Captain Pavel Chekov of The U.S.S. Enterprise

[Riley]

Years ago, there was a fanfic that treated John Harriman pretty poorly and replaced him with Chekov as captain of the Enterprise-B.

In the decades since, I've noticed some fans don't think Chekov would have been a good candidate for a command of his own.

I think the fact that he was an XO in TWOK is more than enough evidence that he could have made a fine captain. I also think it would have been fitting to have one of Kirk's command crew take command of the next Enterprise. Whether or not Starfleet would have wanted that association, I don't know, but it would have been a nice touch.

How believable would Chekov have been as captain of the Enterprise-B?

 

[FredH]

Sure, he’d have been fine. This is the old Orion Press stuff, right?

 

[Humanoid #77]

I never thought about Mr Chekov permanently commanding the ship. I think he posed as captain in Star Trek five

but if Sulu can command a starship, anyone can

 

[Dukhat]

He should already have had his own command by STV. Ditto for Spock, Sulu, Scott and Uhura.

But Harriman had to be the captain of the Enterprise-B. That’s the only way they could show how great Kirk was as captain at the expense of making Harriman and his entire bridge crew look like complete idiots. They wouldn’t have done that with any of Kirk’s former crew. The character of Harriman was created solely to make Kirk look good.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Some people make better second-in-commands and fill-in leaders than full-time captains. If they excel as a "sidekick" (using the term loosely), then they ought to have that position.

Poor Harriman. He was rather harried - was that a pun?

 

[Frontis]

I think Chekov would be a good captain.

 

[FredH]

He should already have had his own command by STV. Ditto for Spock, Sulu, Scott and Uhura.

But Harriman had to be the captain of the Enterprise-B. That’s the only way they could show how great Kirk was as captain at the expense of making Harriman and his entire bridge crew look like complete idiots. They wouldn’t have done that with any of Kirk’s former crew. The character of Harriman was created solely to make Kirk look good.

Welll… I’ve always thought that unfair, because it’s entirely arbitrary on the part of the writers that the techniques we’ve never heard of that Harriman uses don’t work, Kirk sadly shakes his head, and the techniques we’ve never heard of that Kirk uses do work. As far as we actually see, there’s no reason for Harriman to be wrong except authorial fiat. He’s not played as being wrong/out of his depth as a captain, the plot just decides he’s wrong.

(And heck, Kirk only gets it right because Scotty’s readings can apparently tell him things are shifting in and out of the spacetime continuum, because Starfleet scanners have an app for that. How forward-thinking!)

 

[Pauln6]

Chekov was an academic rather than a renaissance man. Canonically, the point can often sail over his head. A first officer on a science research vessel is up his street. Captaining a research vessel, maybe. If you look at Sulu's dialogue, even in early TOS, he is quick-witted, capable of lateral thinking, and generally competent. He's the best candidate for Starship captain but I can see the others captaining specific research missions or space stations. Uhura has vastly underrated leadership skills and is highly competent but we rarely see her making snap decisions so it's unclear how good she is at thinking on her feet. She'd probably make a very competent first officer.

Welll… I’ve always thought that unfair, because it’s entirely arbitrary on the part of the writers that the techniques we’ve never heard of that Harriman uses don’t work, Kirk sadly shakes his head, and the techniques we’ve never heard of that Kirk uses do work. As far as we actually see, there’s no reason for Harriman to be wrong except authorial fiat. He’s not played as being wrong/out of his depth as a captain, the plot just decides he’s wrong.

(And heck, Kirk only gets it right because Scotty’s readings can apparently tell him things are shifting in and out of the spacetime continuum, because Starfleet scanners have an app for that. How forward-thinking!)

ST09 is the worst example of this. Kirk's desire to pursue Nero is impulsive and completely wrong (he only succeeds later because he has more information) but Spock's decision to fly a slow, damaged vessel to the location of the fleet instead of sending a message to someone with an undamaged vessel closer to the fleet or warning Earth before Nero gets there are equally poor. The two leads only look good because everyone else is made to look even more clueless and because their decision-making leads to a good outcome.

