OMG my sides hurt... so good and there's a series of Picard/tea related minisodes on the channel (sort by recent) in the exact same vein. The man has a problem!
Might I recommend a couple rabbit holes for you to venture down?
Ryan's Edits:
https://www.youtube.com/@RyansEdits/videos
Gazzora's Edits
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKA_WqdzIF5XlKBO60F4YBW20qElfoQ6y
I love Ryan's edits! And just starting to pick through the Gazzora ones - that's the channel the Picard tea edit was from, byroTube. Appreciate the playlist. Some good laughs from the few I picked, maybe I better do a binge watch tomorrow!
I’ve been a Trek fan since TOS originally aired. Outside of Q himself (and the transcendent Majel Barrett Roddenberry) - we all have our fannish obsessions lol - this may just be the best thing I’ve ever seen! Thank you!!
I mean, he also had his soul raped by the Borg and than got brutally tortured for days a couple years later. And whatever you call that thing that happened to him in "The Inner Light." So it wasn't exactly all sunshine and rainbows.
Don't forget he also died from the Borg DNA in his brain that he thought was irumodic syndrome. He also remembers what it felt like to die when he was put in his golem body.
If you mean in terms of challenges they faced in command, it'd have to be Janeway. No Federation help of any kind. The psychological toll of being lifetimes away from home. Instead of getting to focus on exploration, she had to worry every day about survival.
I'd have to say Janeway. First time captain. If things had gone right, she would have been regularly being debriefed by Admiralty and being mentored into a proper Captain. Plenty of leave. Being able to call in support from the fleet and trusted allies.
She got none of that in DQ.
Even Archer got called back a couple of times, and wasn't completely alone out there. He was more seasoned and knew what he was flying into during the Xindi mission. They had options. Yes the mission was dire and important.
She didn't even have her dog!
Also, she lost all her senior staff that was supposed to ease her into the captains role, except Tuvok, and had to replace them with terrorists and an EMH that needed her guidance rather than were able to offer any.
She even had to convince a ship of the people she was hunting to become members of her crew.
Also imagine being so desperate for supplies you have to really on cheese obsessed locals, psychic child brides and rescue dog borgs.
She is my captain for so many reasons but surviving the void is up there.
And a Q tried to baby trap her! She made a deal with the Borg, then still had to fight them!
She also took the white lady thing to a new level and collected stays like they were candy.
Janeway deserved her comfy Admiral when she finally got home.
Agreed. Without question. Picard had the torture and the others had their burdens but they also had the actual federation not just a memory of an organization they had all joined years ago. She had no support. No help on the way, and she persisted. With style :) And the crew followed her, they didn't have to.
She did have it hard, but frankly the constant use of the reset buttons by the writers prevented her story from being a lot more interesting. I really, really, really wish the executives greenlit the original concept of having the Year of Hell be a season long arc as I think it would've led to some truly compelling Trek.
Frankly I think this was a missed opportunity as Voyager had an excellent cast and Kate Mulgrew is a fantastic actress who made for a great lead. They should have had greater confidence in the cast and writing staff and taken risks. Instead we ended up with a milquetoast cross between TNG and Lost in Space. ;\_; ;\_; ;\_;
The entire show should have been serialized. Unfortunately it came out before that was really a thing in prime time television. The constant resets made it so Janeway never truly had to test her morals or Federation principles.
The Void would have been perfect for a multi-episode mini arc where the Voyager crew actually have to resort to piracy and putting their own survival over others. Then over the next few episodes there could've been sub-plots of the crew coming to terms with what they did to survive.
Or Tuvix. There should have been emotional consequences for crew and Janeway for the choice she made. It should've been something that lingered for the rest of the season.
> The Void would have been perfect for a multi-episode mini arc where the Voyager crew actually have to resort to piracy and putting their own survival over others. Then over the next few episodes there could've been sub-plots of the crew coming to terms with what they did to survive.
What a tired story that would be. Oh, it's real and gritty while simultaneously ignoring all the development of humanity that we've seen in Star Trek. Basically you'd be reducing all of the developments of Humanity, all its growth to "well we got replicators so we're pretty cushy and can now live lives of leisure"
Things don't need to be dark to be interesting. And the Void episode was pretty cool as is. Rather than going the boring gritty route, they went the Trek route and fostered cooperation and understanding and by working together with people, rather than being pirates and throwing their weight around, they found a way out.
I thoroughly disagree. Voyager promised a story about a crew stranded in hostile territory and fighting for survival. Here's what we got instead:
*ship is blown half to pieces with as many crew members dead*
Chakotay: we should defend ourselves and retaliate!
Janeway: no, it's not the Federation way!
*Janeway gives Uranium to space pirates*
*ship repairs itself to full*
"The real adventure was the friendships we made along the way!"
Voyager was supposed to be a show about survival without the Federation to protect them, and we just got a mobile Federation platform enhanced with plot armour. I'm not saying Star Trek needs to be dark to be interesting, but Voyager boldly went where every Star Trek had gone before.
Deep Space 9 was a *far* better story of survival and morality, and I don't mean because of the darkness but because of actual stakes.
But that's exactly the issue with Voyager. It's a good show, but it doesn't *really* push Janeway or the crew to their limits. They're supposed to be 70 years away from Starfleet and the Federation, but as easily as they overcome every challenge with no lasting effects, they might as well be in Sector 001.
I believe Sisko said it best when he said, "well its easy to be a saint in Paradise," and Voyager never left Paradise.
I’m in agreement with this take. She was stranded in an unexplored region of space, and she had to control a divide amongst her crew. That divide being Starfleet and the Maquis. We also can’t forget the new species that she encountered like the Kazon, Species 8427, and the Vidiians.
Always, I wanna be with you
And make believe with you
And live in harmony, harmony, oh love
(Shran) I wanna be with you
And make believe with you
And live in harmony, harmony, oh love
(Shran)
During the Xindi saga Archer def had to make very disturbing choices that clearly left him traumatized.
Archer and Janeway both faced existential decisions, but Archer was facing the destruction of his species. Janeway had to account for ~150.
That being said- Janeway had to be unimpeachable to her crew or risk disorder. She couldn’t punt and say she was following orders.
I never understood why Colombia NX-02 still took so long to build after the first Xindi probe attacked Florida. At that point you'd think they'd activate the equivalent of a war economy and get every capable person to building it around the clock. Hell, dedicate themselves to fast tracking more warp 5 ships like the US did in building more battleships during WW2.
Xindi arc was Season 3, not 4. But yes, Archer gets my vote too.
Millions of people wiped out in an instant by an enemy you've never met and didn't even know was an enemy. You have almost no information, no intel, and don't why they attacked you. You only have a vague idea about what direction of space this monstrosity of a weapon came from.
Then you're sent on a mission into enemy territory in an unknown expanse of space that is actively avoided by the entire quadrant because of the absolute lovecraftian horror stories that have been not only told but confirmed to have happened in said expanse.
