Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Chain of Command, Part II (1992)

David Warner: Gul Madred

Photos 

Quotes 

• Gul Madred : I remember the first time I ate a live taspar. I was six years old and living on the streets of Lakat. There was a band of children, four, five... six years old - some even smaller, desperately trying to survive. We were thin, scrawny little animals, constantly hungry, always cold. We slept together in doorways, like packs of wild gettles, for warmth. Once I found a nest. Taspars had mated and built a nest in the eave of a burned-out building. And I found three eggs in it. It was like finding treasure. I cracked one open on the spot and ate it, very much as you just did. I planned to save the other two. They would keep me alive for another week. But of course, an older boy saw them and wanted them. And he got them. But he had to break my arm to do it.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Must be rewarding to you to... to repay others for all those years of misery.

  Gul Madred : What do you mean?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information. It is ultimately self-defeating as a means of control. One wonders why it is still practiced.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : When children learn to devalue others, they can devalue anyone, including their parents.

  Gul Madred : What a blind, narrow view you have. What an arrogant man you are.

• Gul Madred : [as he prepares to torture Picard]  Wasted energy, captain. You might come to wish you hadn't expended it in such a futile effort.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Torture is expressly forbidden under the terms of the Seldonis IX Convention, governing the treatment of prisoners of war!

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [shaking violently with pain inflicted by Gul Madred's device]  You are... six years old. You are weak and helpless! You cannot... hurt me!

  Gul Madred : How many?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [singing despite his agony]  "Su-sur le pont... d-d'Avignon, on-on... on y danse...!"

• Jil Orra : [sees Picard during his torture]  Do Humans have mothers and fathers?

  Gul Madred : Yes. But Human mothers and fathers don't love their children as we do. They're not the same as we are.

• Gul Madred : Picard, stop it... or I will turn this on and leave you in agony all night!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Ahaa! You called me Picard!

  Gul Madred : What are the Federation's defense plans for Minos Korva?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : There are four lights!

  Gul Madred : There are five lights! How many do you see now?

• Gul Madred : What do you know of Cardassian history?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I know that once you were a peaceful people, with a rich spiritual life.

  Gul Madred : And what did peace and spirituality get us? People starve by the millions. Bodies went unburied. Disease was rampant. Suffering was unimaginable.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [glares at Madred]  Since the military took over, hundreds of thousands more have died.

  Gul Madred : But we are feeding the people. We acquired territory during the wars. We developed new resources. We initiated a rebuilding program. We have mandated agricultural programs. *That* is what the military has done for Cardassia. And because of that, my daughter will never worry about going hungry.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Her belly may be full, but her spirit will be empty.

• Gul Madred : How many lights do you see there?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I see four lights.

  Gul Madred : No. There are five.

• Gul Madred : Shall we begin again? How many lights are there?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : What lights?

• Gul Madred : [to Picard]  From this point on, you will enjoy no privilege of rank, no privileges of person. From now on, I will refer to you only as Human. You have no other identity!

• Gul Madred : [after waking Picard]  Where were you?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : At home... Sunday dinner... We would all sing afterwards.

• Gul Madred : It's amazing, isn't it, the way they're able to sneak into your heart. I must admit I was completely unprepared for the power she had over me from the moment she was born.