Who is the best Star Trek captain of all time?

Diplomats, cowboys, wartime commanders and one animated bureaucrat — every chair on every bridge, argued over by fans for sixty years. Who deserves the centre seat?

1

Jean-Luc Picard

Patrick Stewart's diplomat-scholar, captain of the Enterprise-D across seven seasons of The Next Generation.

1000pts

2

James T. Kirk

William Shatner's original Enterprise captain, the impulsive template every successor is measured against.

610pts

3

Benjamin Sisko

Avery Brooks' station commander on Deep Space Nine, the first Black lead of a Trek series and its most morally conflicted captain.

356pts

4

Spock

The Vulcan first officer who commanded the Enterprise between Kirk's tours in the film era.

356pts

5

Kathryn Janeway

Kate Mulgrew's Voyager captain, stranded 70,000 light years from home and the franchise's first female lead.

356pts

6

Christopher Pike

Anson Mount's Enterprise captain on Strange New Worlds, a role first played by Jeffrey Hunter in the 1965 pilot.

261pts

7

Michael Burnham

Sonequa Martin-Green's Discovery lead, who rose from convicted mutineer to captain.

261pts

8

Jonathan Archer

Scott Bakula's Enterprise NX-01 captain, humanity's first deep-space explorer a century before Kirk.

261pts

9

Robert April

The Enterprise's very first captain, canonised decades after his 1973 animated-series debut.

261pts

10

Carol Freeman

The demanding captain of the USS Cerritos in the animated comedy Lower Decks.

145pts