I was recently sent down a rabbit hole that led to this. I’ve spent the last hour or so watching the Pigs in Space skits from The Muppet Show. In The Muppet Show, Pigs in space was introduced in the 203rd episode. This episode aired in 1973, while the first episode of TNG didn’t air until 1987.

In that episode, First Mate Piggy refers to Captain Link Hogthrob as (you may have guessed it) “mon capitan.” This is easily just Miss Piggy being in character, but as soon as I heard that being afforded the distance of time alarms went off in my head.

I just think that it would be a hillarious in joke, especially if they stuck to the bit for as long as they did. Maybe it wasn’t just because Picard was French, but the writers chose to indirectly honor a show that honored Trek a lot. And maybe, just maybe, the writers made Picard French because of a reference to Pigs in Space.

Just a rambling fun thought, I guess.