Star Trek: The Next Generation had its fair share of WTF moments during its run, but subtler ones have cropped up as time has passed. In fact, Patrick Stewart had a specific complaint related to Picard's Ready Room and the fact that the Captain owned a fish tank. Yes, really.
Revisit old TNG episodes with a Paramount+ subscription, and you'll see a lot of shots of Picard's fish tank along with his lionfish Livingston. One of TNG's more famous guest stars, Ronny Cox, previously spoke to TrekMovie.com, and shared how his character Jellico temporarily did Patrick Stewart a real-life solid in the episode "Chain Of Command":
Patrick Stewart always hated the fish in the ready room. He said, 'We’re doing a series about the dignity of all creatures in the universe, and we’ve got captured fish in the ready room?' But the producers like shooting through the fish swimming around there. So Jellico did that for Patrick! [laughs]
See? Jellico wasn't all that bad, though it is worth mentioning that once Jean-Luc Picard resumed command of the Enterprise, the fish did return. At least that Lionfish had a bit of reprieve, though Patrick Stewart's reasons for wanting the fish gone in the first place remained and sounds like they largely fell upon deaf ears.
It's not surprising to hear Patrick Stewart was not a fan of the fish tanks, likely for reasons beyond it not aligning with Starfleet's values. He famously insisted on having a pitbull be his character's "Number One" in the Picard series and has been an advocate for protecting the image of the breed despite them being banned in the UK. While he's known to partner with more dog-specific organizations, his hard stance against all things that qualify as animal cruelty makes it obvious why he'd be opposed to Picard owning an aquarium.
I should also mention that Picard owning a fish does feel extra strange, considering the Enterprise had a Cetacean Ops division. Those who watched Lower Decks or the amazing Prodigy Season 2 were likely already thinking that, but other fans may forget that Starfleet members included bottlenose dolphins and whales. They also served in tanks but with a much larger space and were certainly not there to be put on display.
So, while he might've done it for the wrong reasons, Jellico deserves some brownie points to offset the hate he gets. I never had an ax to grind against him, and I always appreciated the various internet memes fans have made about him over the years. I will say that I didn't like how much he was on Janeway's case in Prodigy with her "personal connection" to Chakotay impacting her judgment in his rescue mission, and am not sure that can offset temporarily freeing Livingston from his spherical prison.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+ and never a bad decision, even with all the shows popping up on the 2024 TV schedule. Throw on "Chain Of Command" in honor of Jellico today, and to watch one of the best TNG episodes of all time.
