DS9 is my favorite incarnation of Star Trek. Like Q said in All Good Things-the greatest exploration is not mapping stars, but exploring existence. This is what DS9 did. Also Sisko is my favorite Captain-though not as popular as Kirk or Picard. I think he is the best Captain because he is so real-we have seen him grow from a broken widower to a mighty prophet. What do u guys think-who is your favorite???

Sisko's definitely my favorite Captain!

Hey, how many other captains got to be a demigod? (Excluding William Shatner's self-image.)

Hey, have you guys seen the "50 reasons why Picard is a better captain than Kirk"? If you want I'll post it... This seems like a reasonable place.

Matthew and ScottN: Get over it. Get a life.

Doesn't that apply to everyone that posts on these boards?

Mpatterson, just ignore him. He's getting his petty little revenge for the "Slander" board.

Actually, I still think it does apply to everyone who ppsts here. But then what would we do? ;-)

I've wrote this before and I hope no one feels "rehash syndrome" too strongly. At any rate, I think all four captains are strongest in their own particular areas/specialties. Kirk would be the strongest captain in a Original Series-like time period; Picard is the strongest diplomat, especially in short-term or prelimary matters and the best dealing with "within the Federation" problems, he also has the strongest sense of morality of all four captains; Sisko is the strongest "stationary(DS9, starbase, outpost, space station)" captain and long-term diplomat; Janeway is the best deep space/explorer captain and the most qualified to deal with a scientific/technical mission(I think Janeway is the best Next Gen captain when it comes to exploratory matters). In terms of favorite or most-liked captain I have to say that I like all four the same amount in different ways.

So do I. Nothing wrong with that.

Ok here is my ranking of Starfleet Captain's:

1.James T. Kirk:as they say he THE man!!:)
Ok,so growing up Kirk was one of my heroes,can't
as they say go against THAT.Besides if you pay
any attention to Next Gen.,DS9 or Voyager they
are all pretty much in awe of Kirk and his crew.:)
2.Kathryn Janeway:she has more cool under fire
than either Picard and Sisko combined.I mean the
lady has has they say,and pardon my French for
saying it,balls!!:)Who else would even DARE make
a truce with the Borg like she did in Scorpion
two parter or talk down an alien lifeform who
wanted her soul for once?And then keeping a crew
that consists of Starfleet,Maquis,an exBorg Drone
and a Talaxian together is not an easy task.:)
3.Rachel Garret:the protoJaneway from Yesterday's
Enterprise.:)
4.Benjamin LaFayette Sisko:The problem here is
he has a tendecy to get riled up a bit at times.
Needs to learn to play it cool like Janeway.:)
5.Jean-Luc Picard:Uh,just why DO we have a Frenchman with an English accent?:)

1. Kirk, even if he made mistakes and got some at every planet, he survived and saved the galaxy more times than anyone can count. He cared about the people under his command and believed in the federation. And now he's legend so we can't really argue about it.
2. Picard, because, unlike Kirk he thinks things through, and even if he doesn't have Kirk's gusto, he holds his ground and when push comes to shove he shoves back. Picard is a lot more rational, but still willing to sacrifice a lot for people under his command and the federation. A lot more level headed than Kirk, but less of a legend, as of yet.
3. Sisko, forceful, caring, but seems to care more about Bajor than the federation. Still, a good captain.
100. Janeway. Out of control tyrant who's crew should have mutinyed before this.

I like Picard first, then Sisko, then Kirk, then Spock, then Martok, then Sulu, then Rachel Garrett, then Jellico, then move about a hundred spaces down… we have Maje Culluh, Tribbles, and Janeway. If she actually cared about getting home, they would have been there in the following episodes: Caretaker, False Profits, Timeless, Future's End (slingshot around the sun), Dark Frontier, Hope and Fear, The Q and the Grey (could have struck a deal with Q in exchange for having his baby), and probably more that I'm missing.

Of "the big four" (well, five now), Sisko rates last. Aside from the fact that he wasn't even a captain for the first half of the series, he never struck me as a capable leader. No wonder Starfleet stuck him out in the middle of nowhere on an abandoned space station.

Out of all the people we saw command a starship, Sisko ranks next to last just above Katherine "what's a time bomb" Janeway. Orders only apply if he agrees with them, etc. Iknow DS9ers will say he was the best, but if I was a nameless ensign I'd feel better with Picard or Kirk (unless I was wearing a red shirt. I'd fell better with Sulu (captain in later years) and even Scotty or Riker or Pike. (Not Spock, the needs of the many require the one, that's you, die.) Sisko might not have many deaths on board, but all his crimes are reflected on the crew.

Janeway was clearly at the bottom. Where Archer will rank will take time conclude, but there's no way Sisko was a worse captain than Janeway. She was by far the worst-written, most inconsistently-written captain.

Indeed; after all, Sisko never stranded his crew 70,000 light years from home, and, most importantly, he never "evolved" into an amphibious creature and mated with one of the crew members!

Sisko's lack captaincy and the lack of a starship is the result of TPTB. They didn't want to have two Star Treks on at the same time doing the same types of things. (Says so on Nemesis DVD)
Now on to the "Captain!"

Kirk was in my opinion the Best "Captain" (Frontier Type) He was the person "In charge" and his decisions were ones that showed him to be indepedent of TPTB.

What seperates Kirk from the others is that Kirk would willingly break any regulation if the situation demanded it regardless of the Prime Directive, but what is different from the other captains is that Kirk portrayed it as if it were his decision and not a Parliment decision. (Something that hindered the potential of Sisko)

Janeway while good, held more of a mayor or "mother" style of captaincy. She was a leader, but not necessarily the decision maker. It was like she had a B-implant* in her brain. The command structure of Voyager suffered from too much 'Cabbage-Heading,' and it ended up showing either incompetance or inconsistancy. (* Braga)

Picard: Leader, Diplomat, Warrior, Explorer, Historian, yet either because of the missions or the range from the HQ, he doesn't have the chances to mess up and make a fatal decison like Kirk could. Kirk is a better Explorer-Captain while Picard is more of a Aircraft_Carrier-Captain. (The U.S. should put Picard in charge of the USS Greenville. <-look up a list of foibles that this troubled Submarine has endured.)

Sisko:A pawn. He is a great character, multi-faceted (too much though). His role switches too often or is too broad. (Note: the character, Ben Sisko, is intriguing, he just doesn't portray someone who is CAPTAIN.) A list is below:
He gets to be the Emmisary,
He gets to expose Gowron<-(legitimate choice though since its about a changling and he has Worf and knows Odo the best)
He gets to plan the attack on on Cardasia<-(unrealistic; this is something that is decided by generals/admirals and is based on Covert-OPS and other special circumstances. -NOT Sisko)
He of course 'Administrates' a Intergaltic space station.

The really unfortunate aspect of this is that he is not the decision maker. He's instructed by the prophets, ordered by the Admirals, Criticized by the Kai, and Duped by the the Dukat(s). Its seems that he is as I mentioned in the beginning, A PAWN.