"The Picard Maneuver" is what we called it when we would sit down, and straighten our two-piece space suits (which came into use in the third season.) Patrick Stewart, being a classically trained actor with the RSC, couldn't simply tug down on his uniform, and always did it with dramatic flair, earning the move its name.
All of us had a problem with our jackets bunching up and looking lame, so we all had to do our own version of "The Picard Maneuver" whenever we sat down. When I finally got my two piece space suit, I did it after sitting down at the CONN, and a particularly officious associate producer pulled me aside between takes and said, "Wil, you can't pull your jacket down when you sit down. That's the Picard Maneuver."
"How am I supposed to stop it from bunching up?" I said.
"I don't know," he said. "Just don't tug on it, okay?"
...
I also recall Johnathan Frakes always making a huge deal about doing the Picard Maneuver with the jacket on his space suit, pulling it down, tugging it from side to side, standing back up, yanking it down, sitting back down and tugging on his sleeves . . . I don't think I'm conveying how incredibly hilarious it was, but maybe you had to have been working on the Bridge for twelve hours to be in the same comedy space we were whenever he'd do it.
