10 Reasons Benjamin Sisko Is Star Trek's Greatest Ever Captain
"I'm not Picard..."
If you've got a spare 15 seconds then I'll leave it at this. Benjamin Sisko is the best captain in the entire history of Star Trek. That's it, thanks for stopping by.
If you've got a bit longer though, let's have a little chat.
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, born in New Orleans in 2332, the only son of Sarah and Joseph Sisko, would go on to be, arguably, the most important cultural and political figure in the entire Alpha Quadrant. After a tumultuous career that saw him lose his wife and his ship at the Battle of Wolf 359, he overcame some serious misgivings about Starfleet to become it's most seminal figurehead.
There are many qualities that make a great Captain though, and indeed the debates rage on over whether he, or Picard, or Kirk, or Janeway, or even Archer best represent what it means to sit in the big chair. While there are strong cases for all of them, when fully examined as both a commanding officer and a human being, it's Sisko that undoubtedly emerges above them all.
As a father, husband, friend, soldier, and even Emissary he's undisputed, but let's take a look at why he's Star Trek's greatest Captain as well.
10. He's Human
Before we get into the many heroic endeavors or nuanced character beats that make Benjamin Sisko Starfleet's finest commanding officer, let's take a quick look at the background of the man. As it's that, more than anything seen on the show itself, that sets him apart from his many peers.
James Kirk was a prodigy who achieved the rank of Captain quicker than anyone in the history of the Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard came from the supreme stock of Nobel Prize winners and explorers, Katherine Janeway the daughter of a Starfleet Admiral. In contrast to that, Benjamin Sisko arrived on Deep Space Nine the son of a chef, feeling at odds with Starfleet's objectives, a single father, and a still-grieving widow.
He carries trauma, he carries pain, he makes mistakes, he has regrets, he loses his cool, he is stubborn, he is, by the standards of a Starfleet C/O, astonishingly imperfect and endearingly human.