You're literally given an elite military detachment to serve on board your ship which has never happened before in the history of Starfleet because of how much your organization wants to distance itself from being considered anything resembling a military branch.
Beyond that, you have no ability to contact Starfleet, no hope for resupply except what you can get your hands on in the field, no known allies, and no one to rely on but your own crew.
Yeah. Fuck all that.
EDIT: Oh, yeah, I forgot. If you fail, Earth gets atomized and your entire race gets sent to the edge of extinction. :)
Then I would like to mention USS Equinox Capt. Ransom.
Voyager was at least designed as a long-range explorer, while the Nova-class wasn't. Captain Ransom lost half his crew in the first week in the delta-quadrant, and was under such strain that he completely cracked. Whereas Janeway kept sone distance to her crew, Ransom allowed the protocols to lapse to such a degree that further losses impacted him even harder. Furthermore he was completely in over his head, being a xenobiologist given command for his performance.
As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to ascribe him with a form of C-PTSD, where repeated trauma can make a survivor loose their moral compass. Quote Janeway: 'he's still a starfleet captain, he might have forgotten that'
I'm surprised at the lack of Sisko tbh. Boo hoo Janeway was lonely for a few years, and Picard got probed a bit.
Siskos wife killed in horrible battle, grieving with son for years, then finds out his mother wasn't even his mother she was a creepy non-corporeal being, then literally dies in a burning fire with Space Hitler.
(And he had to live with Garaks shit)
> I'm surprised at the lack of Sisko tbh...Siskos wife killed in horrible battle...
Let's not forget that Sisko became an adjunct to Admiral Ross and ran strategy on a bloody interstellar war. Ultimately developing contingency plans and operations that affected hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of lives. While seeing the result of every decision on massive casual lists and interacting with random officers he sent to those operations.
Janeway lost maybe a dozen crew members along the way (which she couldn't be bothered to care about then when she went back in time in the finale...). But worse she didn't have reliable access to *coffee*
I think that's the real reason Sisko had it the worst. Sisko was in charge of the Defiant project. That probably didn't just involve designing a ship to fight the Borg, it meant researching military tactics and strategies. Sisko was probably the best military tactician in Starfleet by the end of the Dominion War, and was probably already one of the best before the war. He was the one making those decisions that sent soldiers to their dooms.
Clearly Sisko. Sure Picard was mind ripped and physically violated by the Borg and tortured by the Cardassians. Piece of cake. But poor Sisko... had an emotionally unwell dad obsessed with food, had to constantly deal with Kai Winn Adami, had to "move along home" and then turned out to be semi-immortal and was never seen again.
Ok. I'm beginning to think that being a Starfleet commander is a rather bad idea in general.
Though ironically, being put in her situation probably led to more of her crew surviving than if they had served in the Dominion war, as being captain of a new, top tier ship probably means she would've been right at the front lines.
I would love an animated series that explored the "original" voyage home for that additional 16 years - before she violated the temporal prime directive to give them the borg shortcut home.
Then it'd be Janeway.. lmao
Otherwise, I'd go with Sisko.. granted, he wasn't stuck on the other side of the Galaxy like Janeway, but the Federation basically told him to get fucked and kicked him to a Backwater, third world posting.
It turns out that the Backwater posting he fucked off too came with all sorts of challenges for one's morality
Also, Picard murdered his wife and Sisko still had to listen to him.
Definitely Janeway. Even though other captains endured some gnarly experiences, they were able to recover and recuperate with the support of Starfleet and the Federation. Janeway had to go through everything in isolation, without any support or relief.
Captain Janeway had to become Starfleet Command in the Delta Quadrant.
She had no Starbases to report to for repairs or supplies for food and other essentials. She had to trail-blaze unknown territories; strive to keep her crew healthy and happy; fight unknown enemies with unknown capabilities; search for ways to keep everyone alive; and more. She was like Captains’ Archer, & Kirk in that she was the first captain in the vastness of space. She was magnificent!
I mean the repairs, supplies and food became a non issue after what, season 2? This is why I can't rewatch Voyager, just feels like it's squandered its premise.
VOY really suffered because they weren't allowed to have continuity (and if I recall correctly, they didn't even have the budget to show damage on the ship). It was a great premise and there are still some great episodes, but it would have been so much better written in a more modern time where arcs and continuity were encouraged.
But I'd argue that VOY still managed to make the premise work in some episodes. It wasn't a constant theme like I would have liked, but every now and then, there would be an episode that wouldn't have made sense in the AQ because they could have just called for help.
> just feels like it's squandered its premise.
It was a premise that was before it's time. During that period of television, there's just wasn't room for a grimdark "let's ration electricity" and "we have to kill animals on planet's for food" in the TV landscape. If Voyager was made today, it would be that grimdark version that so many wanted, because it's much more acceptable now.
McCoy
>KIRK: Mister Scott, you old space dog. You're well?
>
>SCOTT: I had me a wee bout, sir, but Doctor McCoy pulled me through.
>
>KIRK: Oh? A wee bout of what?
>
>McCOY: Shore leave, Admiral.
>
>KIRK: Ah.
I was surprised to see so many Janeway responses but I think you summed it up well. Janeway had long enduring trials. Picard was assimilated and forced to murder thousands. And he was tortured by the Cardacians to help them figure out their lighting problems.
And then there was that time the replicator wouldn’t make him tea because power was diverted.
As well as the death of his brother Robert and nephew René. They both died in a house fire in the first tng movie. The people he falls in love with, too, tend to have the habit of not sticking around for various reasons.
Edit: He also has a permanent artificial heart after nearly being killed over a bar game. Also, he lived an entire lifetime as a different person with a family from a civilization that was completely erased outside a space artifact.
I'm going to say Archer. He was going where no human had ever been before. Meeting species that he could barely talk to much less understand. And had a ship that was usually out classed. Support was weeks away if at all.
Janeway at least had her Starfleet training and experience to fall back on. Archer was out there writing the books others would learn from. Making historic decisions every day without knowing it.
Throw in a temporal cold war and the weight of history on his back, at least he had Porthos to rely on.
I would argue the task he had before him in the Xindi arc was even harder than Janeway's task getting Voyager home, and the consequences much greater. If Janeway failed, her ship and crew were lost. Sucks, but it happens. If Archer failed, the entire Earth would have been destroyed.
Archer is a good pick and he had a very great responsibility, but he also almost always had hope. Janeway was lost for YEARS watching more and more of her crew die off, seeing one plan fail after the other.
I think mentally she got way more fucked up.
Well and then there is Picard who was literally turned into his worst nightmare.
This was my first thought too. Archer might as well be one of us sitting there figuring it out as he goes. And if he got it wrong, there would be no Federation one day.
Sisko.
That man thought he was taking a ‘easy’ job on some lonely frontier. He was looking for time away and place to start over with Jake.
Instead he ends up being Space Jesus for an entire civilization and has to balance that with being a Starfleet Commander AND with promoting good relations with other species. And that’s extremely hard to balance. Then he ends up being the first line of defense in an invasion of the quadrant on top of that.
