The Captain HAS To Be Human...

[jgalley]

sorry guys...but the OP is SPOT ON.

Sure some die-hard trek fans would LOVE to see non-human captains..but...they are a minority.

and that's in "Trek Fans"

now..a show would have to have WIDE-AUDIENCE APPEAL. And the "general viewer" would NOT be interested for long with a non-human focus.

the show would end up canceled before if not right after the 1st season.

fact.

 

[Spirit]

I’m not sure if I disagree with the OP or just don’t understand the point that is being made. If Worf, Data, The Doctor, Seven of Nine, Quark, Kira, and Odo are all “human” (as described on page 2) then what the heck is the alternative?

Tuvok: I am who I am Mister Neelix. It is impossible for me to be more, or less like myself.

 

[timelord1010]

sorry guys...but the OP is SPOT ON.

Sure some die-hard trek fans would LOVE to see non-human captains..but...they are a minority.

and that's in "Trek Fans"

now..a show would have to have WIDE-AUDIENCE APPEAL. And the "general viewer" would NOT be interested for long with a non-human focus.

the show would end up canceled before if not right after the 1st season.

fact.

I don't know about that. I think the depth of the character, human or not, would win the viewers over. Mr. Spock might as well have been a full blooded Vulcan going by his appearance and viewers in the 1960's loved him. If the right person writes the alien Captain well it could work, and it wouldn't hurt if you had a hot female first officer (orion, vulcan, human, whatever) and have a human doctor and half the bridge crew human.

 

[Skywalker]

Star Trek wouldn't have survived if Spock had been the captain and Kirk never existed.

 

[The Inquisitor]

I think a non-human captain would be fine for fanfic or tie-in fiction, but you absolutely must have a human captain if we're discussing another TV show. Make it a non-human and you guarantee yourself a ratings nightmare.

Bang on. They would haemorrhage casual viewers without a human captain at the fore.

Like many posters have mentioned, the aliens in trek tend to represent a human trait or characteristic. Surely that would limit the range and scope of potential story lines before pen is even put to paper. Trek is written by humans, about humans for humans. Alien characters help to tell the human story, I just don't think one would work as captain.

 

[Red Ranger]

Aliens represent a negligable percentage of the viewing public. Screw them.

That's what the aliens in hiding want you to think!

BTW, if, as expected, another series has a human captain as the star, it would be interesting if he wasn't born on Earth, but on a rough-and-tumble Earth colony, leading to a somewhat different perspective, as this fellow would be cognizant of the frailties of the Federation not growing up on "paradise."

 

[ChristopherPike]

I'd get Jeffrey Combs as an Andorian series lead, in a heartbeat.

 

[Tarek71]

I'd get Jeffrey Combs as an Andorian series lead, in a heartbeat.

I like Jeffrey Combs, but I like him because of how well he played against Avery Brooks, Marc Alaimo and Scott Bakula. You just rarely see someone who can work so well not just off of other actors, but against the leading man. He stole most of the scenes he was in, and it was no reflection against these actors, Combs is just that good. And when you consider how easy it would be to over-act the parts hes had here, its a real accomplishment.

But I am just not sure how he would be as the male lead himself.

 

[Shatnertage]

I think that any true Trek fan would welcome a Tribble as the captain in the next series. if the general viewing public is so benighted that they couldn't appreciate Roddenberry's great vision of an interstellar democracy that included--and empowered--all sentient beings, even ones that just purr and give birth, then that's their loss.

Of course, those awful soulless suits at the network will probably insist on having a series lead who looks "human" and can speak...philistines.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Why pander to romcom audiences with a cute furry Tribble? I want a Horta!

 

[KobayashiMaru13]

I'd get Jeffrey Combs as an Andorian series lead, in a heartbeat.

Jeffrey Combs in any role, really. I didn't particularly care for Voyager, but Weyoun was a great character.

