Captains Swapped in TNG Era

[Roundabout]

Regarding the question in general, I would say DS9 is the easiest to answer: Neither Picard nor Janeway would do half as well in Sisko's position as he did. The first major obstacle is, of course, the Emissary. If Picard and Janeway aren't the Emissary, then a huge portion of DS9 is undone, including much of the cultural exchange that brought Bajor closer to the Federation (DS9's original mission) and one of the most pivotal moments of the Dominion War (DS9's later mission). Even if we rewrote their characters to say that they actually were the Emissary, neither one of them would ever really accept that position and thus would still never achieve the same level of relations with the Bajorans or the Prophets.

I also doubt if Picard would truly understand the importance of the civilian life on the station or the continuity of that civilian life even between different regimes. Under Picard, Quark would've been gone from the first episode and most other civilians with him. DS9 would've been almost exclusively a Starfleet/Bajoran Militia station guarding the wormhole but not really attracting any sort of cultural exchange. I'm not sure where Janeway would fall on this question, but I'm guessing maybe closer to Sisko than Picard.

I think Picard would accept anointment as Emissary, probably reluctantly, if offered it.

Picard accepted the position of Klingon Arbiter of Succession, although he was initially reluctant. Picard was persuaded to accept because of some "doing it for the greater good of Federation Klingon relations" type of argument from K'mpec. Later on, Picard admitted that being Arbiter was a conflict of interest, but he ultimately didn't refuse to take on the role.

As with the Arbiter situation, Picard could be persuaded to take on the position of Emissary with the same type of "fulfilling destiny and for the greater good of Federation Bajoran relations" argument.

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But you're probably right that Picard would have run Quark, Garak, and many civilians out of DS9. Picard wouldn't put up with such shady characters. He would rent out Quark's bar to someone like Guinan -- a boring, no fun, straight arrow bar tender. Gone would be the Dabo games and other such activities. DS9 would be a sleepy backwater outpost under Picard.

Also, I could see Picard having a very rocky relationship with Kira and Odo. Kira and Odo are strong willed personalities. Both Kira and Odo speak their minds and they both defend their turf. There would be a serious clash of personalities.

Picard is too rigid and by the book, as you described. Picard wouldn't be able to so easily get rid of those two or bend them to his will because they are not in Starfleet. Picard would not be a good fit for DS9.

 

[thribs]

Janeway would obviously get the Enterprise lost. Probably DS9 as well if she was captain of that.

 

[The Old Mixer]

You keep saying he'll 'deal with it' but you're not saying how. In the actual write-up of the character he *couldn't* deal with it by himself.

In real life and in good fiction, people are capable of learning to cope with their psychological issues without the help of noncorporeal aliens. Focusing on getting his entire crew home to their loved ones could be his way of atoning for not bringing Jennifer home. And if Jake was on the ship, as your first post indicated, then he might be all the more motivated to be the one in charge of getting everyone home, rather than handing off the responsibility to somebody else.

 

[Roundabout]

DS9 being so close to Cardassian space, maybe Starfleet would think better than to assign Picard to the station.

Wouldn't the man still be traumatized by his "There are four lights!" experience? What if Picard were to run into Gul Madred?

Gul Dukat could easily run sinister psy ops and other mind games against Jean-Luc that would rehash Picard's "four lights!" trauma. Dukat is a devious Cardassian.

 

[Makarov]

Picard resolves the dominion war in 1 episode. DS9 becomes a model of diplomacy

Picard gets voyager home in a 2-part episode involving Q.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If we're talking about swapping the captains from one series to the other, Picard would arrive on DS9 having never Captained the Enterprise. He would have zero access to Gowron. And even if he did get past Martok, that wouldn't prevent the war because the war already started before that.

Okay, if we're not counting the things he did in TNG, he wouldn't have had that benefit. But that wasn't written in the rules.

Sure, once the war starts, Sisko is clearly better than Picard, but there's diplomatic opportunities before that which Picard might have done better. Making Cardassia secure enough that they don't look to the Dominion for allies. Even without what he's owned by Gowron, preventing wars is what Picard does. I'm not saying he would have definitely prevented it, but he would have had good odds to find the way. Assuming Picard has the same competence he did in TNG and the same skill set. He prevented all out war with Romulus. Maybe he could have done better with the Klingons and Cardassians.