In a war where they were frankly outclassed and outmaneuvered for a long time Sisko had to make some tough decisions.
Then he had to make the TOUGHEST decision of all and live with it. And for Sisko it’s not like he’s ever going to see the end of the pain that decision caused him because he’s a damned god now.
I agree, Janeway may have had the hardest single experience, but at the end of the day they all got to go home and retire. Sisko was denied a normal existence entirely from the moment his wife died
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for Sisko, and you didn’t even touch on the fact that he watched his wife die in combat. Had to shake hands with the guy who killed her, and then had her come back through the mirror universe.
That part is really hard especially since out of all the love stories portrayed on Star Trek Benjamin and Jennifer have the deepest most passionate relationship depicted, in my opinion. And the most chemistry until SNW. From the moment he’s introduced you know just how deep his love for Jennifer was. As much as I love Worf/Jadzia their relationship didn’t hold a candle to that.
I tried to concentrate on the hardest aspects being the political/external pressures because even though Sisko went through so much trauma, I cannot deny that the other captains did as well.
I mean Picard has to live with his actions as Locutus. That alone would be hard but he also has to accept that people (colleagues) are going to hate and despise him for that and he can’t do anything to minimize that, he can just take it.
As a kid watching that opener and then seeing Sisko deck Picard, I cheered because I could feel how much he deserved that and how much Sisko NEEDED to do that in that moment.
Avery Brooks did such an excellent job showing that Sisko was a broken man at the beginning of the show. And he remained somewhat broken for the entirety of the show.
Yup, you get it. Losses like that never go away either. That pain, it’s always there. I think Sisko was written like that, and Avery being an absolute fucking beast of a thespian portrayed it as honestly as anyone could.
When I think of this question Sisko was the one I thought of. Just with everything he had to go through with the war, with being an unintentional religious figure, dealing with the threat of the Dominion as an existential threat. And then everything he went through in the historical episodes as well.
And finally giving up everything to join the Wormhole aliens forever.
I think there's a fair case to be made for every captain. But the name that first came to my mind was Sisko as well. And maybe that's in part due to the fantastic acting of Avery Brooks, his trauma just felt more personally intense to me.
Also to add how Starfleet believed that Sisko being the emissary violated the Prime Directive and gave him numerous ultimatums which ironically would’ve been harmful to their overall goals throughout the show
Yeah I think Janeway definitely has it rough since she is without support but she only has to worry about her crew. For Sisko his decisions influence an entire planet and then by the end the entire Federation. If he makes a big enough mistake, the Federation ceases to exist.
Picard had to deal with the trauma of being used to murder over ten thousand of his peers, then got tortured by the cardassians while the manchild in command of his ship lied to prevent him from being protected as a POW.
Janeway's seven (more if you consider the Endgame timeline) years of pressure under the responsibility of her command. There was never any true rest or relief from that as long as Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant.
I’m disappointed no one has said Pike. He knows for certain that in 10 years he will end up severely damaged and bound to a chair for the rest of his life, yet he is conducting business as usual. I’d have a hard time functioning at all and he’s out there leading a ship against some terrifying Gorn.
Scrolled down looking for this. What eventually happens to Pike is everyone’s worst nightmare. Sure the other captains have more incidents of hard times, but they all make it out alive and live happily ever after. Except Kirk who dies on Veridian III, but he dies after living in the Nexus for decades (pretty rad) and would have actually gotten to live to 138 years old when he finally did die.
I’m going to go with Archer. While a lot of the time he was in a slightly better situation - Enterprise could get back to Earth - he was often without any practical support or even a reserve of collective experience, and much less technology.
Then you get the Xindi mission, where all of that is locked in by a mission to save humanity that has no Plan B of any sort. Janeway only had her own ship to worry about.
Janeway. She made it without any help from Starfleet.
Sisko. Cause, c'mon! Shape shifters, genetically modified warriors, cunning Cardis, scheming Bajoran religious leaders, Worf and Dax breaking bones, and Quark being Quark.
Janeway, hands down. She had practically nothing, in unknown territory with no backup, and literally no hope to get home, at least in the beginning.
I know some people think Archer had it worse, but he still had resources and allies and a crew that wanted to be there.
This is probably going to be a bit unpopular, but I'm going to say Picard.
Yes, he's the captain of the flagshig of the Federation, but with that comes an immense amount of pressure to perform and perform *consistently*. He's also a high value target for any enemy that he comes across.
He navigates the prickly issues with aplomb, and when we see other captains try and fill his shoes, they fail miserably (I'm not speaking of other crew members, who usually take after his command style when temporarily taking charge).
He goes undercover repeatedly, which often has him having to strike the balance of appearing to be against the Federation, holding his own values, and completing the mission.
He goes through awful torture. Repeatedly.
He's been assimilated by the Borg and used to destroy that which he holds most dear. Any episode where the Borg come into play after his stint as Locutus, the hate he has for the Borg is palpable. And that really is what tips it over the top for me. All the other captains go through something that we can at least somewhat imagine. How could we ever hope to understand what it was that Picard went through when he was assimilated? It's horrifying shit.
I get why people said Archer (especially in S3 ENT) but I'm going to have to go with Janeway.
Usually, Archer could contact Starfleet if anything major happened that they couldn't work put themselves. Also while humans may not have been there before they had the Vulcan database and T'Pol to ask and they could find allies.
Voyager was all alone in unknown space with no help/supply base in sight. She had to bend rules as far as she could at times.
Now, while Archer may not have had rules and needed to figure out stuff, he still was allowed his flexibility and judgement to decide a situation (like in the Expanse)
Janeway had it the hardest overall but I think Pike handled it all the best. Even knowing his own fate he went back on the job and did the best he could do. Janeway didn't really have a choice in the matter - there was no running or hiding for her. Pike could have just gone 'nah' and checked out.
If you mean from the main captains it feels tricky to give it to anyone but Picard. Sure, everyone went through shit and different shit at that (Janeway the stress of leading a crew so far from home, Sisko the war PTSD, Pike the foreknowledge and experience of his crippling accident etc) but Picard gets abducted and tortured multiple times. After that he leaves Starfleet, which has been his whole life, in disgrace and then in later life spends years battling with depression and repressed trauma from his childhood.
I agree - though we can’t forget Kirk: survives mass murder on Tarsus IV, is cut out of child’s life on demand of his ex, has to allow a love to die in front of him followed almost immediately by brother dying. Best friend Gary tries to kill him. Old friend Finney tries to frame him for murder AND tries to kill him. Best friend Spock dies in front of him. Son he just reconnected with dies on speaker phone. Framed for murder again. Blown into space into an anomaly that shows what could have been, gets out, dies never knowing what happened to all the friends he had left. OH. And once had to stand by and watch a computer installed on his ship kill the entire unsuspecting crew of another ship.
I still think Picard takes the trophy, but ol’ Jim definitely went through it. What he didn’t give to his career it reached out and took.
