TotallyOz Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 Who gets your vote for the best Star Trek captain? What is it about them that puts them at the top of the list? Most of us grew up watching this show. Or, at least some of us did. I was always a big fan. My vote will sadden some but I have to vote for Jean-Luc Picard. I found him sexy! Quote
Members JKane Posted April 1, 2012 Members Posted April 1, 2012 I think I have to go with the *thinking man's* captain as well, Picard. Though why Jean-Luc Picard of France is an Englishman...? The future is different! Though this got me thinking about a possible dark horse candidate, Benjamin Cisco! Smart, front line of the biggest war in Federation history, became a god (kinda). Wow I'm a nerd! Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 Captain Janeway !! I loved loved her. I couldn't get enough of Star Trek Voyager. I loved her building relationship with Seven of Nine and her ability to lead and be compassionate all at the same time. My least favorite was Cisco. He drove me nuts. He was the most boring and uninteresting of the bunch. Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 Star Trek fans.. I believe one finger.. Quote
AdamSmith Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 Great, great question, OZ! And all great answers. After reflection, I go with first instinct: James Tiberius K. himself. What more unlikely success in playing the role than Shatner's? Not to add helping create it. And not out of the smooth, effortless-seeming Shakespearean chops of such as Patrick Stewart, but rather (even given Shatner's own Shakespeare and other serious theatre work previous) mud-wrestling the role ham-fisted out of, more or less, nowhere except some broad-brush direction from Roddenberry and the first few scripts. To OneFinger's point: no Trekkies here, boss! We be TREKKERS, one & all. I am with JKane in that Sisko really, and surprisingly, grew on me with time. As did the whole of DS9. In some ways it ought not to have worked; and yet much of what first promised to be tedious and limiting turned into its strengths. The thing could be yearningly poetic, at its best. OK, time for my meds. Quote
Members eeyore Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 Well I at the end of the day I vote for Jean-Luc. But we have to keep in mind that Jean-Luc was really a peace time captain. Captain Kirk was basically a war time captain (the Klingon empire represented a clear and present danger to the Federation). The two venues require different skill sets and character traits. I grew up in my teens with captain Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scottie, Lieutenant O'Hura ( and her opening up haling frequencies), Ensign Checkov, Zulu, nurse Chapel (I never really liked her), and the rest of the first generation. When the next generation came along I was devastated. I simply could not adjust - I mean a Klingon as a Star Fleet Lieutenant, in charge of the tactical station no less! Oh the horror! After months of therapy I finally accepted the fact that this was a completely new generation and a new paradigm. I learned that I could adapt and change. Once I finally came to terms with this and realized it was the result of my own inner failings I felt much better, and became a better person for it. OK, I have issues but I'm OK with them... Quote
Members seattlebottom Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 Janeway, away from Starfleet help and she still managed to guide her ship and crew to safety every damn week. Quote
Members RA1 Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 I have to go with the original, James T. Kirk. Very likely I am influenced by the fact that I watched those first run AND my career got so busy I did not have time to look at later versions and have just never "gotten into doing so" since. I believe Nurse Chapel was Gene Roddenberry's wife so that might have influenced that character. Best regards, RA1 Quote
Members JKane Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 I believe Nurse Chapel was Gene Roddenberry's wife so that might have influenced that character. Best regards, RA1 Yep, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, she's had some part in most Star Trek series, probably most notably (other than Chapel) known as Lwaxana Troi to us Next-Gen types. Also for digging every scrap out of Roddenberry's wastebasket and turning them into fairly long running though average at best TV towards the end of her life. Quote
Members JKane Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 Yep, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, she's had some part in most Star Trek series, probably most notably (other than Chapel) known as Lwaxana Troi to us Next-Gen types. Also for digging every scrap out of Roddenberry's wastebasket and turning them into fairly long running though average at best TV towards the end of her life. Far more importantly, she played Lady Morella on Babylon 5! "he appeared in the Babylon 5 episode "Point of No Return", as Lady Morella, the psychic widow of the Centauri emperor, a role which foreshadowed major plot elements in the series." Somehow I didn't realize it was her. *Loved* THAT show. Cap't Sheridan should've been my answer to 'best captain?'! Quote
Members JKane Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 CBS is re-releasing ST:TNG soon cleaned up into HD (on Blu-Ray), the hardcore fans may want to see. But it's my experience a lot of old TV doesn't hold up nearly as well as we remember it from our youth, and the first season or two of Next Gen are included in that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7A9OisTODI Quote
Members RA1 Posted April 2, 2012 Members Posted April 2, 2012 I agree with you that old TV shows or old movies (sometimes) don't hold up to "modern" standards but the "nostalgia" effect can be enormous. When you can say the lines in sync with the characters and know all the verses of the songs, how bad can it be? Best regards, RA1 Quote
Members eeyore Posted April 3, 2012 Members Posted April 3, 2012 Let's not forget Captain Christopher Pike, who preceded Kirk as Captain of the Enterprise. He ultimately ended up a disfigured cripple, but finally found peace and happiness as chronicled in what I think was one of the best original early episodes: 'The Glass Menagerie.' Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 My favorite character in the next generation was Counselor Troy. Her mother Lwaxana Troy was cool since she seem more powerful than Troy. Yep, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, she's had some part in most Star Trek series, probably most notably (other than Chapel) known as Lwaxana Troi to us Next-Gen types. Also for digging every scrap out of Roddenberry's wastebasket and turning them into fairly long running though average at best TV towards the end of her life. Quote