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Safest Captain To Serve Under?

Safest Captain To Serve Under?

  • Kirk

    Votes: 2 5.0%
  • Picard

    Votes: 24 60.0%
  • Sisko

    Votes: 5 12.5%
  • Janeway

    Votes: 5 12.5%
  • Archer

    Votes: 4 10.0%

  • Total voters
    40
Captain Styles, USS Excelsior. He never lost anyone, never left the Earth system, and was never shown taking his crew into any armed conflict. ;)
 
I think of it in terms of past captains and explorers

Archer is Magellan. You'll make history with him but your odds of making it home are not as high as you'd like. He might not make it home either. He's going to screw up every place he makes landfall, while he gets you there. But that's ok, he's a product of his time.

Kirk is Drake. He's the swashbuckler. He might be the 2nd captain to circumnavigate the globe, but it will be because he's being chased. High risk of death on these voyages: yep, but you'll enjoy the ride until you die.

Picard: Captain Cook. nuff said.

The Sisko: Bligh. you don't have to like Bligh. You might rebel against Bligh, but that would be a mistake. Bligh can cross thousands of miles in an an open boat without charts or supplies with a fully laden crew in unexplored seas and STILL get you to a port to recover while he immediately files a report of piracy against his mutineers. Bligh isn't a people person, but if you can stand him, he'll get you home.

Janeway: Shackleton. Sometimes you intend to make it to the south pole but circumstances give you something less than you'd expect. If you're in a desperate situation and you need every bit of nerve and expertise from your captain and your fellow crewmates (and occasional stowaway) , you need Shackleton.
 
Honestly, I put Sisko.

Considering the Dominion War, it's astonishing he had very few deaths under his command. He is clearly a good tactician if he can engage in warfare with an enemy that is equal on all fronts and superior in some and usually brings everyone home again. And let's face it... the Defiant was not to be messed with. Let's give credit to her, too.

Archer had more deaths in one year than I think Sisko had in two years of the Dominion War, the most devastating war to happen in the Alpha Quadrant.

I almost voted Picard, but I just couldn't get past the Enterprise blowing up over and over again.

The same with Janeway. Multiple destructions of the ship.

And Kirk was a definite no for me, given his redshirt count. But I will say this about Kirk... he did what no other Starfleet captain could do.

He had surge protectors throughout his ship, preventing life threatening explosions to his crew.

You are wrong about Sisko. Sisko sometimes had other ships under his command in battle. Like in "Sacrifice of Angles" where 600 Starfleet ships battled 1,200 Dominion & allied ships. Ships were exploding like crazy during that battle, each one taking out its crew of tens, hundreds, or thousands of persons.

And it looked like Sisko, despite being a lowly captain, was in command of the entire Federation fleet of 600 ships. And even if someone else was in command of the entire fleet, Sisko seemed to give orders to an entire squadron that broke through the Dominion lines and headed for DS9. So if just one of the ships in Sisko's squadron was destroyed Sisko would have lost far more subordinates than any other captain and series protagonist. And if Sisko was somehow in command of the entire 600 ship fleet - which he certainly seemed to me to be the situation - he probably lost many thousands of subordinates in that one battle.

Considering she was lost on the other side of the galaxy with no resources, no contact with SF, no diplomatic relations, no map, all in a diddy little ship I'd have to say she has mitigating circumstances, not to mention we have no idea how many the other captains lost off screen. In Janeways' case we know exactly how many she lost because replacements wouldn't have been available.

Actually, one thing which people complain about was the somewhat inconsistent number of crew members reported in various Voyager episodes. That makes me think we don't know exactly how many crew members Janeway lost.

Captain Styles, USS Excelsior. He never lost anyone, never left the Earth system, and was never shown taking his crew into any armed conflict. ;)

Styles is not one of the choices available. Anyway, nobody knows how long Styles was captain of Excelsior or what adventures he had or how many crew members did during his command, because it all happened off screen.
 
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Captain Styles, USS Excelsior. He never lost anyone, never left the Earth system, and was never shown taking his crew into any armed conflict. ;)

In my headcanon, Styles murdered his helmsman and engineering staff with his little baton in a blind rage of madness and hatred after he failed to pursue the Enterprise successfully.

That doesn't sound very safe to me.



Just sayin'
 
You are wrong about Sisko. Sisko sometimes had other ships under his command in battle. Like in "Sacrifice of Angles" where 600 Starfleet ships battled 1,200 Dominion & allied ships. Ships were exploding like crazy during that battle, each one taking out its crew of tens, hundreds, or thousands of persons.

And it looked like Sisko, despite being a lowly captain, was in command of the entire Federation fleet of 600 ships. And even if someone else was in command of the entire fleet, Sisko seemed to give orders to an entire squadron that broke through the Dominion lines and headed for DS9. So if just one of the ships in Sisko's squadron was destroyed Sisko would have lost far more subordinates than any other captain and series protagonist. And if Sisko was somehow in command of the entire 600 ship fleet - which he certainly seemed to me to be the situation - he probably lost many thousands of subordinates in that one battle.