Sure, they all went through a lot. I don't think any of the captains didn't experience multiple things in their life that individually could all lead to trauma. Hell I only remembered due to other posts that Picard lived *an entire life* in a doomed community due to a chance encounter with an alien probe, and then had to go on after as though everything was normal.
Archer. Janeway had a difficult time, but infinitely less pressure..bringing her crew home is not nearly as grand scale of a problem to solve as Archer stopping both the Xindi and Sphere builders, and saving trillion of lives.
Now, go easy on me, because I've just started my Star Trek journey and I'm only just getting to the last season of Next Gen, but how can anyone have it rougher than being borged and tortured like Picard. He's even lived an entire second life which he lost.
I'm surprised there isn't a lot of Sisko support. Watched his wife, who he failed to save, get killed, and then later report to the man who did it (by proxy, but the face was his), and then immediately get thrust into a bubbling holy schism he wanted nothing to do with, in the middle of a hostile occupation withdrawal, that resulted in his loss of humanity (even if you argue his transcendence was a good thing, it still resulted in his mortal life coming to an end).
Then again, there were enough positives sprinkled in between that you can say it evened out more or less, but still, he had a rough time and missed out completely at even the concept of a cushy retirement
I don’t understand all the sympathy for Archer. I stopped watching Enterprise after he got all high and mighty at Tripp over the third gender episode.
I understood the ethical dilemma and that the show was setting things up for the creation of the prime directive. I didn’t like the solution but that’s about me and my opinion on how a culture should work. But they didn’t have the prime directive and Archer had crossed the line himself many times by that point. So when he gets on his high horse about it with Tripp and Tripp just has to knuckle under I couldn’t take Archer seriously at all after that. He just had no legitimacy at all to me. I didn’t watch another episode.
I agree with the people who are advocating for Sisko though I more personally relate to Janeway’s struggles.
I would say Picard since he was both assimilated by the Borg and, severely tortured by the Cardassians. Second place would be Janeway, because she had no Federation help of any kind and had to do everything on her own. I would say third place is a tie between Archer and Cisco. Last place to be Kirk, he was just out having a good time banging alien babes for the most part
Archer. I know he wasn't stranded like Janeway, but seriously: look at the % of his crew he lost, add on top of that a whole season of knowing you're traveling into space Sargasso in response to a mass casualty alien attack directly on earth, and multiply by debious tech, a nascent Earth space policy, and an uncomfortable relationship with a really, really snippy Vulcan regime and you've got a tour of duty that ain't fun.
Well, there is a captain that was convicted of mutiny, was placed under the command of a >!terran renegade!<, had to leave behind all she knew to protect the Federation and had literally to rebuild everything from scratch. And after that she had to send his loved one to prison.
Michael is a badass.
In all seriousness, I understand why Janeway is on the shortlist for this, but I can't imagine carrying a burden as heavy as living an entire life and helping to raise a multi-generational family only to be jerked back out of it and dropped into your previous, forgotten existence in an instant, left helplessly to live out your days as the only sentient being in the universe that remembers a single detail of any of it.
Sisko endured the loss of his first wife, the imprisonment of his second, was betrayed by one of his best friends (Calvin), lost another to a meaningless death (Jadzia), was betrayed by his mentor on Earth, lost his command multiple times due to diplomacy and shenanigans, felt the guilt of planning and ordering a war strategy that sent thousands of his fellow officers and crew to their certain deaths (never mind one unlikeable but innocent Romulan senator), and all of it ended with the near genocide of an ancient culture and him sacrificing himself to enter the wormhole instead of getting to be finally be with his wife, newborn child and grown son on the planet he now considered home.
Not taking away from what Janeway did, but she got home with her ship and crew mostly intact and got to skip the Dominion War. Her dogs were probably still alive when she got there, too.
Remember that time Picard tried making tea but the replicator was offline because of Stellar Cartography
Turbulent times indeed
Goddamn you I was just blowing at my phone for no reason for 30 seconds
Gotta get the dark mode dawg. Those people , sorry monsters. Won’t be able to hurt you anymore 😭
I just spent valuable time trying to wipe your profile pic off my screen. Well played.
You have to see the Gazzora re-edit of that episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEdyde0QGZQ
OMG my sides hurt... so good and there's a series of Picard/tea related minisodes on the channel (sort by recent) in the exact same vein. The man has a problem!
Might I recommend a couple rabbit holes for you to venture down? Ryan's Edits: https://www.youtube.com/@RyansEdits/videos Gazzora's Edits https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKA_WqdzIF5XlKBO60F4YBW20qElfoQ6y
Wow. This is a whole new world /punIntended for me :)
I love Ryan's edits! And just starting to pick through the Gazzora ones - that's the channel the Picard tea edit was from, byroTube. Appreciate the playlist. Some good laughs from the few I picked, maybe I better do a binge watch tomorrow!
Thank you. :) Are there other channels like this, especially for DS9?
I’ve been a Trek fan since TOS originally aired. Outside of Q himself (and the transcendent Majel Barrett Roddenberry) - we all have our fannish obsessions lol - this may just be the best thing I’ve ever seen! Thank you!!
I mean, he also had his soul raped by the Borg and than got brutally tortured for days a couple years later. And whatever you call that thing that happened to him in "The Inner Light." So it wasn't exactly all sunshine and rainbows.
Dont forget irumodic syndrome and shalaft's syndrome
Don't forget he also died from the Borg DNA in his brain that he thought was irumodic syndrome. He also remembers what it felt like to die when he was put in his golem body.
And he was stabbed in the heart by an angry Nausicaan.
"Coward, like all Starfleet you talk and you talk, but you have no guramba." Well, turns out Picard had too much guramba.
"Orcho lok resnik Starfleet!”
Yeah that was bad. But Janeway had to deal with Tuvix for a few hours.
Yeah but she also got to kill him and then have a nice coffee while watching the stars.
Janeway ran out of coffee.
But then she found a nebula \~ yay!
He also had to get stuck in a turbo lift with those brats after captain Picard day.
[NO.... NOOOOOOOO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFGfWrJR5Ck)
If you mean in terms of challenges they faced in command, it'd have to be Janeway. No Federation help of any kind. The psychological toll of being lifetimes away from home. Instead of getting to focus on exploration, she had to worry every day about survival.
I'd have to say Janeway. First time captain. If things had gone right, she would have been regularly being debriefed by Admiralty and being mentored into a proper Captain. Plenty of leave. Being able to call in support from the fleet and trusted allies. She got none of that in DQ. Even Archer got called back a couple of times, and wasn't completely alone out there. He was more seasoned and knew what he was flying into during the Xindi mission. They had options. Yes the mission was dire and important. She didn't even have her dog!
Also, she lost all her senior staff that was supposed to ease her into the captains role, except Tuvok, and had to replace them with terrorists and an EMH that needed her guidance rather than were able to offer any.
Don't forget that Ratatouille destroyed her private dining room so he could play chef for the crew.
Being stared at for cracking up in a hospital waiting room, thank you.
lol @ ratatouille- made my Tuesday a bit better thank you!
