to relocate to another planet. Upon realizing history was repeating itself, Picard stood his ground and the people were allowed to stay on that world. Of course tensions would rise under Cardassian rule and we'd eventually get the Maquis as seen on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager".

    Centuries go by in the blink of an eye. During the second world war the Picard family was forced to leave their home in LaBarre when Château Picard was used as a base by Nazi occupiers. The family hid in tunnels underneath the property and after the war they moved to England. The house laid in ruins for the next century until the Picards hired caretakers to maintain the property. Sadly, it took many generations for anyone to take up residence there. This also retroactively explained why Sir Patrick Stewart never used a French accent while portraying Jean-Luc. I think that honestly worked out for the best!

"It's been a long road...."

    Jean-Luc's tree isn't all doom and gloom. Meet Renée Picard, an astronaut and important figure in not just his family tree but for the Federation itself.  Born in the 1990s, she taught herself how to operate a sailboat and eventually became a test pilot. Eventually, NASA recruited her for a mission to Jupiter's moon, Europa despite her battle with depression and anxiety.

      According to her great-cousin she was instrumental in the early manned exploration of the Sol system. She traveled to Io and found a microscopic lifeform she believed to be sentient. She pleaded with her commander to let her bring it back to Earth. The microbe's discovery ended up bring crucial in preventing humanity's extinction due to pollution and climate change. The lifeform was eventually used to heal the ocean and the skies. This was after humanity suffered the post-atomic horror in the years before first contact with the Vulcans.

    By the late 23rd century, the Picards finally returned to LaBarre and Jean-Luc's father Maurice reopened Château Picard. Growing up, Picard saw that his father never embraced technology. He opposed his son's entry into Starfleet and as a result Jean-Luc saw him as a cruel man. Maurice and his wife Yvette often fought over various issues such as getting a food replicator and this led their son Jean-Luc to become something of a stargazer. Unfortunately, Yvette suffered from psychotic breaks and Maurice had to help her the only way he knew how. He would lock her away for her and for their children's  protection. What was seen as cruel by Jean-Luc ended up being a kindness he never expected of his father. 

    Yvette often encouraged Jean-Luc to look up at the stars. She fueled his interest in space exploration  and his interest in joining Starfleet. Unlike his father, Yvette told him about the wonders of the universe. Unfortunately, she suffered from a mental illness that she herself refused to treat. She would eventually commit suicide by the 2310s and our dear captain would blame himself for that tragedy. Mental illness seemed to run on her side of the family as he recalled seeing his maternal grandfather deteriorate from a powerful, intelligent figure to "a frail wisp of a man, who could barely make his way home".

     To make things even worse, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise once took a trip to the edge of the known universe where thought became reality. There, he encountered a vision of his mother as an old woman asking him to sit down for a spot of tea (Earl Grey, hot). Jean-Luc later admitted that when he was young he would  often imagine what his mother would have been like had she grown to be an old woman. In retrospect, that whole scene from that episode is now MUCH harder to watch! 

Robert Picard

    After surviving his encounter with the Borg in late 2366 Picard returned home to La Barre to bury the hatchet with his older brother Robert while the Enterprise underwent repairs. He met Robert's wife and their son René who like his uncle dreamed of being a Starfleet officer. Upon returning home after twenty years he realized that the house he grew up in seemed to be untouched by the passage of time. 

    Picard was at a crossroads at that point. He had a choice of whether to remain in Starfleet after his ordeal or seek another profession. His brother, despite being somewhat of a bully to him in the past, helped him see that he had two choices since his trauma would not go away on its own.

    The brothers reconciled after rolling around in the mud. I'm serious. Look up "Family".  Some things never change. After reconciliation, he left the vineyard with a bottle of the family's famous wine.

    Reconciliation with Robert didn't last as both he and his son tragically died in a fire in 2371. Our captain can't seem to catch a break can he? The craziness didn't end there. Not long after hearing the news about his brother and nephew, Jean-Luc was pulled into an energy ribbon called "The Nexus" where time had no meaning. He could live a life he always wanted. It was, as his El-Aurin friend Guinan put it, like being inside joy.

    Inside the Nexus he encountered his nephew René, a wife and several children. So, that's what? Two times his mind was blown away by a life he could have had? I would say Counselor Troi doesn't get paid enough for dealing with Jean-Luc's trauma but money doesn't exist in the Federation. Maybe Deanna gets paid in chocolate. Picard escaped the Nexus with the aid of another famous Starfleet captain and eventually accepted the fact that he was the last of the Picards.

Jack Crusher

        Things clearly changed by the 2380s when his son Jack was born during his relationship with Dr. Crusher. However, that wasn't the first time he thought he had a son. Jean-Luc had a lot of luck with the ladies over the years. For a short while he thought he had a son with Miranda Vigo, a woman whom he had a relationship with in the 2340s. In the 2360s, he was involved with an archaeologist named Vash. He was even briefly involved with the leader of the Ba'ku and a member of his crew before his feelings for Beverly bubbled back to the surface. Picard eventually learned that while his family may be gone, the friends he made along the way became his family.

    Jack cemented his place in Star Trek history during the events of "Star Trek: Picard" season three. Now, he stands alongside the likes of  his half-brother Wesley Crusher, Alexander Rozhenko, Kestra Troi-Riker,  Alandra and Sidney LaForge, Soji Asha, Molly and Kirayoshi O'Brien, Jake Sisko, Lieutenant Nog, Miral Paris and SAM as children of legacy characters who more than live up to the legacy of their parents. Granted, SAM came around centuries after the others made their mark on the galaxy. The Doctor took his time. What can I tell you?  Perhaps the next generation will have the same potential their parents did. One can never know for sure unless they happen to be an omnipotent being like Q. 

    The family history of Jean-Luc Picard is definitely one of the more developed family stories throughout the franchise. It makes sense since he was very much a main character in two television series and four feature films. Many characters, like I said, have fleshed out stories and family histories that really bring them to life. If a character in any show or movie has a complex family history people can then relate to the character and they become more real to the audience. As a result that character would be able to cement themselves as pop culture icons for generations. That is why Captain Jean-Luc Picard has resonated with Star Trek fans all over the world for decades. He is an explorer with a family history rooted in tragedy and triumph. 

    Here's hoping genealogy in the future will be just as easy and interesting in the centuries to come. Let's hope the real 24th century is an Utopian paradise as seen in Star Trek. My friends, make it so. Happy 60th anniversary, Star Trek! May you continue to boldly go where no one has gone before.

See ya next time!

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life.”--Captain Jean-Luc Picard, "Peak Performance". Star Trek: The Next Generation  Season 2, Episode 21. Airdate: July 10th, 1989.

Photos are courtesy of users of Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wikia. "Admiral Jean-Luc Picard" and related characters are property of Paramount Pictures/CBS.