is PICARD respected?

[RobertScorpio]

I know Star Trek questions like this are hard to answer because of the real aspects of making a film/tv show. But, oh well..

Is Picard respected? He never came back to Bajor to check up on the progress of their entry into the Federation. He is no where to be seen during the big battles of the Dominion War. In fact the only time we see Picard during the war? He is throwing a party on his ship, the so called flagship, for a bunch of midgets, while he is wearing a fake wig!

The reason Sisko resonates with me more is because we actually get to see him evolve from a broken man into a war hero. Add to that his special connection to the Bajorans, and we have a character that is so developed he seems real.

Nothing against Patrick Stewart. He is probably the best actor to ever be on a Star Trek show. But I have to wonder if Starfleet ever respected his character.

And on the flipside? Sisko should be awarded, even if he is 'still dead', some of Starfleet's greatest medals. He, to me, was a great father, and a great hero. And he always made the right decision.

Scorpio!

 

[misskim86]

To be honest we don't know what Picard did during the Dominion war, he could be responsible for winning it for all we know.

 

[cwalrus2]

I still respect Picard. Basically, Picard wasn't on DS9 again for logistical reasons, and I think most fans feel as if Picard and the Ent-E did take part in the war off screen as some of the trek novels explain. Insurrection was really the only opportunity to show the Ent-E involved with the Dominion War, but Rick Berman and Michael Piller decided to go in a different direction with an unrelated story. Just because we didn't see the Ent-E or Picard involved with the Dominion War, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

I respect Picard. That he didn't show up during the Dominion war was Paramount's fault, not his. If we didn't see it happen, there's no evidence that he did. There is evidence that he was all over the galaxy doing other important stuff.

 

[James Pike]

I'm not a big Picard fan. The character never evolved or seemed to progress. He never took joy in anything and he never seemed to have fun.

Sisko, on the other hand, Evolved, showed emotion and seemed to be human. Picard almost epitimized Borg.
As far as starfleet respecting him, they must have to give him command of the flagship. Though I think more people "respected" him by his reputation, not by his actions. Sisko and Kirk were respected due to their actions and sacrifices. Both of them ultimately gave up their lives to save others. Picard couldn't fight a pansy like Soran without help.

 

[anti-matter]

To be fair to Cpt Pickard was a champion of the Bajorians long before they became fashionable.

 

[Navaros]

Nah, Picard is not respected as a good war-time officer. Picard didn't do jack all during the Dominion War. TNG gives lots of circumstantial evidence as to why. Picard was afraid to conduct combat training exercises in TNG because as Picard says, "Combat is a very small part of the makeup of a Captain". Is that the kind of guy you'd want in the thick of huge, devastating war? I don't think so.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Picard was ALWAYS respected... heck, he was given the command of the UFP flagship, for goodness sakes... he is considered the finest Captain in all of Starfleet, in his time.

In regards to Bajor... who knows what he did with that, in the time between DS9 episodes? He could have well gone back to check on the Bajoran's progress, we just never saw an episode made of it.

We KNOW that the 1701-D was nearby the Cardassian region in DS9, at at least one point... the episode "Tribunal"... in that episode, Sisko tells Mrs. O'Brien that the Enterprise is one of three ships that have been dispatched to the area to begin some investigations and patrols.

Picard has always been respected... Picard will always be respected... even Q repsects Picard, on some level.

 

[Nebusj]

Is Picard respected? He never came back to Bajor to check up on the progress of their entry into the Federation.

Was Bajor a home port for Picard's ship? Was Bajor part of Picard's administrative responsibility? The Federation already had a presumably competent team to oversee Bajor's progress to joining the Federation; why do they need Picard there unless they're certain Sisko is just about to fail and they need someone to pick up the pieces?

He is no where to be seen during the big battles of the Dominion War. In fact the only time we see Picard during the war? He is throwing a party on his ship, the so called flagship, for a bunch of midgets, while he is wearing a fake wig!

And how is this Horatio Hornblower written up as some kind of hero to the Royal Navy when he's not near any important engagement of the whole Napoleonic Wars. I mean, twenty years of struggle for the future of the world and he just blows off the whole thing. Why couldn't he be doing something useful instead?

 

[Timo]

To be sure, SISKO is the one who never showed up for the Dominion war. Some 95% of the time, he was hiding on that backwater space station of his that had only peripheral involvement in the war, pushing PADDs and casting sideways glances at casualty lists and playing holo-baseball and pretending to be an oppressed 1950s writer.

In the long war years between "Sacrifice of Angels" and "The Changing Face of Evil", he visited the front lines perhaps twice: in "Tears of the Prophets" and "The Siege of AR-558".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Jono]

To be sure, SISKO is the one who never showed up for the Dominion war. Some 95% of the time, he was hiding on that backwater space station of his that had only peripheral involvement in the war, pushing PADDs and casting sideways glances at casualty lists and playing holo-baseball and pretending to be an oppressed 1950s writer.

In the long war years between "Sacrifice of Angels" and "The Changing Face of Evil", he visited the front lines perhaps twice: in "Tears of the Prophets" and "The Siege of AR-558".

Timo Saloniemi

Long war years? It was what, around a year and a half between SoA and TCFoE? For three of those months he was on Earth on leave. Sisko's position was commander of Deep Space 9, which is stuck in the Bajor system. If the war avoids the system it isn't his fault and it was hardily backwater at 5 ly from Cardassia Prime.

At least we know Sisko took part in the war unlike Picard (from a canon point of view).

I do think that Picard would be a respected officer of Starfleet. I don't doubt that following the battle of Wolf 359 the general opinion of Picard would have dipped and I'm sure people would have felt the way Sisko felt at the start of DS9 and would have a hard time separating him from his Borg persona. However, over the years I'm sure that would have decreased and you have to remember that in the Battle of Sector 001 the captains at the battle yielded command to him when he arrived and after Admiral Hayes' ship was destroyed, you don't do that if you don't have some sort of belief in the man.

 

[Timo]

At least we know Sisko took part in the war unlike Picard (from a canon point of view).

Oh, I don't dispute that. I just want to point out that, counterintuitively enough, the war mostly happened outside the DS9 episodes and locations. (And since Picard so prominently stayed out of DS9 episodes and locations, we might deduce that he was involved in the war. )

...in the Battle of Sector 001 the captains at the battle yielded command to him when he arrived...

Now that was rather unbelievable. Starfleet top brass explicitly sent the man away fromt the upcoming Borg action because he was felt to be a major security risk. Now he shows up in wanton defiance of his orders and, without firing a shot against the enemy, tells the fleet to "stand by and wait for a signal". Who in his, her or its right mind would listen to the former traitor in those circumstances, with the Borg cube closing in on Earth, and with the conventional firepower of the fleet apparently making a difference until Locutus orders a halt to everything?

Rather than "some sort of belief", I'd suggest wording such as "fanatically devout followership" or "messianic faith"...

Timo Saloniemi