Personally…Qui-Gon Jzin could kick all of their butts! 
Picard wins out over Kirk with me; I like my men built like that!
And Riker wins the “Universe’s Greatest Womanizer” award.
Of course; I was younger when ST: TNG came out. I suffered from an insane crush on Wesley Crusher…
But; I can change!!!
Phoenix
Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis.
Carmina Burana: Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi–O Fortuna. Carl Orff: 1937
Patrick Stewart’s OK but Picard is a New Age wuss. Remember “Doomsday Machine” where Kirk killed the horn-of-plenty thing that was going around swallowing up planets? At great personal risk, I might add? Contrast that with the STNG ep with the crystalline life form that went around seeking out and destroying intelligent life just for the hell of it, and the woman whose son it had murdered killed it, and Picard whined, “Oh, why did you do that? We might have negotiated with it. Now we’ll never get the chance. Boo hoo.”
People, people, people… <slowly shakes head>
Sure, Picard is a bit more cerebral than Kirk. Yes, he is a little less action-oriented. But let us not forget that this is exactly what was needed to convince Q that humans were worth the paper they were printed on. Q would’ve taken one look at Kirk and decided to end it all there without even finishing the epis… er… test.
However, if we do get to include the other two captains, Sisko wins hands down. As BlakJak so deftly pointed out, he is a demigod.
*“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller
*
I think I would have to go with Sisko all all counts. IMO he combines the best of Kirk and Picard. After all he is the ONLY startfleet captain to have the guts to actually strike and omnipotent being (Q), whats more…he walked away from the encounter…
He won an entire war with the dominion using both brains and brawn. And defeted an evil spiritual force, all by himself.
He would beat the living daylights out of Kirk and Negoiate the Enterprise right out from under Picard, then he would probably resuce Janeway, thereby jipping all of us another 8800 episoded of Voyager…
Heaven…One to beam up!
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Phoenix:
Personally…Qui-Gon Jzin could kick all of their butts! :)**
Yeah, which is why Darth Maul kicked his butt - Kirk would have taken a lightsabre through the gut… and then gotten mad!
Personally, I think Worf or Data would make fantastic captains; better still, make them CO and FO. And Odo is da MAN!
Esprix, who has a thing for Harry Kim, even if he is a wimp
royalbill wrote:
If Sisko had been the Voyager’s captain, they would have made it back to the Alpha Quadrant by the end of the first pilot episode.
(Plus, “Sysco” is the name of a huge agribusiness conglomerate, and “Cisco” makes most of the routers hooked up to the Internet – ya can’t go wrong with a name like his!)
Kirk would have tried to beat up Q and failed. Finally after realizing all is lost Kirk would have found some way to blow both the Enterprise and Q too kingdom come! Then Q would have had to agree to accept humanities continued existance.
Of course if Kirk was Captain in the TNG episode when Q loses is expelled from the continuum and then regains his powers at the end of the episode Kirk would have taken Q up on the offer of his “Q-Hoes” that he conjured up, unlike Riker and Picard (and Worf?).
As far as the Darth Maul mention above I don’t know. I mean Kirk was used to fighting big slow aliens. Plus the different music in that scene in Star Wars might have thrown his mojo off and let Darth Maul get the best of him.
Hmmm, cowboy vs. martial arts master - John Wayne vs. David Carradine? Now that’s a fight I’d pay to see!
Esprix
If Kirk fought Darth Maul, the outcome would depend on whether light sabers can deflect phasers as well as Star-Wars-blaster bolts. (Don’t forget, in at least one episode, Kirk and company fired their hand phasers on a “wide-angle” setting.)
Hey speaking of Kirk’s “Battle Hymm” does anyone know where I can find it?
LOL! I’m immediately writing Paramount to request that they make an episode with this title.
Oh, come on! David Carradine isn’t a martial arts master! he’s a dancer who got paid to pretend he knew martial arts in a tv role he stole from Bruce Lee!!!
Sure, now he has tai chi tapes to sell you, but that’s 30 years later, after he got tired of hearing people say he’s not a real martial artist. Besides, tai chi doesn’t teach you how to fight. It’s exercise.
How about John Wayne vs. Jackie Chan? THAT would be a cool fight.
Joe Cool
Kirk, all the way, on all counts.
There’s only one thing you need to know about Kirk.
He cheats.
That’s right. It sounds simple, but if he finds he can’t beat you hand to hand, why, he’ll flip open his communicator and order a photon torpedo for the spot you two are standing on and get himself beamed away at the last possible second.
If he can’t beat you from the Enterprise, why, he’ll surrender, beam away, and then blow it up when you come aboard.
If any of these options are unavailable to him, why, he’ll just seduce your woman and she’ll stab you in the back at the critical moment, saving him.
If that proves impossible, he’ll ask Spock what to do. And Spock’ll know.
If, somehow, he gets killed, he’ll come back and get you. There have been a bunch of episodes where he’s killed – he always came back.
But if, for some reason, he can’t come back from the dead, he’ll have himself split in two, and the evil Kirk will figure out a way to do you in while the good Kirk convinces you he’s the soul of kindness.
If that proves impossible, he’ll go back in time and change things so he comes out on top.
There is literally nothing he will not do to win. He will make any sacrifice, no matter how cruel or heartless, to win. He’ll play with the very forces that make up the fabric of the universe, threaten the space-time continuum itself, unmake existence if he has to, to beat you. He is reckless, amoral, pragmatic, and Machiavellan to the extreme.
