It seems like nearly every flag officer we meet in Starfleet is in some way corrupt or obsessed. Half the time, these Admirals were once great captains that a main character served under. Every Admiral that appears in an episode usually turns out to be the mastermind of some devious plot.
I'd like to know how many bad Admirals we've seen.
-Admiral Leyton, who planned the coup on Earth, is one.
Well, in Inter Arma... Admiral Ross was somewhat involved in a Section 31 operation. Devious for sure, but I don't know if he was corrupt or not. I suppose that depends on whether one sees Section 31 as a force for good or evil.
Admiral Quaice, Admiral Quinn, Admiral Nechayev, Admiral Ross, Admiral Paris... they all seemed like nice people.
Well, Admiral Ross was involved in that Section 31 plot, Admiral Paris can't really be a bad guy for plot reasons because he's Tom Paris' father, Admiral Quinn was taken over by those parasite things (I think he was the one), so that sort of counts. I'll admit that Admiral Nechayev seems to be a decent officer, and I'm not sure who Quaice is.
Besides, even Janeway hatched her own scheme as an Admiral, something she apparently would have never done as Captain.
Nechayev is annoying, but not corrupt, at least as far as we know.
NarkS, you're thinking of Dalen Quaice, Crusher's mentor from "Remember Me."
As for the "bad admirals," there was Admiral Pressman from "The Pegasus" and Admiral Dougherty from Insurrection.
As for "good admirals," Admiral Nakamura from several episodes seems to fit.
Some that I can remember
GOOD ADMIRALS:
Admiral Kirk
Admiral Paris
Admiral Nechayev
Admiral "Bill" from STVI
Admiral guy from STIII
Admiral Hayes
BAD ADMIRALS
Admiral Cartwright
Admiral Dougherty
Admiral Pressman
Admiral Leyton
BORDERLINE
Admiral Quinn
Admiral Ross
Admiral Janeway
That's all I can remember
TUE
Most of the Admirals in TOS the series (not the movies) were good guys.
Another bad admiral:
Admiral Norah Satie (Retired) in "Drumhead."
Two more good ones:
Admiral Hansen (killed by the Borg in BOBW)
Admiral Nakamura (just wanted Picard to come for dinner!)
::Another bad admiral: Admiral Norah Satie (Retired) in "Drumhead."::
Very well, then I'll add her father Admiral Aaron Satie to the "good admirals" list.
::NarkS, you're thinking of Dalen Quaice, Crusher's mentor from "Remember Me."::
Yes, yes I am.
I'd say Quinn was a good one. Parasites don't count.
Quaice wasn't an admiral, though.
I think there were some admirals who were "good" in nature, but not "good" as in "competent".
That admiral in ST III, for instance, wasn't a bad guy, or anything, but he was kind of a pain. He wasn't very open-minded, and wasn't showing a lot of respect for Vulcan beliefs. He almost cost Spock his life...well, his return to life...
Same goes, I think, for that admiral in DS9's "Rapture", whose name I don't remember. He was also rather closed-minded, and jerky. I instantly hated him the moment he commented on Sisko's amazing discovery of Ba'hala with, "Preeeetty impressive..." Something about his tone, maybe, I don't know.
Lets not forget Admiral Nogura from Star Trek, The Motion Picture. In the filmed version, he is only mentioned. Kirk tells Cmdr. Sonak that he will be meeting with Admiral Nogura. Later, when Kirk tells Scotty that "they gave her (the Enterprise) back to me", Scotty answers "Gave her back? I doubt it was that easy with Nogura." To which Kirk reples (in a faux-Scotty accent) "Yer right." The implication is that Nogura is an intimidating figure who should not be lightly challenged.
In Gene Roddenberry's novelisation, the characterization of Starfleet Commanding Admiral Heihachiro Nogura is further fleshed out. While Kirk admits that Nogura is a grandfatherly figure who has been a friend since his midshipman days, Kirk expresses quite a bit of resentment at Nogura using him to further Nogura's own agenda. (Although Kirk later admits that he has used subordinates when he felt that it was necessary to the safety of his vessel and crew).
