Catch-phrase of
Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the television show
Star Trek: The Next Generation and the films based off the show, inclusive of but not limited to,
Star Trek: Generations;
Star Trek: First Contact;
Star Trek: Insurrection; and an as of yet unnamed film. The phrase is used as an affirmative command, and the
inflection with which it is used conveys both the stately nature of the character played by
Patrick Stewart and the undemanding and confident
persona portrayed.
Example of use:
Lt. Cmdr. LaForge: "Captain, I can get the
phase inducers back online, but it's going to take some time."
Captain Picard: "How much time do you need?"
Lt. Cmdr. LaForge: "With
Data's help, a couple of days at the soonest."
Captain Picard: "
Make it so."
A similar
catch-phrase used by Captain Picard was "
Engage," used only when the ship had laid in a course and it was the
officer of the conn's order to engage the engines and begin moving the ship towards it destination. On some occasions, however, the phrase's best use was on the spur of the moment, such as in
Star Trek: Generations, following the destruction of a solar system's sun:
Captain Picard: "Take us out of here, any direction,
warp one,
engage!"
The line was often
punctuated with the pointing of two fingers in a
pistol like motion, to denote the course. Given that the bridge always pointed forward, and whatever direction to be followed would be in a forward direction, the motion had little use other than emphasis.