Jean-Luc Picard is the main protagonist of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the final four films in the Star Trek film franchise. He is the commanding officer and captain of the USS Enterprise-D and is portrayed by Patrick Stewart.
Why He Boldly Goes Where No One Has Gone Before
He is one of the most iconic characters in the Star Trek universe and is considered to be one of the best captains in Starfleet.
Being the captain of his own vessel, Picard shows himself to be a great leader on many occasions and assembles a crew he can depend on. In addition, he doesn't put up with any nonsense, does not make any impulsive actions, stands by any member of his crew or the crew as a whole, and can think outside of what is normally possible.
He is also a moral leader who will do what is always right. Picard's morality makes an impact on the crew on several occasions.
Even though he started as a fairly surly, cold, and distant man, Picard is shown to be soft-hearted and warmer when he sympathizes with his commanding officers.
While a commanding officer and the captain of the vessel, Picard is shown to act like a gentleman who he prefers to talk things first such as negotiations before having no choice but to engage in battle.
When meeting Kirk in the Nexus, he manages to convince the retired captain to return with him to Veridian III to stop Soran from launching his probe at the Veridian Star where they work together by distracting Soran, allowing Picard to lock the probe in place which fatally kills Soran once it explodes, even when Kirk sacrifices his life while battling Soran.
He willingly puts his career on the line to protect a member of his crew with "The Drumhead" and "The Offspring" being two major examples.
Picard invented the battle maneuver which he named after him at the time when commanding the USS Stargazer which was under attack by the Ferengi ship. He has the ship flying at warp speed very suddenly and the main effect was to trick the Ferengi ship's sensors where the Ferengi saw two vessels of the Stargazer in two different locations. They fired at the wrong one and the real Stargazer soon destroyed the Ferengi ship.
Though the children may make him feel uncomfortable and don't really hate them, Picard does care for them when he comes to their defense.
In "When the Bough Breaks" Picard helps their parents to rescue their children who are kidnapped by the Aldeans to re-populate their dying world. He manages to get the Aldeans to realise the error of their ways and they return the children back to the Enterprise and accept Starfleet's help to correct their ancient systems.
In "The Bonding", he gently breaks the news to Jeremy about his mother's death and reassures him that he isn't alone. In addition in the climatic act of the episode, he came to rescue him from the alien presence which becomes the illusion of Jeremy's late mother in an attempt to kidnap the boy. With help from Troi and Wesley, Picard points out that dealing with death is part of the human condition and convinces him to express his anger at Worf as bottling up grief isn't a healthy way to face death.
He serves as a father figure to Wesley Crusher and gave him the rank of acting ensign after he helped assisted The Traveler in returning the Enterprise back to the Milky Way Galaxy in "Where No One Has Gone Before". Also, he isn't afraid to show a stern side with Wesley as a good disciplinarian in "The First Duty" after finding out that Wesley and the Nova Squadron are covering up the Starfleet Academy accident where their attempt of doing the banned "Kolvord Starburst" maneuver that cost the life of a cadet. Picard reminds Wesley that the first duty of any Starfleet officer is to the truth, may that be scientific, historical, or personal, before threatening to reveal the truth to the board of inquiry himself unless Wesley would tell the truth of the incident. Wesley, knowing the consequences will be, confesses to Admiral about the incident and although he is disappointed in himself when Admiral Brand canceled his academic credits in addition to the formal reprimand and his flight privileges being revoked, Picard tells Wesley that he has done the right thing and told the truth, recalling a remark from Boothby, the old groundskeeper, who had once give Picard some advice that was much needed "You knew what you had to do. I just made sure you listened to yourself."
He has a particularly good relationship with his first officer Cmdr. William T. Riker, who became his number one since the Farpoint mission and even assisted Riker with his case "A Matter of Perspective" to prove that he is innocent when accused of murdering a scientist.
In Star Trek: Nemesis while Janeway makes a cameo as Admiral after the events of Voyager, Picard's friendship with her is particularly nice, especially when Picard is cordial towards her.
Patrick Stewart gives his ultimately iconic and strong performance as Jean-Luc Picard.
Bad Qualities
He was coarse to Riker and Wesley Crusher and his mother, Beverly in the pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint", for the former it was revealed it was a Secret Test of Character to see if Riker was capable of doing his job and Picard does acknowledge that he was a jerk when first meeting Riker in the later year, for the latter two, however, Picard angrily orders them to leave the bridge when Wesley instinctively opens an alert on the captain's chair. Though, he does apologize to Beverly in a later scene where he offers her a transfer to being the Chief Medical Officer.
Although his motives to fight the Borg for what they did to him are understandable, not only is he obsessed with getting revenge but he was a bit of a jerk in Star Trek: First Contact when he argues with Worf about self-destructing the starship before calling him a coward and leaves to his ready room where Lily confronts Picard over his actions and his plan to fight back the Borg which is suicide. Fortunately Lily gets through to him as Picard now realizes that his Captain Ahab-type revenge is going to get his crew killed at the hands of the Borg. He wises up and proceeds with the self-destruct, as well as apologizing to Worf.
He was flanderized in Star Trek: Picard from the reasonable, heroic captain that he was in The Next Generation and the four feature films to a senile anti-male privilege caricature. For instance, upon seeing Dahj being murdered by Zhat Vash, he decided that was done running out of the clock and waiting to die.
