Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

First Contact (1991)

George Coe: Chancellor Durken

Photos 

Quotes 

• Chancellor Durken : I go home each night to a loving wife, two beautiful daughters. We eat the evening meal together as a family. I think that's important, and they always ask me if I've had a good day.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : And how will you answer them tonight, Chancellor?

  Chancellor Durken : I will have to say: This morning, I was the leader of the universe as I know it. This afternoon, I'm only a voice in a chorus - but I think it was a good day.

• Chancellor Durken : My world's history has recorded that conquerors often arrived with the words, "We are your friends."

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : We are not here as conquerors, Chancellor.

  Chancellor Durken : What *do* you want?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : A beginning, but how we proceed is entirely up to you.

  Chancellor Durken : And if my wishes should conflict with yours?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : There'll be no conflict.

  Chancellor Durken : And if I should tell you to leave and never return to my world?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : We will leave, and never return.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I hoped that we would have found Commander Riker before you did, so that this matter would not complicate our introduction. It was a mistake.

  Chancellor Durken : [nods slowly]  Yes... A mistake I might have made in your place. I rather like it, actually.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Like it?

  Chancellor Durken : That you make mistakes, like any man.

• Chancellor Durken : [about his people]  I will not allow them to remain in the dark ages. The warp program will proceed as you have outlined, Mirasta, and then we will slow down, Krola, to let everyone catch their breath - including you.

• Chancellor Durken : My people are not ready to accept what you represent. Everything that happened in the hospital proves that, and Krola is the best evidence of all. We must slow down and allow those who are like him to join us in the present before we can move into the future.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : How will you keep us secret when so many have seen and heard so much?

  Chancellor Durken : The stories will be told for many years, I have no doubt, of the ship that made contact, of the alien who was held prisoner in a medical facility. There'll be charges of a government conspiracy. Some of the witnesses will tell their tales, and most of the people will laugh at them and go back and watch the more interesting fiction of the daily broadcasts. It - will - pass.

• [last lines] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Until we return, then.

  Chancellor Durken : With luck, we'll both be around to renew our friendship, Captain.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I regret that I won't have the opportunity of knowing your people better.

  Chancellor Durken : We're a good people, Captain, society with much potential. Once we cross the threshold of space, we shall have to give up this self-importance, this conceit that we are the center of the universe, but this is not the time for that. For now, we will have to enjoy that sweet innocence.

• Chancellor Durken : If I did not depend so much on your expertise in space matters, I would have asked for your resignation.

  Mirasta Yale : I felt I was acting in the best interests of our people, Chancellor.

  Chancellor Durken : When you are selected to occupy this office, then you will have the privilege of deciding the best interests of our people!

• Chancellor Durken : You speak the language of diplomacy very well, Captain. It's a language I appreciate and understand, but I have learned to not always trust it.