"Tapestry" is the 15th episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 141st overall. It was originally released on February 15, 1993, in broadcast syndication. Ronald D. Moore was credited with writing the episode, but the basis of the story was a collaborative effort from the writing crew. "Tapestry" was directed by Les Landau, with the title coming from executive producer Michael Piller.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, Q (John de Lancie) allows a supposedly deceased Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to re-visit a pivotal event in his youth that he since regrets. Picard changes the past, but upon returning to the present he finds that the event made him the man he became. He returns once more to the past and returns it to the way it originally took place. Picard wakes up in the present, unsure if the events took place or if they were a dream caused by his injury.
Plot
During a diplomatic mission, Captain Picard is gravely wounded and transported directly to sickbay. As Dr. Crusher works frantically to revive him, Picard awakens to find himself in an otherworldly realm where he is greeted by the god-like alien Q. Q bluntly tells Picard that he is dead, explaining that a terrorist's weapon destroyed his artificial heart. Picard lost his natural heart as a young officer when he was stabbed during a bar brawl, an event he regrets. When Picard reflects that he would do things differently if he could relive that moment, Q sends him back in time to the day before the bar brawl, where he meets with fellow cadets Corey Zweller and Marta Batanides. They remark on his sudden personality change – no more devil-may-care attitude.
After being cheated by a Nausicaan in a bar game, Zweller plans revenge by rigging the next match. Picard talks him out of it, but the Nausicaans try to goad them into another game, which Picard prevents. When Zweller is provoked into attacking the Nausicaans, Picard holds him back, averting tragedy but humiliating his friend. The Nausicaans walk away laughing, and Zweller and Batanides leave in disgust.
Q returns Picard to the Enterprise in the present. To Picard's surprise, he is not the captain but rather a junior science officer who has led an unremarkable career. He consults Commander Riker and Counselor Troi, who explain that his aversion to risk means he has never distinguished himself.
Picard confronts Q, who tells him that although the fight with the Nausicaan was nearly fatal, it also gave him a sense of mortality and taught him that life was too precious to squander by playing it safe. Picard realizes that attempting to suppress and ignore his past indiscretions has resulted in losing a part of himself. He declares that he would rather die as captain of the Enterprise than live as a nobody. Q sends him back to the bar fight and events unfold as they did originally, with Picard stabbed through the heart and laughing as he collapses to the floor.
Picard awakens in sickbay, captain of the Enterprise again. As he recovers, he wonders whether his journey into the past was one of Q's illusions or merely a dream. Regardless, he is grateful for the insight the experience gave him.
Production
Writing
thumb|right|Writer Ronald D. Moore initially sought to base the premise of the episode on A Christmas Carol.
This was the first time that Ronald D. Moore wrote a Q-based episode, and he was excited by the idea of giving Picard a near-death experience and Q appearing to the Captain as if he were God. His plan for "Tapestry" was to follow a similar path to Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, but with Q playing a similar role to the three ghosts in Dickens' story. Moore envisaged three stages to the story, one where Picard is attacked and needs an artificial heart, another with Picard as a child and a third based on the USS Stargazer. He pitched the idea to executive producer Michael Piller, who wasn't enthusiastic about the premise. The combination of that disapproval and the expected cost of filming because of the additional sets required meant that the episode had to be trimmed.
Moore discussed the idea with other members of the writing staff; they focused on the incident which caused Picard to require an artificial heart. It had previously been mentioned in the episodes "Samaritan Snare" and "Final Mission". They compared Picard to Captain James T. Kirk, describing them as opposites in terms of development. They saw Picard being a wild child during his time at Starfleet Academy, only to become more serious later. The reverse was true for Kirk, with the staff describing him as a "bookworm" while at the Academy and only becoming "crazy" once posted to a starship. Together, they sought for a way to support Picard's claim in "Samaritan Snare" that he laughed when he was stabbed. Story editor René Echevarria said: "It made us all think we had really come up with the right story for the premise and tying that together, I think it's one of the finest efforts ever." While Moore called the episode "A Q Carol" based on the original premise,
The writers could not remember the source of the "white room" idea, and it was only after the episode aired that James Mooring contacted the staff. He had submitted a spec script featuring a similar idea. Producer Jeri Taylor admitted that the similarity was unintentional, and after both she and Moore spoke to Mooring, the matter was settled. Mooring was paid, and his contribution to the episode was acknowledged by the staff. There were several changes made to the script prior to filming, including the removal of Edward Jellico as the Captain of the Enterprise in Picard's alternative future and clarification that the stabbing of Picard was not the major event in his life which Boothby described in "The First Duty". He had already appeared twice during the 1992/93 television season as the character, both earlier in the TNG season in "True Q" as well as the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Q-Less". The episode marked the first appearance of the Nausicaans on screen with Clint Carmichael playing the lead alien, Some scenes were cut in order to reduce the episode down to the required length. This included a one-page monologue by Batanides which would have taken place the morning after her liaison with Picard, In Atara Stein's The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television, the author describes "Tapestry" as showing a change in Q from his usual satanic stance and instead taking on the role of Picard's guardian angel. Stein also references the alien's increasing influence on the personal lives of the Enterprise crew, a path which Q began in the episode "Hide and Q".
