It can sometimes feel like there are more Star Trek captains than stars in the galaxy, and that’s not exactly wrong.
At the time of writing, there have been more than a dozen main Star Trek captains all of whom had the pleasure of commanding some of the most notable starships in the history of The Federation. With that in mind, though, not all captains are created equal. In fact, some are borderline inept.
So, with the recent news that a new Star Trek prequel is in the works, we thought it was time to look through Starfleet’s command logs and rank the Star Trek captains by basic competency. Sorry, Enterprise fans, you’re not going to like this.
9. Captain Jonathan Archer (Enterprise)
Some may excuse Captain Archer’s dunderheadedness as naivety. After all, he was one of the first humans to explore deep space properly, and he ran into new weird and wonderful aliens every lightyear he traveled. As a result, he didn’t have a manual of Starfleet directives to all back to fall back on like his predecessors.
That said, it doesn’t take an expert in quantum mechanics to realize you shouldn’t take your dog on space missions, something Archer did with startling regularity. On at least one occasion, this ended up in a full-scale diplomatic row when the dog peed on a tree that was sacred to a particularly haughty race. Now, you could probably forgive Archer for this if he didn’t know he was dealing with the space equivalent of a particularly strict homeowners association. Unfortunately, Archer has no such excuse. He’d visited the planet before and got into an argument with the aliens then, as well.
While pee-gate is probably the most noteworthy example of Archer’s stupidity, it’s not the only example. He was willfully belligerent to supposedly friendly races like the Vulcans, seemed to prefer his dog to his poor first officer, and generally seemed unenthused with the idea of pushing the boundaries of human experience forward.
8. Captain Gabriel Lorca (Star Trek: Discovery)
An evil tyrant from the Mirror Universe might not sound like someone suited for command of a starship, but that’s just your prejudice showing. Lorca may have been a megalomaniac maverick who didn’t play by the rules, but he was also a tactical genius whose skill on the battlefield was instrumental in saving Federation worlds from marauding Klingons. He also had an eye for nurturing talent, helping Michael Burnham rejoin Starfleet, a decision that would ultimately help save The federation; he just went about it in his own creepy and evil way.
7. Captain Carol Freeman (Star Trek: Lower Decks)
While Captain Freeman’s an exceptionally intelligent captain, she’s got one thing working against her that the other characters on this list don’t – she’s in a cartoon. As a result, she gets into situations so bizarre you’d be forgiven for thinking this was all some elaborate joke by Q. Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s just Freeman’s life. This means that while Freeman is characterized as an ambitious straight shooter who’s well-liked by her crew, that’s often forgotten for the sake of a joke.
Freeman also suffers a bit of an inferiority complex, which can sometimes cloud her judgment and make her behave rashly. Her biggest blindspot, though, is her daughter, Beckett Mariner, whose reckless behavior often distracts Freeman from more important work. Still, Freeman occasionally shows how brilliant she truly is, like when she did the impossible and out-finagled the Ferengi in a business deal.
6. Captain Michael Burnham (Star Trek: Discovery)
Burnham’s journey to the command chair was a long one. When we first met her at the Battle of the Binary Stars, she was committing mutiny. This isn’t the recommended way to begin a career in command, but it basically served as a touchstone for her entire career. Burnham’s a rebel who’ll always do what she believes to be the right thing for the galaxy and her crew.
Unfortunately, this means she can also be as short-sighted as a bat with glaucoma, and her unpredictable nature gets her into a lot of trouble very quickly. That said, it’s impressive that when she and the crew of the USS Discovery get trapped in the 31st Century, she manages to hold the ship together, even helping the ruined Federation start to rebuild itself, spreading peace across the galaxy. Who knows, maybe she’ll move up the list when Star Trek Discovery Season 5 is finally released.
5. Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek: The Original Series)
Kirk wasn’t exactly incompetent — Starfleet wouldn’t let a numbskull command the USS Enterprise after all — but compared to his colleagues, he’s not the brightest phaser in the bank. Kirk’s biggest failing is his impulsive and arrogant nature; he’s a man who delegates his thinking to his staff while he throws himself into the thick of the action.
This meant he’d quite often put himself (and the poor souls unlucky enough to wear a red shirt) in precarious situations by going on unnecessary away missions, irritating god beings with his cocksure bravado, and, on more than one occasion, wading into wars he knew nothing about.
Despite breaking regulations like a hyperactive toddler smashing through a LEGO set, Kirk did manage to become one of the most celebrated captains in Starfleet history. A lot of that comes down to Kirk’s exceptional emotional intelligence and charisma, which allowed him to build a crew as close as any family that functioned like a well-oiled warp coil despite occasional personality clashes (we’re looking at you, Bones and Spock). Kirk’s tactical acumen is also second to none, as Khan quickly learned during their battle in the Mutara Nebula.
