Who's your favorite Star Trek Captain?

[Max Jenius]

Ok... a little OT. Which episode was the one where Picard is like ; "There are four lights!"

[Mechwarrior]

Wow, good question. I would have to go with Picard, even though Kirk was the pimpest player in the universe, I would choose logic over instinct myself.

[the white drew carey]

Giving the show is completely Sci-Fa, I would have to go with Picard simply because he's a much more believable captain than Kirk.

Do you think someone as impulsive and reckless as Kirk would actually get to a position where he'd be in charge of the equivalant of a multi-quadrillion dollar starship?

Kirk's fun, don't get me wrong, but given the plausability of each and every show, I'd have to give Picard kudos for being the coolest.

[haro genki]

Ok... a little OT. Which episode was the one where Picard is like ; "There are four lights!"

Chain of Command Pt 2

[Wesker99]

Kirk all the way.

"Miramani!! Miramani!"

[Roy Focker]

Picard's the man! Of all the captains think of which one you want to lead you.

Kirk? He's liked to make goo goo eyes at the wrong person.

Janeway? She's a no necked lesbo.

Sisko? He'll rather listen to the prophets.

Archer? He's only interested in leaping to another person?

Picard? Just want's whoopei to rub his head.

[GobotFool]

Picard, while more diplomat than soldier, when the situation called for it he could be just as bold as Kirk.

Edit: So who voted archer?

Edited April 17, 2005 by GobotFool

[JB0]

Picard, while more diplomat than soldier, when the situation called for it he could be just as bold as Kirk.

Edit: So who voted archer?

And more imortantly, who voted Janeway.

[ManxoChu]

Picard, most definitely. Can't go wrong with a captain who can be a diplomat one moment, then can unload a tommy gun on a Borg drone the next. >XD

In short, he's the thinking man's badass.

[Coota0]

Edit: So who voted archer?

I did.

I like that he has a lot of the boldness and agressiveness of Kirk while at the same time of the refined ability and cunning as the first Federation Offcier in space to be able to come through with a diplomatic solution, but maintaining his ability to agressviley defend his vessel. I also like the time period of Enterpirse and that they are just taking the first steps beyond our solar system, Archer seemed to just have the right amount of diplomacy and agressiveness to make those first steps in his specific situation work. To make him the captain of the E-D wouldn't have worked it's a different time period (except for maybe the Dominion war) but Picard would have IMO gotten waxed real quick if he had been the skipper of the NX-01.

Kirk- was agressive which I liked but he was also a bit impetuous, negotiation wasn't really an option for him (then again during his time the Federation was surrounded by enemies) I'll also add the the whole 60's thing didn't really appeal to a kid whose parents wern't even married yet when TMP came out.

Picard- was too sensative and too much of a diplomat for my taste, he never wanted to fight it out no matter how grim the situation seemed (then again this may have had quite a bit to do with the political situation of the time), Riker would have been more of my chioice to skipper the Big E. I'll admit here I probably didn't start watching until after the 3rd season, but I think I've seen all the reruns by now.

Sisko- I don't really know that much, I only watched a few episodes of DS9 before I got bored and I've caught episodes on spike on occasion, but I've really considered trying to see the whole run becuase I hear the Dominion war was very well done

Janeway- Only saw one episode of Voyager (the pilot I believe) so I don't really have and opinion one way or the other

Before someone points out a situation in which the skipper of the ship went against the character traits I've described, please realize these are generalities as to the way they usually act IMO, meaning that a character can go against its typical reaction to a situation.

Edited April 17, 2005 by Coota0

[Matt Random]

My ranking...

Picard

Kirk

Archer

Sisko

The rest of the Star Trek and all parallel universes

Spuds McKinzee

Quizno's Sponge Monkies

Admiral Ackbar

Janeway

[Hurin]

All y'all need to also take into account that Kirk was aggressive and more "simplistic" in the way he handled conflict because. . . that's the way TV was written back then.

Kirk embodies the television heros of that era. Picard embodies the touchy feely PC-ness of the era in which he was written (the very early 90s when "PC" really broke through into the mainstream).

