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

[Riley]

Apparently tie-in media for Picard claimed Saavik did get command of the USS Titan in 2290. However, everyone forgets that Saavik's birthyear is roughly 2264, meaning she'd be 26 in 2290 and 29 in 2293, all absurdly young ages for someone to get command outside of Kelvin Kirk.

Thankfully, the tie-in media for Picad is even easier to disregard than Picard itself!

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Yes. That really pissed me off the first time I saw Generations. The filmmakers expected me to get more choked up about Data finding his damn cat than about the death of James T. Kirk. They just had no idea.

Captain, I suspect JonnyQuest may not have owned a personal pet. Sometimes they can become our sons. And many pets are more loyal than cats.

 

[UssGlenn]

You could go full circle and give Barret's Number one command of the Enterprise B. But the Audiences would confuse her with Luxwana, and she's probably be an admiral anyway.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

You could go full circle and give Barret's Number one command of the Enterprise B. But the Audiences would confuse her with Luxwana, and she's probably be an admiral anyway.

I've never been a Barrett buff, even on BEAVER, though I do prefer her Number One to Chapel or the one I called ''Anthrax'' Troi in the presence of friends.

 

[BozoThePerson]

Let's put aside that Berman/Braga/whomever else wanted Harriman and his crew to look inept so that Kirk could save the day. In fact, let's even go so far as to put aside what we saw in Generations. It's the first Enterprise without Kirk as captain in decades, and Starfleet is looking for seasoned officers for the position. They also don't care if said officers once served with or have ties to James T. Kirk.

While I think Chekov would be nice symbolically since he was with Kirk his entire career and worshipped Kirk, I'm not sure he's up to captain a new Enterprise.

I have a few suggestions:

Sulu, who might be offered the E-B after proving himself with the Excelsior.

Styles, who was obviously a capable officer since he was given Excelsior originally. I wonder how Kirk would feel about that?

Lt. Stiles, who came from a long tradition of Starfleet officers and was in the command division.

Kyle, who was a commander in Ops in TWOK but who could have easily switched to command at some point after the Reliant incident.

Kevin Thomas Riley, who actually got a first name unlike Stiles and Kyle and who once introduced himself as "captain of the Enterprise." Since he's one of my favorite minor TOS characters, he'd be my pick.

I'd think Rand or Uhura would be a good choice