Comments on: New Poll: Your 3 Favorite Spaceship Captains

By: Black Angus

Black Angus — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:46:29 +0000

Korg, you forgot to include Adam Quark, commander of the United Galaxies Sanitation Patrol Cruiser in Quark but that’s understandable…

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:50:20 +0000

I can’t believe Mal isn’t getting more love. Poor Captain Tightpants. 31% is respectable but not quite shiny

By: korg20000bc

korg20000bc — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:20:11 +0000

Good choices.
Sums up a lot of our childhood viewing.
Star Blazers had some great moments. I think I liked the Desslok series better than the Comet Empire. The wave-motion gun firing sequence is imprinted on my mind. Remember when the enemies developed the Desslok Cannon in response?
Test firing the WMG-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty-1zWsXFNs

Some of those early anime series left a mark on me- Astroboy, Kum Kum, Star Blazers, Battle of the Planets, Kimba.

By: Black Angus

Black Angus — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:49:50 +0000

Only three to choose? You cruel gorilla.

I went all nostalgic: Captain Avatar, Captain Kremmen, Wilma Deering.
Captain Avatar’s gritty ‘Fire the Wave Motion gun, Wildstar’ will always stay with me.
Captain Kremmen + James T Kirk = Zapp Brannigan.
And I’m sure Wilma Deering has a direct descendant in Leela. How she put up with all the thick-headed testosterone around her I don’t know. More than a match for Buck.

Honorable mentions in my list would be Malcolm Reynolds, Adama (old series) and Swinepork.

By: Lily Luna

Lily Luna — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:44:47 +0000

Han Solo, Leela (I love Futurama), and James T. Kirk.

By: korg20000bc

korg20000bc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:58:02 +0000

Thanks Chelsey. I really wish there was more Firefly to sink my teeth into. Serenity only whetted my appetite! I’ve had to survive on the Serenity RPG- http://www.margaretweis.com/wp/game-products/serenity/serenity-rpg/

By: Chelsey

Chelsey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:18:39 +0000

Good poll. I voted for Malcolm Reynolds, Jean-Luc Picard, and James T. Kirk. Mal is my favorite by far, for exactly the same reasons that Korg stated. I grew up watching Picard, and he is the ultimate Star Trek captain for me, and a close second in this poll. Kirk made it because I thoroughly enjoyed his representation in the most recent Star Trek movie.

Bring back Firefly!!

By: korg20000bc

korg20000bc — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:29:58 +0000

Interesting point about ship captains vs spaceship captains. I tried to keep the poll at least slightly on topic.
I picked Mal Reynolds, James Kirk and Han Solo.
Solo is the epitome of cool before Lucas emasculated him in the “Special Edition”. I think that Mal Reynolds is my favourite. He’s rough and tough, expects his crew to do what he tells them, will sacrifice his life for his crew’s safety and engenders extreme loyalty in his associates.

I think a captain needs to have something terrible or dreadful about them- a lord of life and death. U-581 was a movie that looked at this issue.

By: aerisflowers

aerisflowers — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:13:54 +0000

I might have to agree with colorless’s comments regarding Kirk and Picard (although I haven’t seen much of TNG), but if you look at some of the other captains to top the list, such as Mal Reynolds (Firefly) and Adama (BSG), I would have to disagree. Mal consistenly calls his crew family and goes to great lengths to protect them (e.g. the torture scene in “War Stories”). Even though I’m only half way through season 2 of BSG, I think there are plenty of examples of Adama’s self-sacrifice for his crew. You can tell that their respective crews are always at the fore-front of every decision that they make.

By: Red Rocker

Red Rocker — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:50:14 +0000

I know the post says spaceship captains, but cbi's comment above made me think of one of the better examples of ship's captains I've seen recently: Captain Jack Aubrey of the HMS Surprise, as seen in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.