The Captain is never my favorite

The Borgified Corpse · November 7 2009, 09:34 AM

One thing I've noticed over my years posting around he is how many people hold the captains of Star Trek in high regard. Personally, while I like many of the captains, they are never my favorite character on the series and often rank kinda in the bottom half.

The Next Generation
While Patrick Stewart was a great actor, I was always more of a Commander Riker man myself. Then, of course, Worf & Data were always big favorites, particularly my 11-year-old self watching the show in its 1st run.

Deep Space Nine
Captain Sisko was a total badass! However, I always felt like the show held him at arm's length. I was never able to relate to him the way I could to Bashir, Dax, O'Brien, Quark, or Worf. To me, the real leads of the show were Odo & Kira.

Voyager
Pardon my French but Captain Janeway was a bipolar bitch. It was only ever the supporting cast that salvaged that show-- B'Elanna Torres, Kes, Tom Paris, the Doctor, Harry Kim, Seven.

The Original Series
This is the big exception here. I love Captain Kirk. He's an unwavering pillar of masculine, Kantian righteousness! He's not quite my favorite character on the show but he's close. (It's just kinda hard to beat the charismatic crankyness of McCoy.)

Enterprise
Archer was the weakest link here. He came off as such a lightweight. For me, the show was all about Phlox, Trip, Malcolm Reed, & Hoshi Sato.

What about you folks? Do you tend to prefer the captains or the supporting characters?

USS Bones · November 7 2009, 10:43 AM

I think Archer is my favourite character on Enterprise, though perhaps because he's the best of a weak bunch. Kirk is nearly my favourite on TOS, but McCoy just beats him to it. I do love Kirk though.

Beyond that...well, I do like Picard a lot, though I prefer Riker and Data. I like Janeway too (never quite got all the hate for her), but the Doctor is better by a long way, and I prefer Paris as well. As for Sisko, while I don't dislike him, I prefer almost everyone else on DS9.

Skywalker · November 7 2009, 11:05 AM

TNG: I like Picard better than Riker (though I still would have loved to see how the show would have gone if Stewart had left after BOBW and Riker remained captain), but Worf was always my favorite character.

DS9: My favorites were probably Bashir and O'Brien (I won't include Worf since he's already my favorite in TNG), but Sisko was of course awesome.

VOY: Janeway was never my favorite, though I never particularly disliked her. I watched the show because of the Doctor, followed by Seven, Tom Paris, and Tuvok.

ENT: My favorite characters were Trip, Malcolm, and Phlox, followed by Hoshi and then T'Pol. Archer only beats out Mayweather for me, and that's only because Travis was boring.

TOS: I never really got into TOS, but I'd probably put McCoy ahead of Kirk, followed by Spock.

Pemmer Harge · November 7 2009, 11:50 AM

The captain isn't usually my favourite either:

TOS: Though I like Kirk, I find Spock and McCoy more interesting. McCoy's my favourite.

TNG: This is the exception, Picard is my favourite character here. He made the show.

DS9: I like Sisko, but I like Kira better.

Voyager: I have a love/hate (probably more acurately like/dislike, but that's not an expression) relationship with Janeway. She can be good, but also annoying. The Doctor probably gets my vote.

Enterprise: Meh, I don't really much like any of them and Archer's one of my least favourites out of the bunch.

USS Bones · November 7 2009, 12:02 PM

I forgot about Malcolm. I probably prefer him to Archer. So yeah, the captain may not be my favourite in any of them. But it's very close between Archer and Reed, and Kirk and McCoy.

J. Allen · November 7 2009, 12:26 PM

Hope you don't mind if I use your format, TBC!

The Next Generation
I was always a fan of Data and Riker. Captain Picard was awesome, but I connected more with Riker than anyone else, and Data just fascinated me.

Deep Space Nine
Sisko was definitely a badass, without a doubt, but I always watched the show for the interactions between Odo and Quark. My favorite out of the group? Mr. Garak.

Voyager
Never was much into Voyager, but I always liked the EMH.

The Original Series
Definitely McCoy. Kirk was an unabashed kickass God's gift to women and the worst nightmare of his enemies, but McCoy had that southern drawl, that curmudgeonly scowl and that care in his eye that you knew he was going to do his best to save your life.

Enterprise
Phlox. Definitely Phlox. As much as I like Scott Bakula, I feel they could have replaced his role with a broom handle and a pair of those jokey nose glasses, and no one would have noticed.

