Safest Captain To Serve Under?

[JirinPanthosa]

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.

The reason for bringing up parallel universes is I think with Captains who take insane risks and beat the odds because Plot Armor, we should count the risk and not the outcome. So I brought up parallel universes as an analogy for that. Given all parallel universes, in what percentage of those universes did a random crew member survive?

Janeway's score I think is hurt by far the most by looking at it that way because she rolled more than her fair share of natural 20s.

 

[Refuge]

The reason for bringing up parallel universes is I think with Captains who take insane risks and beat the odds because Plot Armor, we should count the risk and not the outcome. So I brought up parallel universes as an analogy for that. Given all parallel universes, in what percentage of those universes did a random crew member survive?

Janeway's score I think is hurt by far the most by looking at it that way because she rolled more than her fair share of natural 20s.

I don't know about that. It's like the Discovery episode where Lorca was killed a few times over and all that. At the end of the show you kind of shrug and move on. You don't (well I don't) say I counted 'X' numbers of deaths of the one life. Though I shouldn't have used that as an example because Lorca was Mirror Lorca anyway and that messes with everything even more.

Can I ask what is plot armour?

 

[Lord Garth]

Safest of these Captains? Safe is relative. You could die on any mission gone wrong.

Kirk --> Don't need to explain this one. If you're not a main character, you're potentially as good as dead.
Picard --> Ehhhh.... Let's hold off on that one for now.
Sisko --> DS9 was attacked a lot. And during the first season, it felt like every other episode was, "There's a murder on the station!"
Janeway --> Voyager saw a lot more combat than the Enterprise-D.
Archer --> I wouldn't feel safe on the NX-01 with it being so much less advanced than everything else.

I'll have to go with Picard as the safest Captain to serve under.

 

[Prax]

Statistically, I believe Janeway is the safest captain to serve under. I believe Picard has less deaths, but a 10x larger crew count.

Edit: Actually, Archer lost no one until season 3, then he lost a third of his crew.

 

[MAGolding]

I don't know about that. It's like the Discovery episode where Lorca was killed a few times over and all that. At the end of the show you kind of shrug and move on. You don't (well I don't) say I counted 'X' numbers of deaths of the one life. Though I shouldn't have used that as an example because Lorca was Mirror Lorca anyway and that messes with everything even more.

Can I ask what is plot armour?

Warning! Warning! TV tropes is highly addictive and time wasting!

TV tropes has a page about the trope called plot armor: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlotArmor

 

[Tenacity]

Safest is Captain John Harriman, apparently only lost one person.

 

[Makarov]

There's a line in the episode "A Matter of Time" that always made me laugh...

Picard says something like "But...since I've never been one to play it safe...I choose to try."

I always thought that line was unintentionally hilarious because Picard's very core is built around playing it safe. It's honestly one of several data points I lean on when I occasionally argue that Picard had a very inaccurate sense of self and of reality in general.

Totally disagree... Picard is always first to risk everything in order to achieve a peaceful solution. He lowers shields first in diplomatic situations. He doesn't want to fire on the crystalline entity, doesn't want to use Hugh as a weapon, etc..

 

[Farscape One]

Good point.

Given how few people died on Picard's ship, I think it's safe to say he's the luckiest captain. Only other one as lucky, I think, is Archer, with almost all his deaths were during the Xindi arc.

 

[Vger23]

Totally disagree... Picard is always first to risk everything in order to achieve a peaceful solution. He lowers shields first in diplomatic situations. He doesn't want to fire on the crystalline entity, doesn't want to use Hugh as a weapon, etc..

In my interpretation, that's called being a weenine, not being a risk-taker.

 

[Makarov]

In that case Section 31 / mirror universe terran empire / the klingon empire may have a position for you

I say the safest captain is Captain Beverly Picard in All Good Things

 

[Farscape One]

Yet the one time we saw her as full captain, at least one crewman died. And she lost her ship... and that created the rupture that nearly destroyed humanity.

Definitely NOT safest.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Well, you guys/gals are all intelligent and give excellent reasons for each choice.
I only could consider between Picard and Sisko and right now I'm cycle-binge watching DS9.
So, for the moment I had to pick Sisko.

 

[Makarov]

Yet the one time we saw her as full captain, at least one crewman died. And she lost her ship... and that created the rupture that nearly destroyed humanity.

Definitely NOT safest.

True she did destroy her ship in the one episode we saw her... I'm coming at it from the angle that if you serve on the bridge with her and got injured she could treat you or she could pull strings at Starfleet medical and get you the best medical treatment in the federation

 

[Prax]

You could argue that Picard destroyed her ship.

 

[Tenacity]

Q destroyed her ship, he created the whole set up.