- 29/05/2025
10 Captains Who Broke The Rules | Star Trek
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00:00It can be very frustrating being a captain in Starfleet, I mean there's so many regulations
00:05to follow, so many lines you need to walk, oh one wonders how they don't all have back
00:11problems, unless of course it was those season one season two uniforms in the next generation
00:16in which case they absolutely had back problems. Slightly different reasons though, you might
00:21think that that would be enough to encourage any of them to be a little bit naughty, with that in
00:26mind, I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture and here are 10 Star Trek Captains Who Broke The Rules.
00:32Number 10, Eric Pressman. Yes, yes, we may know our friend Eric slightly better by his admiral's rank,
00:40yet he was a mere captain once. He commanded the USS Pegasus which, among other interesting accolades,
00:44boasted the honour of being William T. Riker's first posting after graduating from Starfleet Academy.
00:49Eric was an affable, thoroughly personable man. He inspired an upbeat atmosphere around him even as
00:54the years passed and his neck was weighed down with extra pips, but as the audience discovered in
00:59his past, he had broken a fairly major rule in the Starfleet Handbook, one that got a lot of people
01:04killed. Aboard the Pegasus, Pressman had been experimenting with a secret interphasic cloaking
01:08device, an action that was directly in opposition to the Treaty of Algeron. This treaty was drawn up to
01:14end hostilities, at least at that point in history, between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire.
01:19Without it, the wars that would surely have broken out could have been devastating to the landscapes of the Alpha and
01:24Beta Quadrants. Now, we understand wanting to make a quick quiet exit sometimes, I'm Irish,
01:30we mastered the goodbye, but there was simply too much at stake here. Eric, that's detention for you sir.
01:36Number 9, Benjamin Maxwell. Ben Maxwell's story of disobedience is a tragic one. Here was a man
01:43haunted by the horrors of the Cardassian Wars, unable to come to terms with what he's lost. Though that
01:48should make him a pitiable man, here instead it makes him a dangerous one. Taking the USS Phoenix
01:54into Cardassian territory and attacking their bases and ships without provocation, Maxwell threatens
01:59to plunge Starfleet into conflicts anew with their tenuous allies. Though history may have vindicated
02:04at least some of his beliefs, the fact is that in Starfleet there's no room for a rogue officer.
02:10The scene in Maxwell's ready room, quiet and reflective, is a powerful image detailing the costs of war
02:14on those that are forced to fight them. O'Brien does talk him down, but Maxwell has broken so many
02:19rules and violated protocols that his career will forever be remembered for his final acts.
02:24It's unclear if he was ever drafted to fight in the Dominion War, though it's unlikely.
02:28Therefore, Maxwell's rule breaking cost him everything that he had left.
02:32Number 8, Rudy Ransom. Were it not for another name on this list, Rudy Ransom would have been in the
02:39most unique position of all. The Equinox was dragged across space by the caretaker and deposited in the
02:44Delta Quadrant. There, he was doubly unlucky, as the caretaker often sent ships home when finished
02:49with them. Ransom's ship was left stranded. History will judge Ransom as a captain who
02:54betrayed the Prime Directive and then actively engaged in the murder of innocent alien beings,
02:58all for the chance to get home faster. Perhaps history is correct, but spares some sympathy for
03:03the position he was in. All alone, in a Nova-class ship that wasn't designed for deep space,
03:08then relentlessly attacked day after day, Ransom still had to try and get his crew home.
03:12That was without question. His methods were ghastly, though even he knew that,
03:16as in his final acts he sought a measure of redemption. He broke all the rules and he paid
03:21dearly for it. But what will they say about the man, his career and his attempts to put things right?
03:26Number 7, Donald Tracy. As often is the case with captains who break their oaths,
03:31Donald Tracy started out from a duty of care. The crew of the Exeter were infected with a deadly
03:36disease that, at least in his mind, was curable via the nearby planet's atmosphere. While he discovered that
03:41the Combs did not, in fact, find a cure via their environment, Tracy did find a people to rule
03:46over. With his crew dead, he was unburdened and set about establishing himself as a warlord on the
03:51planet. The arrival of Captain Kirk and Company derailed his plans and displayed his insanity,
03:56which was too much for the captain to bear. His little stint of rule breaking had also further aided
04:01in prolonging a local conflict, something expressly forbidden by the Federation and in direct violation
04:06of the Prime Directive. There is, alas, no recourse for Tracy here. He may have set out with the best
04:12of intentions but his ambitions quickly overcame them. At the time of his death, he was a raving
04:17madman and will almost certainly be forever remembered as such.
