Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 10, "The Last Generation" contains a telling joke in its finale. Seven of Nine, freshly minted captain of the re-christened USS Enterprise, settles into her chair in preparation for warp speed. Raffi encourages her to use a catchphrase for her first command, which she claims is a tradition. The gag comes when "The Last Generation" cuts away to the ship zipping off just as Seven opens her mouth.
The moment is part of a larger passing of the torch, as Seven's new Enterprise crew heads off to interstellar adventure while Jean-Luc Picard's older crew settles in for a game of cards back on Earth. But it also connects to a very weird tradition of captain's catchphrases: anything the person in the chair says when the ship goes to warp. A variation of the same joke appeared in the trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, in which Spock delivers a thuddingly literal "I would like the ship to go. Now." to a bridge crew smiling through their cringes. The captain's phrase has evolved to the point where Star Trek is regularly making Meta references to it.
The Captain's Phrase Hasn't Been a Star Trek Tradition for Long
Sonequa Martin-Green sitting down as Captain Burnham in Star Trek Discovery
Ironically, the tradition isn't nearly as well-established as it seems. Captain Kirk never had a signature phrase he used in such a fashion, nor did Ben Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The same can be said of Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager and Jonathan Archer on Star Trek: Enterprise. The earliest progenitor of the tradition was Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, who varied between "make it so" and a simple "engage." Even then, however, they were less catchphrases and more of a general reflection of the character.
The first real use of a captain's catchphrase came with the Kelvinverse movies, starting with 2009's Star Trek. Bruce Greenwood's version of Christopher Pike says "punch it" twice within the space of a minute. Strange New Worlds has picked it up, with Anson Mount's Pike using "hit it!" every time he wants to go to warp. Star Trek: Discovery really developed the notion, starting with Captain Lorca's "Go!" in Season 1 and evolving into Michael Burnham's "Let's fly!" at the conclusion of Season 3. The latter may be the high point of the captain's catchphrase, at least taken seriously. This reflects on Michael Burnham's ebullience and enthusiasm the same way "engage!" reflects Picard's more formal side.
Naturally, when Star Trek: Lower Decks arrived, they had to take a swing at it. In Season 1, Episode 2, "Envoys," Captain Freeman walks down the ship's corridor, musing on possible catchphrases. "I really gotta think of something cool to say when we're going to warp. Something like 'it's warp time!'" She later reduces it to a simpler "Warp me!" (mixing it up with the occasional "Maximum warp me!"), which might make it impossible to play the notion straight ever again.
Seven of Nine Enters Star Trek's Catch Phrase Club by Avoiding It
Picard Seven of Nine sits in USS Titan's captain's chair
With Lower Decks planting a whoopie cushion under the whole idea, Star Trek has nonetheless found clever ways to continue with its catchphrases. Spock's awkward disaster of a line in the Strange New Worlds trailer is a gentle poke at the character's famous literal-mindedness, especially compared to Pike's smooth-as-silk lines. Seven might have been forgiven such a stumble in her Voyager years, when socialization was a much bigger problem. The effortlessly cool Seven of Picard is too canny for that, however. Whatever catchphrase she uses remains a mystery, and thus avoids having to outrun the mockery of Lower Decks and its ilk.
Regardless, the captain's big line doesn't look to go anywhere simply because it's being played for laughs. Even Star Trek: Prodigy gets in on the act with Dal's similarly stumble-bum "go fast!" That means every new series since Discovery uses the idea. Serious or not, the tradition endures, and as Seven proves, one can't even opt out by opting out.
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