POLL: Your favorite Star Trek captain?

From my friend Andy, on Blatherchat:

"Kirk is way better than Picard. Picard has committee meetings, drinks Earl Grey tea and discusses his feelings with heartwarming sincerity. Kirk has sex with hot alien women, beats up Klingons and violates the Prime Directive every day before breakfast.

I will admit that Picard made a good Borg, but then he wasn't really Captain Picard then, was he?"

Ok, I admit I've always been torn. Kirk's the bad boy, the rebel, the lover. Picard is more refined, rational, has the cooler head (and not just because of the lack of hair). But I got hooked on Star Trek because of Kirk.

Between Kirk and Picard:

Captain I'd be most likely to want to...

(list will likely be expanded during the day)

Go drinking with (if I went drinking, that is): Kirk.

Hear sing: Picard.

Go on a date with: Kirk.

Let my sister go out on a date with: Picard.

Jam with on the flute: Picard.

See in a toga: Kirk.

Visit a mirror universe full of our evil twins with: Kirk.

Go book-shopping with: Picard.

Take on a camping trip: Kirk.

Marry: Picard.

Watch as a starship captain: Kirk.

Have as a starship captain if I was a member of the crew: Picard.

Despite writing this song, I must confess that Captain Kirk has been and always will be my favourite Star Trek captain.

What about the rest of you? Who's YOUR favourite starship captain? Maybe you even have the gall to prefer one of the Others, who knows.

I'll be posting your poll results below over the weekend.

Holy toledo, I'm such a nerd.

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From Keris:

"Well, I don't want to go on a date with or marry either Picard or Kirk, but other than that I mostly agree with your answers. As captain of a ship on which I might serve, I'm torn, Picard is more "by the book" but Kirk has more charisma (I would serve Picard because I respect him but I would follow Kirk, if you see the difference). I'd add that I'd rather have a discussion with Picard than Kirk, but I'd rather have Kirk at my back in a brawl.

But as a TV character, Kirk (almost) every time. The 'chemistry' of the original bridge crew hasn't been beaten, in my opinion (and one person I really regret not meeting was DeForest Kelly, it seems likely that I won't get to meet James Doohan either)..."

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From Redax:

"Capt. Sisko. By a hair (as it were) over Picard.

Janeway has her moments. Especially after she stops being Captain Munchkin.

Kirk and Beckett Archer aren't even in the ballpark."

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From Amanda:

"Sisko, all the way."

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From Appleboy:

"I have to go with Janeway! If anything for the great quotes about coffee.

'Commander, turn the ship around! There's coffee in that nebula!'

And how could anyone ever forget that 'Bun of steel' atop her head in the first season, followed by a more sensible 'do. How she stood up to Q and the Borg Queen! I doubt Kirk could have brought Voyager home. Picard maybe."

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From Katy:

"I completely, entirely agree with your answers :)"

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From Sdelmonte:

"I could bollox it all up by reminding you that Spock was at the rank of captain in five of the films, and he's certainly my favorite Star Trek character. But we never got to see what he could do. (And we can leave out Mackenzie Calhoun, PAD's forgettable captain in the New Fronteir books and one-shot captains such as Pike and Jellico.)

Certainly Patrick Stewart is the best of the actors (with the possible exception of Nimoy). He was certainly hypercompetent. But he was rarely fun. When asked 'Kirk or Picard,' Joss Whedon answered, 'Patrick Stewart, yes, but Kirk.' That's a fair summary. Without Stewart's acting skills, Picard was a fairly bland character - like just about everyone on Next Gen, his character stagnated. Kirk, if only through the virtue of being allowed to grow old in the movies, changed and grappled with his failings. That Kirk was played by a limited actor seems irrelevant. I doubt that a better actor would have made Kirk a better hero.

All that said, Avery Brooks is a highly accomplished actor and Ben Sisko grew tremendously as a character while never losing his footing as commander/captain of DS9. It would be hard to call him a 'favorite' but he is the best of the breed.

Kirk would therefore be my favorite, but not by much.

Janeway? A good actor played her, but she was increasingly monomaniacal about getting home and about her command, and the presence of 7 of 9 left to Janeway becoming too much 7's mentor instead of a leader of many.

Archer? A waste of Bakula's skills. He combined many of the worst of Kirk, Janeway and Picard's aspects without their assets. Only Bakula's dedication to the part saves him at all."

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From Monica:

"Sisko. The character was interesting and realistic pretty much from the start. I want three-dimensional characters in my fiction. Kirk is a cowboy, but I don't see any depth in the bits of the original series I've seen.

