Patrick Stewart Speech: Difference between revisions

For [[Played for Laughs|a lighter-hearted version]], end the [['''Patrick Stewart Speech]]''' with [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|some relatively minor accomplishment of humanity]]: "And they came up with jelly-filled donuts! How can you hate a species that invented jelly donuts? [[Alien Arts Are Appreciated|Have you tried these things?]]"

So named because [[Patrick Stewart]] has delivered such speeches many times, both as [[The Captain|Captain Jean-Luc Picard]] from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' and as Professor Xavier from the ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' [[Film|filmsfilm]]s. (He was trained as a Shakespearean actor, after all.) Do note, however, that while the [['''Patrick Stewart Speech]]''' is always superb, with a perfectly balanced combination of precise logic and emotional appeal, a five-minute [['''Patrick Stewart Speech]]''' holds barely a candle in comparison to a twenty-second [[Whoopi Epiphany Speech]], just in terms of pure wise clarity.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' gives these ''all'' the time. Her introduction speeches are all about the innocence and wonder that is currently being invaded by the bad guys. Then, right before she powers up to end the deal, she'll plead with the bad guys to let the people live in peace. In the manga, she even gives up being a being of pure energy and thought so she can live on earth, pain and all, with her friends--andfriends—and gives a speech about it, too. When faced with the [[Big Bad]] every season, they tell her how awful the world is and how useless her idealism is.

* If such a thing is possible, there is a ''combined'' [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] and [[William Shatner Speech]] in the finale of ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', in response to {{spoiler|Grace O'Connor's plan to give humanity the Vajra's ability to sense fold waves}}:

** It becomes more clearly defined as a [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] when you inter-splice the lines that Sheryl and Ranka are singing at the time: {{spoiler|In fact the song Lion may have been written just for that moment, as it is also the more prominent song in the Nyan Nyan Service Melody}}

* In ''[[Stellvia of the Universe]]'', Masaru's personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] is a [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] broadcast to the entirety of humanity from a space station about to be crushed by a cosmic cataclysm. {{spoiler|He survives}}.

* In ''[[Watchmen]]'', the emotionless Dr. Manhattan justifies his return to earth with a smaller version of this--hethis—he realises that all human lives are "thermodynamic miracles", events that have no logical or probable reason for occurring. They simply shouldn't happen. The fact that he says this in the middle of a giant smiley face ON MARS ([[Reality Is Unrealistic|that really exists]]) just drives the point home.

* At the end of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s novel ''[[Have Space Suit—Will Travel]]'', the hero gives a [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] to the aliens who were deciding whether to destroy Earth.

:* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Deep Space 9]]'' when Sisko is forced to give one of these during the pilot episode ("Emissary"). For one, he's actually standing up for all races of the Alpha Quadrant, not just humans. But the real trick is that the aliens to whom he must give this speech (or die!) lack any familiarity with some of the basic concepts necessary for a [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] to work. Primarily, they exist outside of time, and so don't even understand the concept of ''cause and effect''!

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Sheridan combines a [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] with a [[Kirk Summation]] and serves it all up with a [[Large Ham]] when he tells both the Vorlons and the Shadows to "Get the hell out of our galaxy!"

* Horribly subverted in an episode of the 1985-87 CBS revival of [[The Twilight Zone]]. [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] land, claim [[Neglectful Precursors|they triggered humanity's evolution]] and [[You Have Failed Me|threaten to wipe them out for not reaching their potential]] (mentioning their only virtue seems to be "a small talent for war"). A human diplomat delivers a [[Patrick Stewart Speech]] and buys humanity 24 hours to demonstrate why they should be spared; the governments of the world quickly put together a comprehensive world-wide agreement to stop all fighting. The next day the diplomat presents the treaty to the alien representative; he looks at it...[[Mass "Oh Crap"|and laughs]]. He explains that [[Humans Are Warriors|humans were placed on Earth to evolve into powerful warriors.]] Instead they've merely developed [[Ironic Echo|the aforementioned "small talent for war"]], and the global peace treaty proves their inherently pacifist nature. There's nothing left for the aliens to do but [[Apocalypse How|scour the planet clean]] and start over again elsewhere.