What always cracked me up was how Riker was obviously a little Kirk clone, womanizing, brash, etc. So, he was there for the Kirk fans in order to take some of the edge off of Mr. Shakespeare.

H

[connor99]

I voted for Janeway, only because she and her crew were thrown out there at the ass-end of the galaxy and went through hell before coming back home. I think that kind of thing deserves some respect, but of course, that's just me .

[JB0]

I voted for Janeway, only because she and her crew were thrown out there at the ass-end of the galaxy and went through hell before coming back home. I think that kind of thing deserves some respect, but of course, that's just me .

But Kirk flew to the edge of the galaxy under his own power. And made the ENTIRE trip home, without alien tehc or wormholes or anything else.

[GobotFool]

to bad this is limited to trek, cause if it wasn't I'd vote Marco Ramious :-p or maybe the american captain of the Dallas :-p way cooler captains than anything trek could come up with

[mslz22]

Got to be Kirk for me....he laid down a world of hurt for Kahn in the series and a movie, gave the Gorn a beating to remember, outwitted Romulas by getting some pointy ears glued on, blew up a number of computers by challenging them with a paradox (YOU ARE IN ERROR....FULLFILL THE PRIME DIRECTIVE )...and speaking of the prime directive......Kirk pretty much wiped his nose with it..in The Apple, he is talking about not interfering with the primitives and 10 seconds later he punches one in the mouth (YOU STRUCK ME.....WITH YOUR HAND ) ...in Assignment Earth he pretty much travels back in time just to see what was going happening on earth in 1969 (or to check out terri garrs legs )......

Picard is cool, but a little to wimpy for me....at least compared to JTK.....

Edited April 17, 2005 by mslz22

[Shadow Skull]

James T. Kirk, I'll admit he isn't the most diplomatic captian but when you take a closer look at what happens in the episodes, you realize that he does use his brain and doesn't soley rely on intuition alone. Next favorite would have to be Sisko, I think he was good balance between the traits that made Kirk a strong Captian and the ones that made Picard a good diplomat. Captian Picard is my third favorite, I wouldn't want him to lead the troops but his skills made him well suited for first contact missions. As for Janeway, she wasn't my favorite but you do have to give her some respect since she ended up on the other end of the galaxy, then got home without sacrificing the crews humanity.

Hurin, I believe the whole reason they stopped seperating the ship was because it required the destruction of the model used in filming. So that is probably why the producers decided to have the Enterprise D go down in Generations.

[Hurin]

Hurin, I believe the whole reason they stopped seperating the ship was because it required the destruction of the model used in filming. So that is probably why the producers decided to have the Enterprise D go down in Generations.

I'm pretty that what you just said made no sense.

They used the same footage each time it seperated, as far as I recall. As for that being the reason they destroyed it in the movie. . . you'd think they would have done that earlier in the series if it was intended as some type of "model preservation" measure.

H

[Uxi]

Kirk is the man. Bags an alien babe in nearly every episode and it wasn't comedy to watch him do it.

The only time Picard grows a pair is when he's going Ahab.

Stewart is a better actor than Shatner, but Kirk is a better captain than Picard.

[ComicKaze]

A mark of your greatness is the size of your legend amongst your enemies.

Therefore, Kirk.

Kirk was arguably of another era. Roddenberry said that Star Trek was Horatio Hornblower in space.

Kirk is just too powerful and epic a character. He IS the Starfleet. The Enterprise became the flagship, the emblem of the Enterprise became THE EMBLEM of Starfleet. All because of Kirk.

Kirk was dynamic and charismatic in ways Picard could never be. Picard always had his weaknesses, his hesitations, and lines he would never cross. Kirk would cross any line to accomplish his personal mission and yet he was intellectual and diplomatic if he needed to be.

TNG showed that ever since Picard got his heart cut out by the Narsiccans, that while he still remained a warrior, he nolonger possesed the heart of a warrior (rofl, did I just write that?). He really wussified a lot. He spent the rest of his life having doubts about the decisions he made. Instead of abandoning the Stargazer after an engagement with the Ferengi, Kirk would've somehow brought all Ferengi commerce to a standstill, taught them a lesson about economics, and they'd profit reap profits like they'd never seen before and start selling Kirk action figures on Ferenginar. Kirk spent his whole life saving the day against all odds.

