Well, at least we'd have a chance to use alliterating names like Kathryn Kirk and Jim Janeway...
Can We Ever Top the First Three Show Captains?
- Thread starter VulcanMindBlown
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Well, at least we'd have a chance to use alliterating names like Kathryn Kirk and Jim Janeway...
Most of the pioneers and explorers of the age of sail were decidedly morally ambiguous by modern standards, and their contacts with new peoples tended towards the disastrous if viewed from those people's perspectives. I'm not sure they'd be great models for Starfleet Captains.
How about KaJim! (like the sound of a cash register)
If not outright cutthroats (literally).
Different "explorers" acted with different levels of professionalism. The point is that if a television writer can see how a future starship captain might want to better act, it's not as though we're going at it blind. I don't buy the concept that Archer needed to be as wet behind the ears so that a hack had an easier time writing drama.
The NX-01 was the first warp five capable, deep space explorer, but even before that they had other ships (such as the Intrepid and the smaller triangular-shaped class), before he got a chance of commanding such an important ship he should've spent years in the centre seat of one of them, learning the basics of combat, diplomacy, etc. All Archer had on his résumé was that his daddy created the warp five design and he sorta knew how to fly.
He quickly became a deeply unlikable character.
Wow, surprised at the dislike for Archer. I only watched Enterprise for the first time last year, but I liked his character. Unsure of himself, of course, not "perfect", but that fit well with the tone of the stories and I liked his growth as the episodes went on.
From what we know of Archer's back history, where did he acquire the management skills to even do the job of captain? He apparently was never a first office (or even a second officer), he went from piloting single seat test ships to commanding Earth's most advanced ship with a crew of 83.
If "A Night in Sickbay" wasn't enough for me, the horrible, horrible conversation with T'Pol in "Fallen Hero" where he seems baffled that their ETA has increased after they've dropped from warp to impulse would do it. Hopefully whoever wrote that nonsense was sacked.
Thankfully I do think he becomes a better captain over time, but it's hard to believe someone so unprofessional would have been given the captain's chair to begin with. I would have preferred to see him serving as first officer under someone a bit more seasoned first.
Thankfully I do think he becomes a better captain over time, but it's hard to believe someone so unprofessional would have been given the captain's chair to begin with. I would have preferred to see him serving as first officer under someone a bit more seasoned first.
I don't know if they did it on purpose but they really made Archer behave like a fool for most of the first two seasons. Only an imbecile would side with someone who just beat the shit out of him from a never met before people against a people with whom his planet has had dealings for more than a century. Plus what business was it of his that the Vulcans were spying on the Andorians? It's one thing to disapprove of it in his privacy, it's quite another to meddle and eventually provoke the destruction of the place. I for one understand the Vulcan's outrage over this.
Archer did not trust the Vulcans. That's why he was given the captainship (this stems back to the NX-Beta flight). One of the seasoned captains of the slower warp 2/3/4 ships would be more likely to have been influenced by the vulcans, and at the first sign of trouble would have turned tail and hidden in the Vulcan skirts. It was only after Archer proved that mankind could stand on it's own that the rest of the fleet began to think that way too.
You see it in corporations all the time -- perfectly good people who have been browbeaten by "the system", then you get a cowboy from outside to shake things up.
You're right though - with anyone other than Archer, PJem would have turned out very differently, and it's likely that the politics of Federation space would have been very different, with a militaristic Vulcan taking a leading role. That's why Archer was given the command, because he would work for Earth, not for Vulcan.
You see it in corporations all the time -- perfectly good people who have been browbeaten by "the system", then you get a cowboy from outside to shake things up.
You're right though - with anyone other than Archer, PJem would have turned out very differently, and it's likely that the politics of Federation space would have been very different, with a militaristic Vulcan taking a leading role. That's why Archer was given the command, because he would work for Earth, not for Vulcan.
Was that at the end of AGT? I thought some of those cards looked a bit dodgy.
Not the commander, but I thought Michael Hogan was by far the superior actor.
I don't see how Brooks gets to be number three before Mulgrew. The man runs the gamut of emotions and expressions from A to A. To be really square about it, although I think Shatner was at times brilliant, and Stewart has significant thespian ability that he uses when he needs to and imbues the character with a commanding presence, Mulgrew has the best actual range for regular-line delivery.
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I think everyone's favourites will be the ones they grew up with.
Well, Archer's rise to being a captain was certainly interesting for sure. But it's not like he went from being a Starfleet cadet in skipping various ranks to be a captain. Meanwhile, a Starfleet ensign in 'Voyager' is an ensign for 7 years. Of course, I don't think Starfleet would ever do anything that irrational and nonsensical.
Some of us never grew up!
If there was a general culture of distrust of Vulcans within Starfleet, then Archer's attitude would have been common among Starfleet officers. Trip obviously shared it.
The top admiral might have been selecting his officers specifically with this mindset. Starfleet at the time seem to be fairly small, the admiral could have personally interviewed all officer canidates.
Officers with the "right" viewpoint would be promoted, select ones would recieve command of the few availible ships.
Officers like Archer, his inexpience was of secondary importance, his distrust of Vulcans helped him achieve command.
What an silly idea, no one in their right mind would put something like that in a Star Trek production.
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I think he was chosen because of his systematic use of : "Oh, boy!"
Kirk? Is that a typo, I think you meant Picard, right?
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