Building Our Dream Star Trek Crews

Ethan: 0:18

Hello, everybody. And welcome back to another episode of father and son's guide to the galaxy. I'm your host, Ethan, and I'm your co host Anthony. And today we will be doing another topical episode. This time, Star Trek, build your dream

Anthony: 0:33

crew. Oh yeah, I'm excited about this one. This'll be a fun episode. We each are going to. Put together our ideal or dream crew aboard a Federation starship. So let's jump right in. Yep. Let's do this. All right, so we're gonna start with the position of Helmsman, so Who do you want at the helm of your starship and why?

Ethan: 1:00

So, for me, I would pick Sulu from the original series. Good choice. Cause like, you know throughout the series he's been known as being an amazing pilot and one of the only helmsmen we see in all of Star Trek who carries a sword with them. That's true.

Anthony: 1:14

Very true.

Ethan: 1:16

Not to mention he's ripped.

Anthony: 1:19

Yeah, Sulu's a great choice. So I went, this was kind of a tough one, but I ultimately decided on Tom Paris from Voyager. And the reason I picked Tom is, he reminds me a little bit of Maverick from Top Gun, right? He kinda, he's a little bit of a rebel, he He has a sense of adventure, and he's fearless. And I think you need those qualities in a pilot, right? You want somebody who's not going to be afraid to you know, do difficult maneuvers when the situation requires it. Somebody who's highly skilled. And Tom, even though he eventually got kicked out of Starfleet and was imprisoned prior to joining Voyager was highly skilled as a pilot. And he's also, in Voyager, his character arc is interesting. He's grown and matured,, he's loyal he's loyal to Captain Janeway, he's loyal to the crew, and he's a good guy. And even when he does kinda rebel a little bit, it's usually for a good reason. So, Tom Paris is my guy at the helm. Alright,

Ethan: 2:32

I think for any member of the bridge crew, My like, my reasoning behind them would also include the question, like, what happens if enemies manage to beam onto the bridge, as we've seen several times throughout Star Trek, like, who would be able to hold their own? I think Sulu would do a really good job of that, because he, like Paris, he's got this just really keen and present sense of adventure. And, you know, he's also extremely strong from what we've seen in the original series. So I think he could take on a few guys who try to jump him on the

Anthony: 3:06

bridge. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Sulu's a good guy. Oh my! Alright, next position would be Operations. Chief Operations Officer on the bridge.

Ethan: 3:23

So for mine I didn't really pick anybody who's necessarily been in, in ops before. But as we're looking into the position of ops, it said any senior officer can do the job. So I picked Tuvok from Voyager, mainly cause he's a Vulcan. And, you know, Vulcans are, like, incredibly organized and can keep a straight head with you know, tasks like that Ops provides. You know what I'm saying?

Anthony: 3:50

Right, right. Yeah, Tuvok could easily do operations, no doubt about it. And he's probably got free time left. Yeah, he's got plenty of skills to where he could switch over to that position. That's a good choice. I went with Data, and The reason I went with Data is because I just think if Data's available, you want him on your starship, right? He has so many qualities that are helpful to the ship. His ability to do calculations, his ability to analyze things, he's just He's interesting as well. He's got an interesting personality, and I love that he's always striving to become human in his own android kind of way. And I just think Data is the guy you need. You need him on the bridge.

Ethan: 4:48

Yeah, I can see what you're saying. The only problem is there's several episodes where Data is just completely incapacitated throughout Next Generation. Like, I remember This one episode where I was kind of watching it with you, where Data was having dreams and he was just missing his duty rotation, stuff like that. And I feel like that's a lot, like, more able to happen with, with an Android. And if that does happen, harder to deal with, because, you know, Starfleet doesn't know too much about Android anatomy and circuitry

Anthony: 5:18

and things. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, data doesn't come without his complications, right? Right. So I think that's a fair assessment, but I'm still taking data as my operations guy. Yeah, that's fair. All right. Next up, we've got. Chief Tactical or Chief Security Officer, and, and these are kind of combined in most instances, I think. So, we just thought we'd pick. One person to handle handle both tactical and security. I went with Tuvok and Worf was also a great choice. I loved Worf as the security officer, but he's a little volatile at times Yeah, and Tuvok like you mentioned he's He's, you know, he's organized, he's level headed, he's very loyal, Worf is loyal too, but Very logical. Very logical, and you want a Vulcan. At least in one officer position, I think, on board a starship. But, overall, I think Tuvok has the qualities that I would want in my chief security officer or chief tactical officer.