Kirk doesn't use diplomacy to appease other cultures or come to a compromise or agreement, he forces you to change your way of thinking entirely either by beating the crap out of you, proposing some huge intergalactic bet with all the odds in your favor (that you'll lose), or simply convincing you with the force...of...his...argument.

Edited April 18, 2005 by ComicKaze

[Hurin]

Reason why the beginning of ST:TNG was an unmitigated wuss-fest #1047:

Hey! We have these great villains from Star Trek's past! Well, we've made peace with the Klingons. . . how about the Romulans? No! Let's introduce a whole new species of half-height, harmless looking weirdos whose main goal is profit. That's right, let's show all the geeks out there how evil capitalism is! After all, it's the early nineties. . . and with the recent fall of Communism in Easter Europe, it's time to show that we suck too! If not now, then capitalism will definitely be evil in our invented future.

And thus. . . the Ferengi. . . the worst villains. . . ever. They lasted for one or two seasons as the major antagonist before everyone on the production side realized what the viewers recognized installed. They sucked. So, they finally did what they should have done in the first place and replaced them with the Romulans (yeah!) and the Borg (also pretty cool).

H

[Agent ONE]

Reason why the beginning of ST:TNG was an unmitigated wuss-fest #1047:

Hey! We have these great villains from Star Trek's past! Well, we've made peace with the Klingons. . . how about the Romulans? No! Let's introduce a whole new species of half-height, harmless looking weirdos whose main goal is profit. That's right, let's show all the geeks out there how evil capitalism is! After all, it's the early nineties. . . and with the recent fall of Communism in Easter Europe, it's time to show that we suck too! If not now, then capitalism will definitely be evil in our invented future.

...

I think you really ARE my son.

Join me and we can rid the Universe of pussies together!

[Sundown]

My ranking...

Picard

Kirk

Archer

Sisko

The rest of the Star Trek and all parallel universes

Spuds McKinzee

Quizno's Sponge Monkies

Admiral Ackbar

Janeway

Blasphemy. Ackbar kicks butt. Even if he's a walking, talking appetizer that goes well with marinara sauce.

-Al

[Hurin]

And thus. . . the Ferengi. . . the worst villains. . . ever.  They lasted for one or two seasons as the major antagonist before everyone on the production side realized what the viewers recognized installed.

Can you tell I'm a network admin?!? That was supposed to be "instantly."

[Limbo]

Nevermind

Edited April 18, 2005 by Limbo

[Zentrandude]

And thus. . . the Ferengi. . . the worst villains. . . ever.  They lasted for one or two seasons as the major antagonist before everyone on the production side realized what the viewers recognized installed.

Can you tell I'm a network admin?!? That was supposed to be "instantly."

nope

[myk]

I liked Picard because he was nothing more than a stuffed shirt who was dry, with little to no sense of humor and was so devoted to his ship and duty he couldn't see anything else. I admire people like that because I lack the self-discipline to take out the garbage on a regular basis, or tend to any other responsibility...

[Boxer]

Kirk was a hero, no disputing that. Even though everyday captains would probably be shot for leading the landing parties, he was the central figure to the series (And franchise) and without him it wouldn't be the same show we remember.

Picard seemed...cultured. He didn't have the niche as Kirk did, but I didn't like him as a captain as much as Kirk. I respect him in the light of appreciating history and respect for other cultures, but he didn't seem to take action regularly until later in TNG, as opposed to letting Riker do all the exploring. And in any fight scene, Picard comes in last for looking the part.

Never really watched DS9, but my brother thinks it's the next best thing to TOS, next to the last season of ENT. I agree with him, since Sisko seems on top of things even as the Prophets shine pretty lights...

Janeway...is Janeway. Someone I know idolizes her for some reason by I don't see what makes her special. Voyager is flawed anyway, since B&B hit the reset button every episode and took away the 'far off in space' feeling. I think Seven of nine really carried the show, mostly becaue everyone wanted to see her run.

