Arantor
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I've watched pretty much all of Star Trek that's out there at this point. (Though, curiously, I haven't seen the thing they made called "Star Trek - The Captains" which is a documentary(?) following Shatner and the others)
And in another thread the question came up of best captain.
I'm going to be pretty controversial and suggest that... all of them are Best Captain. Well, nearly all of them. Well, most of them. Spoiler tags mostly for wordiness sake, not because any of these are actual spoilers, and why I think they're the most awesome in their own way. Lower Decks doesn't count; the whole point is that we don't really see the captain so much (and I didn't particularly pay that much attention to it)
But yeah, they're all awesome. Change my mind
And in another thread the question came up of best captain.
I'm going to be pretty controversial and suggest that... all of them are Best Captain. Well, nearly all of them. Well, most of them. Spoiler tags mostly for wordiness sake, not because any of these are actual spoilers, and why I think they're the most awesome in their own way. Lower Decks doesn't count; the whole point is that we don't really see the captain so much (and I didn't particularly pay that much attention to it)
Jeffrey Hunter was not a good choice for initial captain of the Enterprise and I completely get how they ended up with the label of 'too cerebral' for the opening episode, The Cage. There's not really any proper cut left of the episode but large chunks of it are reproduced into season 1's The Menagerie, plus James Blish did a pretty decent adaptation of pretty much all the TOS episodes. But TOS Pike is just not relatable, he's too cold and clinical and just the tiniest bit of sexism in there. Understandable given the time - and the audience, though.
But Kirk? Kirk was iconic. Cool in that way that Austin Powers was later described as: the men wanted to be him, the women wanted to be with him. Kirk represents that well-rounded individual who is calm under pressure, resolute in his moral duty, the cowboy out on the frontier with no-one but his crew to accompany him. More than that, though, Kirk treated everyone below him with respect - based on his need for them to do their job and do it well, rather than what country (or planet) they come from. Genuinely ground-breaking stuff.
But Kirk? Kirk was iconic. Cool in that way that Austin Powers was later described as: the men wanted to be him, the women wanted to be with him. Kirk represents that well-rounded individual who is calm under pressure, resolute in his moral duty, the cowboy out on the frontier with no-one but his crew to accompany him. More than that, though, Kirk treated everyone below him with respect - based on his need for them to do their job and do it well, rather than what country (or planet) they come from. Genuinely ground-breaking stuff.
Picard (and Stewart) were divisive figures aboard the bridge of the all new Enterprise. Even the ship itself was contentious being less battle-ready explorer on the new frontier, and more diplomatic liner in spaaaaaaaace, with its sleek lines and curves and so much space for everyone and everything.
But what Picard really brought to the table was a subtle and clever evolution of Kirk; this was best part of a hundred years later, this is less about the new frontier and more about what that means in its wake. It means less about gunboat diplomacy, and a promotion on finding new solutions to problems; the introduction of a ship's counsellor reminded us that this wasn't ships out in the frontier making do, but a more seasoned, more evolved environment that understood what years in deep space would mean.
As someone who was bullied as a kid, it meant something to me to have a lead character who reasoned through things, who displayed empathy and gravitas and a stronger set of principles - it wasn't about going to weapons first or charging in physically. And it was a show that demonstrated a commitment to other ideas: we saw discussions about ethics, about the nature of what it means to be human, about the value of culture and heritage.
There are so many wonderful moments in TNG where Picard makes an observation and often a little monologue about what he's seeing. The obvious stand-out moments are when he stands up to Q (Encounter At Farpoint, Hide and Q - even to the point of quoting Shakespeare!), when he's defending Data (Measure of a Man), or when there is the trial of a possible saboteur turned witch-hunt (The Drumhead). The more complex stories needed a more complex captain.
But what Picard really brought to the table was a subtle and clever evolution of Kirk; this was best part of a hundred years later, this is less about the new frontier and more about what that means in its wake. It means less about gunboat diplomacy, and a promotion on finding new solutions to problems; the introduction of a ship's counsellor reminded us that this wasn't ships out in the frontier making do, but a more seasoned, more evolved environment that understood what years in deep space would mean.
As someone who was bullied as a kid, it meant something to me to have a lead character who reasoned through things, who displayed empathy and gravitas and a stronger set of principles - it wasn't about going to weapons first or charging in physically. And it was a show that demonstrated a commitment to other ideas: we saw discussions about ethics, about the nature of what it means to be human, about the value of culture and heritage.
