What TOS-era character could have captained the Enterprise-B?

[Christmas Canon Spock]

McCoy: he was treated best of all because Roddenberry was involved with and co-wrote "Encounter At Farpoint." He was never seen or referred to again (even though it would have made sense to do so when Spock and Scotty appeared).

He wasn't even referred to by name.

 

[SantaTom]

The fact that they appeared is secondary to how they were treated. Kang, Kor, Koloth, and Arne Darvin were all on DS9 after Berman had turned over most of his control to Piller and eventually Behr.

Let's break the others down:

Chekov: was only featured because Koenig agreed to take the part that was written for Kelley. His lines and function in GEN were unchanged from what was written for McCoy. I'd say that's poor treatment at best and insulting at worst.

Scotty: same for Doohan, who took the part written for Nimoy. Some of his lines and his function in the story were unchanged from what was written for Nimoy. This is also insulting.

Meanwhile, Scotty was treated horribly in "Relics." It's an insult to his character and makes the TNG crew look awful. Berman had a big part in that.

Spock: Spock, perhaps the greatest Trek character after Kirk, was criminally underused. The progress he had made with Sarek in TOS and the TOS films was tarnished. This is more poor treatment.

Sulu and Rand: they were treated better than the other TOS characters because it was an anniversary episode and because the episode had to maintain continuity with Star Trek VI.

James T. Kirk: the heart of Star Trek was treated like a plot device. He was sidelined after his first unnecessary "death" until he was unceremoniously killed again.

McCoy: he was treated best of all because Roddenberry was involved with and co-wrote "Encounter At Farpoint." He was never seen or referred to again (even though it would have made sense to do so when Spock and Scotty appeared).

Berman hated TOS. If you need further proof, spend some time reading background information about TNG, Berman, Braga, and Ron Moore on Memory Alpha.

See, it always ends up this way. "Oh, those were okay because Berman wasn't involved in those." Yeah, he was. Listen to some interviews with Ira Steven Behr sometime. He fought with Berman constantly over story points. Sometimes he won. Sometimes he lost. But Berman was involved in every single episode. He read and gave notes on every single script. He was the final decision-maker on everything. The idea that Behr somehow just took control and did his own thing and Berman stayed out of it is ludicrous.

From roughly season 3 of TNG until the end of Enterprise, Berman ran everything. You can't praise other people for the things you like and blame Berman for the things you don't.

 

[Riley]

See, it always ends up this way. "Oh, those were okay because Berman wasn't involved in those." Yeah, he was. Listen to some interviews with Ira Steven Behr sometime. He fought with Berman constantly over story points. Sometimes he won. Sometimes he lost. But Berman was involved in every single episode. He read and gave notes on every single script. He was the final decision-maker on everything. The idea that Behr somehow just took control and did his own thing and Berman stayed out of it is ludicrous.

From roughly season 3 of TNG until the end of Enterprise, Berman ran everything. You can't praise other people for the things you like and blame Berman for the things you don't.

I'm not praising anyone. I lost a lot of respect for Ron Moore after Generations and regained some of it through the rest of DS9. The point is that Berman was the last word and that many folks who worked on the series have established that he was not a fan of TOS or its characters. If he had been, I have a feeling those characters would have been treated better.

 

[Christmas Canon Spock]

I'm not praising anyone. I lost a lot of respect for Ron Moore after Generations and regained some of it through the rest of DS9. The point is that Berman was the last word and that many folks who worked on the series have established that he was not a fan of TOS or its characters. If he had been, I have a feeling those characters would have been treated better.

I mean, there is a certain idea that Berman carried forward that TNG was to be distanced from TOS per Roddenberry. So, even if Berman was a fan of TOS but he was keeping with Roddenberry's directive of distancing from TOS to a degree.

I do think that Berman tried to strike a balance because TOS was still the largest money maker for the brand.