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4. Captain Christopher Pike (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
Pike’s a lot more than a pretty face. He got pretty hair as well. Okay, that’s a slightly reductive way of talking about one of the Federation’s greatest heroes, and they didn’t give Pike command of the Enterprise because he looks good over a view screen. No, with his cool charisma and easy charm, it’s easy to understand why a crew would follow Pike to the edge of the galaxy and beyond.
Sure, Pike runs his starship more like a cruise ship than a military vessel, but his laissez-faire leadership style works for him. Like Kirk’s shoot-from-the-hip type of leadership, it allows his colleague’s time to shine and only very occasionally results in the near destruction of his ship – but that’s a relatively common occurrence in Starfleet anyway.
Of course, the real reason Pike ranks so highly on this list is because he’s willing to die for his crew. We know other captains on this list have done tremendously brave things, but none of them, besides Pike, know for certain what the future holds for them. Yet despite the dark fate that awaits him (Beep!), Pike still gets up every morning and gets in that command chair, ready to boldly go where no one has gone before.
3. Captain Benjamin Sisko (Deep Space Nine)
Firm but fair, Sisko wasn’t supposed to become the leader he did. Indeed, when he first took the position of commander of Deep Space Nine in a backwater system, he probably expected a relatively easy life. However, any chance of a quiet desk job was blown apart when the Bajoran Worm Hole tore a hole in space-time, and his little space station became the last stop on the way to the Gamma Quadrant – a completely unexplored part of the galaxy.
To make matters worse, it also turned out he was the prophesied spiritual leader of the Bajorans. Yeah, Sisko had a lot on his plate, but he adjusted to it quickly, even if he occasionally felt uncomfortable with his status as ‘Space Jesus’. Then, when war broke out between The Dominion – the tyrannical leaders of the Gamma Quadrant – and The Federation, his more forceful style of leadership made him a perfect battlefront commander.
Ultimately, though, what makes Sisko so impressive is that, unlike some other captains on this list, he is willing to get his hands dirty to defend his home. Who can forget the episode, In the Pale Moonlight, where Sisko put aside his cherished principles of fairness and decency to save The Federation? Where you stand on the morality of that will depend on how you feel about utilitarian philosophy, but it’s the mark of a strong leader that he could put his needs aside for his people.
2. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Diplomatic, serious, and measured, Picard feels like he was deliberately written to be as far from his predecessor, Kirk, as possible. It’s perhaps unsurprising that he turned out to be one of the best captains ever to wear the red command tunic, and it’s amazing how often disaster can be avoided when the captain’s on the bridge instead of wrestling a rubber lizard. Picard’s greatest strength was his intellect and eloquence, which made him an impressive ambassador for The Federation.
It’s hard to imagine any other captain on this list dealing with the Tamarians – a species who talk entirely in metaphor – as quickly as Picard did (Archer would probably have got his dog to act as a translator), and that’s just one of 27 successful first contacts he helped to make. Don’t think Picard’s not a man of action, though. He invented his own battle tactic, the Picard maneuver, and he survived contact with the Borg on multiple occasions.
Still, Picard wasn’t without his weaknesses. He tended to distance himself from his crew and could come across as colder than a fridge freezer in an Antarctic winter. This made him a slightly intimidating figure for junior officers (and even senior officers) to approach, and there’s an argument to be made that he wasn’t as adaptable as his colleagues.
1. Captain Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager)
Janeway may have been slightly erratic (possibly that had more to do with the writing than her character), but when you stop and consider her situation, that makes sense. Trapped 70,000 lightyears from Earth, in an unexplored part of the galaxy, and facing a 75-year-long journey back home, Janeway was in an impossible situation. Yet, despite running into alien organ thieves, becoming the nemesis of the Borg Queen, and on one occasion turning into a salamander, Janeway got her crew home.
That comes down to her incredible command skills and her innate understanding that the only people that mattered were those under her command. Fuelled by nothing but black coffee (and a burning hatred of Neelix’s cooking), Janeway managed to forge a family from her marooned crew – successfully integrating the Maquis into the Voyager command structure and an ex-Borg drone – and plotting a course home.
What makes this even more impressive is that while she never put herself ahead of the needs of her people, she did so while (mostly) sticking to the guiding principles of The Federation. As such, she built a network of alien allies who helped the Voyager crew find their way back to Earth. With that in mind, let’s ignore what she did to poor Tuvix…