There are so many wonderful moments in TNG where Picard makes an observation and often a little monologue about what he's seeing. The obvious stand-out moments are when he stands up to Q (Encounter At Farpoint, Hide and Q - even to the point of quoting Shakespeare!), when he's defending Data (Measure of a Man), or when there is the trial of a possible saboteur turned witch-hunt (The Drumhead). The more complex stories needed a more complex captain.
When DS9 opens, Sisko is still mourning the loss of his wife, and his career somewhat hit the skids. He was a decent enough officer, worth keeping around but not quite enough to put him in the big seat, so posted him to what was expected to be a minor role: the liberated space station around Bajor, who were receiving Federation assistance with a view to joining. The wormhole wasn't a big deal at that point... so Starfleet gave it to someone that needed a posting but was expected to stay very much on the sidelines.
Sisko, though, soon found himself in a rather unenviable position - while both Kirk and Picard were viewed on occasion by lesser races as 'gods', Sisko was firmly something else. It was a role he didn't feel comfortable in, but he rose to the occasion. You could argue that Sisko's entire strength is 'rising to the occasion' but his journey is far more interesting: Kirk and Picard fly about the galaxy, but we never see what happens when they're gone. We never see what was left behind. DS9 is the journey of what happens when the flagship of the fleet isn't there with the peak cowboy diplomats and explorers to save the day. We get a dirtier, gritter - more authentic - view of the spaces in between.
And we get the Federation with a new threat we've never seen it fight before: a war. A full scale war that's not a single skirmish to win or lose, but a protracted, multi-year struggle for supremacy, and with this guy who is by all accounts, a wash-out for the big chair suddenly in the middle of all of it. He's not ready for this, he's not prepared, and he's never sat in the big chair, but now he's in the hot seat in the hottest corner of the quadrant.
The punctuation on all of this: a career officer, the representative of Starfleet - the emissary of the local gods, no less - has to do a number of things that go against his oath, his principles, ultimately a betrayal of everything he stood for. Kirk the cowboy and Picard the explorer, they got to go off and do mostly the right thing for mostly the right reasons. Sisko is someone who has to do some wrong things to make the right things happen.
If nothing else, I give you "In The Pale Moonlight" as an episode. A situation is brewing. Sisko has a chat with someone for whom the lines are blurred, and he has a suggestion. Sisko knows it's not a good suggestion. He ruminates that he should have just thanked his friend for the suggestion and walked away - but he doesn't. He knows this shouldn't go ahead but he lets it happen. He makes it happen. And, predictably, it blows up. Things happen, it goes sideways - only to learn that that was planned for.
Darker times call for darker measures, and sometimes you need someone who can make it happen, to step up and rise to the occasion. I don't know how the Dominion War would have played out if Kirk or Picard had been stationed at Deep Space 9. Neither of them would have built the Defiant, neither of them would have faced down the Maquis the same way, but likely as not, Starfleet would never have posted either there. We saw, for the both of them, their first, best destiny. Sisko, though, makes the calls that see Starfleet through the war, some of which only he could make.
It is not for nothing that there is the meme of the Defiant being just the polite name for "Sisko's MF Pimp Hand", you know, gonna smack you for talking out of turn.
Sisko, though, soon found himself in a rather unenviable position - while both Kirk and Picard were viewed on occasion by lesser races as 'gods', Sisko was firmly something else. It was a role he didn't feel comfortable in, but he rose to the occasion. You could argue that Sisko's entire strength is 'rising to the occasion' but his journey is far more interesting: Kirk and Picard fly about the galaxy, but we never see what happens when they're gone. We never see what was left behind. DS9 is the journey of what happens when the flagship of the fleet isn't there with the peak cowboy diplomats and explorers to save the day. We get a dirtier, gritter - more authentic - view of the spaces in between.
And we get the Federation with a new threat we've never seen it fight before: a war. A full scale war that's not a single skirmish to win or lose, but a protracted, multi-year struggle for supremacy, and with this guy who is by all accounts, a wash-out for the big chair suddenly in the middle of all of it. He's not ready for this, he's not prepared, and he's never sat in the big chair, but now he's in the hot seat in the hottest corner of the quadrant.
The punctuation on all of this: a career officer, the representative of Starfleet - the emissary of the local gods, no less - has to do a number of things that go against his oath, his principles, ultimately a betrayal of everything he stood for. Kirk the cowboy and Picard the explorer, they got to go off and do mostly the right thing for mostly the right reasons. Sisko is someone who has to do some wrong things to make the right things happen.