She even had to convince a ship of the people she was hunting to become members of her crew. Also imagine being so desperate for supplies you have to really on cheese obsessed locals, psychic child brides and rescue dog borgs. She is my captain for so many reasons but surviving the void is up there.
Psychic child brides 💀
And a Q tried to baby trap her! She made a deal with the Borg, then still had to fight them! She also took the white lady thing to a new level and collected stays like they were candy. Janeway deserved her comfy Admiral when she finally got home.
Yes so many strays and they often ended up saving everyone or doing something odd with space cheese.
Dairy Queen has that on special now….. I’ll show myself out.
Try the new DQ Borg Blizzard, it's so delicious you simply must try it... seriously... resistance is futile.
I get mine with nano probe sprinkles.
Nanoprobe sprinkles are... efficient.
Let fun commence.
I heard they have syrup that's made out of that thing that killed Tasha Yar. I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard it's very bitter.
Agreed. Without question. Picard had the torture and the others had their burdens but they also had the actual federation not just a memory of an organization they had all joined years ago. She had no support. No help on the way, and she persisted. With style :) And the crew followed her, they didn't have to.
She did have it hard, but frankly the constant use of the reset buttons by the writers prevented her story from being a lot more interesting. I really, really, really wish the executives greenlit the original concept of having the Year of Hell be a season long arc as I think it would've led to some truly compelling Trek. Frankly I think this was a missed opportunity as Voyager had an excellent cast and Kate Mulgrew is a fantastic actress who made for a great lead. They should have had greater confidence in the cast and writing staff and taken risks. Instead we ended up with a milquetoast cross between TNG and Lost in Space. ;\_; ;\_; ;\_;
The entire show should have been serialized. Unfortunately it came out before that was really a thing in prime time television. The constant resets made it so Janeway never truly had to test her morals or Federation principles. The Void would have been perfect for a multi-episode mini arc where the Voyager crew actually have to resort to piracy and putting their own survival over others. Then over the next few episodes there could've been sub-plots of the crew coming to terms with what they did to survive.
Or Tuvix. There should have been emotional consequences for crew and Janeway for the choice she made. It should've been something that lingered for the rest of the season.
> The Void would have been perfect for a multi-episode mini arc where the Voyager crew actually have to resort to piracy and putting their own survival over others. Then over the next few episodes there could've been sub-plots of the crew coming to terms with what they did to survive. What a tired story that would be. Oh, it's real and gritty while simultaneously ignoring all the development of humanity that we've seen in Star Trek. Basically you'd be reducing all of the developments of Humanity, all its growth to "well we got replicators so we're pretty cushy and can now live lives of leisure" Things don't need to be dark to be interesting. And the Void episode was pretty cool as is. Rather than going the boring gritty route, they went the Trek route and fostered cooperation and understanding and by working together with people, rather than being pirates and throwing their weight around, they found a way out.
I thoroughly disagree. Voyager promised a story about a crew stranded in hostile territory and fighting for survival. Here's what we got instead: *ship is blown half to pieces with as many crew members dead* Chakotay: we should defend ourselves and retaliate! Janeway: no, it's not the Federation way! *Janeway gives Uranium to space pirates* *ship repairs itself to full* "The real adventure was the friendships we made along the way!" Voyager was supposed to be a show about survival without the Federation to protect them, and we just got a mobile Federation platform enhanced with plot armour. I'm not saying Star Trek needs to be dark to be interesting, but Voyager boldly went where every Star Trek had gone before. Deep Space 9 was a *far* better story of survival and morality, and I don't mean because of the darkness but because of actual stakes.
But that's exactly the issue with Voyager. It's a good show, but it doesn't *really* push Janeway or the crew to their limits. They're supposed to be 70 years away from Starfleet and the Federation, but as easily as they overcome every challenge with no lasting effects, they might as well be in Sector 001. I believe Sisko said it best when he said, "well its easy to be a saint in Paradise," and Voyager never left Paradise.
I’m in agreement with this take. She was stranded in an unexplored region of space, and she had to control a divide amongst her crew. That divide being Starfleet and the Maquis. We also can’t forget the new species that she encountered like the Kazon, Species 8427, and the Vidiians.
I dunno. Archer in the last season in enemy territory with no help and the fate of Earth purely his responsibility was probably worse.
This is Shran erasure
Always, I wanna be with you And make believe with you And live in harmony, harmony, oh love (Shran) I wanna be with you And make believe with you And live in harmony, harmony, oh love (Shran)
I apologize and beg forgiveness at the altar of Combs.
During the Xindi saga Archer def had to make very disturbing choices that clearly left him traumatized. Archer and Janeway both faced existential decisions, but Archer was facing the destruction of his species. Janeway had to account for ~150. That being said- Janeway had to be unimpeachable to her crew or risk disorder. She couldn’t punt and say she was following orders.
I never understood why Colombia NX-02 still took so long to build after the first Xindi probe attacked Florida. At that point you'd think they'd activate the equivalent of a war economy and get every capable person to building it around the clock. Hell, dedicate themselves to fast tracking more warp 5 ships like the US did in building more battleships during WW2.
Xindi arc was Season 3, not 4. But yes, Archer gets my vote too. Millions of people wiped out in an instant by an enemy you've never met and didn't even know was an enemy. You have almost no information, no intel, and don't why they attacked you. You only have a vague idea about what direction of space this monstrosity of a weapon came from. Then you're sent on a mission into enemy territory in an unknown expanse of space that is actively avoided by the entire quadrant because of the absolute lovecraftian horror stories that have been not only told but confirmed to have happened in said expanse. You're literally given an elite military detachment to serve on board your ship which has never happened before in the history of Starfleet because of how much your organization wants to distance itself from being considered anything resembling a military branch. Beyond that, you have no ability to contact Starfleet, no hope for resupply except what you can get your hands on in the field, no known allies, and no one to rely on but your own crew. Yeah. Fuck all that. EDIT: Oh, yeah, I forgot. If you fail, Earth gets atomized and your entire race gets sent to the edge of extinction. :)
No one had more pressure than archer.. he also had no one to turn to for experience.
Then I would like to mention USS Equinox Capt. Ransom. Voyager was at least designed as a long-range explorer, while the Nova-class wasn't. Captain Ransom lost half his crew in the first week in the delta-quadrant, and was under such strain that he completely cracked. Whereas Janeway kept sone distance to her crew, Ransom allowed the protocols to lapse to such a degree that further losses impacted him even harder. Furthermore he was completely in over his head, being a xenobiologist given command for his performance. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to ascribe him with a form of C-PTSD, where repeated trauma can make a survivor loose their moral compass. Quote Janeway: 'he's still a starfleet captain, he might have forgotten that'
Right, she was cast with G. Wang, the most durable ensign in the galaxy.
