Oh Captain, My Captain: TV's Top 5 Spaceship Commanders
Abe Fried-Tanzer - July 30, 2009
| Captain | His/Her Ship |
Top Three Strengths |
Top Three Challenges | Heroic Moment |
|
Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly) |
Serenity |
Unabashed cockiness.
Strong devotion to his crew and a love for his ship.
Penchant for shooting people. |
Making money to live on while harboring a fugitive.
Staying one step ahead of the law.
Avoiding the flesh-eating, soul-destroying mutant Reavers |
Always the jokester, Mal gets serious and stays behind to go down with his ship when the air supply is running out. Fortunately, help eventually arrives, so Mal can go back to his rude old self. |
|
Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation) |
U.S.S. Enterprise |
Ability to cultivate support amongst crew.
Dashing British accent.
Impressive narration ability. |
Living up to the previous Enterprise steward, James T. Kirk.
Facing off against the Borg and even being assimilated.
Commanding a Klingon |
Picard went head-to-head with omnipotent superbeing Q and successfully defended humanity. |
|
Kathryn Janeway |
U.S.S. Voyager |
Strict but fair disciplinary policies.
Passionate dislike for the Borg.
Fervent desire to get her crew home. |
Being thrust into the far reaches of space.
Having two crews under her command.
Being a female captain on a Star Trek series. |
When the Voyager is lost in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway extends her hand in friendship to rogue Maquis leader Chakotay and merges their two crews. |
|
William Adama |
Battlestar Galactica |
Tough-as-nails resolve.
Combat experience in the first Cylon war.
Unparalleled ability to intimidate others. |
Facing the destruction of the human race.
Spotting Cylon robots posing as humans.
Clashing frequently with a stubborn political leader and a drunken second-in-command. |
Facing a ruthless, murderous, rival commander, Adama made an impossible call and ordered a member of his crew to shoot her in the head. |
|
Frank Pike |
Phaeton |
Maintaining a positive attitude in front of his crew.
Using his Civil War fascination to enhance his leadership skills.
Rejecting the spotlight in the onboard, drama-filled reality series. |
Being away from Earth for a ten-year mission.
Dealing with numerous intimate relationships between members of his crew.
Finding a new home for humanity. |
Pike cheated death at the hands of a traitor aboard the ship by preserving himself in the show's virtual reality world, where he can successfully weed out the traitor and save his crew. |
What do you think? Which TV captains do you put on a pedestal? Share your choices below in the comments.
Abe Fried-Tanzer is a student at New York University majoring in cinema studies and journalism. He makes it his priority each year to see every Oscar-nominated film and watch every new television pilot, and writes reviews and awards predictions on his personal movie and TV blogs.
