James Tiberius Kirk
*ducks the flying vegetable matter*
With me being such a Star Trek freak you should have all seen this one coming! 
Jean-Luc Picard
I am attempting to watch Deep Space 9 (that’s DS9 to you non-Trekkie types). I say attempting because I just can’t seem to get into it. I try to sit and watch the episodes but I find myself drifting, growing bored, and usually ending up on the internet or reading a book. As I was eating lunch, I thought back to the ease with which I can watch Star Trek: The Next Generation. Even after seeing an episode at least thirty times, I can sit and watch with no desire to get up and do something else. The shows capture my full attention.
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko
It got me thinking about the key character in any of the Star Trek episodes, the one who runs the show, gives the orders, takes the heat, sits in the big chair…the captain.
Now, I’m not saying that the show is a hot-or-miss based on the captain but there is so much debate on which captain is the best that I had to post a poll here and see what the masses have to say about it.
Kathryn Janeway
So what makes someone choose a particular captain as their favorite? Is it their demeanor? How they interact with their crew? Is it based on the show that someone first watched? Or is it the show they remember the best? Do you pick your favorite captain based on the episodes, the writing, witty dialog? Perhaps it’s from special memories tied to certain episodes? Special effects?
Jonathan Archer
What are your reasons for your favorite captain? Mine is Jean-Luc Picard. Not sure if I can give you only one reason. I love his personality, his restraint, clear confidence in his ship and crew. It was fascinating watching his character develop throughout the seven years the show ran. He started as a stolid man who was clearly uncomfortable around children. Little by little, he relaxes and cultivates some close relationships.
So I now put the question to you good people: Who do you choose as your favorite Starfleet captain:
Jean-Luc. Part of it is he is “my” captain. I was 19 when NG came out, old enough to choose to watch the show instead of having it thrust upon me like the original. He was just so cool. Always cool.
I am all about Jean-Luc. Actually, I was all about ‘Number One’. haha Jean-Luc was always very believable. Not the wimp (ducks the flying vegetable matter) that Kirk was. Kirk was a slave to his emotions all the time. Jean-Luc was, 9 times out of 10, cool and commanding in all situations, yet sensitive when it mattered. The fact that he had to deal with ‘Q’ and didn’t kill him immediately makes him awesome-er (yep, I said it)! I never really got into DS9. I didn’t mind Janeway, but for some reason I prefer a man in the Captain role.
All I know? Is that I loathe Janeway. I *love* DS9, probably my favorite of the Star Trek series. *smile*. But Janeway? I want to run fleeing from the tv when she is on… that and Neelix. Makes that show just about unwatchable to me.
Picard, all the way! I wanted to like Janeway the best, but… no… it has to be Picard.
Looks like Picard has the votes so far!
Ah, yes…the classic conundrum. Not quite as eternal as Ginger vs. MaryAnn (MaryAnn, by the way
), but still timeless.
As a crew, I like the DS9 cast the best. But as for individual characters, Picard has my vote. Also Worf. Because he’s Worf.
“I must protest, I am NOT a merry man!”
“And it is Worf madam, and not Woof.”
Oooh, great question, Shay. I think I’m going to go with Picard too, because I do think he was a great captain. But TGN is not my favourite show – at least not now, because it feels really dated. I loved Voyager the most, I think. I haven’t seen all DS9, but would love them to re-run it here so I could relive it from the beginning and get to the end. I hear it got really exciting in the later seasons.
I think I like Kirk only because it was one of the few shows my Dad and I enjoyed watching together — more the memories than the actual performance. Past that — I, too, must vote for Picard.
I am a Picard girl, but my friend Jen makes a very compelling argument for Kirk: http://jenkirchner.com/2011/12/19/battle-royale-kirk-vs-picard/
Thanks for the link!
Kirk. He exudes this macho thing which makes his enemies underestimate his intelligence (think Kahn or the Gorn or Clint Howard in the Corbonite Manuver)… With Picard, it was always “by the book”, always the high road. Picard wouldn’t have been able to survive the Mirror Universe, he would have been a slave to his “honor” and told the truth. Kirk could lie, cheat and steal that was what was going to save the crew. He could even let a woman he truly loved die if he had to. Picard would have wept for months to Counselor Troy- “Oh Deanna, did I have a moral right to do that? How should I feel?”. (Think Generations). He was so cerebial that G.R. had to create the charactor of Ryker to balance him out. KIRK- kicking the alien asses and taking the alien women… LOVE him!
Oooo, good points. I still gotta go with Picard though
And he DID take a gigantic spear to the chest back in the day…
I’ve always been a Kirk fan for all of the above reasons and the fact he had to bail out Picard in Genrations.
Picard did break a nail against Sauron(sp?) the first time. 
Hey that’s right! If Kirk hadn’t bailed out Picard’s @ss in Generations, he wouldn’t have been able to stop the Borg in Earth’s past or the Star Fleet corruption in the Briar Patch… I don’t ever remember Kirk saying to Spock, “Man, what I really need to defeat this enemy is a smart talking Captian from the future….” (I’m surprised at myself at how much I like Kirk. I’d never really thought of it too much before…)
ROFLMAO!!!! Me too Mike, me too
“He’s saved my life a dozen times over, isn’t that worth a career?” — Kirk in “Amok Time”. Come on over to the Kirk side Shay. You can’t turn down a selfless captain (and a handsome one according to the wife:))
Yeah Shay, we don’t believe in the “No win scenario”. See? Another example of Kirk’s under estimated intelligence….
Never!!!!!!!!! #TeamPicard
I cannot evaluate the Captain without considering his relationships with his crew. Kirk had the best. Of course, those relationships evolved more in the movies than in the TV series which, admittedly, was too short-lived. Kirk most believable as a leader dealing with unique challenges. He didn’t throw away the book – there wasn’t any book. Picard – too remote (I would have been happier if he had canned his first officer). Janeway – too bureaucratic – would never have survived real challenges required intuitive responses. Sisko – too much the central character because of his “special” relationship with the mysterious ones. Archer – too much aw golly shucks (although, truthfully, I probably would have been glued to a viewing port saying “Aw golly shucks!” in the same situation).
Love your arguments! I might have to come over to the Kirk side