Star Trek: Ranking The Captains Worst To Best

6. Captain Christopher Pike

Ships: Enterprise & Discovery

Now this is one that might change massively when we're done with season one of Strange New Worlds, but Christopher Pike could - and probably should - have alreayd been way more of a presence in the Star Trek universe. Thanks to the "failure" of the first pilot - "The Cage" - and some accusations of meddling by actor Jeffrey Hunter's wife (who allegedly convinced him that sci-fi was beneath him), Pike was replaced by Kirk as the Enterprise's Captain. And other than that and another brief appearance in The Menagerie in almost unrecognisable form, that would have been it for this version of the character.

But then Star Trek: Discovery came along and Pike returned - this time played by Anson Mount - and we finally got to see a three-dimensional portrayal of the character. In the second season of Discovery, he takes over the titular vessel from acting captain Saru and suddenly we were able to get to know him way better than a messy pilot and series of beeps otherwise ever could.

Pike and Kirk are interesting parallels - which makes sense given the narrative that the former is the hero of the latter - as both are adventurous and have that sort of swash-buckling feel about them. He's more level-headed than Kirk though and is restrained alongside his intellect. Hopefully getting his own series will see him elevated into the very top teir of Trek Captains, and end the 'what could have been' questions once and for all.