J.

Eyes330 · November 7 2009, 02:53 PM

I always find that the captain is never my favourite:

TOS: Kirk is actually my least favourite character in TOS. Since there aren't really any bad characters in the main cast I still like him, but McCoy, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov all rank above Kirk.

TNG: While I like Picard, I tend to like Geordi and Riker more.

DS9: Sisko is the best captain, but since DS9 had so many great characters, I like Bashir, Jake, Garak, Odo, Kira, Jadzia, Quark, Ezri, and a lot of the other supporting characters more.

VOY: Again, Janeway's my least favourite character out of the Voyager cast.

ENT: From what little I've seen, I liked Reed, T'Pol and Phlox more than Archer.

Sycho Nosk · November 7 2009, 02:55 PM

i like the captins better in all but voyager.... its not that i dont like janeway... i just like seven`s tits better

Count Zero · November 7 2009, 03:15 PM

Well, Archer is my favourite ENT character (followed by T'Pol, Phlox and Shran).
In TNG and TOS the captains are among my favourites. In TOS I like Spock slightly more, but I'd say the big three are my favourites. To me, Picard is the best Captain in Trek but I like Data just as much (maybe even a bit more).
While I like Sisko, my favourite characters on DS9 are Bashir, Odo and Ezri Dax.
I don't particularly like Janeway and Voyager in general, but the Doctor and Seven are among my favourite Trek characters.

sbk1234 · November 7 2009, 03:35 PM

I never thought about it, but I'd have to agree. However, I'd say that Kirk had a real advantage over the other captains, since he was written to be the star of the show, while the other captains were written to be part of an ensamble cast. That said, I'd put Spock and Bones ahead of Kirk in TOS.
Other favorites:
For TNG: Data, Worf, O'Brien
DS9: Bashier, O'Brien
VOY: Doctor
ENT: Phlox, Trip

However, unlike many on these boards, I never really had much of a problem with any of the characters. It was just that I liked some more than others.

USS_Triumphant · November 7 2009, 05:43 PM

TOS - Spock. McCoy was too emotional too often, which admittedly was supposed to be his role - foil to Spock's logic, but still didn't appeal. Kirk did a good job of reconciling Spock's logic and McCoy's emotion in the business at hand, but seemed to be kind of a mess in his personal life. Spock had honor, logic, and really had his stuff together.

TNG - Worf. Honor, duty, and living up to the standards that the rest of his species seemed to consider admirable but unattainable - much like Spock, in some ways. I just wish they hadn't played him as being dumb sometimes.

DS9 - Worf again, with Garak a close second. Garak was just... cool.

Voyager - Tuvok. Both because of Tim Russ's personal devotion to getting a regular role on a Star Trek series, and because Tuvok seemed annoyed most of the time - which reflected my own feelings about Voyager.

Enterprise - Tucker. "Valentine to the fans", my aching hindquarters!

Yep. Never the captain - unless you count the fact that Spock was a captain from the beginning of Star Trek II onward.

C.E. Evans · November 7 2009, 06:03 PM

TOS: Kirk was always my favorite character. Sure, I liked Spock, McCoy and all the others well enough, but Kirk was my hero!

TNG: I liked LaForge the most, but I always thought Picard was cool...up until the TNG movies where he suddenly turned into Bruce Willis from Die-Hard, that is.

DS9: The Sisko. 'Nuff said.

VOY: Tuvok was my favorite, but I liked the few times the writers remembered that Janeway and Tuvok had been friends for years.

ENT: I actually didn't mind Archer that much and I thought the character went through an evolution from naive boy scout to battle-hardened commander as the series progressed, but I frequently found myself rooting for Mayweather because he got no love from even fans of the show.

NuTrek: Definitely Spock.

RyuRoots · November 7 2009, 09:08 PM

TOS: Spock. He's a wonderful straight man, with just the right amount of occasional jerkass commentary regarding humans (like at the end of Mirror, Mirror). He was always my favorite, and after watching a bit more of TOS at its highs, he still is.

TNG: Picard actually is my favorite, I think. He has both sophistication and badass-ness, and he'll always be special to me as being the most cerebral captain.

DS9: A favorite...hm. Probably a four-way tie among Ezri, Garak, O'Brien, and Sisko. So it kinda counts since Sisko is in the tie? I really do love all of DS9's mains, and it's hard to narrow it down to even 4.