 

[sherbertpi9]

Has nobody here ever read Peter Davids 'New Frontier' novels?
The captain isn't human, and by God, he is the coolest, funniest, bestest captain of them all.....maybe not to that degree, but you see my point. He looks human enough.
I get so sick of human captains (especially the despicable Janeway) pontificating about humanity and forcing human values down the collective throat of the galaxy, a non-human captain wont be like that.

 

[Skywalker]

Sure, Mackenzie Calhoun is cool, but why is he cool? What specifically about his being a Xenexian makes him cooler than he might have been if he were a human? Are there any traits specific to Xenexians that make him cool? Aside from the purple eyes, he could have been a human and still have exactly the same type of personality.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Sure, Mackenzie Calhoun is cool, but why is he cool? What specifically about his being a Xenexian makes him cooler than he might have been if he were a human? Are there any traits specific to Xenexians that make him cool? Aside from the purple eyes, he could have been a human and still have exactly the same type of personality.

IMO, Peter David was striving for a character with a background that was very different from most of the Human captains, but still could be someone that readers could easily identify with. Even the fact that his original name was "Humanized" seemed to attest to that. The fact that Calhoun is an alien is something that has to be periodically pointed out when the story demands it, otherwise he could have easily been some bloke from Dublin or from an offworld Earth colony.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Actually, with his temper and penchant for a large sword, he'd be more likely from Limerick than Dublin ...

 

[chardman]

Well, "the Captain" only needs to be human (and/or someone the audience can identify with) if he/she/it is the main character. Other than that, who or what "the Captain" is, is wholly unimportant.

Think about it. There are plenty of shows that have focus on a group of characters, who presumably answer to bosses that are rarely, if ever, actually are even seen on camera. Still others, where the person who's officially "in charge" show up only in a handful of episodes, and are specifically designed to be people that the main characters (and we the audience) don't identify with.

If, for instance, we had a series that didn't concern itself much with day to day ship operations, and instead focused primarily on a team of mission specialists who did most of the landing party duties and scientific heavy listing, one might well get away with not ever having "the Captain" appear on screen at all. He/She/It might "appear" as nothing more than an off-screen voice ala Charles Townsend in "Charlie's Angels". Then again, there's absolutely no reason he/she/it couldn't be merely referred to, and never actually seen or heard directly, until the very last horrible episode where Johnathan Frakes can play the role in a supposed holodeck simulation.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Well, "the Captain" only needs to be human (and/or someone the audience can identify with) if he/she/it is the main character. Other than that, who or what "the Captain" is, is wholly unimportant.

I understand your disinclination to read back through the whole thread, with as long as it has become (something that as the OP I find quite gratifying), but this point is a good one... and has been made previously.

Then again, there's absolutely no reason he/she/it couldn't be merely referred to, and never actually seen or heard directly, until the very last horrible episode where Johnathan Frakes can play the role in a supposed holodeck simulation.

I like to think that there is a special Hell for anyone who would suggest the last part of this in ernest. (I also, to be clear, don't believe that you were.)

 

[Skywalker]

Sure, Mackenzie Calhoun is cool, but why is he cool? What specifically about his being a Xenexian makes him cooler than he might have been if he were a human? Are there any traits specific to Xenexians that make him cool? Aside from the purple eyes, he could have been a human and still have exactly the same type of personality.

IMO, Peter David was striving for a character with a background that was very different from most of the Human captains, but still could be someone that readers could easily identify with. Even the fact that his original name was "Humanized" seemed to attest to that. The fact that Calhoun is an alien is something that has to be periodically pointed out when the story demands it, otherwise he could have easily been some bloke from Dublin or from an offworld Earth colony.

Right, that's my point. Peter David might as well have made Calhoun a human from a colony on the fringe of civilized space. He's not really a very good example of a successful alien captain because his personality isn't very alien.

 

[Danoz]

I don't know... technically Calhoun was an "alien" and that seemed to work out just fine. Aliens in trek are pretty damn human.