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It is a question that Trekkies like me love to debate: Who is the best Star Trek captain? It’s this question that I will attempt to tackle here today.

For many years, nearly two decades, there was only one Star Trek captain, that of course being James Tiberius Kirk as played by William Shatner. Then in the mid 1980′s came the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation. For the first two seasons, TNG struggled to find its space legs and few among the fandom would have attempted to argue that Jean-Luc Picard was in any way a match for Captain Kirk.

However, a funny thing happened. Next Generation got very good, very fast. In the third season, Star Trek: The Next Generation found its voice and the character of Picard became more fully realized. By the Best of Both Worlds Part I, which was the season-ending cliffhanger for season three, there began to be some debate at Star Trek conventions about who was truly the top Star Trek captain.

As The Next Generation continued to hit its stride, becoming a creative and ratings winner for the next four years, there became a legitimate argument among Star Trek fans as to who was the finest Trek captain.

Those who argued for Picard enjoyed his refinement, his intellectualism, and his manner of leadership. Kirk continued to lead with those who favored his charisma, decisiveness, and certain “tough guy” qualities. But there was absolutely a debate.

As the 1980′s gave way to the 1990s the arguments simply intensified. The original Star Trek cast was aging and Star Trek: The Next Generation was the number one syndicated drama in the United States.

When the two men, Kirk and Picard, finally met in the seventh installment of the Star Trek feature films, Star Trek: Generations it was essentially a passing of the baton. The fandom, which at first could never have considered a challenger to Kirk’s throne, seemed to pronounce Picard the new king of Trek-land. Generations served to make this seem ever more so since that film was essentially a pass-the-baton exercise in which Kirk handed the mantle over to Picard. For a while it seemed as though Kirk was the past. Picard was the future.

Then a funny thing, as is very common in the Star Trek world, happened. The Next Generation never found its space legs. The feature films featuring Picard were wildly unever. With the last two, Insurrection and Nemesis, being among the worst, if the not the very worst, of all the Star Trek films ever made.

Picard had been given the keys to the city, yet couldn’t seem to assume command. The fandom was listless for a while, as the three new shows to debut in the intervening years, while interesting, did not capture Trekkie’s attention in the way that Kirk and Picard did.

There was never any real debate as to whether Sisko, Janeway or Archer were the heads of the franchise. The baton had not been passed to any of them. It had been passed to Picard… by Kirk himself.

And Picard seemed to be faltering, moving to the finish line with a limp rather than a sprint. After the disappointing Star Trek; Nemesis the debate seemed to go silent. Due to the excruciating unpleasantness of that film, many Trek fans began to see the argument as a moot point. There would be no more Star Trek feature films, so there need not be an argument. And the franchise began to flounder.

Then, as had happened before, an interesting thing happened. In spite of the lousy box office take of the past few Star Trek movies, Paramount studios seemed interested in taking a fresh look at the franchise. J.J. Abrams was the man responsible for this renewed interest. And Abrams wanted to do Kirk.

So, Kirk was reborn. At this point, just before the release of the new star trek movie, it seems clear that Kirk has triumphed as the best Star Trek captain. The only question remains will it be William Shatner, or Chris Pine who is remembered as the greatest Kirk?