Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Half a Life (1991)

David Ogden Stiers: Timicin

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Timicin : Because I do not terminate my life, they terminate my work. Alive, I am a greater threat to my world than a dying sun.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Uh, Dr. Timicin, allow me to present Lwaxana Troi of Betazed. She's also a guest on board...

  Lwaxana Troi : And daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir of the Holy Rings of Betazed, and what are you doing for dinner?

  Dr. Timicin : [looks quizzically at Picard]  Well, I... don't know, really...

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Er, Lwaxana, we have quite a bit of work planned...

  Lwaxana Troi : Well, the man's never been on board a starship before, Jean-Luc. Certainly, somebody ought to make him comfortable before you get started.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Well, it seems that Mrs. Troi is our acting ambassador of goodwill for today.

  Lwaxana Troi : You just think of me as your entertainment director.

  [the three leave the transporter room] 

  Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : [to O'Brien]  That man's in a lot of trouble.

• Dr. Timicin : I will say it again. You are a kind woman.

  Lwaxana Troi : No, no, I'm a hateful woman. I hate what you're going to do; and I hate you for doing it.

• Dara : Father, come home. This is wrong.

  Dr. Timicin : Dara, if I could show you the work I have begun. There's still so much for me to do.

  Dara : There is nothing for me to look at. It is irrelevant.

  Lwaxana Troi : Your father's work may save your world, my dear. I would hardly consider that irrelevant.

  Dara : [ignoring her]  All I'm concerned with now is you, not your work. Your work is over. It is your time to rest.

  Lwaxana Troi : Perhaps you will feel differently as you get a little older - say approaching sixty.

  Dara : My father taught me to cherish the Resolution. I don't know how you have poisoned him to reject it.

  Lwaxana Troi : It's an obscene ritual.

  Dara : How dare you! How dare you criticize my way of life and my beliefs!

  Dr. Timicin : Please. Please, Dara. Please.

  Dara : Where will you go?

  Dr. Timicin : [sighs]  I don't know.

  Dara : And where will you die? I cannot bear the thought of you being laid to rest on some other world. That you will not lie beside my mother. That I will not be able to lie beside you when my Resolution comes. I'm sorry. I don't know how you can... go on with your life knowing that each day is an insult to everything we believe in. Father, I love you. But I am ashamed.

• Lwaxana Troi : Your planet has what, thirty, forty years left? What if your scientists can't find the answer without you? What then? What chance do you think your grandson has of reaching the age of sixty?

  Dr. Timicin : Enough, please! It is my time, Lwaxana. And that is the way it is.

  Lwaxana Troi : Well, if that's the way it is, I don't know why anyone's bothering to try to save your planet at all. If its time has come, let it die. Where is the difference, Timicin? Where?

• [Lwaxana orders a dish from the replicator] 

  Dr. Timicin : What's that?

  Lwaxana Troi : Oskoids, a Betazed delicacy.

  Dr. Timicin : Looks very interesting.

  Lwaxana Troi : Should've tried it while you were still alive; no reason to bother now.

• [Dr. Timicin is about to return to his planet, when Lwaxana Troi enters the transporter room] 

  Lwaxana Troi : It is the custom for your loved ones to join you at this... Resolution, is it not?

  Dr. Timicin : You do not have to do this.

  Lwaxana Troi : Yes, I do.

• Dr. Timicin : The Resolution is a celebration of life. It allows us to end our lives with dignity.

  Lwaxana Troi : Ah, a celebration of life. Sounds very noble, very caring. What you're really saying is, you got rid of the problem by getting rid of the people.

• Dr. Timicin : Fifteen to twenty centuries ago, we had no Resolution. We had no such concern for our elders. As people aged, they... their health failed. They became invalids. And those whose families could no longer care for them were put away, into... deathwatch facilities, where they waited in loneliness for the end to come, sometimes... for years. They had meant something; and they were forced to live beyond that, into a time of meaning nothing. Of knowing that they could now only be the beneficiaries of younger people's patience. We are no longer that cruel, Lwaxana.

  Lwaxana Troi : No, no, you're not cruel to them, you just kill them.

• Lwaxana Troi : The women of Betazed used to wear these enormous wigs with large holes in the center for tiny caged creatures.

  Dr. Timicin : Yes?

  Lwaxana Troi : First, it was a fashion. Then it went on long enough to become a custom, a tradition. But it was uncomfortable for the woman and cruel to the animal. So, then, one day, one very formidable woman finally said so, refused to ever wear another of those wigs. Fairly soon, the custom stopped. She had the courage to stand up and fight for change.

  Dr. Timicin : She must have been a lot like you.

• Dr. Timicin : I am not the person to lead the revolt.

• Dr. Timicin : [to Deanna, about Lwaxana]  I'd never have thought her old enough to be your mother. She is so... vibrant.