No Right Answer: Best Star Trek Captain Ever
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Everyone knows that Benjamin Sisko is and shall ever be the best Captain in Star Trek. Lets look at the list:
1 - Became an actual avatar to a race of omnipotent gods and didn't let it stop him from completing his duties.
2 - Managed to steal the most badass person in Picards' crew (Worf) and finally gave him something to do other than scowl and aim weapons.
3 - Single handedly stopped or won THREE wars (Klingon/Federation, Dominion/Federation, Prophets/Pah-Wraiths).
4 - Was basically the Batman of Star trek (Started with tragedy[death of wife], became ultimate hero).
5 - Also dealt with Q and instead of getting embroiled in his shenanigans just dismissed him with authority.
6 - Cleaned up messes left by both Picard (Tom Riker / Worf / Maquis) AND Kirk (tribbles, alternate universe).
7 - Managed to deal with the beurocratic nightmare of running an open trading port serving at least THREE distinct and differing cultures at any given time and still was an awesome leader, adhering to starfleet rules.
8 - Was from New Orleans (awesome place, full of awesome people).
9 - Could cook better than anybody else in star trek. (who needs a frakkin' Replicator!)
10 - Sucessfully defended the ENTIRE quadrant from dominion invasion with JUST The Defiant.
11 - Managed to convince starfleet and THE ROMULANS to let him Borrow a cloaking device.
12 - His nemesis was also the avatar of an omnipotent race, and Sisko beat him at every turn.
13 - Discovered the Bajoran atlantis.
14 - Went back in time and became a pivotal man in the fight for equality in earths past.
15 - Oh yeah, did I mention that he did most of this BEFORE being promoted to Captain? That's right, Benjamin Sisko was a better Captain than Kirk, Picard, Archer, AND Janeway while he was still a COMMANDER!
/Discussion
For reference, my picks of who is best (other than Sisko) are as follows:
2-Picard
3-Kirk
4-Janeway
5-Archer
1 - Became an actual avatar to a race of omnipotent gods and didn't let it stop him from completing his duties.
2 - Managed to steal the most badass person in Picards' crew (Worf) and finally gave him something to do other than scowl and aim weapons.
3 - Single handedly stopped or won THREE wars (Klingon/Federation, Dominion/Federation, Prophets/Pah-Wraiths).
4 - Was basically the Batman of Star trek (Started with tragedy[death of wife], became ultimate hero).
5 - Also dealt with Q and instead of getting embroiled in his shenanigans just dismissed him with authority.
6 - Cleaned up messes left by both Picard (Tom Riker / Worf / Maquis) AND Kirk (tribbles, alternate universe).
7 - Managed to deal with the beurocratic nightmare of running an open trading port serving at least THREE distinct and differing cultures at any given time and still was an awesome leader, adhering to starfleet rules.
8 - Was from New Orleans (awesome place, full of awesome people).
9 - Could cook better than anybody else in star trek. (who needs a frakkin' Replicator!)
10 - Sucessfully defended the ENTIRE quadrant from dominion invasion with JUST The Defiant.
11 - Managed to convince starfleet and THE ROMULANS to let him Borrow a cloaking device.
12 - His nemesis was also the avatar of an omnipotent race, and Sisko beat him at every turn.
13 - Discovered the Bajoran atlantis.
14 - Went back in time and became a pivotal man in the fight for equality in earths past.
15 - Oh yeah, did I mention that he did most of this BEFORE being promoted to Captain? That's right, Benjamin Sisko was a better Captain than Kirk, Picard, Archer, AND Janeway while he was still a COMMANDER!
/Discussion
For reference, my picks of who is best (other than Sisko) are as follows:
2-Picard
3-Kirk
4-Janeway
5-Archer
Janeway when she wasn't being written as a freaking Mary Sue came off as if somebody had thrown Captain Garth and Doctor Janice Lester into a blender for the crazy with a side order of John Gill for the stupidity. Of course to be fair to the character the Prime Directive had been twisted into a parody of itself by that time:gardian06 said:
Kirk: Planet in danger, must save the people. (The Paradise Syndrome)
Picard: Planet in danger. Well they have no content with advanced people so sucks to be them. Next planet. What you mean Mr Data has been talking to someone on that planet? Well Prime Directive is hosed so I guess we now have to save them. (Pen pals)
As for Kirk being demoted *from* Captain-when in any of the shows or movies with Shatner did that ever happen? Removed from command yes but not demoted.
Captain Archer is way below Janeway for what it is worth.
I would say that if you do have the free time and you feel like watching all of DS9, I'd recommend getting Netflix for a month or two. Think of it as a long rental fee, right now for me, two months is 16 dollars.DVS BSTrD said:
The reason I recommend it is that Netflix has every Star Trek series in full. I practically have a ritual of watching most every ST series every year or two.
I actually like DS9 the most, because it shows the Federation at times of proper war situations(also I like seeing giant fleets of ships doing battle, and ship to ship battles in general).
