10 Worst Ever Captains In Star Trek

Beta Canon has done a lot to redeem this young captain in the eyes of Star Trek fans, yet it has also filled in some of the blanks, explaining how exactly he came to command the Enterprise-B on its fateful maiden voyage.

Captain John Harriman was fresh off the assembly line when the new Enterprise encountered the Nexus energy ribbon. He was, to put it simply, completely unprepared to deal with anything out of the ordinary. While Captain Kirk may have been stunned that the ship left spacedock without a tractor beam, frankly audiences were left stunned that the ship left with a man so green in charge.

The expanded universe revealed that Harriman had used his family connections to fast-track him through captains' school, thus effectively abusing his family's position to get himself that first command. As is often the case with untested commanders, people are killed. From history's point of view, Harriman led the mission that saw James T. Kirk KIA, which would leave a black mark against his name for almost a century following.

Harriman's strengths, according to Beta canon, lay outside of starship command and closer to intelligence operations. Some people simply don't suit certain positions.