Actually, one thing which people complain about was the somewhat inconsistent number of crew members reported in various Voyager episodes. That makes me think we don't know exactly how many crew members Janeway lost.



Styles is not one of the choices available. Anyway, nobody knows how long Styles was captain of Excelsior or what adventures he had or how many crew members did during his command, because it all happened off screen.

Regarding Sisko...

Yes, he sometimes was in overall command of a fleet, but I am talking about serving on someone's ship/station, not a broader range of authority like that. He can't control or micromanage all those other ships. He can only do that with his own.
 
Totally Janeway. She took them across an alien Quadrant alone and when some of them died she went back and tag teamed her previous self to give them another chance at life.
 
Totally Janeway. She took them across an alien Quadrant alone and when some of them died she went back and tag teamed her previous self to give them another chance at life.
Well, the chance to save 1 of them. Also one of the riskiest moves by any captain ever. She moved on from saving any others who died during the journey, but I appreciate the sentiment behind what you're saying.
 
Styles is not one of the choices available. Anyway, nobody knows how long Styles was captain of Excelsior or what adventures he had or how many crew members did during his command, because it all happened off screen.
What happened off-screen isn't canon, so I'm correct. But also, I was pretty clearly kidding. :p
 
One reason I don’t consider Janeway is she took more radical risks. She values getting home more than staying alive and relied on luck more often like in the 1:20 chance in Scientific Method.

If you took all parallel universes I think Janeway has more average deaths than other captains.
 
Well, space is always dangerous and every captain had his challenge with a superior enemy, even they have very different conditions/ships and crews. So I compare them to their relationship with their own red shirts.

As a red shirt, I definitely know Archer would beaten for me, even die for me. None of the other captains would do this, none! A red shirt is red shirt, while Kirk found it. Picard would not know who I am. Sisko the bad space cowboy always rationalized the lost of crew/ship. Janeway was most psycho of all the captains and her moral values were more important than everything and everyone.
 
Janeway was most psycho of all the captains and her moral values were more important than everything and everyone.
To be psycho and have moral values... seriously? I wonder if Janeway were not a woman would she be thrown the description 'psycho' so casually given it is short for being a psychopath or having some form of an actual medical condition like psychosis.
 
One reason I don’t consider Janeway is she took more radical risks. She values getting home more than staying alive and relied on luck more often like in the 1:20 chance in Scientific Method.

If you took all parallel universes I think Janeway has more average deaths than other captains.
I wonder if anyone has ever done a head count from all the Trek versions to see who has the best statistics? End of the day stuff too because one can't really discount or include redundant parallel universes or timelines.
 
Janeway took some huge risks, yes, the aforementioned twin pulsars come to mind. And she sometimes came close to "losing it", for example in Equinox.

Then again, so have the other captains. Picard nearly "lost it" in First Contact, and Sisko with Eddington.

About those risks: I believe all Captains took risks they probably shouldn't have in real life.... but a captain that plays it safe doesn't make for exciting episodes ;)
 
To be psycho and have moral values... seriously? I wonder if Janeway were not a woman would she be thrown the description 'psycho' so casually given it is short for being a psychopath or having some form of an actual medical condition like psychosis.

As someone who was fan of ST from childhood and later became an engineer at one faculty after eleven years first female graduate, I always dreamed from a female captain/leader. And TPTB gave me a psycho and I can say call her with her name. I do not care about all those politically correctness things. Two-three centuries after all those great enlightenment philosophers, I will let from no one dictate to me word taboos, sorry! And I am not saying this at the concept of N word (:p ), if I wouldn't be a woman I can call her still "psycho".
And yes, even psychos can have their own moral values. No need to read some scientific papers, alone popular culture has some great contributions about the topic, who can forget the series "Dexter" or "Hannibal" ? :evil:
 
Janeway's out, just ask Harry Kim. Poor dumb Harry. She's also really lucky that the Hirogen were just playing.
Sisko had to get through the Dominion War.
Picard would happily shoot you with holo points if you happen to get assimilated by the Borg.
With the Xindi War and general incompetence to put up with Archer's out too.

Kirk for me.
Of course Jellico was probably the safest occupant of the captain's chair we'll ever see.
 
As someone who was fan of ST from childhood and later became an engineer at one faculty after eleven years first female graduate, I always dreamed from a female captain/leader. And TPTB gave me a psycho and I can say call her with her name. I do not care about all those politically correctness things. Two-three centuries after all those great enlightenment philosophers, I will let from no one dictate to me word taboos, sorry! And I am not saying this at the concept of N word (:p ), if I wouldn't be a woman I can call her still "psycho".
And yes, even psychos can have their own moral values. No need to read some scientific papers, alone popular culture has some great contributions about the topic, who can forget the series "Dexter" or "Hannibal" ? :evil:
Fair enough, sekundant :) Absolutely you are entitled to think this. I just wince a bit with the word psycho. It does seem to be dismissive and it doesn't to me fit with also possessing a concern regards right and wrong. Call her psycho away if it is what you think.
 
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