Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

A Matter of Time (1991)

Matt Frewer: Berlinghoff Rasmussen

Photos 

Quotes 

• Rasmussen : So, you've made your choice after all. And without my help.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Oh, on the contrary, Professor. You were quite helpful.

  Rasmussen : How's that?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : By refusing to help me, you left me with the same choice I had to begin with, to try or not to try, to take a risk or to play it safe. And your arguments have reminded me how precious the right to choose is. Because I've never been one to play it safe.

• [Rasmussen enters Data's quarters, which are exploding with noise] 

  Rasmussen : [shouting]  What in God's name is that?

  Lt. Commander Data : Music, Professor.

  Rasmussen : Music?

  Lt. Commander Data : Yes, sir. Mozart's "Jupiter Symphony in C major", Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3", Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony, 2nd Movement, molto vivace", and "La Donna e Mobile", from Verdi's "Rigoletto".

  Rasmussen : Do you think you could thin it out a bit?

  Lt. Commander Data : Computer, eliminate program one.

  [music thins, but Rasmussen shakes his head] 

  Lt. Commander Data : Computer, eliminate program two.

  [music thins more, but is still too loud] 

  Lt. Commander Data : Computer, eliminate program three.

  [Rasmussen gestures for him to lower the volume] 

  Lt. Commander Data : Computer, half volume.

  Rasmussen : [still shouting]  How the...!

  [pauses, realizing the volume is low enough] 

  Rasmussen : [much quieter]  How the hell can you listen to four pieces of music at the same time?

  Lt. Commander Data : Actually, I am capable of distinguishing over one hundred and fifty simultaneous compositions. But in order to analyze the aesthetics, I try to keep it to ten or less.

  Rasmussen : Only four today?

  Lt. Commander Data : I am assisting Commander La Forge with a very complex calculation. It demands a great deal of my concentration.

• [Rasmussen has refused to help Picard decide on the right choice to save a people from certain death] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : How can you be comfortable watching people die?

  Rasmussen : Erm, let me... put it to you this way: if I were to tell you that none of those people died, you'd easily conclude that you tried your solution and it succeeded. So, you'd confidently try again. No harm in that. But, what if I were to tell you they all died? What then? Obviously, you'd decide not to make the same mistake twice. Now, what if one of those people grew up...

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Yes, Professor, I know. What if one of those lives I save down there is a child who grows up to be the next Adolf Hitler, or Khan Singh? Every first-year philosophy student has been asked that question since the earliest wormholes were discovered.

• Rasmussen : Who said these moments were any less exciting when you know the outcome, hm?

  Lt. Commander Data : I know of no one who said that, Professor.

• [despite his better judgment, Picard has asked Rasmussen about the best course of action to take in his Penthara IV dilemma] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : There are twenty million lives down there. And you know what happened to them - what *will* happen to them.

  Rasmussen : So, it seems you have another dilemma; one that questions your convictions.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Well, I've never been afraid of reevaluating my convictions, Professor; and now... well, I have twenty million reasons to do so.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [after Rasmussen has been exposed as an impostor]  Trying to make *my* history unfold in a way other than it already has, eh, Professor?

  Rasmussen : [laughing sheepishly]  This was all a misunderstanding, Picard. Just... let me back in there. We'll forget the whole thing.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Now, what possible incentive could anyone offer me to allow that?

• Rasmussen : Um, your... prosthesis. What do you... what do you call it again?

  Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : A VISOR.

  Rasmussen : VISOR, right, a VISOR! You know, I have a picture of you wearing that in my office. How do you like it?

  Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : It allows me to see. I like it just fine.

  Rasmussen : You know, Homer was blind. And Milton. Bach. Monet. Wonder...

• Rasmussen : But you must see that if I were to influence you, everything in this sector, in this quadrant of the galaxy, could change. History - *my* history - would unfold in a way other than it already has. Now, what possible incentive could anyone offer me to allow that to happen?

• Rasmussen : That weapon was working yesterday...

  [after trying unsuccessfully to use a phaser on Data] 

• Lieutenant Worf : [responding to an earlier question of Rasmussen]  Phasers.

  Rasmussen : Beg your pardon?

  Lieutenant Worf : There were no phasers in the 22nd century.

  Rasmussen : Ah, you see, Doctor? Our Klingon friend is a perfect example of what I was trying to tell you: he views history through the eyes of a hunter, a warrior. His passion lies in the perfection of the tools of violence. How delightfully primitive!

• Rasmussen : Everyone dies, Captain. It's just a question of when.

• Rasmussen : You know, some of my best friends are empaths.