Ethan: 6:26

Alright, I personally went with Odo for a couple of reasons. Odo, in his job as security officer in DS9, pretty much refuses to use weapons. So he's the kind of guy who can do the job, but not necessarily have it be messy. He's more just like the capture and incapacitate kind of guy than just straight up kill them like, I don't know, maybe Worf would, I guess. He's a little less violent, more level headed. And also, an important thing is, he's the kind of guy, he's the kind of character who would go rogue. If he deemed it necessary, like if there was just a captain who was unwilling to act upon anything and if he saw it as the right thing to do, he would, you know, he would go rogue, which I mean, not necessarily the best thing, but Odo is also a very loyal character and his mind is in the right direction, so you know it would be for a good reason.

Anthony: 7:25

Yeah. OTOs a good choice. It also helps to have a shapeshifter

Ethan: 7:29

Yeah. In that position. Especially if there was like a gem Hadar inva invasion.'cause all he is gotta do is stand there and they

Anthony: 7:34

stop. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I, yeah, I like, I love Oto OTOs great. So he, he could, he, he could easily be my security officer too, but he, I, I went with two V, but Odos a great choice. Alright. The next position we thought we'd pick is ship's counselor. Now. Not every starship seems to have a ship's counselor, but the most famous one is Counselor Troi, right? Right. But we thought we'd, we thought it'd be a good idea to have a ship's counselor aboard our starship. So who did you go

Ethan: 8:08

with? I did go with Counselor Troi because, you know, she's a, she's an empath. Right. And so that's really easy to, like, be able to sense emotions in whoever you're talking to and. Kind of figure things out, but you also want a good empath not an empath like Lixwana, right?

Anthony: 8:28

Yeah, her mother maybe would not have been the best choice. Yeah, but yeah, I agree. I mean Troy's great for that position and She was always helpful On the Enterprise, in the next generation, with her Betazoid abilities, when they ran up against you know, an alien, and they were, Picard was trying to determine what their intentions were, their motives were. Yeah, great for negotiations. Yeah, excellent for negotiations. So, yeah, Troy's a great choice. I went a little unconventional for my ship's counselor, and uh, well, I'll tell you who it is and then I'll explain why. So I picked Neelix from Voyager. Now, Neelix was not actually the ship's counselor on Voyager, right? He didn't have the training and background and stuff, but he kind of became the ship's counselor. Yeah. You know, the de facto

Ethan: 9:28

ship's counselor. He also took on an

Anthony: 9:29

ambassador role. Yeah, and he took on an ambassador role, that's right. And I picked Neelix because Even though, when I first started watching Voyager, I kind of thought he was a little annoying. Eventually, he grew on me, and he, I think much of the crew thought he was annoying too, right, at first, but he eventually grew on them, and he's always concerned with the well being of others, right, he's almost always completely selfless, wants to help, wants to talk to people who are lonely, or who need to get something off their chest, and he cooks, which is an added bonus, so, yeah. So Neelix will be my ship's counselor. I think he'll, he'll do a good job in that role. Yeah,

Ethan: 10:14

that's a great one. Especially if you're on a place like Voyager and you have, like replicator rations. Right. You gotta

Anthony: 10:21

have a chef. You gotta have a chef, yeah. Very important in the Delta Quadrant. Yep. Alright. Chief Medical Officer.

Ethan: 10:31

Alright, so for Medical Officer I picked the doctor because, you know, he, as a hologram, that's basically all he was designed to do. Even though as we go further into Voyager, he's more than that. At his core, he is designed and trained to be a doctor. Like, that's what made his very existence a thing. And I feel like he can also cope with stress very well. You know, cause he's a hologram, but then also he's, he's mobile. Cause he's got that mobile emitter, even though there might be times where you might not have access to it. Most of the time he's mobile and can always be sterile too, which is very important.

