Who’s Your Starship Captain, Kirk or Picard

They definitely had different management styles.

Cartoon by Lambert-King

While this subject has been explored before, I thought I’d weigh in on it. I don’t think of myself as a huge Trekkie, but I’ve enjoyed the franchise and think the contrast between Kirk and Picard is fascinating.

First of all, Kirk strikes me as being a bit impulsive. I do, however, appreciate his desire to protect the earth. He even went so far as transport some whales back in time to save the planet. I respect his going green, but as in other situations, he took things too far. He even dated green. While I admire his open-mindedness, James Tiberius Kirk didn’t always seem to be in control of things, himself in particular.

Kirk also seemed a bit more ready for confrontation than Picard. Picard’s style seems more deliberate and measured. I will say that Kirk’s crew responded to his leadership well. After a while, it would seem that Enterprise personnel would notice that the fourth person on a landing party became a victim for the purpose of plot development. And yet they still went.

Kirk’s deficiencies were somewhat muted by having Spock as his first officer. Not to slam William Riker, but I take Spock as my first officer all day long. Interestingly, Pickard referred to Riker as, “Number One”. Was that to reinforce Riker’s confidence? It also makes me think that, as a shrewd leader, Picard recognized that referring to someone as, ‘Number Two”, was a bad idea.

Picard had one huge advantage on Kirk when it came to demonstrating leadership, an English accent. If someone is going to send you into a situation that could result in death, they could at least make it sound nice. Picard has that ability. Sometimes Kirk would devolve into some..what halt..ing spee ch. That might give the crew members time to actually think about what he’s ordering them to do. That could lead them to think, “Hey, wait a minute! That sounds really dangerous!”

Picard does come across as a bit more detached than Kirk did. Kirk especially had a tight bond with Spock and McCoy. Picard was tight with Riker and Data but I don’t believe to the same extent. But if you’re a rank-and-file starship guy, that’s a moot point. You’re not going to have personal interaction with the captain anyway.

The bottom line, if I’m a crewman interested in coming back alive, I take Picard. If I’m a big dog in the Federation just looking after the bottom line, I take Kirk.

So, who’s your captain?

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