BTW: Is Gene Roddenberry's novelization of ST:TMP considered canonical? While novels usually aren't considered authoritative, the Great Bird's adaptation of the first movie would seem to be the exception. Any thoughts on this?
I certainly believe that TMP novel is or at least should be considered canonical. Most people may not agree with me though. It is the closest in feel to the movie out of the novelizations. And it expands quite nicely on things that the movie could have but didn't.
Another "good" Admiral: that female Vulcan Fleet Admiral who presided over Worf's hearing in "Rules of Engagement."
Bad Admiral: the one from TNG, season one or two, who gave weapons to a planet wracked with civil war and drank a potion to make himself young. Don't remember his name.
That was Admiral Jamieson, IIRC.
Would the C&C be considered an admiral? He had a tiny part in the beginning of ST:VI but since he was announcing a peace initiative, he would be a good guy. And there were lots of other admirals at that meeting that didn't say anything.
THE C&C was Admiral "Bill". He's in other parts of the movie too. he's in the scene with the President where Colonel Odo tells them about his plan to bring back Kirk and McCoy.
I'm assuming he's an admiral because he has the yellow strip around the front of his uniform like Kirk had when he was an admiral. The President also refers to him as admiral.
No last name is given for Admiral Bill in the movie. Any thoughts on that?
TUE
Lazy writers, maybe?
Wasn't there a nameless admiral Bill in ST:V too?
No, that was Admiral "Bob".
What about Commodores? In TOS it seemed like that was rank designed to PO Kirk. When the US navy did away with commodores sometime in the early 80's It seemed like Star Trek redid their rankings as well. Wasn't the guy who insisted the Enterprise leave in three (or whatever) days instead of continuing their search in "Galileo Seven" a Commodore? How about the guy who blew up his ship fighting the planet Killer? Can TOS series commodores be added to the admiral list?
Wasn't the guy who insisted the Enterprise leave in three (or whatever) days instead of continuing their search in "Galileo Seven"
He was a bureaucrat, not a StarFleet officer.
The Romulan Neutral Zone crossing commodore was really on top of things though. /sarcasm
Commodores are Administrative Captians. Admirals are more policy makers.
More specifically Commodores are/were the ranking captain among a group of captains.
More specifically Commodores are/were the ranking captain among a group of captains.
So, if they had the rank, was Picard a "Commodore" in the episode about the Klingon Civil War? (The one where a bunch of Federation ships captained by the Enterprise bridge crew kept the Romulans out.) He should demand a raise!!
Oh, oh it gets better. In "Best of Both Worlds" Riker actually gets demoted. He starts off a captain then, for some odd reason, gets busted back down to cmdr.(?) What, is there a rule that if the guy that promotes you dies you have to go back to where you were before he upped you? The silly part is they still could have left him a captain and made the show work. Make Picard an Admiral or something (it IS the fleet flagship.)
They could promote Picard to "Fleet Captain" or something. (I believe that was Pike's rank in the Menagerie.)
It's possible that Riker ruined his chances for command in "The Pegasus."
The Commodores were a good band. Starfleet should embrace them.
Admiral Norah Satie's father Aaron was not an admiral, he was a judge.(at least according to the encyclopedia)
Wasn't there an episode where Picard was an admiral, like in Riker's mind or something? Can't think of the name.....anyway I suppose that wouldn't count since he wasn't real.
What about Admiral Toddman in DS9? He always seemed to be throwing roadblocks in Sisko's way. I suppose that doesn't make him corrupt though....
Wasn't there an episode where Picard was an admiral, like in Riker's mind or something? Can't think of the name.....anyway I suppose that wouldn't count since he wasn't real.
Picard was an ambassador in Riker's imaginary "Future Imperfect", but I don't think he was ever an admiral in any possible futures, alternate timelines or parellel universes.
He was also an admiral (retired) in All Good Things.... Not to mention the fact he was up for promotion to Admiral of the Academy in a first season episode.
>It's possible that Riker ruined his chances for command in "The Pegasus.">
Probably not. Accoring to some SPOILER sites, their SPOILERS say that Riker will get command of a ship at the end of the next film.
PS They have to get bad Admirals from somewhere.