Leaving The Captain's Chair: After The Fame

How do you feel about the fates of the captains after their glory days skippering a starship?

Kirk ends up in an old man desperately trying to get back that action and passion he felt when he was a young man making a difference. Going back to Starfleet after retiring, leaving Antonia and his empty house in the mountains. Kirk left behind no children to further his family or name. Add in the anti-climatic death against Sorin, in the defense of a pre-industrial civilization; that we the audience and the crew of the ENT-D and Kirk never saw. It truly was a bitter end for Jim Kirk.

Spoiler

From the future events in "All Good Things", we see Picard retires to his family vineyard in France. We learn that Picard and Beverly married and divorced (Bev kept his last name though), and that Picard is in the early stages of developing dementia. Like Kirk, Picard also fathered no children to further his family or his name. While not as illustrious or heroic a retirement one would expect for a hero like Picard. He's done alright for himself. Just seeing your heroes get old and frail (mentality in Picard's case) is tough to watch.

Spoiler

Just look at that vineyard! He's certainly not hurting for money. Wait... does Earth even use money

The Sisko joined his mother and the other wormhole aliens inside the wormhole. In a place outside time and space. Leaving his son Jake, his new wife Cassidy and the unborn son they were to have together. Sisko would return when his work with the Prophets was finished but no exact length of time was given. Triumphant war hero, celebrated religious figure, model Starfleet officer and a family man. None of which Sisko will be able to experience or enjoy, from where he is.

Spoiler

Now we know why the episode is titled "What You Leave Behind". Hahaha, I kid, I kid.



From the future events in "A̶l̶l̶ ̶G̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶T̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶" Endgame, we see and aged Admiral Janeway who is cynical, miserable and apathetic to the rules and principles she's sworn to uphold. She steals a chrno deflector from the Klingons, breaks the temporal Prime Directive by deliberately traveling to the past and pollutes the time stream by bringing weapons and information into the past, to change a future she didn't like.

Spoiler

22 anonymous crewmen die.
Seven of Nine dies on an away mission.
Chakotay dies of a broken heart, presumably.
Tuvok's mental faculties degrade to irrepairable levels.

Worst sin of all is Harry Kim gains the rank of captain! Unacceptable!

Janeway made the journey home, but the journey broke her. The herculean task she set up for herself back in "Caretaker" was too much for her to keep all of herself in tact. She spares her younger self the grief and anguish she (Adm Janeway) would endure in the decades after making it home to Earth. The aged Admiral Janeway, like Kirk and Picard, also had no children to further her line and family name.



We don't know where Archer ended up after the Federation was formed and Earth Starfleet became Federation Starfleet. We do know he atttained the rank of Admiral and that he still kept beagles as pets. One of which, Scotty lost by attempting to transport it from one planet to another.

Spoiler

1:36 - 2:13


No worries though. If you follow the comics, the dog reappears there.

 

In regards to Sisko...since the wormhole aliens don't deal with linear time, whenever his work there is done he can come back to the same point from when he left. For Cassidy and Jake it would be like he never left. He would still see his child and eveything else.

 

There's a common thread here (minus Archer) that the big chair comes with drawbacks, some of them huge and far reaching. From not having children or leaving them far behind, to the deep personal impact of years of responsibility and dedication, the captaincy is many times a double edge sword.

 

In Nemesis, it showed Admiral Janeway doing alright with her position in Starfleet. Presumably, the older woman from Endgame ceases to exist, so this looks pretty good for her.

Also, I think it's mentioned in In a Mirror Darkly that Archer becomes President of the Federation at some point, and also has a couple of planets named after him.

 

I think it's safe to say that Kirk didn't actually die in Generations. We know Kirk must have been resurrected in some way and had more adventures back in his time. That's because Scotty thinks Kirk may have been the one to rescue him when he was trapped in the transporter in Relics, which occurred after parts of Generations. If the Nexus incident was the last time Scotty saw Kirk then he wouldn't have made the statement in Relics.

 

The idea that Sisko might return was a compromise done for Avery Brooks sake, but Ira Steven Behr has said that Sisko was gone forever, effectively dead (see Chase Masterson's podcast). Whether that changes with the Season 8 outline presented in the upcoming documentary is to be seen, but in the eyes of the man who made decisions about the direction of the series when it ended, Sisko wasn't coming back.

