Star Trek Captain's Aside: Who had the best crew?

[ComicKaze]

Well, with the thread about the best Captains, sometimes a Captain is only made great because of the people he commands, sometimes a captain is great irregardless of his support staff and his friends.

Which Captain had the best crew and why?

First, there's Captain Kirk. His crew is simply the strongest, most charismatic, and most capable, and most diverse. Just the core support of Spock and McCoy could have run any of the other ships just by themselves as a skeleton crew. They know each other so well and work so well with each other, that they can act confidentally knowing what the others will do.

It's a camraderie that's difficult to replicate and it shows in the weakness of other series' characters as the producers tried vainly to replicate the diversity and structure. TNG succeeded because Picard had his Spock in Data, who's relationship with his captain was much stronger than that between Captain and Cmdr. Riker and he was a continously growing character. It's no question that TNG hinged on Stewart and Spiner...But Barclay is the coolest of them all! He's like the anti-Kirk, geek-hero. Week and feeble character who saves the day because of his intrinsic goodness and self-doubted but genuine abilities. Plus he was a member of the A-Team.

Voyager wasn't up to snuff because Chakotay was never a proper counter-point to Janeway, often seeming more like a male-counselor to the Captain and Tuvok & Seven of Nine were intellectually inferior, rigid, static, and uninteresting to degrees Spock and Data never were. Reminds me of Gundam Seed actually. Female Captain and a catastrophe forces her to choose inexperienced and immature officers who could never be as capable on their own.

Archer suffers from the stale mold of Voyager, the Berman-Braga machine of mediocrity where Enterprise and her crew are again, new to the whole experience and thrown into recycled plot-lines. T'Pol was alright, but never a good foil to Archer in that she could never be his best friend like Spock was to Kirk, and also his suboordinate because she was always more rigid and had her own Vulcan agenda. Mayweather is of course the blandest most underdeveloped character in Trek ever.

My vote goes to DS9:

DS9 was great because they chucked the entire Trek blueprint out the window and it's an entirely different, creative, and energetic animal with every character being a powerful and strong individual, a foil to everyone else, characters that you'd never imagine working together and who were all proven in their previous lives and exploits before coming together.

You have the Wolf 359 vetran, warrior-peace-maker, messiah to an entire alien race in Sisko, versatile shape-changing Odo - tough as nails, soft as butter key to entire galactic empire, Kira - determined and hardened ex-terrorist ultimate survivor, Dax - more than meets the eye, really hot babe(s) on the outside, lifetimes of experience and accomplishments on the inside, O'Brien - the ultimate handyman, even more than an engineer and rescued from pressing three buttons on every ep of TNG, Bashir - the fun, cool, and collected genetically engineered super-human in disguise (he's like a Khan who heals people), Garak - jack of all trades elite Cardassian Obsidian Order super-operative with sewing skills, and the whole Ferengi family who's ultimately tied to the leader and richest man on Ferenginar.

Collectively, these people stuck with a rotting, rusting, bucket of bolts, broken-down space station that hardly moved in the backwater of space - ended up liberating/saving half the galaxy. No other crew ever did that.

Edited April 18, 2005 by ComicKaze

[Commander McBride]

Original series crew. While all the others were worrying about being PC and sensitive, and having personal issues, the TOS crew managed to just simply kick ass by exuding confidence and awesomeness.

By the way, what's with the polls? Have I wandered into StarTrekWorld or something?

Edited April 18, 2005 by Commander McBride

[Hurin]

I'll never forget one episode from the first season of TNG. . . (more on that after this)

With the Original Crew, you grew fond of them while they engaged in their day-to-day business of exloring the galaxy, kicking ass, and pretending not to notice that their Captain was a total pimp. The original crew didn't get together and play friggin' cards all the time to show us that they are all buddies and one big happy family. They just seemed like one. . . though not too much like one.

Now, enter TNG. . . where they're all sleeping with each other, marrying each other, and basically sharing their deepest, innermost personal thoughts with each other (and they didn't need to be overcome by alien parasites to do it). And, the problem was, they were doing this long before they were on the show long enough for anyone to give a rat's @ss about their personal life.

