Benjamin Sisko is the Best Star Trek Captain

Fight Me.

Given the fact that I rated Captain Ben Sisko, Commanding Officer of Deep Space 9 and the USS Defiant Number one overall in my ranking of the Ten Most Badass Men in Science Fiction and Fantasy it should surprise no one to hear me say that he was Star Trek’s favorite captain. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure someone just sprayed whatever they were drinking all over their computer screen when they read that. Lots of people think I’m crazy. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t be surprised that _I_ said it.

And listen folks, who could captain better than Sisko? Ol’ Ben did whatever he had to, whenever he had to and wherever he needed to. This is the man who went through a wormhole, helped rebuild a planet, stopped a rebellion dead in its tracks while capturing the Starfleet traitor (while trading cheesy Les Miserables references!) and in his free time managed to pull of a scam that brought the Romulans into the war with the Dominion and saved the Alpha Quadrant. That was all while raising a young man, keeping up with the senior Sisko back on Earth and cooking a rocking chicken paprikash. Seriously, Sisko couldn’t have been a better captain if he had tried and I honestly believe that he did.

What other captain held an entire planet together in an intergalactic war? Fans will tell you all about the diplomatic acumen of Jean Luc Picard, but where is Sisko’s credit? He helped bring various Bajoran factions together to form a government. He defeated Kai Wynn and her attempts to sabotage his station. Picard barely managed to prevent the government of Edo from executing a member of his crew, Wesley Crusher, who was also a minor for the terrible crime of accidentally falling through the side of a miniature greenhouse. Picard flew all over the galaxy meeting up with diplomats. They came to Sisko. He had to manage a wormhole entrance and try to keep everyone happy.

Kirk could always get the woman. He got a lot of them. Name one that lasted more than one episode. Sisko got the girl long term. He married her. Cassidy Yates was worth the wait, too. She was someone who could deal with Ben’s absences because she was a ship’s captain in her own right and knew what it was like. Picard got hooked on some random chick that ended up with Q anyway. Janeway was all hung up on some dude that was on the other side of the galaxy for the entire run of the show. Archer’s record rivalled that of Harry Kim. Could you imagine Saru trying to get lucky? Siddown, all of you. I win.

Sisko had to keep a crew in line that included not just humorless Klingon guy and the Fightin’ Irishman (both of whom he inherited from Picard), but also a dual being split personality weirdo who used to be his mentor but was now younger than him, the Bajoran major who started out hating the station and everyone on it, the bartender who stole everything that wasn’t nailed down and the “constable” who didn’t know who he was or who he came from and thought he was a law onto himself. And there was no Star Trek equivalent to the mutant bizzaroid doctor with the post-ganglionic fiber hanging from his backside. Could you imagine Michael Burnham trying to keep that guy in line?

Janeway was the captain who came closest to sharing the insanity of Sisko’s crew, half of Janeway’s crew were Marquis, but even she had Chakotay to lean on. Sisko was stuck with the aforementioned Bajoran Major Attitude, err.. Kira. How’s that for help?

And speaking of Major Kira Nerys, what Starfleet captain not named Sisko had to go so far to build a relationship with their first officer. Look, I’m a huge Kira fan. I always have been. But that chick would have gladly knifed Sisko in his back in the first season if she thought Bajor could get away with it, nevermind what happened to her. Spock was a stick in the mud. Picard mistreated Riker in “Encounter at Farpoint” to see how Riker would react, but there was never really any bad blood between them. Handling Kira wrong could have cost the Federation Bajor. Sisko did it right.

Oh, I’m sorry. What was that you were saying? Something, something, “religious icon”. Yeah, that’s right. But maybe the greatest thing Sisko ever did was not milking that for all it was worth. Imagine the benefits Benny could have reaped if he had simply allowed the Bajoran people to show him the love they wanted to. The Emissary could have run their government, made himself rich, scored some property in a nice province somewhere and done whatever he wanted. No other captain had that type of an opportunity. Sisko did, and he stayed at his post and did his job. Imagine the debauchery Kirk would have gotten up to at that point.

Pretty much every Star Trek captain ever seen onscreen has been in combat. That’s part of their job. None of them fought like Sisko. Picard went heads up with the Gorn, but he never had to faceoff with the Jem’Hadar like Sisko did during “The Siege of AR-558”. That episode was massively entertaining and still felt like it lasted a month. Picard never would have had the dangly bits to hit Solosos III with a trilihium weapon to clear the humans off the planet and prevent a war with Cardassia at at time when the Federation couldn’t afford one.

And what other captain could have used a simple Cardassian tailor to bring an entire star nation into a war and rally the team for the win? The short answer is none of them. Picard was too much of a straight arrow to think of it. Archer wasn’t smart enough to come up with something like that. Kirk would have just gone in full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. Janeway would have made a deal with the wrong people and almost lost her ship… again.

So yeah, don’t tell me that Sisko isn’t the best. You know I’m right. You knew I was right when you read the headline. Feel free to admit it now. Or, you could take it to the comments section. Let’s see what you’ve got.