I also like Picard for many of the same reasons, and I may be conflating my like of DS9 (as being not a utopia) with my like of Sisko. Hard to tell.

Janeway was boring and whiny, and Archer is rough and raw -- fitting for that part of the timeline maybe, but not as likable. If we see him grow, and have to answer to some of his questionable decisions, over the course of the series, I'll revise my opinion."

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From Blake:

"My rankings:

Picard
Sisko
Janeway (almost tie with Sisko)
Archer
Kirk
Pike (heh)

I never liked Kirk at all, and don't like TOS all that much in general. (Aaahhh heresy!) I guess I have trouble getting past the dated look of the show. My favorite characters on that show were Bones and Spock."

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From Mary Ellen:

"Picard probably. Cisco maybe. I must admit that I never found Kirk very appealing in anyway, toga or not.

Of that old crew I'd take - hmm - Scottie most likely for overall personality. Maybe Checkov or Sulu for general appearance. I think Picard just has waaaay more charisma and for me Charisma is highly correlated to sex appeal.

Even though Earl Grey is perhaps the ONLY tea I don't like."

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From Luis:

"I must decline to answer that question... As i was told the first time i went to a con "There's going to be this.. you're going to see that... but whatever you do Don't Ever Say wich captain you prefer. You will lose no matter what the answer" But I am a HUGE next gen fan so ... there you go."

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From Julie:

"I laughed when I read Debbie's answers to 'go on a date with/allow to date my sister'. Yes. I think I agree.

One thing I'm floored by is all the people who actually liked Sisko. Avery Brooks was the reason I rarely watched DS9. I couldn't get over the fact that he seemed like a plank of wood (IMO) with two emotions: deep and meaingful or bawdy (enraged or not). Maybe it's all that stage training but 'I...can't...STAND...a.....TV.. ac...TOR...who...delivers...ALL...his...LINES... like...THIS.'"

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From Ina:

"I'll go with Sisko as well. Picard is a close second and Kirk third. Janeway was okay, but I was too bored by Voyager to watch much after the second season. And while I love Bakula, I could not bring myself to watch more of Enterprise than the pilot."

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From Allison:

"Picard. My favorite characters on the classic series were always McCoy and Spock, not Kirk.

If I were to date a starship captain, though, it would be Archer, 'cause I've always had a thing for Scott Bakula (though I admit I don't watch 'Enterprise' much anymore)."

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From Judith:

"Oh, Debbie...

I didn't know!!! Another Kirk fan!

My answers would be exactly the same as yours, except I think I'd rather marry Kirk than Picard. Think of the steamy shower scenes. Think of how much he likes kids... Think of thirty years of really hot sex.

I didn't say that! That was my evil twin Anne.

Really."

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From ScottS:

"My decision about which Captain to serve under would be determined entirely by the color of shirt they handed me upon graduation from academy. Red shirt? Picard is my man. :)

Kirk is more of a 'Man's Captain' - you're more likely to get shot, but you're also more likely to get laid. Picard is great for the career goals/personal improvement chats over tea, but not so much for the 'phasers on kill' excitement on the planet surface.

I admit that I'm a Kirk fan - he's got that wild west, pioneer outlaw thing going for him that I like. While Picard had a Maneuver named after him for being very clever under pressure, Kirk beat the Kobiashi Maru scenario by simply refusing to lose. I love the "to heck with the rules, let's get them!" freeness of the Original Trek crew."

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From Bryan:

"John Sheridan. Second would be John Crichton.

Ha!

Next time ask for favourite Star Trek starship captain - that'd be Sisko. DS9 had some stupid episodes, but at least it had a story arc that lasted longer than a season."

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From Christo:

"In the last TNG Bev Crusher was a captain so i would definitely give my vote to her coz she is fab.

TOS I was always a McCoy fan

Sisko couldn't act and is my biggest captain dissappointment in Trek.

Picard is very cool.
vs Kirk - I like them both in different ways
i each case tho I'd swap them for their doctors :-)

I would answer to all those questions about which captain I would etc... Janeway. She is fab - Katherine Hepburn in space.
my theory -

TOS is TOS

TNG is social workers in space - counsellors, committe meetings before every decision etc..

DS9 is Casablanca in space (Quark's bar = Ric, the Odo = Frederick March, bad aliens = nazis, Bajorans=vichy french etc...)

Voyager = African Queen in space - Janeway = Hepburn - Chakotay = Bogart guiding ship home against impossible odds"

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