Even Kirk's plan to beam aboard at the end is massively flawed. It's entirely dependent on Nero travelling to Earth at significantly less than Warp 4 based on no discernible knowledge and for no obvious reason) and not warping directly to Earth (presumably because Earth's defences prevent this but since Spock hasn't warned Earth about Pike's capture, I'm not sure why they would not assume the defences have not been compromised - the problem with leaving the password as GUEST, I suppose). Nero could have foiled Kirk's plan by activating shields before entering the Solar System. Although Scotty's longer range transporter might still have given them a brief window of opportunity when the Narada turned off shields to activate the drill, popping out from behind the planet to try earlier could have tipped Nero off sooner. Also Kirk has one chance to beam people on board and his decision to beam only 2 people instead of a full landing party is very illogical. Starfleet sensors can detect alien intruders (although possibly not automatically in TOS era unlike the future Romulans), so why would Kirk assume that 2 would be harder to detect than 6? If anything, they needed a security team to beam to a more critical area as a distraction. He only succeeds because Pike draws Kirk's gun to shoot someone.

Kirk's ideas have some merit but he needed a captain with common sense and someone like Sulu or (TOS) Scotty or Spock to dissect and perfect them.

 

[FredH]

Also Kirk has one chance to beam people on board and his decision to beam only 2 people instead of a full landing party is very illogical. Starfleet sensors can detect alien intruders (although possibly not automatically in TOS era unlike the future Romulans), so why would Kirk assume that 2 would be harder to detect than 6?

Well, but then they’d have had to pay four more actors!

I was actually much more impressed by Greenwood’s version of Pike than any of the younger crew; my off-the-wall idea for the second Kelvinverse movie was that Kirk would get killed early — probably as a result of his own impulsiveness — and Pike would come back to commanding the Enterprise out of a sense of responsibility for what had happened, becoming the central figure of the new movie series.

 

[Pauln6]

Well, but then they’d have had to pay four more actors!

I was actually much more impressed by Greenwood’s version of Pike than any of the younger crew; my off-the-wall idea for the second Kelvinverse movie was that Kirk would get killed early — probably as a result of his own impulsiveness — and Pike would come back to commanding the Enterprise out of a sense of responsibility for what had happened, becoming the central figure of the new movie series.

Yes, I think the same questionable tactics in TOS were to save money. I think SNW Pike leaned quite heavily into Kelvin Pike. I was very upset by his fate, whereas I laughed out loud when Kirk died (although that was due to Spock screaming - I do love Pine's performance, it's more they way he was written originally that was dreadful).

 

[FredH]

Yes, I think the same questionable tactics in TOS were to save money. I think SNW Pike leaned quite heavily into Kelvin Pike. I was very upset by his fate, whereas I laughed out loud when Kirk died (although that was due to Spock screaming - I do love Pine's performance, it's more they way he was written originally that was dreadful).

Interesting— though I love SNW Pike, Kelvin Pike seemed closer to the old Jeffrey Hunter picture of Pike as a (good) hardass. SNW Pike is “nicer”, with the implication that he only was acting hardened in “The Cage” because of what had just happened at Rigel 7. Both being perfectly valid takes!

 

[Pauln6]

Interesting— though I love SNW Pike, Kelvin Pike seemed closer to the old Jeffrey Hunter picture of Pike as a (good) hardass. SNW Pike is “nicer”, with the implication that he only was acting hardened in “The Cage” because of what had just happened at Rigel 7. Both being perfectly valid takes!

No, that's fair. Kelvin Pike is facing up to a serious world-threatening threat. Greenwood killed it in both movies.

 

[morf]

There were moments during the crisis when Harriman looked like a deer in headlights. Harriman was in over his head.

Captains of capital ships usually exude some swagger. Harriman showed none of that. Unfortunately for Harriman, perhaps his swagger didn't arrive until Tuesday.

I assume that the Harriman character was written that way, so that Kirk could steal the show.

Harriman's weak performance is how I imagine Chekov would have performed if he were captain.

Chekov never struck me as being captain material. I always thought Chekov was a lightweight compared to the others.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

On the subject of Kelvinverse Pike affecting SNW Pike, I remember how Spock described what Pike felt when he died. The word that stands out to me is “surprise.” Did Pike find out his future in the Kelvinverse as well? Was his fate supposed to be the same? He thought he’d die another way…