Who's Your Favorite Captain and Why?

5.  I guess I'll go in order of least favorite to favorite for me.  My least favorite captain was Katherine Janeway from Star Trek Voyager.

Oh my God, I don't like Janeway????  She's the first Female Captain!!  There have never been any other significant female characters because there's never been a woman captain!  Finally, a strong woman in Star Trek!

Look, if you have to keep pointing out the fact that she's a woman, she's not a strong woman.  Hogwash. And even the way Q was so enamored with a woman captain like it was something special.  Please! Majel Barrett's Number One was actually much more significant.  Not just because she was a woman in a position of power, but  because nobody in the crew behaved as if it were unusual. She wasn't shown as intimidating the men or the men questioning the fact that she was in charge when Pike wasn't there.  She was just accepted as the first officer of the ship with no questions.  There was attention called to it by the alien characters because it was the 60's and women were actually still in the peripherals of the workforce and of leadership positions, so that's how Roddenberry chose to address it.  But women are equal now whether they believe it or not.  To quote Thomas Sowell: "When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination." And this is what's been drilled into the heads of women and minorities for the last 3 decades.  The beginning of the video clip demonstrates it.  I don't appreciate being told what I have to like because there's some kind of social significance attached to it.  They could've let Janeway stand alone with no gender significance attached to it.  Nobody seems to think that Captain Rachel Garrett was significant.  They'd say it's because it was a one-off episode, but the fact is, nobody called attention to the fact that she was a woman, war-time captain.  She was Picard's equal and it was accepted without even giving it a second thought.  And they conveniently forget that both Dr. Crusher and Deanna Troi were qualified to take watches on the bridge in command and did.  But it was a just a small part of the respective episodes, so naturally, it means that women are still being discriminated against.  Shame on all of us for not seeing that.  And my personal all time favorite female characters were Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax.  These were better strong woman characters, in my opinion even though they weren't in command.  It seems like a show of insecurity to marginalize these other women in favor of the first female captain of a whole series.
I'm sure it got better.  I didn't see as much of Voyager as the other series because I didn't care for it, but I'm sure it wasn't all girl power all the time.  I'm sure they let her grow.  But, all clips and episodes I've seen with her, I find annoying.


 4.  Next up in the list is Captain Benjamin Sisko, which is strange because I loved Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The thing about Sisko is that he came off to me as what people initially thought of Picard when TNG started: Boring.  He was kind of boring. The character of Sisko wasn't broad enough to utilize the acting abilities of Avery Brooks at first.  I mean, I get it... They were wanting to continue in the tradition of having an adult as a captain as opposed to Kirk's overly playful captain.  The reserve suited Picard but not Sisko. Making him angry at Picard at the beginning was a good angle.  But then he remained unnecessarily brooding and moody all the time.  Honestly, he did better when he was turned loose to be bad or shady.  The Mirror Mirror Sisko was much more interesting to watch.  And he got to stretch his acting abilities when he played the embodiment of the Joran Dax symbiont.  Of course he got better as the primary story thread gained traction and got better.  The clip is from one of the best episodes of any Star Trek ever made.


3.  I'm putting Captain Kirk from Star Trek The Original Series in the third spot.

When you take the franchise as a whole, his captain was fairly unstable.  He was not someone who would likely be in command.   Swaggering ladies' man; a little on the immature side to play to a younger audience.   Fight before diplomacy.  I realize the fault lies with the time the show was produced in.  Simplicity was needed.  Lots of action and mustache twirling.  (Although, I did find one of his more excellent moments for the video clip.)  Charisma is necessary in any era though, and Kirk had it.  It's a shame the character development wasn't more encouraged back then.  We don't see Kirk begin to grow until the movies started coming out.  I actually doubt Roddenberry's ability for character development, though, so maybe it's best this way.



2.  Captain Johnathan Archer, Star Trek Enterprise. 

 When they made Archer, I think they were trying to go back to the adventurous sort that Kirk was, but without the instability.  That way he could fit in as a believable precursor to Kirk with a flare for the dramatic, but also be more of a leader type like the other modern captains.  Kind of an improvement on the character of Kirk.  I didn't get to see much of Enterprise either, and on the whole I give it a "B", but I liked Archer's genuine and "normal guy" type of personality.  It helped with the believability of the time in which Enterprise took place.  Just a boy and his dog kind of charm.  It's a kind of like Kirk's charisma with the edge taken off.  I really want to see the rest of the Enterprise series one day. 



1. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek The Next Generation.

Nobody did it like Picard.  Firm command; honorable; steady; just human enough to be entertaining without being unbelievable as a captain.  The first 2 seasons of TNG were painful to watch.  Roddenberry, R.I.P and no disrespect intended, was a one trick pony and in the beginning, Picard was starting out to be a bit of a drama queen.  After a while he was proved to be versatile and funny without losing a bit of his command persona.  They struck gold when they created O Captain, our Captain Picard.  There are no words!  
    
     
So many great moments.  So much fodder for conversation, action and laughter.  I love Captain Picard!



Honorable Mention:  Captain Christopher Pike Star Trek original Pilot. 

Jeffrey Hunter, who also played Jesus in King of Kings, played the first captain of the entire Star Trek universe.  I can't imagine how his character would've developed over the years, but I'm sure many have tried in fan fiction.  If it weren't for this pilot episode, Star Trek wouldn't be here today.  Never forget the first.