Saturday, July 2, 2016

Favorites - My Random (though not perfect) Star Trek Crew

Since this is Star Trek’s 50 anniversary, it’s finally time to make this post. I have other posts planned for the next few months and this is one of them.

Over six shows, 13 movies (I’m counting Star Trek Beyond too), and a crapton of novels, we’ve been shown a lot of officers. We’ve had some good ones and a couple of okay ones. I doubt we’ve had any bad crew members unless you count Harry Kim. Personally, he’s alright but he’s definitely not on this list. Some have braved the vastness of space and have done some cool things. Others just did their job and they were good at that. I can say one thing about the many crews: they were at least good at their jobs. You can’t always say that in real life.

So, here is my ultimate Trek crew. I know that folk online have done this, so I’ll try to do my own spin on this. By the way, some of these may not be my favorite characters from the show. They may not even be the best at their certain job. I also wondered what team-ups or pairings would be interesting. I’m also not going to crowd it with just one crew. I could do that easily, but that wouldn’t be fair to the other shows. I do think each show has at least one character that would be on a list like this. So, if I was Admiral Williams of Starfleet (played by Tony Todd or Michael Dorn for cool reasons), who would I want to head a crew that’s heading into that final frontier we call space?

Captain – Captain Jean-Luc Picard
This is a tough one since most captains could take this spot. I know Kirk or Sisko could take this. Janeway is a maybe, we never really saw Capt. Pike in action, and I’m not even mentioning Duchess Archer (copyright SFDebris). I felt Picard had the best mix of leading qualities. He was always good with words. He also didn’t back down when being opposed. While Picard wasn’t the “punchy-punchy, run-run” guy, he could get down when he needed to. Don’t let that bald head fool you.

First Officer – Commander Spock
This was also another tough choice. Most of the first officers would make a good pick. I know Riker would be one. I’d also wonder how Major Kira would be under Picard’s rule. That could be pretty interesting.  Still, I have to throw it down to Spock on this. You’ll definitely need someone with a level, logical head at that post. Not only that, Spock was also pretty knowledgeable in the science department. Besides, you need a Vulcan on the crew. It’s a requirement these days.

Science Officer – Lt. Comm. Data
There are only a couple of people you could put here. It was hard to leave our favorite android off the list, so here he is. As an android, Data has many capabilities. He can do some pretty amazing stuff. He’d also make the perfect Second Officer as well.

Engineer – B’Elanna Torres
This is another tough one. All of the engineers would bit the bill. I even thought of throwing Trip Tucker here, but I had to make a choice. While she’s not one of my favorite characters from Voyager, Torres was really good at her job. She really had to come up with new things while in the Delta Quadrant. The only thing that’d get her in trouble would be that temper of hers, but I think the crew needs someone who’s a little hot-headed at times.

Security – Odo
 I thought I’d split Security and Tactical up. Besides, that just leaves me with more picks. I’ll have to go with Odo on this one. Even though he’s not exactly Starfleet, he was pretty good security officer. He did his best to keep DS9 in tip top shape. He was also a good detective. His shapechanging ability is also a plus. You’ll need that when dealing with different races.

Tactical – Lt. Malcolm Reed
I know you’re probably looking at me but I liked Reed in the tactical area with the NX-01. He was probably one of the only dudes on the ship that kept on his toes. He may had been a little uptight, but you kind of need someone like that. He was knowledgeable in his craft and always making upgrades with the weapons.

Medical – Dr. Julian Bashir and The Doctor (EMH)
Yes, I made this one a tie. This is probably the only area where that could work since The Doctor is an EMH. By the way, this could be Bashir post-Season 1 where he was actually getting likable. Bashir was one of the best in his class. Then, there’s his genetic modifications which would make him a pretty awesome doctor and officer. The Doctor would mostly serve as backup just in case anything would happen. Plus, the EMH has the knowledge of many medical journals and that would be good. Besides, he has an interesting bedside manner.

Communications/Operations – Lt. Uhura
It’s either her or Ensign Sato. While Uhura was a communications officer, she had more attributes than that. She was a multi-linguist (let’s not count that “funny” scene from Star Trek VI), and she had to think on her toes in different situations. If you count the animated series, she even led the Enterprise in a crisis.

Navigator – Ensign Mayweather
I gotta give the brother a break, man. The show rarely did. He was the young one of the crew, so you’d want someone of that caliber. Besides, just about any of the helmsmen could go here. Sulu’s cool and Paris was fine. I will say that Paris did do something cool in creating the Delta Flyer. Still, I’ll go with Mayweather on this one.  His time as a freighter pilot is also a plus.

Crewman/Miscellaneous Folk – Guinan and Seven of Nine
Some miscellaneous folk that could round the crew out would be these two. Guinan from TNG was over Ten-Forward, the Enterprise’s bar. She did have more to her than just being over a bar though.  She has a long life span, so that means she has a lot of advice to give. While Seven never actually had an official position on Voyager, she was a valuable part of the crew. If anything, she was the most important person on that ship. As a former Borg drone, she has their capabilities. She was also one of the most knowledgeable people on the ship. Plus, she is kind of easy to look at… no, I’m not being misogynistic. All the casts were easy to look at!

Counselor – Ezri Dax
This was an easy choice. Do you really think I’d pick Counselor Troi? She was fine, but I liked Ezri a little more. Not only is she a decent counselor, she’s also a Trill. She has the knowledge of seven lifetimes, so I know that would be pretty useful in the long run.



Well, those are my picks. If you have a dream crew of your own, let me know. If I don’t post anything before the 4th of July, then have a safe Independence Day. Here’s hoping we won’t have to have Phil Pullman and Will Smith save our lives or something. If you’re going to go watch Independence Day: Resurgence, don’t expect too much. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

2 comments:

  1. This is pretty close to what I had, nice

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  2. Dominic Keating is super funny in real life. I got to see him at a Star Trek convention once and he was one of my favorites. And I'm glad to see Ezri on this list because a lot of people give her crap, but I really like her.

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