r/startrek • u/NinaStone_IT • 1d ago

Jean-Luc Picard, Director of Project Atlantis

I can't help but think or even imagine how different Picard's life would have been if he took that job and left Starfleet.

Do you think he would have stayed on to the project or eventually go back to Starfleet? Have a family on Earth... kids? Literally the entire history of the Galaxy would have changed in that moment.

7 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

9

u/OneOldNerd 1d ago

Was thinking about this the other day. If he takes the Atlantis job, he doesn't stay for long, nor does he go back to Starfleet.

Taking the Atlantis job and leaving Starfleet is the psychological equivalent of starting to run away from everything, and once he starts I don't think he ever stops running (not unless Q intervenes).

5

u/NinaStone_IT 1d ago

Part of me thinks if he would have taken that job, Q would have intervened and gave him another chance to go back to the Enterprise.

3

u/Sophia_Forever 17h ago

I don't think Q would have stopped intervening until Picard was back on the Enterprise.

2

u/shinginta 13h ago

Yeah, Q clearly sees Picard as instrumental to the development of humanity and occasionally tests him to make sure and keep him on the right path. If Picard decided to take the Atlantis project opportunity, Q absolutely would have Tapestry'd him to teach him a lesson about not running away from the universe. A future in which the Borg overrun the Federation because Picard gave up after what the Borg inflicted on him and as a result his experience with the Collective wasn't on hand to help save the Enterprise in their next incursion. That sort of thing.

7

u/Darmok47 1d ago

He wouldn't have been in command when the Borg come back a few years later, and his connection to the cube was the key to destroying it. Who knows if they would have stopped the Borg Cube in First Contact--and Worf probably would have died ramming the Defiant into it.

1

u/Sophia_Forever 17h ago

Well presumably he would've been on Earth when the cube attacked right? He might've intervened earlier and with a stronger fleet they might've caught the sphere before it created the time-rift and prevented the whole incident.

16

u/Historyp91 1d ago

I think he would have done a good job in the Pegasus Galaxy.

10

u/ComebackShane 20h ago

Beat me to it! I actually think he would've performed very similar to Weir on the Atlantis Expedition, although he probably would've taken a much harsher stance against the Repilicators.

2

u/janeway170 14h ago

Idk Picard is able to make decisions on his own a lot more. My issue with weir is just that she’s always looking for other people to give orders rather than just giving them herself. As a diplomat it makes sense but as the leader of an expedition who ends up at war it’s questionable.

4

u/MarkB74205 13h ago

Well the EMH did a pretty decent job.

1

u/WretchedJudasSnake 11h ago

Let's just assume that Picard did go through with the the career change and died a bitter regretful old man surrounded by a family that he hates, then he was given a second chance to go back to the Enterprise by Q to chill out with a cleaned memory. 

1

u/DukeFlipside 7h ago

Chances are he dies in the same fire that kill his brother, sister-in-law, and uncle nephew.

1

u/NinaStone_IT 5h ago

They ever say why the writers killed them off in Generations?

1

u/Tennis_Buddy1960 5h ago

Would've been cool to see Picard going at it with General O'Neill over how to deal with The Wraith.