If nothing else, I give you "In The Pale Moonlight" as an episode. A situation is brewing. Sisko has a chat with someone for whom the lines are blurred, and he has a suggestion. Sisko knows it's not a good suggestion. He ruminates that he should have just thanked his friend for the suggestion and walked away - but he doesn't. He knows this shouldn't go ahead but he lets it happen. He makes it happen. And, predictably, it blows up. Things happen, it goes sideways - only to learn that that was planned for.
Darker times call for darker measures, and sometimes you need someone who can make it happen, to step up and rise to the occasion. I don't know how the Dominion War would have played out if Kirk or Picard had been stationed at Deep Space 9. Neither of them would have built the Defiant, neither of them would have faced down the Maquis the same way, but likely as not, Starfleet would never have posted either there. We saw, for the both of them, their first, best destiny. Sisko, though, makes the calls that see Starfleet through the war, some of which only he could make.
It is not for nothing that there is the meme of the Defiant being just the polite name for "Sisko's MF Pimp Hand", you know, gonna smack you for talking out of turn.
Janeway had an interesting situation thrown at her and one that, all things considered, she managed to get through without it being the most awful disaster. She brings elements of all her predecessors; the easy-going joviality-meets-professionalism of Kirk, along with his trademark playing it fast and loose when the situation arises; the staunch moral authority of Picard; the willingness to do what it takes to get the job done, and willingness to do a deal with the devil when the situation arose.
The armchair theorycrafters would suggest that 'well, Picard would have solved the situation of the Caretaker with a timer and would have been home in time for tea' or that 'Kirk would have just stared down everyone'. Maybe true, maybe not, but they weren't the ones coping with a hybrid and fractured crew, enough distance from home that they'd reach it in 70+ years without any external help. Then, of course, encountering the arch-nemesis of the Federation: the Borg. And, then Species 8472. Suddenly the predator is the prey, and the roles of the scorpion and the frog must also play out as they always must.
She might not have been the first female captain we'd seen but as the first female lead, she also brought a representation we hadn't seen before: that a woman, and a scientist to boot, could be in the big chair. Out of universe, this was *huge*.
The armchair theorycrafters would suggest that 'well, Picard would have solved the situation of the Caretaker with a timer and would have been home in time for tea' or that 'Kirk would have just stared down everyone'. Maybe true, maybe not, but they weren't the ones coping with a hybrid and fractured crew, enough distance from home that they'd reach it in 70+ years without any external help. Then, of course, encountering the arch-nemesis of the Federation: the Borg. And, then Species 8472. Suddenly the predator is the prey, and the roles of the scorpion and the frog must also play out as they always must.
She might not have been the first female captain we'd seen but as the first female lead, she also brought a representation we hadn't seen before: that a woman, and a scientist to boot, could be in the big chair. Out of universe, this was *huge*.
Archer was an interesting character. You can see the kind of proto-Kirk thing going on, in the universe prior to the United Federation of Planets. Before the universe as we fully understood it, before the Prime Directive. When the frontier really is the new frontier. Much more making-do, more making the rules up as he went along because he didn't have any choice; the rules hadn't been written yet. A different kind of captain for a different kind of era, between the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi War.
Interestingly I have less to say about Archer because by the time of ENT, the formula for what made a Trek show work with an ensemble cast was better understood - and Archer shines in no small part because of the excellent ensemble, in particular Reed and Phlox, but let us not forget Shran.
Interestingly I have less to say about Archer because by the time of ENT, the formula for what made a Trek show work with an ensemble cast was better understood - and Archer shines in no small part because of the excellent ensemble, in particular Reed and Phlox, but let us not forget Shran.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about Discovery. I think there's a lot of commentary about 'wokeness' that feels awkward and forced and trying too hard. The inability to follow the chain of command irks me no end; it feels less like a quasi-military ship fresh off a war footing and more like a frat house. And Trek had handled all kinds of gender fluidity issues before, but the way it comes out in Discovery feels antiquated and stale; by even the 23rd Century this should have been normalised.
Georgiou was a decent enough captain for the short while we saw her. Capable tactician, but had a complete blind spot for Burnham. Honestly, the flashes we got of Georgiou as captain would have been a far more interesting show than what we got; the moments of her doing her thing - the signal drawn in the sand, taking Saru and getting him into the Federation - these pointed to a vastly more interesting and rounded character than most of the rest of her crew.
Lorca... I didn't even mind the weird mirror universe plot, it wasn't really necessary, but the notion of a captain that was a little more like Sisko was interesting. A captain who was a strong tactician, who was fully prepped for a war footing, something you never really see Starfleet ever prepping for - even most of a century later by the era of DS9, Starfleet isn't really ready for a war footing, but it makes do eventually. Lorca represents that side of Starfleet it doesn't want to acknowledge but absolutely must.
