Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Symbiosis (1988)

Gates McFadden: Doctor Beverly Crusher

Quotes 

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Beverly, the Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proved again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well-intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : It's hard to be philosophical when faced with suffering.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : There are some missing pieces to this puzzle.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : What's missing is a little compassion!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : We're losing our professional detachment, Doctor.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Believe me, Beverly, there was only one decision.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : I just hope it was the right one.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : And we may never know.

• Langor : We have thought about this a great deal.

  Sobi : We both feel deeply about what is happening on Ornara.

  Langor : And although it is going to cause hardship to us, and to our people, we have decided to give the Felicium to them.

  Sobi : They can pay whenever they are able.

  Langor : We don't want to be the ones responsible for their suffering.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Beverly]  There goes the other shoe. They know.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : What do they know?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : They know the Ornarans no longer have the plague. They know that Felicium is no longer a medicine; so, of course, they are willing to GIVE this shipment, because they don't want to take the chance that the Ornarans will lose their addiction. They don't want to lose their only customers.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : How would they have known all of that unless the plague had once infected their planet as well?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : They were infected. They used the Felicium to cure themselves, but somehow they're ancestors realized that it was a narcotic.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : [getting angry]  They broke the cycle of addiction and never told the Ornarans. They let them continue to believe that without the Felicium they would die.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Oh, I think it's worse then that.

  [to Sobi and Langor] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : My guess is that this... "refining process" of which you are so proud...

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : ...is only to increase the potency of the Felicium and tighten your grip.

  Sobi : [realizing the game is up]  What are you going to do?

  Langor : Are you going to tell them?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : No. I'm bound by the rules of the United Federation of Planets which orders me not to interfere with other worlds, other cultures. If I were to tell them any of this, I'd violate that Prime Directive.

  Sobi : But you are talking to us about it.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : This is information you already know, and so nothing is changed.

  Langor : If you can't interfere, then... you are going to allow the Ornarans to have the Felicium?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [neutral]  Yes, I am.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : No! Don't do it! Jean-Luc, this is not a symbiotic relationship! This is exploitation, pure and simple! The Brekkians have caused all of this suffering and hardship only to make their pitiful lives easier! And all of it based on a lie! No! Deny them this shipment! It is the least we can do!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : From the moment they agreed to give them the Felicium, my hands were tied.

  Langor : [smugly]  You are absolutely right, Captain. It's not your business.

• [Crusher enters Picard's ready room in a fury] 

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : I may not know felicium's full effect on Ornarian physiology, but I know how to interpret physical reactions!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Are the Ornarans recovering?

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : T'Jon and Romas are feeling fine. In fact, *too* fine. Felicium's a narcotic!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Then T'Jon, and Romas, and everyone on their world...

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : Is a drug addict.