 

That production error (2 planets) always annoyed me, Archer has a planet (Archer's Planet) and a star system named after him. The Archer system contains at least Archer I, Archer II, Archer III and Archer IV.

 

How do we know that kirk was resurrected?

 

Reread my post I explain it there.

 

I always forget there are two admiral Janeways. Good one on Katheryn.

I forgot about the history Mirror Hoshi read about main universe Archer. Seems he did alright for himself in the end. His biggest losses and victories were during season 3 and 4, respectively.
Still bums me out that we didn't get a 5th, 6th and 7th season of ENT, to further explore Archer's legacy.

I first heard about this when I watched SFDebris recent review of "What You Leave Behind". Damn, so Sisko really is gone for good. Passed beyond the rim. I wonder if he'll meet up with Captain Sheridan there? Haha.

 

Don't despair too much. Like I said, the writers will revisit post WYLB, apparently even tackling the question of how Sisko could be brought back. Should he come back, I hope that it is only temporary, as I think that Kira should have been the face of the series beyond season 7. Whatever happens, I'll consider it nearly canon.

 

The Trek novelverse carries on the adventures of all the 24th century captains (and Archer's 22nd century lot and even James Kirk in it's own separate continuity) far beyond the ends of the series.

 

Maybe some of them are only dwarf planets, like Pluto?

 

I could've sworn Mama Sisko said Ben would have another son. I'd have to check again and see, but you're probably right.

With the future's seen in All Good Things and Endgame, we know they actually happened/would've happened.

For All Good Things, Q chose the past TNG crew (From the Farpoint mission), the current TNG crew and the future TNG after most of them had retired. Picard and Beverly giving marriage the old college try, Picard going home to his family vineyard, Beverly taking a command of a medical frigate, Riker and Worf falling apart over their feelings for Deanna, Data and Geordi retiring and finding fulfillment, could very well still happen for the TNG

Endgame tried to emulate what All Good Things did, but instead chose to have Admiral Janeway undo that future because she didn't like it. Janeway skippered VOY home in 23 years, instead of the initial projection of 70 years, in the original timeline. By changing history, Janeway made the journey home in 7 years instead. With all the people she cared about making it home with.

 

Kirk: Dead and buried on Veridian III.

Picard: Commanded the E-E for a few more years before retiring from Starfleet though opted to pursue a second career as an archaeologist.

Sisko: Remains with the Prophets until the Emissary is needed again during a major crisis on the station. Once back in linear time he resigns from Starfleet and returns to Bajor.

Janeway: Oversees the team analysing the information she brought back, as well as advising Starfleet Tactical on new defences against the Borg, has a few other administrative posts before being assigned as Head of Starfleet Science.

Archer: Finally wakes up (ending the dream of commanding the NX-01) to resume his post as a shuttle pilot at Starfleet Command, seeing as how he has no real qualifications to do anything else.

 

I believe that her rank pips is one of the highest Admirals in the fleet. Pretty impressive, I'd say.

 

Even though it would end Kirk's story on a negative note, I have grown to appreciate the idea for TNG's "Too Short a Season" by having Kirk be the aged admiral taking the youth serum and being forced to face his past actions in violating the Prime Directive by arming both sides of an internal planetary conflict.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Too_Short_a_Season_(episode)

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/tngs-too-short-a-season-with-kirk.221116/

Picard, in my head canon, would have been perfect to end his career as an ambassador of some kind.

Janeway. What did she do to earn a promotion to admiral? Really?

Sisko. It is what it is.

Archer. I'm fine with his career wrapping up as POTUFP

 

IAMD establishes that Archer will become UFP President, but I find that to be a bit unrealistic. He's more of a Lafayette--a military man who fought for political ideals, but whose political talents and sensitivities were limited. He may have been a revered figure for opening the door to an interplanetary alliance and for developing Starfleet and its mission, but I don't see how we get from his character at the end of Enterprise to a man with broad charisma to lead that alliance.

ETA: In short, the gazelle speech was old the third time around (if not the first).

 

I'd rank Scott Bakula's Capt. Johnathan Archer up there with the rest of the lead characters. No reason to relegate his character to a dream.