Anthony: 11:13

Yeah, the doctor's a great choice. You know, there, there are some downsides to the doctor because he is just a hologram, right? He's more than that dead. He's, he's an evolving hologram, but you know, something could happen to his mobile emitter and all of a sudden he's not available. I mean, they, they've had that happen on. Voyager, right? Where he's, he's not there to treat their wounded, and Tom Paris, who kind of fills in part time as the medic, has, is trying to do everything and doesn't have the knowledge that the doctor has. That's a risk you're always going to run, though, with a

Ethan: 11:50

character like that. That's why it's important to have nurses. Right. But Voyager didn't.

Anthony: 11:55

Yeah. And if we're talking about a starship that's not lost in the Delta Quadrant, you would have other doctors on board, right? Yeah. Other medical personnel, like nurses, probably other, other doctors as well. So, so there would be backup. If the doctor suddenly became available due to technical difficulties. So yeah, and his bedside manner did improve over time It wasn't the greatest at the beginning, but he did get better at it Yeah, so I struggled with this one a little bit. Initially. I was gonna go dr. McCoy just because I love dr McCoy because he's got You know, that kind of dry humor and just, he's just got an interesting personality and I loved the friendship that he had with Kirk and Spock and the banter back and forth and all that. But, I decided for my Chief Medical Officer, I'm going Dr. Beverly Crusher, and this is not just because I defended Dr. Pulaski in last week's episode. Check that out if you haven't already. But I think Dr. Crusher has not only the Skill and medical knowledge that is required of a Chief Medical officer, but she also has the bedside manner. She, she's calm, she you know, she, she wants people to know that they're in good hands and she can deal with high pressure situations and she's also not afraid if it becomes necessary. To do what only a chief medical officer can do, a board of Starship, which is to relieve the captain of duties if the captain becomes incapacitated in some way. Right. And so I think there was at least one episode in the next generation where that happened, if not a couple. And so she's got the qualities I would want in my main medical person to bore the Starship.

Ethan: 13:59

Yeah. And I guess if you were planning to. have a mutiny on a ship a doctor would be pretty good to have because you could just relieve the captain of

Anthony: 14:06

duty yeah there you go i i don't want any mutinies on my ship though

Ethan: 14:10

yeah but there's always the episodes where they get like a replacement captain and he's just like not a good captain

Anthony: 14:18

All right how about science officer who'd you go with for that all

Ethan: 14:23

right so for science officer i picked dax from ds9 good choice because like Not only is she science officer on Deep Space Nine, but also she has like seven prior lives of experience, I don't remember the exact number. And so that means she also has a bunch of training in other fields of specialty as well. Right. So she's just basically a very good all rounded officer to have on

Anthony: 14:49

your ship. Yeah, yeah, I think it's helpful to have a troll that's got Multiple lives of experience they can bring to the table. So yeah, I like Dax. She's she was a good science officer for sure. I went with Spock. And the reason I went with Spock, I think is pretty obvious. He's super logical. He He has a bright mind, he understands difficult concepts, he knows how to analyze situations, and even though he's got all those Vulcan qualities that we love, he's also half human. Which, as we've seen many times in Star Trek that, that comes in handy at times. His half human, half Vulcan personalities are useful in a variety of situations. So, Spock it is for me, for Science Officer. What about Chief Engineer?

Ethan: 15:49

For Chief Engineer, I put O'Brien. Cause I mean, A, he's a really good engineer. And then B, he also has a family, and then there's like always the things with the, with the bridge crew and the engineers, and so I think, I have a feeling if his family was living on the ship, even if not, he has the ability to make the really tough decisions that are like able to keep the crew alive, like he would probably, in the event needed, sacrifice himself to save a ship, or you know, Like, you know, he's, he seems like that very kind of like What's the word I'm looking for? Selfless? Yeah, he's a pretty selfless

Anthony: 16:33

guy. Yeah Yeah, would he be able to prioritize the ship over his family though?

Ethan: 16:41

That is a good question

Anthony: 16:44

Yeah, I don't know. I think you would I think if it came down to it Miles O'Brien would do the right thing. He'd find a way to do both. Yeah, yeah, that's true. He'd pick a, find a third option. Yeah, that's probably true. But, I like O'Brien. I'd be a little worried that he was always wanting to hit the bar.

Ethan: 17:03

I mean, he would be pretty fun to go do a holodeck too.