Archer...not much time to reflect on his 1-3 season performance (Avoid them like a bad cold), but from Season 4 he seemed like a pretty well off character and good captain... an equal balance of Picard and Kirk I think. The only exception is his mirror counterpart, but the mirror universe episodes seem kinda campy in their evil-ness anyway.

But of course archer, along with the rest of the cast, were deluted to children in the last episode. I really hope we can just forget that one...

[Seven]

It's not like Shatner ever looked convincing in a fight with his Kirk "multiple hammerblow to the opponent's back" combo. It always cracked me up when he would knock someone out with a single hammerblow to the guy's back.

Although Picard's open palm strike to the face move did always look pretty cheesy too. Every single time you saw someone get in a fight in TNG, they always somehow got that cheesy move in there.

Edited December 3, 2005 by Seven

[Zentrandude]

Due to technology hand to hand fighting got easier since alien and human bodies got soft, so cheap shots are very effective like how archer and tucker beat up the borg.

Edited December 3, 2005 by Zentrandude

[CoryHolmes]

I think Sisko is my favourite captain if only because he was the most human and realistic character. Kirk leading the away parties always rubbed me the wrong way. Picard was perfect to a fault. Janeway was decent, but the writers didn't really know where to take her.

Sisko got mad, violent, insolent, funny, serious, light-hearted, and commanding; something of a feat for a Star Trek character to have that well-rounded a personality. The fact that he sounded something like Darth Vader also helped a bit

[Max Jenius]

Sisko got mad, violent, insolent, funny, serious, light-hearted, and commanding; something of a feat for a Star Trek character to have that well-rounded a personality.  The fact that he sounded something like Darth Vader also helped a bit

349383[/snapback]

Funny. I've always thought he'd be a great Darth Vader voice if JEJ couldn't be obtained. Hell, even a younger vader with more growl.

[myk]

I think Sisko is my favourite captain if only because he was the most human and realistic character.  Kirk leading the away parties always rubbed me the wrong way.  Picard was perfect to a fault.  Janeway was decent, but the writers didn't really know where to take her.

Sisko got mad, violent, insolent, funny, serious, light-hearted, and commanding; something of a feat for a Star Trek character to have that well-rounded a personality.  The fact that he sounded something like Darth Vader also helped a bit

349383[/snapback]

That's actually an excellent point there, especially when you look at Picard. I've always enjoyed his perfection and blind sense of duty and obligation, but his character never really made sense to me when they tried to portray his youth as being "brash, arrogant and cocky," and always at the center of trouble; how would you go from that to being a model of perfection?

[Seven]

I think Sisko is my favourite captain if only because he was the most human and realistic character.  Kirk leading the away parties always rubbed me the wrong way.  Picard was perfect to a fault.  Janeway was decent, but the writers didn't really know where to take her.

Sisko got mad, violent, insolent, funny, serious, light-hearted, and commanding; something of a feat for a Star Trek character to have that well-rounded a personality.  The fact that he sounded something like Darth Vader also helped a bit

349383[/snapback]

That's actually an excellent point there, especially when you look at Picard. I've always enjoyed his perfection and blind sense of duty and obligation, but his character never really made sense to me when they tried to portray his youth as being "brash, arrogant and cocky," and always at the center of trouble; how would you go from that to being a model of perfection?

349448[/snapback]

Getting stabbed in the heart usually changes people.

[JB0]

I think Sisko is my favourite captain if only because he was the most human and realistic character.  Kirk leading the away parties always rubbed me the wrong way.  Picard was perfect to a fault.  Janeway was decent, but the writers didn't really know where to take her.

Sisko got mad, violent, insolent, funny, serious, light-hearted, and commanding; something of a feat for a Star Trek character to have that well-rounded a personality.  The fact that he sounded something like Darth Vader also helped a bit

349383[/snapback]

That's actually an excellent point there, especially when you look at Picard. I've always enjoyed his perfection and blind sense of duty and obligation, but his character never really made sense to me when they tried to portray his youth as being "brash, arrogant and cocky," and always at the center of trouble; how would you go from that to being a model of perfection?

349448[/snapback]

Getting stabbed in the heart usually changes people.

349486[/snapback]

Usually makes them a tad less animated than Picard was, though.