Back to that early first season episode. I kid you not, there is an entire first season episode where almost the entire plot is taken up with Riker having a fight with his dad. Seriously. If I recall correctly, the ship is never in danger in that episode and there really isn't much of anything else going on. . . we're just supposed to sit there and watch a grown man struggle under the expectations of his father. Now, that might have been interesting in the fifth season, when we had gotten to know Riker (through actual exciting adventures). But I just remember watching this episode early in the first season and thinking: "Do these people really think we care enough about these characters to give a crap about how bad Riker's dad makes him feel!?!"

Okay. . . rant over.

H

[ComicKaze]

Back to that early first season episode.  I kid you not, there is an entire first season episode where almost the entire plot is taken up with Riker having a fight with his dad.  Seriously.  If I recall correctly, the ship is never in danger in that episode and there really isn't much of anything else going on. . . we're just supposed to sit there and watch a grown man struggle under the expectations of his father.  Now, that might have been interesting in the fifth season, when we had gotten to know Riker (through actual exciting adventures).  But I just remember watching this episode early in the first season and thinking:  "Do these people really think we care enough about these characters to give a crap about how bad Riker's dad makes him feel!?!"

Okay. . . rant over.

H

That episode was from the Second Season. His dad was sleeping with Doctor Pulaski or something. - Speaking of her, another failed and veiled attempt by TNG to revive the character of the original. Whereas Spock was McCoy's had a close friendship and the bantering between the two about the merits of being human or being Vulcan hid deep despect and loyalty - Pulaski simply dissed data and hated his guts for not being really human. What a bitch.

And yes, TNG was full of garbage and weaksauce characterization like that

Edited April 18, 2005 by ComicKaze

[Duke Togo]

I dunno, I saw this Star Trek porn back in the 80's where the ship was a giant dildo... they had a pretty kick ass crew. I vote for them.

[haro genki]

I voted for the original crew. It had Spock and "wessels!" Checkov. So it's an instant win.

[mikeszekely]

I had to go with Voyager.

Even though I think Picard definately made for the best all-around captain, he had kind a lame crew. Someone in the captain thread compared Riker to Kirk, but I think it's only superficial... yes, they were both prone to impetuous action, and they both tried to be the ladies man... but where Kirk pulled it off in a kind of James Bond sort of way, Riker just struck me as that guy who acts tough and pretends to be cool by day, but cries into his pillow for his low self-esteem at night. Most of other characters were alright, but failed to really take off. Worf had his moments, sure, and Data was pretty interesting, but that's about it.

The DS9 crew was an interesting mix, to be sure, but I admit to getting bored with the show before they ever really got to do anything.

The original crew was an extremely close second choice. Kirk, Bones, and Spock kicked ass. They got docked, though, because Scotty and Uhura were both underused, and Chekov didn't really strike me as a kick ass chacater until the movies.

Enterprise probably has the worst crew of them all. They are all the epitome of mediocrity.

Now Voyager... while 7 of 9 is a bit overrated, and Janeway is definately not one of my more favorite capitans, the show still had some intersting characters. No one will be a better half-Vulcan than Spock, but Tuvok was a nice contrast to him, at least. And for all the half-Vulcans running around, Torres was a nice change of paces as a half-Klingon. Not to mention that Paris was the bad-ass that Riker always wanted to be. But the real clincher for me was the EMH, the Doctor. For a character that was supposed to be a pre-programmed hologram, he evolved into one of the most dynamic characters in the entire Trek universe, and more or less made Voyager for me.

[KingNor]

oh c'mon, even people who don't like star trek like the original supporting characters.

i mean its spock. SPOCK. and scotty. and "bones" hehe they're so cool

aside from data i can't even think of a single character from a new star trek show.

Edited April 18, 2005 by KingNor

[Noriko Takaya]

Kirk and company. Bones cracked me up. "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."

[haro genki]

Kirk and company. Bones cracked me up. "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."

I remember when the EMH in First Contact tried to pull a Bones... "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop!" He totally lacked Bones' punch though

[CoryHolmes]

Kirk and company. Bones cracked me up. "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."