Anthony: 17:06

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And play darts with. Yeah. Quarks,

Ethan: 17:11

that'd be fun. You wouldn't have quarks on your ship. Well,

Anthony: 17:15

yeah, wherever. The break room. Yeah 10 forward, right? On, on Enterprise D. That's what they called it. Yeah. Yeah good choice. You can't go wrong with Miles O'Brien. I went with Jordi LaForge. Jordi is just, he's cool and calm under pressure. He's brilliant. He knows the ship inside and out. And I think he's, he's gonna give ya everything that he has in the most difficult situations. He's dependable, he's reliable, and and he's a good guy. Like, he's easy to get along with, and there were those episodes I'm drawing a blank now on the character's name but there was a, a guy who worked on the engineering crew another officer who was, had, had kind of like some mental health problems and had trouble getting along with people. I can't believe I can't remember his name. I'll have to look that up later, but Geordi was like really patient with him and helped him kind of grow as a, just as a person, right? Not just as an officer aboard the ship. So Geordi's got some great leadership qualities as well. So I think, I think he'll be good down in engineering. Yeah, definitely. Another position we decided to add, which pretty much every ship has, and it's not necessarily a separate position but that's second officer. Who do you want in charge if the captain and the first officer aren't available? And usually that's selected among the senior officers. So who would your second officer be? Yeah, so

Ethan: 18:55

of all the senior officers I've picked already, I think, once again, I'd pick O'Brien in there, for the same reasons, that I feel like he just has really good decision making skills, and as we've seen throughout his numerous and, and, appearances in DS9 and Next Generation, you can kind of see that stuff happening.

Anthony: 19:15

Right, right. Yeah, that's a good choice. I went with Spock for mine. Spock was a First Officer, right? He was Captain Kirk's First Officer and he's got command experience, and he, again, he can do well in Difficult and dangerous situations that are, you know, that are really tense and require you know, careful analysis, and so, I think Spock would be good, and he, he knows how to lead, you know, others look up to Spock, and so if my captain and my first officer aren't available, I want Spock in charge of my ship. Yeah. Alright, what about first officer?

Ethan: 19:54

Alright, so for my first officer I picked somebody a little more unconventional, or not a series we've really touched on very much in here. I decided to pick Saru from Star Trek Discovery. Probably about the one of the only characters I really liked from that show. I, I feel like He was probably the most developed out of all the characters, and they did the best, but After the earlier seasons, he used to be like this, just, scaredy cat character who was afraid of everything. But after some episodes there, he kind of evolves, and he turns into, he's now like extremely confident and fearless in the face of danger, that kind of stuff. And he's also a very grounded guy. And I feel like he would make the most responsible choices. But I feel like he wouldn't be optimal for the position of captain. Because sometimes captains have to make, like, the wild choice. Kind of on a hunch sometimes. Right. Which I don't think he would have the ability to

Anthony: 20:59

make. Right, right. Yeah, Saru's a good, solid choice. I mean, he, he's loyal, he's he's respected. So,

Ethan: 21:08

definitely. I think like a Vulcan, he'd be able to provide the most logical perspective.

Anthony: 21:12

Yeah, yeah, I think so too. By the way, I looked up the character that I was talking about before. It's Reginald Barclay. I recognize the name. Yeah, LaForge always called him Reg. I was just drawing a blank on him, but he was an interesting character on TNG. Alright, so for my First Officer, and again, this was a tough choice, because there are some great First Officers in Star Trek. One of the things you gotta think about with a First Officer is, You know, their ability to get along and work well with the captain, right? And, and it's always, the captain is the one who chooses the first officer in, you know, in the show, but we're picking it here. So I went with Commander Riker. And, not just because Riker is, you know, a cool guy, a cool character but he is incredibly loyal to the captain. He's competent, he demands respect from the, the crew and he, he, he's always willing to do the hard thing. You know? And put himself out there. And so, I think, I think Riker really has all the qualities that you could want in a great first officer. And he can easily transition to the captain position, right? If the captain's not available, Riker, you know, could have been a captain much earlier on in his career than he was, right? Because he was that capable, but he loved Picard and he loved being on the Enterprise, so he stayed on the Enterprise as first officer, but he could easily step into the captain's role, and that's That's the kind of quality you need in a first officer. Yeah,

Ethan: 23:01

not to mention he plays jazz.