Saru, lastly, another deeply interesting character: the Kelpians are an interesting species and the setup of their fear reaction made a truly interesting situation for a captain. He also managed to unify the crew in a way that they weren't really coping with in the aftermath of Lorca and Burnham.
You'll notice that Burnham is not in my list. I do not think of her as a good captain. I don't even think of her as a well written character, because Burnham essentially is barely two dimensional, let alone three.
Also, while Pike was a key part of Discovery, I'll talk about him under Strange New Worlds.
Georgiou was a decent enough captain for the short while we saw her. Capable tactician, but had a complete blind spot for Burnham. Honestly, the flashes we got of Georgiou as captain would have been a far more interesting show than what we got; the moments of her doing her thing - the signal drawn in the sand, taking Saru and getting him into the Federation - these pointed to a vastly more interesting and rounded character than most of the rest of her crew.
Lorca... I didn't even mind the weird mirror universe plot, it wasn't really necessary, but the notion of a captain that was a little more like Sisko was interesting. A captain who was a strong tactician, who was fully prepped for a war footing, something you never really see Starfleet ever prepping for - even most of a century later by the era of DS9, Starfleet isn't really ready for a war footing, but it makes do eventually. Lorca represents that side of Starfleet it doesn't want to acknowledge but absolutely must.
Saru, lastly, another deeply interesting character: the Kelpians are an interesting species and the setup of their fear reaction made a truly interesting situation for a captain. He also managed to unify the crew in a way that they weren't really coping with in the aftermath of Lorca and Burnham.
You'll notice that Burnham is not in my list. I do not think of her as a good captain. I don't even think of her as a well written character, because Burnham essentially is barely two dimensional, let alone three.
Also, while Pike was a key part of Discovery, I'll talk about him under Strange New Worlds.
There was a lot of room for mild disappointment in Picard seasons 1 & 2. (I am looking forward to S3 with some anticipation.) As ever, hats off to Spiner for playing multiple members of his own genetic family, but it smells of fan service, and diminishes the roles of everyone else around them.
But Rios? Rios was a really interesting character. The washed out commander, with his own demons, but willing to give it a shot for something to believe in, willing to stop running for once, especially once he met someone else who shared that outlook on life. I think it's a shame how they ended the arc in S2 but that's the decision they made. Really should have had more screen time.
And Captain Riker of course, how could that not be a moment of awesome - it was about damn time. And staring down the Tal-Shiar fleet? Moment of bad-ass, and he was long overdue that one.
But Rios? Rios was a really interesting character. The washed out commander, with his own demons, but willing to give it a shot for something to believe in, willing to stop running for once, especially once he met someone else who shared that outlook on life. I think it's a shame how they ended the arc in S2 but that's the decision they made. Really should have had more screen time.
And Captain Riker of course, how could that not be a moment of awesome - it was about damn time. And staring down the Tal-Shiar fleet? Moment of bad-ass, and he was long overdue that one.
Whatever I might have thought about Jeffrey Hunter's take on Pike, Anson Mount completely steals the show in his interpretation. Ever since he came aboard in Discovery, he was a strong contender for best captain. But it wouldn't have been fair to compare him to Georgiou, Saru or even Lorca when he was really coming in from the sidelines mostly as a plot device.
But in SNW? Damn, son. He brings a thoughtfulness to everything he does; plays it cool and loose the way Kirk did - because he's of Kirk's era, and he's clearly a good influence on Kirk on how to inspire loyalty, how to bring the unexpected to the party, how to get the job done without causing interstellar incidents, but without sacrificing any of what makes him and Kirk different.
Pike shows us, admittedly after the fact, how Kirk became the legend that he did. And remember, Pike is the captain Spock was prepared to commit mutiny for. SNW shows us how awesome Pike was.
But in SNW? Damn, son. He brings a thoughtfulness to everything he does; plays it cool and loose the way Kirk did - because he's of Kirk's era, and he's clearly a good influence on Kirk on how to inspire loyalty, how to bring the unexpected to the party, how to get the job done without causing interstellar incidents, but without sacrificing any of what makes him and Kirk different.
Pike shows us, admittedly after the fact, how Kirk became the legend that he did. And remember, Pike is the captain Spock was prepared to commit mutiny for. SNW shows us how awesome Pike was.
But yeah, they're all awesome. Change my mind