It's obviously very different from a tachyon detection grid. The grid was designed only to reveal the presence of ships, not damage them or force them to stay on one side. The Federation had no cause to attack the Romulans, and didn't do so (even Data's torpedo based solution was designed to cause no damage), it merely provided proof to the Klingons that their territory was being violated.

Also, the Federation has no actual right to keep the Dominion out of the Alpha Quadrant - the near end of the wormhole is Bajoran space and the far end is unclaimed space, plus the Cardassian Union invited the Dominion into their space. Any attempt to do so is obviously an act of war, ergo no different than a pre-emptive strike.

They weren't allies with the Cardassian Union until season 5, in season 2 and 3 they made their warlike intentions abundantly clear. And although they made it policy to that point to let people freely travel through the wormhole, it was the Bajoran's and nobody else's perogative to control who gets to travel through it and nobody else's. After the Dominion had made their intent to conquer the galaxy abundantly clear, and they were sending through more and more warships, damn right Picard or anyone in charge of the situation would put a stop to it.

Yeah, the Federation has no right to keep the Dominion out of the AQ, but Bajor does, and they are no dummies, they know that the Federation's problems are more acceptable than the Dominion's.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In Voyager the biggest wedge point to me is Scorpion. (Also False Profits because that is the most mishandled episode by far by Janeway). Most episodes all three would have handled the same. But Scorpion? Picard or Sisko would not ever make deals with the Borg. Picard making a deal with the Borg is impossible, but because if his diplomatic superpowers, maybe, maybe he could have come to an understanding with 8472. If only because that Borg attacked first would be his first assumption. Sisko, I don't even know. I don't see him making an agreement with the Borg. Again, he probably would have never gotten to that point because no way he ****s up the Barzan wormhole. But assuming he did, I have no idea what he'd do. He'd probably look for a way not to have to deal with Borg space.

Janeway or Sisko in TNG? I have a hard time seeing much difference. If there's any major difference it's how they'd handle the Romulans in The Enemy and The Defector. Slightly higher chance they would have been successfully provoked into war.

 

[STEPhon IT]

For some reason I suspect Picard would have found a way to save the Ocampa AND get home right away.

I agree. I doubt Picard from TNG, and not from the movies, would've shoot first and ask questions later. Picard would've found a way to solve Voyager's issue in one episode. Done.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I agree Picard would also react badly to The Search, but I wonder if Picard's more diplomatic attitude might make the Dominion less jumpy and have them choose the long game of diplomatic assimilation and slowly replacing the Federation govt. instead of being as aggressive as they were with Sisko.

No. Picard's ethics would've never allowed the Defiant to have a cloaking device--a device which was known to be used by cowards in the real Trek universe-- and he would've searched for the Founders and actually make some common ground with them, but what fails with episodes such as "The Search"--season 3--is the writers are not interested in compromises but instead to give the view there is none. Picard is about compromises, and Sisko used to be... until season 4 of DS9. Any means necessary became the theme and that's not Star Trek.

 

[CorporalClegg]

There was no comprising. The Founders believe themselves to be superior, further evolved lifeforms. 'Solids' were to them as ants are to you. Do you go outside and comprise with the ants on your doorstep. But the problem wasn't with the conceit but with the execution. If it weren't for the pretense of having to make a show, the Dominion would have obliterated the Alpha Quadrant before The Search ever happened. And so the Dominion (and by extension, the Founders) were deluded for the sake of plot. The showing not matching the telling was one of DS9's perpetual problems.

And "cloaking devices are used by cowards"? I suppose all those Royal SAS and Seals who wear dark camo during night ops are total cowards. Amirite? And those F-22s? Total waste of money. (Okay. You got me there.)

Picard was never against using anything that gave him a strategic advantage so long as it didn't break any common rule. In fact, I always found Starfleet's unwillingness to use them to be really stupid and leftover glop from the "We're not a military." Nonsense.

As far as the Caretaker, Picard would have done the exact same thing as Janeway. Like it or not, what she did was textbook Starfleet. Now you can argue Starfleet policy is dumb. (it is.) But it is how she was trained, as was Picard.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I think Picard would accept anointment as Emissary, probably reluctantly, if offered it.

