10 Worst Ever Captains In Star Trek

5. Captain Alonzo Vandermeer - USS Ibn Majid

Star Trek Picard Broken Pieces Alonzo Vandermeer
CBS Media Ventures

Though only seen in a photograph in Broken Pieces, Captain Alonzo Vandermeer commanded the USS Ibn Majid, Cristóbal Rios's previous posting. When the ship encountered a pair of androids in the Vayt Sector, Vandermeer was ordered to destroy them immediately by Commodore Oh, or face the destruction of the Ibn Majid with all hands.

Not only did Vandermeer comply, but he then took his own life afterwards - all of this without a word of explanation to his crew. The confusion and terror that tore through the ship is embodied in Rios, who left the service, unable to reconcile with what he had seen.

History loves to judge the actions of those who can't defend themselves, but it is rather difficult to fathom Vandermeer not taking a bare second to question this order of execution. If it affected him so deeply that he felt suicide was his only course of action, then this belies Rios's belief that Vandermeer hid behind the pair's android nature to justify his actions. 

Vandermeer, sadly, now has the legacy of a man in such a rush to obey orders that he couldn't stop to think about these orders. This cost him his life, the lives of Beautiful Flower and Jada, and almost cost the sanity of Rios as well. 

In this post: 
Star Trek
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"