Even when the guards came in, Picard seemed very nearly about to capitulate… and then didn’t. Madred knew he was very nearly about to get what he wanted and was trying to rush it. I just rewatched this spectacular episode (for about the thousandth time), and something that’s always kinda itched at the back of my mind is that, while we know (due to his admission to Troi) and Picard knows that he did actually break under the torture, did Gul Madred know that he broke Picard?Īlthough Picard never actually said it out loud to Madred, he very nearly did, save for the guards interrupting him. AFAIK it’s the only mention of General Order 24 in all of trek. I remember looking this up years ago but don’t think I found anything “official” about this and whether it’s been more fully addressed somewhere else. This bluff could even have been planned by Kirk and Scotty one day “Hey if we ever need to use that lets try this” kind of thing. It would still fit with Scotty’s reaction he would be sad about having to leave his friends to their deaths but is willing of course to accept that outcome to save the crew. Get the ship and crew out of here” or something along those lines.
My personal head canon is that this is an order that means “give us X hours to solve this or consider us lost and this world beyond help. Would Scotty really commit genocide without objection to retrieve the captain? Would Kirk really order that? Would Starfleet feel this was necessary enough to have as an easy order that any command officer would know and be ready to carry out? I always think of how completely differently these two episodes handle that issue. In DS9 Sisko has that wonderful monologue to Worf about how part of the duty of being a Starfleet officer is that sometimes they will lose the battle or even their lives in the act of ensuring the safety of innocent people and that is something they need to accept, and if they can’t they shouldn’t be wearing that uniform.
It just seems so antithetical to what Starfleet and the Federation are that I’m amazed Roddenberry allowed it even at that somewhat early point in the show.
Scotty seems dismayed but accepts the order and confirms it to the aliens. Kirk claims to these aliens that it gives them 2 hours to release the landing party or the Enterprise will destroy the planet, or all the life on it at least.Īt no point in the episode do they seem to suggest that it is anything other than what Kirk describes. In TOS season 1 Episode 23 “A Taste of Armageddon” Kirk, when taken prisoner and designated for execution, manages to get a communication to Scotty to initiate general order 24 in 2 hours.
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