Picard accepted the position of Klingon Arbiter of Succession, although he was initially reluctant. Picard was persuaded to accept because of some "doing it for the greater good of Federation Klingon relations" type of argument from K'mpec. Later on, Picard admitted that being Arbiter was a conflict of interest, but he ultimately didn't refuse to take on the role.

As with the Arbiter situation, Picard could be persuaded to take on the position of Emissary with the same type of "fulfilling destiny and for the greater good of Federation Bajoran relations" argument.

The reason I see him having a problem here isn't because of any sort of conflict of interest or being too involved with an alien society. It's because the Emissary is basically space Jesus. Picard does not like being worshipped like a god. In fact, it seems to be a particularly disturbing thing to him. Even if he allowed the Bajorans to call him Emissary, he wouldn't embrace the role the way Sisko ultimately did, and therefore wouldn't achieve the excellent results Sisko got in bridging Bajor and the Federation.

Okay, if we're not counting the things he did in TNG, he wouldn't have had that benefit. But that wasn't written in the rules.

It seemed implicit in the question to me, but even if not, I'd say it's the only fair basis for discussion, since we can't really give Sisko or Janeway that sort of benefit in placing them on TNG, since the things they already experienced would change TNG more than changing the captain would.

Sure, once the war starts, Sisko is clearly better than Picard, but there's diplomatic opportunities before that which Picard might have done better. Making Cardassia secure enough that they don't look to the Dominion for allies. Even without what he's owned by Gowron, preventing wars is what Picard does. I'm not saying he would have definitely prevented it, but he would have had good odds to find the way. Assuming Picard has the same competence he did in TNG and the same skill set. He prevented all out war with Romulus. Maybe he could have done better with the Klingons and Cardassians.

Again I have to point out that there was no real opportunity to stop the Klingon Cardassian war. A klingon fleet showed up at DS9 (but refused to say why it was there) and was under the direct command of a changeling infiltrator who simply would not allow Picard to interfere. That fleet then almost immediately sailed off and invaded Cardassia. Even for Picard, the best case scenario there is to prove the Detapa Council aren't changelings (which Sisko did) and end the war as quickly as possible (which Sisko did).

They weren't allies with the Cardassian Union until season 5, in season 2 and 3 they made their warlike intentions abundantly clear. And although they made it policy to that point to let people freely travel through the wormhole, it was the Bajoran's and nobody else's perogative to control who gets to travel through it and nobody else's. After the Dominion had made their intent to conquer the galaxy abundantly clear, and they were sending through more and more warships, damn right Picard or anyone in charge of the situation would put a stop to it.

Yeah, the Federation has no right to keep the Dominion out of the AQ, but Bajor does, and they are no dummies, they know that the Federation's problems are more acceptable than the Dominion's.

There was an entire episode (and later an entire story arc) devoted to the fact that Bajor simply can't afford to piss the Dominion off. They even signed a treaty with them in order to stay out of the fighting. They would never haved signed off on the minefield (officially - unofficially, they loved it, I'm sure) - that always had to come from the Federation. And coming from the Federation, the minefield is an illegal provocation and an act of war, which Picard would be hesistant to do unless the Dominion had already attacked them. But it was also absolutely necessary to prevent a swift Dominion victory.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Had Picard commanded Voyager then, given his diplomatic skill, there would be a new Federation forming in the Delta Quadrant as the ship journeyed home.

If Sisko had commanded the E-D, who might've been responsible for the death of his wife? Cardassians? Tzenkethi? Or would Jennifer be alive up until the ship encountered the Borg, only to later be used as the spokesperson during the first Borg incursion. How might Sisko fare if facing off over the viewscreen with his assimilated wife?

Janeway as commander of DS9 would have to put up with Dukat, and we've all seen how she handles bullies. Also how would she deal with being the Emissary with her background as a scientist?

 

[thribs]

Picard didn’t have a science background so it’s unlikely he would be commanding Voyager at any point.
Sisko commanding Boyager would have been interesting since he had no desire in exploration, and so tothrow him into a situation like that might have been interesting.
Also the Kazon would never have been a issue for him. Just poison a few planets and they would submit to him.