User:QuarksTreasure

As I have been an avid trekker ever since Star Trek: The Next Generation was still in syndication, it goes without saying that I greatly respect the optimistic vision Gene Roddenberry created for the future of the human race. I believe the franchise reached its highest creative summit with the writing contributions of Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, whose scripts for DS9 and Voyager, respectively, were almost always fresh, inspired, and thought-provoking. It is a pleasure and an honor to be a part of the greater community of Star Trek fans who span the globe. I hope to continue the Memory Alpha tradition of maintaining an accurate, comprehensive database of Trek canon that enriches our appreciation of all that the series and movies have to offer.

Pages I've Created

 * Bedouin
 * Castle O'Dell
 * Coded transponder frequency
 * Glen Abbey
 * Groundskeeper
 * Information dealer
 * Kilmanin
 * King of the Faeries
 * Mary Had a Little Lamb
 * Mushroom gravy
 * My Old Flame
 * Oracle at Delphi
 * Phonograph
 * Principal
 * Reactor coolant
 * St. Mary's Church
 * Teakle
 * Tour guide

The Captains
There is undoubtedly a lot of debate surrounding which Starfleet captain is the "best", and perhaps even delving into the subject now is pointless and passé. If you are partial to swashbuckling, tunic-clad James T. Kirk, it is unlikely any rational argument or emotional treatise would sway your opinion (Kirk would no doubt approve of your rigid single-mindedness!). That being said, I would prefer to address the character strengths (and weaknesses) of my top three favorite starship captains relative to the conflicts, both internal and external, that each of them face, rather than focus on who has the twitchier photon torpedo finger.

1) Jean-Luc Picard

During TNG Season 1, Picard was portrayed for the most part as a stuffy anglophile musing about Shakespeare and horseback riding, a seasoned veteran whose days of Nausicaan-sparring are long behind him. Yawn. Then suddenly, in Season 3, Picard actually starts becoming a human being! With faults! We see him fall in love with seductive tomb-raider Vash in Captain's Holiday, revealing a side of Picard that longs for more adventure than that fish in his ready room has to offer. Then of course, in Family, Picard is depicted as a broken man, violated and traumatized by the Borg, returning to his home in La Barre, France to face the demons of his past and an estranged brother who resents his professional detachment and makes no attempt to conceal it. He forces Picard to consider the emptiness of Starfleet stoicism when confronted with the unimgainable tragedy of losing control, a theme revisited in and. In these films, Picard has never been less composed, more fragile, or more deeply flawed. The death of his nephew in a fire has a profound effect on him as he realizes he is childless and alone, the noble lineage of his family name fading before his eyes, and as the Borg attempt to steal what little he has left, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), he breaks into a violent rage, damning the heavens for the indignities of his circumstances. While most of Next Gen portrays Picard as a diligent, effective leader on the very top of his game, in that one moment when he breaks all his "little ships", as Lily Sloane puts it, there is a vulnerability there not seen before, and one cannot shake the feeling that on some subconscious level, Picard resents all that he has given up personally in the service of his career. A haunting notion for a man who just 5 years ago had to be ordered to take a vacation.

More to come...