Picard's Ready Room Crystal
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider
The EssentialsPicard Plays with the CrystalRiker Plays with the CrystalOther Notable AppearancesCollagesAddendum: The Dark Crystal
When thinking about Picard's ready room desk on the Enterprise-D, there are three items that can always be found on it: Picard's black desktop monitor, his rack of orange isolinear circuits and finally his crystal. Picard uses the monitor all the time to communicate with Starfleet admirals or representatives from alien planets. He is sometimes seen "reading from" or "writing on" one of the orange isolinear circuits, using them like a PADD. But what can be said about the most unassuming object on his table, the ready room crystal? Much more than we originally anticipated!
The Essentials
When does it appear?
We have counted 94 appearances of the ready room crystal (so far). Sometimes, it is clearly seen, lying in the middle of Picard's desk (like in "Contagion" or "Up the Long Ladder"), sometimes Picard holds it in his hands. But there are also appearances where it's only barely or partially seen in one brief shot. Nonetheless, considering that the ready room set is only featured in 138 episodes of TNG, 94 appearances of the crystal, no matter how briefly, means it is seen in about 78% of those episodes. Whenever it does not appear in a given ready room scene, it usually means that the camera doesn't show the desk and there are only close-ups of the characters or Picard and his guests are sitting on the couch instead of at the desk. The crystal appears in all seven seasons of TNG and also in "Star Trek: Generations". After the first TNG feature film, however, it is never seen again.
First appearances
The ready room crystal is first prominently seen on Picard's desk in season 2's "Where Silence Has Lease" but it has already appeared in season 1 of the show. In the two early episodes "Haven" and "Lonely Among Us", the crystal is seen on the small shelf behind Picard's chair. During the latter episode, the objects displayed on that shelf were replaced by others to now include familiar Picard's green geode piece and an ammonite. At that point, the crystal was removed from the shelf and wasn't seen again until season 2. The crystal in these two episodes looks a little different from the familiar one from season 2 onwards. It is possibly that this early crystal still was a different prop.
Two crystals?
When paying close attention to four early season 2 episodes ("Where Silence Has Lease", "The Outrageous Okona", "The Schizoid Man", "Unnatural Selection") one can see that there are actually two different crystals lying very close to each other on the ready room desk. One is the bigger one that will from now on always be seen on the desk, right until "Star Trek: Generations". It has one pointy and one blunt end. The second crystal, which only appears in these early episodes, is pointy on both ends and much flatter than the familiar one. After "Unnatural Selection", the smaller crystal never appears again. This might have been the crystal originally used in season 1 of TNG.
Picard Plays with the Crystal
Even though the crystal is seen in the ready room in more than 90 episodes, Picard actually holds it in only seven episodes of TNG, all between the time span of late season 3 and mid-season 5. He usually has to make a difficult decision or is facing a tough dilemma when he's playing with the crystal, this is the case in all seven episodes in which he is holding it. Interestingly, the crystal is never (not once!) mentioned in the scripts of the TNG episodes, this includes the episodes in which Picard is actively interacting with it.
The Best of Both Worlds I
Picard is seen holding the crystal for the first time in "The Best of Both Worlds I", looking out the window when talking to Riker in the ready room. It is clear that he has to make a tough decision or say something that he would rather not say here, as this is the moment when he tells Riker to accept the promotion offered to him and become Captain of the Melbourne. He accepts Admiral Hanson's reasoning that it's high time Riker accepted a promotion and that Picard should "kick him in the rear for his own good" but telling Riker this is not easy for Picard.
Suddenly Human
Only a few episodes later in "Suddenly Human", Picard is again in a difficult situation, as he tells Troi, who has never "heard an explanation so well-rehearsed", that he cannot assume a fatherly role for Jono/Jeremiah Rossa. Troi tells him that there is no way around it and that he has to fulfill his duty here. As a reaction to that, Picard (gently) tosses the crystal on his desk in frustration, as Troi leaves.
The Loss
Picard and Troi have two meetings in the ready room in this episode. In the first and very tense one, Troi tells Picard that she is resigning her duty as she no longer feels qualified as ship's counselor due to the loss of her telepathic abilities. Picard plays with his crystal right before and during the second meeting with Troi. He knows he has to convince her somehow to use her skills to help the Enterprise communicate with the two-dimensional alien lifeforms, even though she has lost faith in her abilities and is dejected.
In all three of these season 3 and 4 episodes, Picard's dilemma only concerns one person, usually a fellow crew member. This is different in the four cases where Picard holds the crystal in season 5, all in the middle of the season, where the lives of a large number of people are at stake.
A Matter of Time
Picard plays with his crystal and looks out the ready room window before his lengthy discussion with Rasmussen even begins. Picard is in a real moral quandary here and asks Rasmussen for information about the fate of Penthara IV to save the lives of more than 20 million people on the planet. He knows that Rasmussen will not easily reveal information about the future of the planet, so this is a tense (and wonderful!) discussion between the two.
Violations
This is the only one of the 7 episodes in which Picard is seen holding the ready room crystal when the Captain is not dealing with a personal or moral dilemma. He plays with the crystal under his desk when he is talking to Jev about his father, who is thought (at this point) to be responsible for the cases of telepathic memory invasion on the Enterprise-D. It seems as if Picard feels a little uncomfortable when talking about such a matter with the son of the "perpetrator" and his playing with the crystal (when sitting at and later on his desk) is rather subdued. But again, the crew has solved the riddle of what has happened to the unconscious people on the Enterprise-D and other alien planets whenever the Ullian delegation has been close - the memory invasions will cease from now on and no one will be affected by this in the future.