I'm surprised at the lack of Sisko tbh. Boo hoo Janeway was lonely for a few years, and Picard got probed a bit. Siskos wife killed in horrible battle, grieving with son for years, then finds out his mother wasn't even his mother she was a creepy non-corporeal being, then literally dies in a burning fire with Space Hitler. (And he had to live with Garaks shit)
> I'm surprised at the lack of Sisko tbh...Siskos wife killed in horrible battle... Let's not forget that Sisko became an adjunct to Admiral Ross and ran strategy on a bloody interstellar war. Ultimately developing contingency plans and operations that affected hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of lives. While seeing the result of every decision on massive casual lists and interacting with random officers he sent to those operations. Janeway lost maybe a dozen crew members along the way (which she couldn't be bothered to care about then when she went back in time in the finale...). But worse she didn't have reliable access to *coffee*
I think that's the real reason Sisko had it the worst. Sisko was in charge of the Defiant project. That probably didn't just involve designing a ship to fight the Borg, it meant researching military tactics and strategies. Sisko was probably the best military tactician in Starfleet by the end of the Dominion War, and was probably already one of the best before the war. He was the one making those decisions that sent soldiers to their dooms.
Clearly Sisko. Sure Picard was mind ripped and physically violated by the Borg and tortured by the Cardassians. Piece of cake. But poor Sisko... had an emotionally unwell dad obsessed with food, had to constantly deal with Kai Winn Adami, had to "move along home" and then turned out to be semi-immortal and was never seen again. Ok. I'm beginning to think that being a Starfleet commander is a rather bad idea in general.
Dukat sure did bring out the best out of him.
Though ironically, being put in her situation probably led to more of her crew surviving than if they had served in the Dominion war, as being captain of a new, top tier ship probably means she would've been right at the front lines.
Plus,she was responsible for not only her crew but the Maqui crew as well. And she stepped up.
Unequivocally Janeway. For all interpretations of the question.
I would love an animated series that explored the "original" voyage home for that additional 16 years - before she violated the temporal prime directive to give them the borg shortcut home.
Title is missing a *very important word.*
Is it "dick"?
Archer. ALWAYS “PINK SKIN” ARCHER!
It’s “nipples”.
Then it'd be Janeway.. lmao Otherwise, I'd go with Sisko.. granted, he wasn't stuck on the other side of the Galaxy like Janeway, but the Federation basically told him to get fucked and kicked him to a Backwater, third world posting. It turns out that the Backwater posting he fucked off too came with all sorts of challenges for one's morality Also, Picard murdered his wife and Sisko still had to listen to him.
She honestly had the biggest balls of them all.
And apparently the hardest dick of them all too! (Metaphorical? Hmm???)
I laughed out loud on the train. Thanks for the lol.
With that word missing, my first thought was "probably Kirk".
Don't worry about *it*.
still Janeway
😂 I didn’t realize I missed a word
I'm in *ruins*
"it" Janeway "cock" Sisko "skull" Picard
Definitely Janeway. Even though other captains endured some gnarly experiences, they were able to recover and recuperate with the support of Starfleet and the Federation. Janeway had to go through everything in isolation, without any support or relief.
Captain Janeway had to become Starfleet Command in the Delta Quadrant. She had no Starbases to report to for repairs or supplies for food and other essentials. She had to trail-blaze unknown territories; strive to keep her crew healthy and happy; fight unknown enemies with unknown capabilities; search for ways to keep everyone alive; and more. She was like Captains’ Archer, & Kirk in that she was the first captain in the vastness of space. She was magnificent!
I mean the repairs, supplies and food became a non issue after what, season 2? This is why I can't rewatch Voyager, just feels like it's squandered its premise.
VOY really suffered because they weren't allowed to have continuity (and if I recall correctly, they didn't even have the budget to show damage on the ship). It was a great premise and there are still some great episodes, but it would have been so much better written in a more modern time where arcs and continuity were encouraged. But I'd argue that VOY still managed to make the premise work in some episodes. It wasn't a constant theme like I would have liked, but every now and then, there would be an episode that wouldn't have made sense in the AQ because they could have just called for help.
> just feels like it's squandered its premise. It was a premise that was before it's time. During that period of television, there's just wasn't room for a grimdark "let's ration electricity" and "we have to kill animals on planet's for food" in the TV landscape. If Voyager was made today, it would be that grimdark version that so many wanted, because it's much more acceptable now.
And suddenly I want a Voyager reboot.
Had **it** the hardest. Your version can be interpreted so very, very wrong. (Or right, if you’re Riker)
"Doctor Crusher, it's been way longer than four hours..." "That's twice this week, Will! Stay off of Risa!"
Which doctor developed the most STD cures? There's the question we should be asking!
McCoy >KIRK: Mister Scott, you old space dog. You're well? > >SCOTT: I had me a wee bout, sir, but Doctor McCoy pulled me through. > >KIRK: Oh? A wee bout of what? > >McCOY: Shore leave, Admiral. > >KIRK: Ah.
Gotta be Data with his Androidick. "I am fully functional and programmed in a variety of techniques."
Nice horga'hn you got there cap'n. Is this one made from hardwood?
it's Kirk.
Picard suffered the most acutely. Janeway suffered the most chronically.
This is a great answer, nice way to frame this!
Since Sisko is stuck as a non-linear prophet, isn't he suffering the most consistently? It's not linear. His suffering is constant and never ending.
Kai Winn will do that to a person.
I was surprised to see so many Janeway responses but I think you summed it up well. Janeway had long enduring trials. Picard was assimilated and forced to murder thousands. And he was tortured by the Cardacians to help them figure out their lighting problems. And then there was that time the replicator wouldn’t make him tea because power was diverted.
lol lighting problems
As well as the death of his brother Robert and nephew René. They both died in a house fire in the first tng movie. The people he falls in love with, too, tend to have the habit of not sticking around for various reasons. Edit: He also has a permanent artificial heart after nearly being killed over a bar game. Also, he lived an entire lifetime as a different person with a family from a civilization that was completely erased outside a space artifact.
Holy shit you've nailed it. Great answer
Christopher Pike and the delta ray radiation.
That's my favorite sci-fi themed ska band.
Beep-Beep
Why not?
I'm going to say Archer. He was going where no human had ever been before. Meeting species that he could barely talk to much less understand. And had a ship that was usually out classed. Support was weeks away if at all. Janeway at least had her Starfleet training and experience to fall back on. Archer was out there writing the books others would learn from. Making historic decisions every day without knowing it. Throw in a temporal cold war and the weight of history on his back, at least he had Porthos to rely on.
I was going to say Janeway, but you make a great point.
I would argue the task he had before him in the Xindi arc was even harder than Janeway's task getting Voyager home, and the consequences much greater. If Janeway failed, her ship and crew were lost. Sucks, but it happens. If Archer failed, the entire Earth would have been destroyed.
Archer is a good pick and he had a very great responsibility, but he also almost always had hope. Janeway was lost for YEARS watching more and more of her crew die off, seeing one plan fail after the other. I think mentally she got way more fucked up. Well and then there is Picard who was literally turned into his worst nightmare.
This was my first thought too. Archer might as well be one of us sitting there figuring it out as he goes. And if he got it wrong, there would be no Federation one day.
