The world of Star Trek is filled with all sorts of characters, none more recognizable than the captains of these great ships, so who are my five favorites?
The captain’s chair is synonymous with Star Trek. Well, a desk in some cases. The position of captain is one that can’t be overlooked or dismissed. Star Trek fans know this all too well. So who’s sitting in my fave-five, as WWE Hall of Famer Booker T would say? Well, who’s not, let’s start there.
For this process, we’re not counting characters as a whole but in the actors that portray them. This might get some people heated, but I really enjoyed the portrayal of Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk. He and his William Shatner counterpart, however, failed to make this list.
Who else fails to make the cut? Well, Jean-Luc Picard. He’s probably my least favorite character in all of Star Trek canon. Let’s be clear, I don’t dislike him or hate him, I simply like him the least. He’s too dry and too cautious. He’s blinded by his anger and at times is a liability. He’s really no better than any other captain but is propped up to be seen as such.
There’s also no William Riker. Riker may not have a lot of time in a Captain’s chair in the televised canon, but he does still count in my book. He almost made the list, but there was just one that I couldn’t exclude from the list. He’s a genuine shocker but it’ll tell you so much about who I am as a fan that he made the list. Even if he’s technically a cheat.
So with that, let’s get started.
Also, these are in no particular order.
Jonathan Archer
Firstly, it’s Scott Bakula. Secondly, it’s Scott Bakula. Thirdly, IT’S SCOTT-FREAKING-BAKULA. What more reason do you need for Jonathan Archer to make a top-five list? Bakula is a Sci-Fi icon, and his addition to Star Trek: Enterprise made the show must-see for many a Trekkie or Sci-Fi geek. His portrayal of Captain Jonathan Archer was fantastic. Sure, it’s not the most popular series, but Archer was a captain for the people.
Early in the series, the Vulcans were constantly looking down and dismissing humanity, but Archer was having none of it. His desire to stand up to those who could take his command from him in an instant showed that Archer valued his integrity over his dreams. A man driven by principle can not be derailed.
He was never the best Captain, nor was he the flashiest. He’ll never best James T. Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard as the fandom’s favorite Trek captain but he did enough during his time to always be remembered fondly by those who love the franchise.
Whether it was his time on Quantum Leap (what a ball-busting finale), his guest role on Chuck, or his current turn on NCIS: New Orleans, Bakula always delivers. It’s probably why he’s still so beloved all these years later, and why Star Trek: Enterprise still resonates with so many fans, even if it is their least favorite of the older shows.
You can’t deny that Archer has charisma, charm, and a great set of lines ready to be distributed at a moment’s notice whenever an alien race gets too snarky with the crew of the Enterprise.
Benjamin Sisko
I didn’t love Avery Brooks in season one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He felt almost lost in the material. Like he couldn’t find his barrings at first. Then, it started to come together. All the wondrous glory that Brooks had in him started to come out more and more. His ability to deliver dialogue became the show’s defining characteristic and being able to play off of a great actor like Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), really showcased what Brooks was all about.
That’s when you start really see his value as a main player. This isn’t a new idea. James T. Krik’s best scenes were his debates with Spock. Same with Kathryn Janeway’s relationship with Chakotay. Star Trek has never been built around one actor having a cinematic performance. This is a stage play, where chemistry and interpersonal relationships drive the plot.
That’s exactly what Brooks was able to get out of Benjamin Sisko. As the series progressed his relationships took such a stronghold in the show. So much so that it became the anchor of the reason to watch for me. Whether it was his parental bond with his son Jake, his combative but loving relationship with Kira Nerys, or his very deep connection with Dax and its symbiotic host Jadzia. Each relationship not only defined Sisko as a character but defined large segments of the show as a whole.
Sisko also had strong couplings with the villains of the show, but not the traditional villain types. Mostly in Star Trek, you get villains who seek to blow things up. Yet, Sisko got more devious villains. You had the charming yet fascist Gul Dukat, the exploitative Kai Winn or his bitter resentment of Starfleet allies turned terrorist rivals in Cal Hudson and Michael Eddington.
The Maquis and their conflict with Starfleet was another avenue that the show and Brooks nailed. Those plots brought out the real Sisko, the man who’d do anything to protect his family, his crew, and his Starfleet. Even if it meant burning a piece of his soul in the process.