The Masterpiece Society
When Picard holds his crystal at the end of this episode, he has already made the tough decision (to beam aboard members of the Moab IV genome colony) and is pondering the consequences of his actions. Will the colony collapse in the future as its delicate balances has been disrupted? We get a nice close-up of the crystal as Picard picks it up to play with it.
Conundrum
Picard plays for the last ever time with his ready room crystal in this episode as he is having trouble blindly following the (fake) orders to destroy the Lysian Central Command. When he tells MacDuff that he needs a moral compass to justify that action, he drops the crystal on his desk (like he did in "Suddenly Human") in frustration about the latest moral dilemma.
It seems in the first three episodes (seasons 3+4) in which Picard is holding the crystal, he has to make a personal decision or is facing a tough conversation with a crew member. In the season 5 episodes, he is facing much more grave moral dilemmas that could have consequences for millions of lives. Only "Violations" shows a much more low stakes conversation which doesn't really fit the other six situations in which he plays with the crystal.
Of course, Picard will have to make more tough decision in the second half of season 5 and in seasons 6 and 7, yet he is never see playing with or touching the crystal again.
Riker Plays with the Crystal
On two occasions, Riker is also seen playing with Picard's ready room crystal. He is the only person besides Picard who ever touches the crystal.
Data's Day
Riker is seen holding the crystal (gently rubbing it with his thumb) during the whole tense ready room discussion towards the end of the episode when Picard has to decide whether or not to call the bluff of the Romulan commander, even though Riker's hand holding the crystal is at first hidden behind Picard's orange isolinear circuits. When Picard has made his decision at the end of the scene, Riker gently drops the crystal on Picard's desk.
Gambit I
Riker picks up the crystal from Picard's desk when he's in command of the Enterprise-D early in the episode and is about to start a conversation with Admiral Chekote using the black desktop monitor. He has asked for permission to conduct an investigation into the (fake) death of Picard and is apprehensive whether Chekote allows him to go through with it, hence he plays with the crystal. They talk about Picard's death and how it will effect whole Federation, so holding the crystal, which has always been close to Picard in the ready room for the last 5 years, shows that Picard's loss is felt.
Other Notable Appearances
The Dauphin
This is the first time the crystal is properly seen on its own (in all earlier season 2 episodes, the second crystal was always right next to it) and it is really set in scene here. While Picard and Troi are discussing how dangerous Anya might be, the camera, which is located in front of the rounded end of the ready room desk, slowly moves from left to right, always keeping the focus on Picard and Troi. As the crystal is located at the end of the desk, it is beautifully showcased in this scene and seems to gently move from the right side of the frame to the left side, like an iceberg or a small ship on the ocean - complete with a reflection. This is quite beautifully filmed and framed!
Booby Trap
When Picard sits alone in his darkened ready room, as the aceton assimilators have drained the ship of all its power, he has to decide whether or not to follow La Forge's plan and turn control over to the computer - a decision weighing heavily on the captain. Notice how in these shots, the very prominent crystal is a source of both clarity and light and again looks like a small ship on a dark ocean. I love this shot!
The Best of Both Worlds II
Riker enters the ready room in this scene and looks at the empty chair - Picard has been assimilated by the Borg and now is Locutus. Everything is neatly arranged on the desk, including the crystal. It was only one episode earlier when Picard played with it for the first time when he told Riker to take command of the USS Melbourne. Now, Riker has command of the USS Enterprise-D - this is his desk and he has to make the tough decisions.
But there's more to this! Some background needs to be given first, though: When put on the table, there are two possible orientations for the crystal, the more stable position (right side up) and the less stable position (upside down) which has less contact with the table. Look at the reflection on the table and you'll see the difference.
In "The Best of Both Worlds I", when everything is still okay, the crystal is oriented right side up. But as soon as Picard is assimilated, it's exclusively seen upside down in " The Best of Both Worlds II". Then, at the end of the episode, when Picard has been brought back, it's right side up again, order has been restored. Now, when Hugh is beamed aboard in "I, Borg" and Picard is struggling with having a Borg on board, it's upside down again.
In Theory
Due to small spatial deformations in the Mar Oscura nebula, which also form in the ready room, all the items on Picard's desk fall to the floor, including his crystal. The first items he picks up when he puts everything back into its place are his Bodum tea cup and tray.
Collages
We have compiled collages of good shots of the crystal from all seven seasons of Star Trek: TNG. As mentioned earlier, the crystal has a pointy end and a more blunt end. Here are collages of the crystal with the pointy end facing to the left and to the right (sometimes right side up and sometimes upside down). There's also a collage of shots showing the two "ends" of the crystal. In each of these collages, the images at the top are from earlier episodes and the shots at the bottom are from later seasons. As can be seen, the prop is always the same and no longer changes after its introduction in season 2. Finally, as the crystal is best seen in "The Masterpiece Society" when Picard plays with it, here's also a collage of shots from that episode.
Addendum: The Dark Crystal
You sometimes find claims online that Picard's crystal is actually the same prop as the crystal shard from the film "The Dark Crystal". We have compiled screenshots from the film that clearly show that the two props are not the same. The crystal shard is much flatter and more symmetrical (bilaterally).
This also becomes clear when looking at official replicas of the crystal shard from "The Dark Crystal" (created by Weta Workshop) and Picard's ready room crystal (by Roddenberry.com) - they are clearly not the same prop.
There's however one scene in the film where the wise character Aughra drops several different crystals on the floor. The crystals are all shaped and tinted differently. One of these crystals might possibly have been the basis for one of the two ready room crystals seen on TNG, handed down from one prop maker to another - or maybe it might not have.
See Also
Picard's Shakespeare Books - investigation of the books in the ready room and in his quarters, incl. identification of the pages
