Which Captain would you want to serve under?

Picard, definitely. But Sisko wouldn't be too bad either.

 

I'd have to say Picard. Out of all of them, he is the least likely to throw away the lives of subordinates on some fool's errand. I would trust him more than any other of those captains, not to get me killed.

The *least* likely for me to serve with? NuKirk. I realize he's young, but he's also an immature jackass (i.e. the bar fight) who jumped in rank from Lieutenant to Captain without deserving it. No way would I ever serve under his command.

 

Kirk, he at least has fun at his job.

 

^ That's the problem.

 

Kirk - too much if a cowboy, would probably get me killed

Picard - too much of an old granny, and that also has its dangers, sometimes you gotta roll the hard six

Sisko - an ass kicker when he needs to be, but also capable of taking a wait and see or even sneaky and underhanded approach

Janeway - too bipolar, which Janeway is she today?

Archer - how did he even get to be a captain?!?

NuKirk - still under development as a character, ask me again next summer

Winner: Sisko

 

Actually, I think by Season Four Archer was a much more competent captain and a strong leader. I wouldn't be as hesitant to trust my life to that Archer as much as I would the Archer of the early episodes.

 

why is this a plus if you're a subordinate under him? The question is "who would you want to serve under," not "most fun to watch."


Kirk is fun to watch, but he's also way too casual about danger and risk, and if you're a junior ensign, he's NOT the captain you want to serve under.

 

Of course I mean beamed out against his will.

 

And if Kirk is in charge if I'm up shit creek, he'll do something while Picard has a staffmeeting about it or would go ahab on it and use me as canon fodder, Archer will get beaten up in the rescue attempt, Sisko will either launch a rescue or leave me reliant on an enemy's heel face turn unless he's on a quest for the prophets then he might let me die, and Janeway only cares about her precious senior staff so I'd be screwed.

The jury is still out on NuKirk

As for danger If your in Starfleet you signed up for it. At least in TOS the danger would come from. Fun adventure that everyone was enjoying for the most part rather than being grim and serious all the freaking time while occasionally boring me with the holier than thou speeches about how perfect humanity is.

Besides Redshirts mostly die from doing stupid stuff, so I like my chances there.

 

I can't say that I ever saw a TOS episode that looked fun or like the crew was having fun, but then I haven't seen them all... Sisko never left a crew member behind. Proof? By the end of the series, his crew was safe and sound. The only one that died was Jadzia, and that was on the station by the hands of a possessed Gul Dukat, not because she was kidnapped and Sisko failed to launch a rescue attempt or because of poor security (DS9 had the best security chief in Odo out of them all). The Sisko wouldn't do that.

No matter though, like I said, each one of my top 3 has something special about them, and none would just leave a crew member behind.

@teacake - Of course you did.

 

He has a very valid point here.


I prefer captains that are competent and stable. That lets Archer and Janeway out.

I also prefer captains not to be punks. That kicks Mr. Pine's NuKirk out the airlock.

I find that a captain with a stick up his ass is far too ridged in his thinking. I'm afraid that sees Picard off the ship.

Which leaves me with Kirk and Sisko, either of whom would be fine. But since I'm not really interested getting mixed up in the Dominion War, and don't plan to do anything that's blatantly stupid, I'll go with Kirk.

 

But Ezri and Worf still needed Damar to save them from execution and I seem to recall Sisko being willing to let the Prophets and Pah wraiths use Kira and his son's bodies to have their final battle when one of them probably would have been killed by it, not to mention he almost died becuase he wanted to hang on to his Prophet vision powers.

 

Captain Picard

 

I don't agree. It's a captain's job to be rigid - to give orders, to enforce Federation policy. It is NOT the captain's job to be a friend or "pal" to his or her crew. If a captain chooses to do so anyway, that's fine, but it shouldn't get in the way of their essential mission.

 

Aren't you forgetting that Worf was missing in combat, and presumed dead. A rescue attempt was launched, and they found no sign of him. That has nothing to do with any kind of incompetence on Sisko's part. They were at war. Was Sisko supposed to be responsible for everything, everywhere, and at all times??? That's a pretty high standard you are setting, and I doubt any captain could meet it, including Kirk, who didn't have such a diverse load of responsibilities on him during a war. If I remember things correctly, Worf had lost Jadzia, and he was going on suicide missions, seemingly because a part of him longed to see her in Stoval Cor (sp?). You really can't fault Sisko for that. He can't control people's choices; he's not a tyrant. They only called off the search after three days because they were in a war and Dominion ships were approaching. Reminds me of that saying, "The needs of the many..."

Ezri also chose her fate, or rather, she was responsible for it, because she went to search for Worf on her own when the search was called off because of the continuing war. Sisko didn't put her in that situation, and he wouldn't have, so you can't really blame him for her imprisonment.

Damar had turned into a disgruntled drunk who finally did the right thing after the Cardassian/Dominion alliance was no longer a benefit to Cardassia. You're right that he helped them, but are you saying that no other captain and/or their crew ever got out of a tricky situation because they had a little help from their "friends?"

And the Paw Wraiths were the counterparts to the celestial beings/powerful aliens in the wormhole. Since when did Sisko have any kind of control over them? Kira was willing (according to Odo) to be a part of the Reckoning (she was allowed to make her own choices, plus she wasn't a member of Starfleet), but neither Sisko nor Jake volunteered Jake. There was no way that Sisko could have known that they would take over his son, and no way he could stop them after they did. He even begged them to leave Jake and take him instead when he saw that they took over his son. The Prophets didn't ask him if he wanted The Reckoning to happen, they told him that it would. So, he did what he could; he evacuated the area, not knowing what would happen so that no one would be hurt by the fight between the Prophets and the Paw Wraiths. Again, this is not something he could stop or influence.

On the "prophet vision powers" thing, you'll have to be more specific. It's been a while since I've watched the series, but I can tell you that Sisko dealt with a tremendous amount of stuff going on, had a lot on his plate, and he managed to do a great job, imo. What would you have had him do differently?

 

Yeah, the TNG command crew is very cliquish and hostile to outsiders. Sisko's literally a guy you could be working with.

 

Janeway for me. She might not give you a promotion over the course of 7 years, but the survival rate of the crew was pretty good considering the circumstances.

 

Spook/Hurrah! Admirer said:

"Sisko is the natural "get it done" guy. He's the one you want if you've got a lot of things happening all at once, and they are happening fast, and you need results. He had a space station to rebuild and then run, a people to be an Emissary to, wormhole aliens to deal with, The Dominion war and all that that entailed, plus a son to raise on top of it. He's more or less like, "I've got a schedule to keep, so this is what I/we can do for you, now what can you do for me/us?" Sisko is ideal for when the $%#! is hitting the fan."

I agree wholeheartedly. Picard would be be my second choice...and I'm not sure I would nave a third choice. I wasn't really feeling any of the other Captains...I often found their actions annoying rather than inspiring.

 

My absolute preferred choice of Captain to serve with, would be Jellico. Without question.

Sure, he's a hardass. And not the most likable guy. But like I said, it's not his job to be your friend. I trust Jellico more than any other to carry out his mission efficiently, and not to throw away the lives of his crew needlessly.

 

I'd choose to serve under Archer, based on his affiliative leadership style.

I don't work well under authoritative leaders, which - to me - include Kirk, Janeway and Picard. I've never seen Sisko as a real leader; to me it seemed that he never wanted the job, even after 7 years.

My second choice would be Kirk, because he's a very inspiring, enthusiastic person.