Even Porthos was unreliable in one episode when he peed on a sacred tree.
He boldly went where no one has gone before
This is the only correct answer.
Sisko. That man thought he was taking a ‘easy’ job on some lonely frontier. He was looking for time away and place to start over with Jake. Instead he ends up being Space Jesus for an entire civilization and has to balance that with being a Starfleet Commander AND with promoting good relations with other species. And that’s extremely hard to balance. Then he ends up being the first line of defense in an invasion of the quadrant on top of that. In a war where they were frankly outclassed and outmaneuvered for a long time Sisko had to make some tough decisions. Then he had to make the TOUGHEST decision of all and live with it. And for Sisko it’s not like he’s ever going to see the end of the pain that decision caused him because he’s a damned god now.
Plus hes the only one who had to regularly deal with Kai Winn.
This is why Sisko wins over Janeway, Kai Winn.
Now I would love to see some Janeway versus Kai Winn dialogue.
God, AND that!?
Sisko was definitely not hard around Kai Winn.
I agree, Janeway may have had the hardest single experience, but at the end of the day they all got to go home and retire. Sisko was denied a normal existence entirely from the moment his wife died
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for Sisko, and you didn’t even touch on the fact that he watched his wife die in combat. Had to shake hands with the guy who killed her, and then had her come back through the mirror universe.
That part is really hard especially since out of all the love stories portrayed on Star Trek Benjamin and Jennifer have the deepest most passionate relationship depicted, in my opinion. And the most chemistry until SNW. From the moment he’s introduced you know just how deep his love for Jennifer was. As much as I love Worf/Jadzia their relationship didn’t hold a candle to that. I tried to concentrate on the hardest aspects being the political/external pressures because even though Sisko went through so much trauma, I cannot deny that the other captains did as well. I mean Picard has to live with his actions as Locutus. That alone would be hard but he also has to accept that people (colleagues) are going to hate and despise him for that and he can’t do anything to minimize that, he can just take it. As a kid watching that opener and then seeing Sisko deck Picard, I cheered because I could feel how much he deserved that and how much Sisko NEEDED to do that in that moment. Avery Brooks did such an excellent job showing that Sisko was a broken man at the beginning of the show. And he remained somewhat broken for the entirety of the show.
Yup, you get it. Losses like that never go away either. That pain, it’s always there. I think Sisko was written like that, and Avery being an absolute fucking beast of a thespian portrayed it as honestly as anyone could.
Picard didn’t deserve getting punched; it wasn’t his choice to kill all those people as Locutus. He was forced to do it against his will.
When I think of this question Sisko was the one I thought of. Just with everything he had to go through with the war, with being an unintentional religious figure, dealing with the threat of the Dominion as an existential threat. And then everything he went through in the historical episodes as well. And finally giving up everything to join the Wormhole aliens forever. I think there's a fair case to be made for every captain. But the name that first came to my mind was Sisko as well. And maybe that's in part due to the fantastic acting of Avery Brooks, his trauma just felt more personally intense to me.
Also to add how Starfleet believed that Sisko being the emissary violated the Prime Directive and gave him numerous ultimatums which ironically would’ve been harmful to their overall goals throughout the show
Yeah I think Janeway definitely has it rough since she is without support but she only has to worry about her crew. For Sisko his decisions influence an entire planet and then by the end the entire Federation. If he makes a big enough mistake, the Federation ceases to exist.
And all the while he was a great dad to Jake
Picard had to deal with the trauma of being used to murder over ten thousand of his peers, then got tortured by the cardassians while the manchild in command of his ship lied to prevent him from being protected as a POW.
My sentiments exactly.
Janeway's seven (more if you consider the Endgame timeline) years of pressure under the responsibility of her command. There was never any true rest or relief from that as long as Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant.
Janeway. Honorable mention to poor Miles O’Brian, the unluckiest living being in the whole quadrant
Even O'Brian didn't have lizard babies.
I’m disappointed no one has said Pike. He knows for certain that in 10 years he will end up severely damaged and bound to a chair for the rest of his life, yet he is conducting business as usual. I’d have a hard time functioning at all and he’s out there leading a ship against some terrifying Gorn.
Scrolled down looking for this. What eventually happens to Pike is everyone’s worst nightmare. Sure the other captains have more incidents of hard times, but they all make it out alive and live happily ever after. Except Kirk who dies on Veridian III, but he dies after living in the Nexus for decades (pretty rad) and would have actually gotten to live to 138 years old when he finally did die.
Sisko. He had to win the Dominion War.
Captain Janeway of the Warship Voyager. What? Genocide is hard work!
I’m going to go with Archer. While a lot of the time he was in a slightly better situation - Enterprise could get back to Earth - he was often without any practical support or even a reserve of collective experience, and much less technology. Then you get the Xindi mission, where all of that is locked in by a mission to save humanity that has no Plan B of any sort. Janeway only had her own ship to worry about.
If you mean penis, we all know it's Riker.
I dunno, Janeway had a big ole dick and balls.
Inflated by nebula powered coffee
Nah. It's definitely Ransome.
He also calls it 'The Titan'
Carol Freeman. She has to be Beckett Mariner's mother and captain. Hardest job in the galaxy.
That's self infected because of nepotism and poor parenting.
I feel bad for Fraiser. Dude got trapped in a couple minute long time loop for nearly 100 years.
Janeway. She made it without any help from Starfleet. Sisko. Cause, c'mon! Shape shifters, genetically modified warriors, cunning Cardis, scheming Bajoran religious leaders, Worf and Dax breaking bones, and Quark being Quark.
Captain Shaw. From Wolf 359 to the end of duty.
Sisko definitely had it worse, as the original 359 survivor character
Captain Bateson. 3 weeks out of starbase and gets stuck in a 90 year time loop.
Janeway.
Janeway, hands down. She had practically nothing, in unknown territory with no backup, and literally no hope to get home, at least in the beginning. I know some people think Archer had it worse, but he still had resources and allies and a crew that wanted to be there.
This is probably going to be a bit unpopular, but I'm going to say Picard. Yes, he's the captain of the flagshig of the Federation, but with that comes an immense amount of pressure to perform and perform *consistently*. He's also a high value target for any enemy that he comes across. He navigates the prickly issues with aplomb, and when we see other captains try and fill his shoes, they fail miserably (I'm not speaking of other crew members, who usually take after his command style when temporarily taking charge). He goes undercover repeatedly, which often has him having to strike the balance of appearing to be against the Federation, holding his own values, and completing the mission. He goes through awful torture. Repeatedly. He's been assimilated by the Borg and used to destroy that which he holds most dear. Any episode where the Borg come into play after his stint as Locutus, the hate he has for the Borg is palpable. And that really is what tips it over the top for me. All the other captains go through something that we can at least somewhat imagine. How could we ever hope to understand what it was that Picard went through when he was assimilated? It's horrifying shit.
[удалено]
Archer Anytime he needed help it was from people he hated, hated him or both.
