The Latinum Awards - The Best of Star Trek

Greetings to the first (and probably only) Latinum Awards. Since we’re in the franchise’s 50th year, I thought it was finally time to look at some of the good things it’s given us. After all, Star Trek has given us a lot of good things over the years. This is something that fans have probably debated for years on end and it’s time to throw my cards in on the subjects. I have 10 categories and I may have some surprises in there for y’all.  Yes, I did choose latinum for the award since it just looks good. Just don’t have any Ferengis around it or it might go missing. So, what will get a statue made of gold-pressed latinum for being pretty cool?

Favorite Crew – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

This was kind of a hard choice. The crews of TOS, TNG, and DS9 are cool, so figuring out my favorite was a challenge. Ultimately, I came to choose the DS9 crew. Not only do I like all of them (it took a while for Bashir), I like the friendships and relationships the sparked up between them. They also developed well over those seven seasons. Of all the crews, I felt they gelled the best to me. My second pick would have easily have been the TOS crew since they kind of had that feeling. Besides, you can’t beat the Kirk/Spock/Bones trinity. Even with that group, DS9 wins out for me.

Favorite Ship – USS Enterprise (The TOS movies)

The ships the franchise has given to us have varied in coolness. While the Klingon Bird-of-Prey and the USS Defiant aka “The Pimp Hand of Sisko” were awesome, I have to go with the classic. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the Enterprise was revamped from the TOS version to what we got in the first three movies. I’ll also thrown in the Enterprise-A in as well since it was pretty much the same ship. It had a cool, sleek design that still works today. While that 3-minute (felt like three years) moment from TMP where Kirk and Scotty are ogling the ship is long, it did show how cool the ship looks.

Favorite Captain – James T. Kirk

Ugh… this was a hard decision to make. I mean, you have folk like James Tiberius Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, and Benjamin “Bada$$” Sisko. That’s pretty hard to choose, man! I know I left “Kathryn Kathryn” Janeway and John Archer off, but they are not my favorites. I could easily go for any of the first three I listed. They all had traits I like. I have to go with Kirk on this one. Is he the best of the group? I really can’t say since most of them are all good. Kirk gets this since he was what I was first introduced to with Trek specifically the movies. He’s the quintessential adventurous dude who you want to be. Not only was he a good captain, he was an interesting character in his own right.

Favorite Friendship – Kirk, Spock, and McCoy

When it comes to the best friendship in all of Trek, you can’t go wrong with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. It’s their friendship that was such a good thing about TOS and the movies. Heck, it’s their friendship that kind of saves Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. It was the only good thing in it.  Well, “What does God want with a starship” is another thing. They brought the best out of each other and they’d also almost do anything for each other.

Favorite Father – Benjamin Sisko

This was an easy choice. We really don’t see much parent raising within the main cast especially when it comes to fathers. Picard had a bit a of a dad feel though I think that has to do with fact he’s a bit bald. Chief O’Brien was fine but I have to go with “The Sisko” here. Ben Sisko had the tough task of being a single father and raising his son on a really busy station. We got to see actually be a father to Jake and some good things came out of that. He’d be loving as well as tough on him. He also let him go his own way in life. It also helped that the two actors (Avery Brooks and Cirroc Lofton) had such a good chemistry in their scenes.

Favorite Mother – Amanda Grayson (Spock’s mom)

The moms of Trek are few as well. While the easy choice would be Doctor Crusher or Captain Janeway (she was a surrogate mom to Seven of Nine), I’m going down a different route. Crusher was a good mom to Wesley, but there is one I like more than her. Spock’s mom only appeared a few times in the series but she always made an impact. It was interesting to see how she would deal with Spock’s Vulcan half. I bet everyone remembers the slap from "Journey to Babel." I mean, my own momma wouldn’t do that to me unless I did something really stupid. While we didn’t see her much, she definitely left an impression.

Favorite First Season – The Original Series

I’ve said this before, but when it comes to first seasons, TOS got it right. All of the rest of the first seasons pale in comparison and I don’t know why. My guess is that everything like the acting, writing, and directing gelled for that season. TOS’s first season had so much to give in terms of enjoyment. It had some of my favorite episodes like “Balance of Terror”, “Errand of Mercy”, and “City on The Edge of Forever.” You may have had a lackluster episode here or there, but the season is pretty strong overall. It’s definitely my favorite season from TOS.

Favorite Alien Species – The Cardassians

This was another tough choice. There are a lot of alien races to choose from in the franchise. We have the Vulcans, the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Ferengi (there were some good ones with them), the Borg, the Xindi, and the Romulans. I have to go with the Cardassians as being one of my favorite aliens. They were pretty cool in TNG where they were mostly used as antagonists. With DS9, they were greatly fleshed out in pretty interesting ways. Unlike most species, they felt diverse. You really couldn’t throw them into one bracket like with some species. They could be good, bad, and everywhere in between.

Favorite Uniforms – (Tie)  Post-First Contact uniforms and Post-Wrath of Khan uniforms

When it comes to uniforms, I had to make a tie. The uniforms worn post-Star Trek: First Contact and the red uniforms from the early movies are my favorites. They both gave a look of professionalism and looked cool. Plus, they look quite comfy to wear. I wish I owned one of them.

Favorite Main Theme Song – Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Finally, here is my favorite theme song from the franchise. I know it seems obvious, but I had to go with the main theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was also used as the main theme for TNG. It just captures what I feel Star Trek is. It sounds adventurous, epic, loud, and just all-around good. Another one that isn’t my favorite but is pretty good is actually the main theme to Voyager. The one from the new reboot movies is good too. At the end of the day, I just have to go with the one from TMP.

I have to end this list here. Are there more things I could put here? Yeah, but these are the ones I thought of. If you have any favorite things about the franchise you like, go on and comment. Unfortunately, next time will not be about the best of Trek as you'll find out. What have I done, you might ask? You'll find out. Until then, Peace and God Bless.

NEXT TIME: THE VOLE AWARDS!!