When the Captain's Away: ENT Version

[DavidGutierrez]

Who was the best commander of the Enterprise in Archer's absence? I'm not counting alien races who temporarily captured the ship; just the command crew.

Who was the best by way of tactics, diplomacy, sheer badassery? T'Pol, Trip, or Reed?

 

[BillJ]

None of them ever seemed very good in the center seat, including Archer.

 

[JiNX-01]

Trip.

He handled the situation in the Vulcan arc really well. And when Reed questioned his decision to alert the Andorians, he treated Reed like and adult and reponded civily.

REED: I've got two teams working on it. Both launchers should be online in a few hours.
TUCKER: Anything else?
REED: Permission to speak freely? Admiral Gardner ordered us to return to Earth, yet we've set a course for Andorian territory.
TUCKER: We are going back. We're just taking a small detour first.
REED: Have you told Starfleet you're planning to warn the Andorians?
TUCKER: No.
REED: Have you any idea what the Admiral will do when he finds out?
TUCKER: I'll save you a seat at my court-martial. Is there anything else?
REED: The Vulcans have legitimate reasons for launching this strike. If we alert the Andorians, we will be betraying our closest ally.
TUCKER: I'm trying to prevent a war, Malcolm. A war that Earth could get draw into.
REED: With all due respect, sir, we shouldn't get involved.
TUCKER: We're already involved. (doorbell) Come in.
(Soval enters)
TUCKER: That'll be all, Lieutenant.
REED: Sir?
TUCKER: Dismissed.

 

[R. Star]

Trip was also alright in the alternate future in the Xindi arc.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Of the three, Trip is my favourite character, however for the purpose of this poll I went with T'Pol. She has more experience than the other two combined, generally more level-headed and understands how things work in the galaxy at that time.

 

[Danny99]

Trip, which is painful, given how much experience T'Pol was supposed to have had.

 

[LeadHead]

Trip proved himself during the Vulcan-arc in season 4 for me. I was very surprised how effective he was in those episodes. Also, he had shown growth from where he was in command from "Shadows of P'Jem."

I wish Malcolm had more genuine command moments. He'd be "in command" frequently, but really wouldn't get to do anything, which is a shame.

 

[SpookyJim]

I liked Reed as acting captain.

I've never been fond of T'Pol and could never understand why a Vulcan should have any place commanding an Earth ship at that point in time. Trip, well he was ok but I think he gets a little emotional at times.

Reed was calm, cool and collected. For example, his no-hesitation decision in 'Hatchery' to destroy the insectoid ship to prevent it escaping and giving away Enterprise's location. That's the sort of captain I would want to serve if I was in Starfleet.

 

[Mister Spock]

I too was a little confused with T'Pol being the usual default for command whenever Archer was off the ship. I'd always made the assumption that like Phlox, she was outside the Starfleet chain of command. Archer should have given command over to Reed in those circumstances, given he was the senior Starfleet bridge officer.