VOY: Favorite is the doctor. Janeway was too ridiculously inconsistent to like on anything more than an episode-to-episode basis.

ENT: Travis, I suppose, but that's more of a case of "who do I dislike the least?" more than who I like the most.

GhostFaceSaint · November 7 2009, 09:49 PM

TOS: Love Kirk but only equally so much as I love Spock and Bones.
TNG: Picard was great but I also really liked Data, Troi, and Riker.
DS9: Sisko was really cool.
VOY: Janeway should have been consistent in her character, I felt she should have been tough all the time without any of the warm-fuzzy behavior, as a man I like strong women so for me she was disappointment.
ENT: Archer was a total disappointment, they should have cast someone else and also given him better written material.
NU/XI: Chris Pine's Kirk might become my favorite by the next film, though he will always be equal with Spock and Bones.

Nerys Ghemor · November 7 2009, 10:34 PM

TOS: Spock or McCoy--Kirn was an arrogant womanizer in my opinion. This goes for both version of Kirk.

TNG: I used to like Picard, but now I flat-out despise him. He's just a holier-than-thou ideological mouthpiece. Of the TNG crew, I can't say I really LOVE any of the characters, but Data was pretty interesting.

DS9: Sisko I generally like a LOT. He gets edged out by Kira and Gul Dukat, but BARELY. He's the best captain of the bunch, though!

VOY: Ugh, Janeway. Not written as a consistent, competent commander at all. The Doctor is a more interesting character, I think.

ENT: Archer was badly, badly miscast. And I really hate saying that because I adored Scott Bakula, but I think the man is much better cast in "softer," more "emotional" roles like on Quantum Leap, or kids' movies (both of which I loved him in). He doesn't have sufficient gravitas to come off as a credible captain. As for the other characters of ENT...well, I checked out sometime in season 2, so I can't really say that anyone else stuck out. (If I rewatched Seasons 3 and 4, maybe I'd change my mind...dunno.)

GhostFaceSaint · November 7 2009, 10:38 PM

Nerys Ghemor wrote:

TNG: I used to like Picard, but now I flat-out despise him. He's just a holier-than-thou ideological mouthpiece. Of the TNG crew, I can't say I really LOVE any of the characters, but Data was pretty interesting.

So TNG hasn't aged well for you either, huh. What is it that bothers you is it the lack of interpersonal friction, which makes things kind of dull and unrealistic, or, is it something else? (Though I don't agree with you about Kirk at all.)

Nerys Ghemor · November 7 2009, 10:40 PM

It's a combination of the lack of depth to the characters (part of which may be the lack of interpersonal friction) and the unbelievably PC holier-than-thou attitude exhibited by the crew, especially Picard.

GhostFaceSaint · November 7 2009, 10:45 PM

Yeah, I agree with you. I hope the new moves continue to veer away from perfect one and two dimensional characters, I prefer a character with flaws and three dimensional growth.

Nerys Ghemor · November 8 2009, 01:55 AM

What remains to be seen is if and how the characters we saw in Trek XI will grow--especially nuKirk, who is quite the arrogant little snot. nuSpock shows promise, but I'm not sure about the rest of the cast yet. But we'll only know with Trek XII!

OldManDax · November 8 2009, 04:14 AM

TOS: Yeah Kirk is my favorite, though Spock is often very close. Admittedly, some of this the typical guy thing of "this guy gets all the women, carries himself with poise, is smart AND has a swagger about him?! Can I have what he's drinking?"

TNG: Had to be Picard...followed by - would ya believe it - Bev Crusher. Always like eps. where she gets the lead, or gets to take on a challenge, or solve a mystery, like "Remember Me."

DS9: It's ironic, that despite the shows' conscious attempt to do things different than its predecessors, I still wound up liking the shows' big three - Odo, Kira and Sisko - the most. And Sisko is my favorite of the bunch, and my favorite character in all of trek (as an aside, I never really got all the Garak-worship. He's more like a gimmick to more; the DS9 equivalent of Newman on Seinfeld. He's not even in my top five of recurring characters. He did have some interesting moments and lines though).

Voyager: Cross between B'elanna and the doctor, followed by seven, tuvok - and THEN Janeway. Though I like Mulgrew.

ENT: T'Pol. Jolene Blalock is underrated, imo. Reed would be second. Archer did very little for me.