Sonic Doctor said:
This! Soo much this. I actually have DS9 on DVD (all seven seasons) and I watch it through at least once a year. The character progression and writing are the best in the entire franchise, by far!
What you say is both untrue and unfair.Rogue 09 said:
First of all, Sisko never intentionally went back in time and never intentionally gets involved with any major historical events. In fact, Sisko experienced less instances of time travel than any other Star Trek captain on which a series is based on, and Sisko is the only captain who never intentionally time traveled (except maybe Archer, I haven't seen enterprise for a while so I can't remember.)
Second, Sisko was not the cause of any war. The one everyone always points to is the Dominion war, but he was not responsible for that war. The dominion was building up a massive invasion force. A war was going to happen eventually, the only question was how screwed the alpha quadrant was when it did. In fact, the Founders had already committed acts of war against the federation, such as blowing up a building on Earth. Sisko did the only sensible thing in mining the worm hole. And you will note that his action, placing a minefield in a territory you own, was not an act of war. He left actually committing an act of war to the Dominion.
And every other war Sisko was involved in was a similar situation. Yes, there was a war and Sisko was a prominent figure in each of those wars because DS9 and the worm hole were the focus of the fighting. But he is no more responsible for those wars than the Dominion war.
I will address your points in list format.Rogue 09 said:
1. Sisko grudgingly played a huge role in an alien religion.
This is true, and it was very un-starfleet of him, but it wasn't actually violating any regulations and more importantly it wasn't necessarily wrong. The Prophets asked him to be their spokesman, and he agreed to their terms. He was sincere in his efforts, which we know because he eventually converted to the religion. It may not have been the Starfleet thing to do, someone like Picard would not have done it, but that does not make it wrong.
2. Sisko left his wife and child to become a God.
This we actually do not know for sure. The ending of DS9 was vague. I personally don't think Sisko had any choice in how that all played out or he would have chosen to return immediately. Remember, when Kasidy asked if he could return now his words were "I can't, not now." There is a better than even chance that those words were literal. He was, at that time, incapable of returning to Kasidy.
3. He had a senior officer betray him.
True, but that officer was assigned to him by starfleet and was already a Maquis at the time. This cannot be blamed on Sisko
4. Sisko was too incompetent to catch Eddington, even with the advantage of the Defiant.
Catching a skilled terrorist in their own territory among their supporters is difficult enough when you are looking within a single country or city, let alone a dozen or more planets. A powerful warship is not going to be an advantage at all unless you draw them out with a show of force, which is exactly how Sisko got him in the end. Frankly, the mistake was sending Sisko to go after Eddington in the first place. This should have been a task for Starfleet intelligence, but Starfleet answers every problem with "throw the nearest captain at it" no matter how little sense that makes.
5. The Defiant was poorly designed.
The flaws in design were relatively minor even if the results of these flaws was dramatic. It only took 2 weeks for Miles O'Brein to fix the design and actually make all the necessary changes to the Defiant, after which the design entered full production. The defiant class was a success.
6. Without Garrak, Sisko would have failed his attempt at espionage in the episode "In the Pale Moonlight."
This is absolutely true. Sisko knew that he was incapable of such sophisticated espionage, which is why he enlisted Garak. This is what a good commanding officer does. He used his influence to enlist someone who was capable of the task at hand. Garak said it himself: "That's why you came to me, isn't it captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing."
Sisko was a captain that did not subscribe to the normal Starfleet way of thinking. He certainly had his flaws, but he had several traits that I liked a lot that I thought made him an interesting character.
For example, Sisko did not see federation dogma as sacred. He was willing to honestly question his own beliefs and, even more importantly, he was willing to adjust his beliefs when they proved inadequate.
Also, he was actually tolerant and understanding of other cultures and peoples. He studied other cultures and when he saw something of value there he integrated it into his life. He read and understood the rules of acquisition, he sponsored a Ferengi entering Starfleet, and gladly participated in Klingon and Bajoran rituals. He even joined an alien religion.
Sisko is not your average Starfleet captain, which I find interesting.
Mackenzie Calhoun.
Because welding your own face back together with a plasma torch, blowing up the Kobayashi Maru in the test of the same name and actually getting the "Lock the opposing side's leaders in a room together and leave them there till they sort it out" diplomacy technique to work makes you a badass.
Also if you want to stick with cannon - toss up between Picard and Sisco for me.
Janeway and Archer don't count, they became admirals ... which in the ST universe means they couldn't hack it, but use their extensive influence to bag themselves a lazy ass desk job on Earth.
The saddest thing about the New Star Trek Universe is that all the good Captains will not have ever existed. Because honestly, what universe that would allow Picard and Sisko to exist if something as traumatic on a galactic stage as the destruction of Vulcan happened?
The saddest thing about the New Star Trek Universe is that all the good Captains will not have ever existed. Because honestly, what universe that would allow Picard and Sisko to exist if something as traumatic on a galactic stage as the destruction of Vulcan happened?