Female Starfleet Captains and why Michael Burnham’s the worst
By Marc Kick
Captain Kathryn Janeway benefitted from great character development by the writers of Star Trek: Voyager
And finally, I’d be remiss if I wrote a piece on female Starfleet Captains and failed mention the Captain of the USS Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway. With Captain Janeway, we got the first series centered around a female Captain. If you’re looking for a female Captain whose writers wrote great dialogue for, whose character is regarded with such respect and dignity as Jean-Luc Picard, look no further than Kathryn Janeway.
While stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway not only fearlessly led her crew on a constant march home, but also took an almost motherly approach at times to various crew members.
When a crew member needed advice like Kes early on, Janeway always had an open door and was a sounding board for her concerns, however when times got tough and she needed to send other alien species a stern warning to protect her crew, her voice & her words demanded attention.
Specifically, when her crew came upon the Vidiians for the first time, and was sending them on their way at the end of the “Phage” episode, her warning of, “If I ever encounter your kind again, I will do whatever is necessary to protect my people from this harvesting of yours. Any aggressive actions against this ship or its crew will be met by the deadliest force. Is that clear?” is about as scary as I can ever remember Janeway’s threats being.
She would defend her crew members until she breathed her last breath. Again, Captain Janeway benefitted greatly from strong writing of her character.