He has humbled Gods. Many times.
There is literally nothing he will not do to win.
cactus jack That was great! 
Let us not forget that Kirk was the foundation on which the “William Shatner School of Overacting” was built, thus inspiring many an actor to overdo their roles.
Carpe Jugulum
Yes you are right Kirk cheats but Picard…oh damn I can’t think of a counter-argument. Picard was lucky enough to be rescued from the Borg, much less cheat death. Although Picard definately has better sub-ordinates. Lets compare shall we:
Security Team
For muscle Picard had both Data and Worf (lets just pretend Tasha Yar doesn’t exist shall we, She was pretty to look at but didn’t make a good security officer). Between Data’s super-human strength and Worf’s warrior spirit there was no close combat situation that Picard’s crew couldn’t overcome.
Kirk on the other hand relied on a lot of gimmicks to overcome his adversaries in Hand to Hand combat. Kirk personally had his patented rip-your shirt and then use overhanded hammer blow ™, and Mr. Spock was devastating with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch ™. I mean come on people this is Star Trek not WWF. These items were gimmicks, not a solid base to build an effective combat team with.
Advantage—Picard.
Medical Officers–
Beverly Crusher–Beverly is great at whipping up antidotes to plagues that wipe out entire civilizations. However Wesly Crusher is the only immediant drawback to her. Solution–Send young Wesly to Starfleet Academy. Doh! Young Wesly returns and this time with an officer’s commission.
McCoy–I have always questioned McCoy’s medical abilities. He seems only able to state the obvious to Kirk “He’s Dead Jim!”. Really! I wouldn’t never had geussed! He also had a poor work ethic and apparantly believed that since he was a high and mighty Doctor he didn’t have to do stuff like everyone else. How many times would Kirk hear “Damnit Jim! I’m a Doctor not a <Insert Easy Task here>”. Finally McCoy at best was guilty of negligence or at the worst be a serial murderer. How many times would an anonymous new guy beam away from the Enterprise and be wounded only to die because of McCoy’s inadequant medical skills. It is possible that McCoy had an insane secret homosexual love for Kirk (or Spock) and would purposely let these new young red shirts die on purpose, in order to isolate the other two from any “outsiders”.
Advantage–Picard (Despite Beverly Crusher’s “Baggage” in the form of Wesly)
Engineering–
Geordi (sp?) Well Geordi could do some amazing stuff. Unfortuantely he needed to take some refresher courses back at the Star Fleet Community College. As Engineer he was in charge of maintaining the ship. I would hope he could learn to put a damned MANUAL SAFETY/OFF Switch in the Holodeck. Holodeck’s are dangerous places, and since they like to malfunction some idiot needs to make the circuit breaker easy to reach within the Holodeck for these accursed malfunctions. Geordi was also probably guilty of negligence in making the Enterprise so easy to take over. I mean seriously Geordi add some sort of Safety to keep Data from siezing control of the damned ship. It can’t be that hard.
Scotty–No contest, this man was a legend in his own time. In addition to running Engineering Scotty would also operate the Transporter. No deligating something as important as that to his subordinates no this was a hands-on man. Scotty also wasn’t scared of a silly warp core. Scotty might have complained that the ship couldn’t take anymore but he never suggested ejecting the warp core.
Advantage–Kirk
Morale of Subordinates
Picard–Picard enjoyed a healthy relationship with his crew. He employeed a counselor, and would heed her advise. He also was relatively safe to travel down planetside with if you were a new crew-member. Finally he would often stupidely endanger his ship and many other lives just for a single person. Besides Riker attempting to kill him while he was captured by the Borg, Picard enjoyed a good relationship with his crew-members.
Kirk–Where to begin. Kirk abused his crew regularly. To be a Jr. OFficer and travel with Kirk was a death sentance. Kirk also would reek havoc across the Enterprise and blame it on his “evil half”. Kirk also enjoyed seeing his female crew in the least amount of clothing possible. I hope Star Fleet doesn’t have some form of “Tailhook” like the Navy.
Advantage–Picard
As an individual contest between Picard Vs. Kirk as Cactus Jack stated Kirk would almost always win. America loves a Winner Damnit!. However when the sum of the parts between the old Enterprise’s crew and the new Enterprise’s crew is compared Picard wins all the way.
The final tal
Joe_X;
Picard is to Starship Captains as Timothy Dalton is to James Bond.
I know that sounds harsh, but somebody had to say it.
Of course Kirk is at a big disadvantage.
Kirk is always at a big disadvantage.
This is the way he likes it.
Judge a man by his friends. There has never, ever, been a Star Trek crew member as cool or compelling as Spock, and he’s Kirk’s buddy–not Picard’s.
Data is a great character, but his “quest to be more human” subplot is nowhere near as interesting as spock’s “struggle with the human inside” subplot.
7-of-9 is great too, but that’s mostly because she’s stacked–no fair (not that I mind).
as for the rest…forget about it.
Worf is a Klingon for Chrissakes! Sure, he acts tough.
Remember, in the entire history of Star Trek no Klingon has ever one a battle or so much as a fistfight!
And he’s a security officer? This is a good thing?
Not that I’m prejudiced against Klingons or anything. Some of my best friends…
“The analyst went barking up the wrong tree, of course. I never should have mentioned unicorns to a Freudian.” – Dottie (“Jumpers” by Tom Stoppard)
Should be “won” not “one.” Sorry.