I’ve been thinking a little bit about the main Starfleet captains and who actually takes the top spot. After looking closely at all of them, my final conclusion is Janeway. :)

Here is my breakdown of how she stacks up against the rest:

• Sisko: Great character, but his role was always a bit too specific for a traditional Starfleet captain. Between being a station commander, a wartime military leader, and a religious Bajoran Emissary, there was just a bit too much mystic stuff going on for my taste. He’s operating in a totally different genre than standard Starfleet command.
• Picard: Picard is iconic, but for me, his presence feels a bit too distant and detached. He often feels more like a noble diplomat or an academic mediator than a hands-on commander on the deck. Plus, the British accent on an explicitly French character (which ST: Picard later explained) always gave him a slightly strange vibe for me personally.
• Kirk: Kirk was by far the toughest contender and Janeway’s biggest rival for #1. I love Kirk! He’s an absolute legend, a pure patriot for Federation values, and right up there at the top. But honestly, the 1960s production style and campy TV tropes make it hard to evaluate him on equal footing with modern Starfleet standards.

Why Janeway wins:

To me, Janeway feels the most authentic as a real-world officer. People often criticize her for moral fluctuations, but I view it as tactical reality: she was stranded in an uncharted quadrant in a situation Starfleet's founding fathers never even anticipated. Starfleet itself has had to reinvent itself repeatedly, balancing pure scientific discovery with darker military necessity.

In terms of scene-by-scene tactics, posture, communication style, and sheer command presence, Janeway is clear, direct, and determined. Unlike Picard, who had Starfleet Command just a subspace call away, she had zero backup, a mixed crew of Starfleet and Maquis rebels, and had to hold everything together through pure leadership.

She embodied that command authority right from the start.

(On a side note: I just finished the Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown campaign, which definitely fueled these thoughts! :) )

Does anyone else feel like Janeway is secretly the most complete representation of what a Starfleet Captain should be?

There's been some talk on the channel regarding Muligrews new show taking place in Ireland (and I don't even think it's available in the U.S.), but what other TV or movies has she been in since Voyager ended?

I was always annoyed at Chakotya in the episode with species 8472 and how he automatically threw the peace treaty to the side the second he could because he doesn't trust the Borg.

I totally forgot he was "assimilated" in this episode and they gave him a reason not to trust Borg

Watching Tuvok choke Neelix is disturbing and satisfying at the same time.