Anthony: 23:03

Yeah, and he plays jazz to the very good point. All right. Big question. Drumroll. Who'd you pick for captain? So for

Ethan: 23:13

my captain, I picked Captain Sisko. All right. Because, you know, Sisko is a very no crap kind of guy. Like he's the kind of guy that'd be like, Okay, I'm understanding you're going through some things right now, but can you keep that off hours, please, right?

Anthony: 23:32

Yeah, he he's pretty no nonsense. He he's a little intimidating captain, but But yeah, man, Cisco's awesome

Ethan: 23:41

You know like I think there was an episode where a bar fight happened Klingons And I think it was Bashir and O'Brien were in the middle of it And he got, like, really mad at them.

Anthony: 23:53

Yeah, they got reprimanded. Yeah, Cisco's, Cisco's great. And he's the emissary, so. Yeah,

Ethan: 24:00

he's got some kind of pull with the Bajoran government. Yeah,

Anthony: 24:05

and their, and their profits. Yeah, I, I love Cisco. So, again, I struggled with this. So, for me, it came down, I, of course, I love Captain Kirk, but. In terms of the captain that I would want to lead me on a starship, it came down to either Picard or Janeway, and I love them both. Janeway, I've really come to appreciate her character as I've been re watching Voyager recently. She, she just has You know, the, she has all the skills that you need as captain. Her ability to command, to make decisions quickly, her willingness to listen to the counsel and advice of others, you know, most importantly her senior officers. And she's compassionate. She doesn't want to get into a conflict, but if she does get into a conflict, She'll do what she has to do to protect her ship. Yeah. So, she's a great choice, but at the end of the day, I went with Picard. And, Picard has all those qualities as well but he, there's something about Picard that just draws me to him as a character. I love how intellectual he is, I love that he loves Shakespeare and he also, Has a unique perspective as a captain having been assimilated into the Borg. Right? As Locutus, and then coming back to Starfleet, so he, he knows how to deal with the Borg, which is one of the, you know, main enemies of the Federation, and so I, and I, I could list other reasons too, but I, I think mainly it just comes down to, you I just like the guy, and he's a great leader. Janeway is a great leader too, but, you know, it was a close call, but for me, I'm gonna go Picard. And since I chose Riker as my first officer, it kind of makes

Ethan: 26:12

sense. Yeah. I would say though, I've. I think Janeway could also handle the Borg because she, in Voyager, they have seven of nine too.

Anthony: 26:21

Well, yeah, that's true. I mean, she has handled the Borg, right? Because they're in the Delta Quadrant. That's how they got seven of nine. Eventually, they kind of rescued her from the Borg. So yeah, she's, she's certainly capable of it. I just think Jean Luc has this. It's a unique perspective because he was actually a Borg for a little while, and so, yeah, but, but yeah, both great captains, I'd, I'd be happy to follow either one of them into battle, or on a space exploration.

Ethan: 26:50

Preferably an

Anthony: 26:51

exploration. Yeah, preferably an exploration, not a battle. Well that was cool, that was fun to pick our dream crew. I think we, I think we did pretty well. I, I think our crews would would be the best of the best if if we could create our own Star Trek show with those characters and those positions, that'd be a lot of fun.

Ethan: 27:10

And hopefully not as much time travel shenanigans as Captain Kirkwood had to offer. Right. A lot less paperwork for the Federation.

Anthony: 27:18

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, thanks again for listening, everyone. It's been a, another fun episode. We'll look forward to being back next week. And we will eventually resume our review of Star Trek The Original Series. So if you enjoy those shows, we're not giving up on those. But we wanted to start mixing in some other topical type shows as well, just to keep it interesting. So stay tuned for what's next. And don't forget to follow us on social media. Shoot us an email if you have. Questions or ideas for the show. We'd love to hear from

Ethan: 27:49

you. And if you want to share your Favorite crew members or who you would want to run a ship also send us an email about that Yeah, we'd love to hear what you have

Anthony: 27:57

to say. Exactly. Let us know what what you think so Anyway hope you guys have a great week and we'll talk to you again soon

Ethan: 28:05

See ya.