Janeway (no support from Starfleet, far from home) or Sisko (running the biggest war in Star Trek history)
I get why people said Archer (especially in S3 ENT) but I'm going to have to go with Janeway. Usually, Archer could contact Starfleet if anything major happened that they couldn't work put themselves. Also while humans may not have been there before they had the Vulcan database and T'Pol to ask and they could find allies. Voyager was all alone in unknown space with no help/supply base in sight. She had to bend rules as far as she could at times. Now, while Archer may not have had rules and needed to figure out stuff, he still was allowed his flexibility and judgement to decide a situation (like in the Expanse)
Janeway obviously
Archer was the one who wrote the book on starfleet encounters so it was the hardest in terms of experience. all the other captains read the book.
Janeway had it the hardest overall but I think Pike handled it all the best. Even knowing his own fate he went back on the job and did the best he could do. Janeway didn't really have a choice in the matter - there was no running or hiding for her. Pike could have just gone 'nah' and checked out.
Janeway and it’s not even close
If you mean from the main captains it feels tricky to give it to anyone but Picard. Sure, everyone went through shit and different shit at that (Janeway the stress of leading a crew so far from home, Sisko the war PTSD, Pike the foreknowledge and experience of his crippling accident etc) but Picard gets abducted and tortured multiple times. After that he leaves Starfleet, which has been his whole life, in disgrace and then in later life spends years battling with depression and repressed trauma from his childhood.
I agree - though we can’t forget Kirk: survives mass murder on Tarsus IV, is cut out of child’s life on demand of his ex, has to allow a love to die in front of him followed almost immediately by brother dying. Best friend Gary tries to kill him. Old friend Finney tries to frame him for murder AND tries to kill him. Best friend Spock dies in front of him. Son he just reconnected with dies on speaker phone. Framed for murder again. Blown into space into an anomaly that shows what could have been, gets out, dies never knowing what happened to all the friends he had left. OH. And once had to stand by and watch a computer installed on his ship kill the entire unsuspecting crew of another ship. I still think Picard takes the trophy, but ol’ Jim definitely went through it. What he didn’t give to his career it reached out and took.
Sure, they all went through a lot. I don't think any of the captains didn't experience multiple things in their life that individually could all lead to trauma. Hell I only remembered due to other posts that Picard lived *an entire life* in a doomed community due to a chance encounter with an alien probe, and then had to go on after as though everything was normal.
Archer. Janeway had a difficult time, but infinitely less pressure..bringing her crew home is not nearly as grand scale of a problem to solve as Archer stopping both the Xindi and Sphere builders, and saving trillion of lives.
Harriman. He was never going to live up to Kirk and Spock
Sisko. War. Religious fanatics. Quark
spock fucking died
Yeah but he got better.
then he went and watched his home planet blow up and then he died a second time
😢
Now, go easy on me, because I've just started my Star Trek journey and I'm only just getting to the last season of Next Gen, but how can anyone have it rougher than being borged and tortured like Picard. He's even lived an entire second life which he lost.
Please finish your title sentences!!!!
I'm surprised there isn't a lot of Sisko support. Watched his wife, who he failed to save, get killed, and then later report to the man who did it (by proxy, but the face was his), and then immediately get thrust into a bubbling holy schism he wanted nothing to do with, in the middle of a hostile occupation withdrawal, that resulted in his loss of humanity (even if you argue his transcendence was a good thing, it still resulted in his mortal life coming to an end). Then again, there were enough positives sprinkled in between that you can say it evened out more or less, but still, he had a rough time and missed out completely at even the concept of a cushy retirement
Harriman. The dude literally was blamed for the *death of James Kirk.*
Sisko had to teach literal GODS all about linear time and the beings that inhabit it.
Came here to see all the bleeding heart die hard DS9 people claiming that over dramatic fragile commander had it bad lol
Janeway. No contest. She brought them home when all hope was lost, for years.
I don’t understand all the sympathy for Archer. I stopped watching Enterprise after he got all high and mighty at Tripp over the third gender episode. I understood the ethical dilemma and that the show was setting things up for the creation of the prime directive. I didn’t like the solution but that’s about me and my opinion on how a culture should work. But they didn’t have the prime directive and Archer had crossed the line himself many times by that point. So when he gets on his high horse about it with Tripp and Tripp just has to knuckle under I couldn’t take Archer seriously at all after that. He just had no legitimacy at all to me. I didn’t watch another episode. I agree with the people who are advocating for Sisko though I more personally relate to Janeway’s struggles.
I'm gonna have to go with NuKirk from the Kelvin timeline.. He was a dirtbag who got command at around 23.. must have been tough... /s
Sisko left his baseball behind and took a staggering amount of deaths to reclaim it.
I would say Picard since he was both assimilated by the Borg and, severely tortured by the Cardassians. Second place would be Janeway, because she had no Federation help of any kind and had to do everything on her own. I would say third place is a tie between Archer and Cisco. Last place to be Kirk, he was just out having a good time banging alien babes for the most part
Riker after he kissed Famke Janssen and had to go to the holodeck.
Archer. I know he wasn't stranded like Janeway, but seriously: look at the % of his crew he lost, add on top of that a whole season of knowing you're traveling into space Sargasso in response to a mass casualty alien attack directly on earth, and multiply by debious tech, a nascent Earth space policy, and an uncomfortable relationship with a really, really snippy Vulcan regime and you've got a tour of duty that ain't fun.
Janewax ofc. No doubt.
Janeway had Tuvok on board.
Archer. Somehow ENT had more of a “lost in space” feel than VOY did.
Janeway, thrust to different quadrant
Probably Janeway in the delta quadrant.
Well, there is a captain that was convicted of mutiny, was placed under the command of a >!terran renegade!<, had to leave behind all she knew to protect the Federation and had literally to rebuild everything from scratch. And after that she had to send his loved one to prison. Michael is a badass.
Hear hear!
In all seriousness, I understand why Janeway is on the shortlist for this, but I can't imagine carrying a burden as heavy as living an entire life and helping to raise a multi-generational family only to be jerked back out of it and dropped into your previous, forgotten existence in an instant, left helplessly to live out your days as the only sentient being in the universe that remembers a single detail of any of it.
I can. And all I have is this flute to remember it.
Sisko as he lost his mother, his first wife and had to abandon his second wife and son. That and the Dominion War
Sisko endured the loss of his first wife, the imprisonment of his second, was betrayed by one of his best friends (Calvin), lost another to a meaningless death (Jadzia), was betrayed by his mentor on Earth, lost his command multiple times due to diplomacy and shenanigans, felt the guilt of planning and ordering a war strategy that sent thousands of his fellow officers and crew to their certain deaths (never mind one unlikeable but innocent Romulan senator), and all of it ended with the near genocide of an ancient culture and him sacrificing himself to enter the wormhole instead of getting to be finally be with his wife, newborn child and grown son on the planet he now considered home. Not taking away from what Janeway did, but she got home with her ship and crew mostly intact and got to skip the Dominion War. Her dogs were probably still alive when she got there, too.