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The #1 best captain award

I know I'm opening a can of worms here by asking that age old question Kirk or Picard or _________(insert captin's name here).

Vote for best Captain!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tribbles on February 4, 2009 at 10:06pm

I'm gonna have to go with Kirk on this one.

Permalink Reply by Vinz Clortho on February 11, 2009 at 3:18pm

Hmmm, Kirk was alright, I liked him more in the movies then I did on the actual show. Picard is my #1 Captain though. He just seems to always know what's up. I've thought of asking myself, "WWPD?" in situations where I'm unsure what to do. Mind you I don't, but I've thought of it.

Janeway, on the other hand is like the best of both Kirk and Picard. She's got Kirks willingness to fight at a moments notice if it seems to suit her well, and Picards ability to know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em, know when to walk away and know when to run.. Did I say Picard? I meant Kenny Rogers.

Permalink Reply by Jude Johnson on February 11, 2009 at 8:04pm

Definitely Picard!

Permalink Reply by Mike on March 11, 2009 at 8:16pm

I've got to go with Benjamin Sisko. He was commander at first and I was glad when he finally became captain. He is cool, strong, and level headed, without the arrogance of Kirk. Yes Kirk is great, but over dramatic.

Picard is a wuss in my book. When I first saw TNG, my least favorite Trek, I thought Riker was the captain! Rekirk indeed.

Permalink Reply by Mike Burke on March 11, 2009 at 11:09pm

Janeway was super annoying, period.
Archer was cool but i thought too unprofessional personally and for the most part I feel kirk was too
Its quite a toss up between Sisko and Picard
I like Sisko because he had to handle more ongoing complex issues, so Sisko

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey on March 14, 2009 at 12:43pm

Sisko get religious? Glad I didn't follow Deep Space Nine all that much then. I thought the Star Trek series were supposed to be secular?

Picard to me always seem cold, calculated, and almost emotionless to me. That's not to say I didn't love him. He was a little more hardnosed than Kirk but that's actually refreshing because at times Kirk seems like a buddy to a lot of the crew members... and sometimes even a lover.

Permalink Reply by Mike on March 14, 2009 at 10:55pm

I think the "religion" on DS9 was atheistic for the most part. Like Buddhism, for instance. The religion of the Bjorans was pretty interesting. A neat part of a FICTIONAL story. As an atheist I wasn't offended by it. I haven't become an atheist fundamentalist and closed my mind to everything that smacks of "religion". GASP! HORRORS! EGAD! NARF! LOL!

I don't think Sisko became a theist after all was said and done....

Permalink Reply by Vyktor Alzirr on March 14, 2009 at 12:58am

I go for Picard. He's simply the best of the lot, he got assimilated, tortured, lost his family, yet he never lost his strength.

Permalink Reply by Tribbles on March 15, 2009 at 8:40pm

Very true. I do think that would make Picard the better Captain.

Permalink Reply by Gecko, Seth...brother of Richie! on May 16, 2009 at 4:39pm

Ditto Vyktor. Picard had growth as a character that Kirk never had till ST6.

Permalink Reply by Gecko, Seth...brother of Richie! on May 13, 2009 at 7:21pm

Tough question. Two different time periods alot like the real military. Picard could have existed in Kirks world, but Kirk would have had a hard time in Picards. We always say WWPD, when looking at ethical or moral questions, BUT everything as a young child that I learned about being a good person, and a decent military guy came from Kirk. AAAAHH. ........Picard. Ill go with Picard.

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on May 8, 2010 at 7:22am

I'm not so sure about Picard doing well in Kirk's world. Keep in mind, Starfleet had a lousy TWELVE starships back then, so getting backup was a non-starter. The technology wasn't perfect by any stretch. It wasn't as bad as, say, the NX-01 Enterprise, but it wasn't at the level of the Galaxy-class starships either. The galaxy of the 23rd century was roughly equivalent to America's Wild West of the 19th. If you didn't have the stones to survive in that environment, you simply didn't.

Kirk was a tactician and a natural fighter; Picard is more a negotiator. Would Picard have considered threatening the Fesarius with the Corbomite Bluff as Kirk did? And I can't help but note that when Picard took on the Nausicans, he took a blade to his gut for his trouble. I pity the Nausican who would consider taking on James T.

One last point: Picard can afford to be the captain he is because Kirk was the captain he was. There can be no doubt but that Picard and other "next generation" starship captains benefited considerably from Kirk's experience. I'll bet you a cup of coffee that Kirk's log entries and other records were "required reading" at the Academy, even his handling of the Kobayashi Maru test.

I'll stick with Kirk.