I remember when the EMH in First Contact tried to pull a Bones... "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop!" He totally lacked Bones' punch though

Actually, that's something I always loved about the later shows. Every now and then they'd show their roots by using that line. Great fun

For me, I'd have to vote for the DS9 crew; if only because they all came from totally different backgrounds and nations and they learned to work together over the course of the show. That puts them a notch above TOS crew because those people were all Starfleet right from the start and were expected to work together.

But my favourite ST moment, bar none, is in Star Trek V with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy spending all their leisure time cooped up together and singing Row Row Row Your boat. The best friendship scene in any sci-fi show to date.

[GobotFool]

after TNG I lost interest in trek so I really just have TOS and TNG to choose from.

It's kind of a tough call for me. I think 1st when looking at it you have to determine who really was the core cast of each series and who were the secondary characters. TOS it's pretty obvious, Kirk, Spock and McCoy. While the other characters had their moments it was the interaction between these three that really brought the whole series to life, there was a brotherhood there that really just does not come across in any of the following series.

TNG I'd say the core cast was Picard, Data and Worf. While as individuals I think I prefer these characters over the original core cast, as a total whole they never really developed the strong brotherhood that TOS core cast had. But I think as individual characters they over the course of the series were fleshed out more than TOS cast.

As a group I'd go with TOS

Individually I prefere the 3 core cast members of TNG

and finally, childhood nostalgia. I grew up on TNG and only developed an apreciation for TOS later on so in the end TNG wins. Though I feel both casts have strong merits and nostalgia aside I probably would have voted TOS.

[Major Johnathan]

I always go with TOS. The Kirk-Spock-Bones trio is unbeatable. The back up characters could always add something good too.

My favorite episode I think is called 'The Naked Time' when they get the contagious space madness virus. Spock turns into a blubbering mess, he's great in that and Kirk's scene with Spock where he's starts to seriously lose it at the end is just great. Maybe Kirk's best scene. When he says he can hang on and then he talks just to the Enterprise, saying they'll never take her away from him or something like that. Not to mention great music by Alaxander Courage.

TNG; good but annoyingly politically correct. Picard and Data are the clear stars, everyone else struck me as kind of weak. The worst moment of all is when they let Counciler Troi (spelling?) be the Commander, utterly preposterous and they ended with Troi telling Data, "I guess now you can call me sir." Just absurd, Data should'a snapped her neck.

DS9: Sisko was ok, but never really endearing and I hated the whole Messiah angle. I never enjoyed the whole Bajoran (spelling) plot line, I always wished the Cardassians would've just wiped 'em out, they were so blah.

Voyager: Weak Cap'n and crew generally. The Doctor is the best character and 7 of 9 wasn't as bad as I feared, otherwise blah.

Enterprise: Archer and T-Pol are alright, the rest of the crew is VERY expendable. They really should've made Archer and T'Pol the love interest, Trip doesn't seem like a good match for T'Pol.

Generally, all Star Trek after the original series lacks...originallity. (and good music, exclude the movies, all the series besides the original have the most underwhelming BGM. )

[Hurin]

TNG I'd say the core cast was Picard, Data and Worf. While as individuals I think I prefer these characters over the original core cast, as a total whole they never really developed the strong brotherhood that TOS core cast had.

Well, that's because the brotherhood of the original core cast grew organically among the characters. Whereas, in TNG, the writers consiously tried to recreate that comraderie via contrived plot devices. You'd constantly see the TNG going on camping trips, playing music together, playing a big game of cards, or just announcing to each other who was best friends with whom. . .

The Original Cast didn't need to constantly impress on us that they were like that. You just sensed it. . . and therefore they didn't spend valuable minutes of Klingon ass-kicking time demonstrating their love for each other.

[JB0]

DS9: Sisko was ok, but never really endearing and I hated the whole Messiah angle.

It was a mildly interesting plot element at first. Certainly not enough to be a major factor in anything, but as a subplot it worked nicely.

Sisko was running around trying to work with Bajorans that kept looking at him like he was their version of Jesus, and doing his inadequate best to NOT get stuck with the "emissary" label.

But towards the end, when they decided to run with it and make ABSOLUTELY SURE that every last viewer knew without a doubt that he WAS Bajoran Jesus, it became a major annoyance.