Reception
Ratings
"Tapestry" was originally released in broadcast syndication on February 15, 1993. It received Nielsen ratings of 13.8 percent, placing it in third place in its timeslot. This was the joint second highest rating received by an episode during the sixth season, alongside the second part of "Time's Arrow". The only episode which had higher Nielsen Ratings during that season was "Aquiel", which aired two weeks prior to "Tapestry".
Crew and fan reception
While the majority of the staff were pleased with "Tapestry", Piller felt that the premise was tired and was concerned that it was simply a take on the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. He said that some scenes were "very talky", Moore described "Tapestry" as "one of the best things I wrote and one of TNGs finest episodes". Some fans wrote in to the staff to complain that the episode glorified violence, and was against the principles of Star Trek. Jeri Taylor admitted that the episode could be seen as violent, but it never crossed the mind of any of the staff during production. She went on to say that if they had realized that "Tapestry" could be considered to promote violence, then they would have corrected it to ensure that it wouldn't be viewed as such.
In a review for Tor.com, Keith DeCandido compared the episode to It's a Wonderful Life, calling it one of the "finest hours" of the series. Mark Clark, in his book Star Trek FAQ 2.0, called Stewart's performance "richly nuanced" and "soul searching". Clark said that this episode was as important to Picard as the events in "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Inner Light" and "Chain of Command". He said that the events of "Tapestry" explored Picard's soul. fourth in Entertainment Weeklys list of top ten Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, 22nd out of the top 100 of the entire franchise in Charlie Jane Anders' list for io9, and seventh out of the various Star Trek episodes involving time travel by James Hunt at Den of Geek. Witney Seibold, on the website CraveOnline, said that "Tapestry" was the best installment of The Next Generation, describing it as "one of the more philosophical episodes". In 2016, Radio Times rated the scene where Picard wakes up to find Q in his bed as the 41st greatest scene in Star Trek. In 2014, Gizmodo ranked "Tapestry" as the 22nd best episode of Star Trek, out of over 700 episodes made by that time.
In 2016, IGN ranked "Tapestry" the 18th best episode of all Star Trek series.
In 2016 The Hollywood Reporter rated "Tapestry" the 16th best television episode of Star Trek. Geek.com rated the presentation of 'Lieutenant Picard' as one of the greatest moments in Star Trek. In 2018, Entertainment Weekly ranked "Tapestry" as one of the top ten moments of Jean-Luc Picard.
In May 2019, The Hollywood Reporter ranked "Tapestry" among the top twenty five episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In 2017, Nerdist ranked "Tapestry" the seventh best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In 2017, SyFy rated the Nausicaans featured in this episode one of the top eleven most bizarre aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In 2017, Den of Geek ranked this episode as one of a top twenty five "must watch" episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In 2018, CBR ranked "Tapestry" the seventh best time-travel episode of all Star Trek.
In 2019, Screen Rant ranked "Tapestry" the ninth best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In 2020, IGN and Vulture listed "Tapestry" on a list of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes to watch before Star Trek: Picard.
In 2021, Tom's Guide said this was the third best episode for the character Q, and compared it to the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
Home media and related releases
"Tapestry" was released in the United Kingdom on a two-episode VHS tape in 2003, alongside the first part of "Birthright". The first home media release of "Tapestry" in the United States was on a VHS box set entitled Star Trek – The Next Generation: The Q Continuum on June 18, 1996. It later received an individual release on August 4, 1998. Paramount deliberately delayed the individual release of Star Trek episodes on VHS within the United States in order to allow for the syndicated series to be shown once more in full. The inclusion of "Tapestry" in The Q Continuum boxed set ahead of the individual release of the episode was intended as an incentive to purchase the set.
The episode was released as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season six DVD box set in the United States on December 3, 2002. It received further releases on DVD as part of a compilation collections of episodes. This included The Jean-Luc Picard Collection, which was released in the United States on August 3, 2004, also the Star Trek: Q Fan Collective, which was released in the United States on June 6, 2006, and later that year in the UK on September 4. A further DVD release came as part of The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Volume 2 on November 17, 2009, in the United States. The most recent release was the first on Blu-ray disc, which took place on June 24, 2014; this also added an audio commentary track for the episode for the first time. A figure of Captain Picard based on "Tapestry" was released by Playmates Toys in 1996, which was a limited edition release of 1,701 units.