Kathryn Janeway
There are a lot of personal reasons, deeply personal reasons, that drew me to Kathryn Janeway. We’re not going to talk about those, however. What we are going to talk about is how Janeway was easy, without a doubt, the most charming and down to Earth captain the shows may have ever seen. The fact that one of her most infamous lines in the history of Star Trek: Voyager is “…there’s coffee in that nebula” is just a testament to how real she was as a character.
While the Maquis inclusion storyline was shelved pretty early into the series run, she was not without her own fair share of adversaries. She, like Sisko, was the driving force of the show and the characters that she worked best with were often the scenes that powered the show. From the apprehensive pairing with Chakotay to her motherly bond with Seven of Nine, she always seemed to bring the best out of her co-stars. Even if she wasn’t always fond of them.
While Janeway doesn’t have that one defining antagonist as Sisko did in Dukat, Janeway made every adversary feel that much more potent as a threat. Especially with her run-in with Captain Rudy Ransom. Ransom was a mirror for Janeway, an opportunity to see what could’ve been had she been less of a leader, and had their circumstances as a ship been worse than they had been.
Her reflection and ability to look inward were paramount to the show‘s progress and the development of the stories and characters around her.
Geordi La Forge
Boom, Geordi La Forge. Now, he might not count for some of you, but he counts for me. La Forge was someone who during the canonical timeline never ascended the ranks of captain. For the entirety of Star Trek: Next Generation, La Forge was the helmsman of the Enterprise-D. He would see several promotions, going from lieutenant junior grade to lieutenant commander, all while being promoted to chief engineer of the Enterprise-E.
Yet, La Forge’s actor LeVar Burton wouldn’t just be part of the Next Generation saga. Nope, he would also have a crossover or two. Burton found himself reprising his role of La Forge on Star Trek: Voyager in an alternate timeline of the show’s future. In it, the titular ship, Voyager, has been destroyed and most of the crew died as a result. Only Chakotay and Harry Kim survive. Fifteen years after the ship and crew expire, the two partner up with the Doctor and Chakotay’s girlfriend Tessa Omond. The four seek to avert a disaster that would save the crew of the Voyager and change the timeline.
Starfleet is aware of this and sends their best captain to get the rebel group; Captain Geordi La Forge. La Forge tracks the stolen Delta Flyer down and tries to reason with them. The tension, yet respect that La Forge and Chakotay had for one another at that moment was perfect. The acting between two fantastic actors gave the scene so much ambiance in such little time. That scene also showed the true talent of the writers to craft a scene so viable and manage to fit into such a tiny window.
Sure, La Forge was only an on-screen captain for mere minutes in a glorified cameo role, but it counts. Go watch Star Trek: Voyager’s episode Timeless (S5, E6) and see what I’m talking about.
The Emergency Command Hologram
Ha! Didn’t see it coming, did you? Ok, maybe some of you did. Whatever the case may be, the Emergency Command Hologram is literally one of the best moments of Star Trek: Voyager that the series has ever concocted.
It starts as a joke of sorts, with the Doctor (played by Robert Picardo) creating a fantasy program where he is in fact forced to take over the ship after the crew becomes incapacitated. It serves as a power fantasy where a beloved and respected captain has Seven of Nine going to new, never before discovered areas to seduce the new Doctor-Captain. Captain-Doctor?
In the episode, entitled Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy“, aliens hijack the holodeck and view The Doctor’s fantasies, and presume them to be real. This sets up a great climax at the end of the episode where the Doctor activates the EMC (Emergency Command Hologram) and convinces the aliens to leave the space ever firing on them.
The EMC returns the next season, in the seventh season’s two-part event Workforce and Workforce, Part II. While it sounds like a silly plot at first, it pays off with the entirety of the Doctor’s story arc throughout the show’s history. A computer program that learns to live through his code, the Doctor’s entire goal is to become more human. To relate better to his crew compadres. It’s a perfect reflection of what it means to be human, even if you feel anything but.
Picardo, another Chuck alum by the way, and his portrayal of a Doctor who can do anything but feel was arguably the best character and character arc and growth throughout the entirety of the series. His evolution really did a great service in making the show fantastic, and his ability to bring the smallest and most minor of moments to the screen by making them more profound than they had any right to be is just one of a hundred or so reasons to love The Doctor and Picardo.