04:21Number 6, James T. Kirk. Honestly, where do we even begin? Let's be a little fair and look at the
04:28contemporary situation. Kirk existed at a time when space was still vastly unexplored. He commanded a
04:33starship that often found itself in combat situations so unorthodox thinking was usually
04:38required. However, Kirk swung for the fences, there's no argument about that. There's the time
04:43he armed Tyree's people in a private little war, though one could argue he was simply evening the
04:48playing field. Then there was the time he destroyed the computer on a Mini R7, thus forcing Vendikar to
04:53seek peace. A gamble that paid off. Wonderful news. The thing is, either of these examples could just as
04:58easily have gone the other way. It's certain that he prolonged at least one conflict. Then there's the
05:03frequent bumps against the Prime Directive, while he treated the temporal Prime Directive like only
05:07so much toilet paper. Kirk was a captain who got things done. However, when it came to a performance
05:13review, the manner in which he gets these things done can be just as important. Kirk's report card
05:19may be looking at a few red marks. Number 5, Hikaru Sulu. Sulu first appears in Where No Man Has Gone
05:26Before, the second pilot of Star Trek, but it would take 25 years for the man to finally achieve the rank of
05:31captain. That is, if you ignore those original scripts for Star Trek II, but let's not worry about that
05:36right now. In Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, Hikaru Sulu has taken command of the USS Excelsior,
05:41having already completed two years of scientific research in the Beta Quadrant when Praxis explodes.
05:46This sets off a chain of commands that leads to Sulu breaking all of the rules to come to the aid of
05:51the renegade Enterprise A. Having rescued Kirk, that ship needs to know the location of the peace talks
05:56between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Sulu is only too happy to oblige. There's no argument at
06:01all that the man wasn't fully aware of his actions. Kirk even reminds him that by accepting his
06:05communication from the Enterprise he risks a court-martial. Sulu sardonically says their
06:08transmission is breaking up and they cannot hear a thing the captain is saying. Whatever is to be
06:12said about Shatner and Takei's long-term feud, they truly play very well off each other on screen,
06:17one rule breaker to another. Number 4, Spock. Spock is perhaps the best example to those unfamiliar with
06:24Vulcans that yes they very much do feel and yes they very much do act on those feelings when they
06:30want to. After the arrest of Kirk and McCoy for the assassination of Gorkhan, Spock not only ignores
06:35orders to return to space dock but then takes the Enterprise A deep into Klingon territory on a rescue
06:40mission. Though undoubtedly a logical decision, as Kirk and McCoy may be instrumental in identifying the
06:45true killers, there is no question that this is an action stemming from an emotional response. There was
06:50no chance that Spock of all people was going to abandon his friends, yes even McCoy, to freezing
06:55conditions and probably execution on Roropenthe. Having said that everyone was very lucky that
07:00the peace talks went well. After all Spock took a Starfleet ship behind enemy lines, liberated two
07:06maximum security prisoners and then engaged in battle with a Klingon ship in disguise above Kittimer.
07:11There's only so many, ah it's okay it's Spock's, that you can get away with it.
07:16Number 3, Benjamin Sisko. Yes we're talking about the Poison Planet. One might assume that In the
07:22Pale Moonlight might be the easy option here, but one must remember that to a certain extent,
07:26and with a healthy dose of plausible deniability, Sisko acted with Starfleet Command's blessing in
07:31those circumstances. No, we're not sure that Garak's final actions are covered in that, but it's all very
07:37grey in that case isn't it? Where it isn't even remotely grey, not even a hint of dusky cream,
07:44is Sisko's decision to hunt for Michael Eddington. The Maquis' escalation to the use of biogenic
07:50weapons is all the excuse that Ben needs to get a little trigger happy himself, although that's
07:54hardly giving events their due. The Maquis, with Eddington as their leader, poisoned Cardassian
07:59worlds so that those settlers are forced to flee. Sisko, though acting behind the veneer of keeping the
08:04peace in the Demilitarized Zone, elects to return the favour to a Maquis colonized world, all while
08:09Eddington looks on in horror. Eddington truly has the measure of the man here. His obsession
08:14with the former security officer has pushed Sisko beyond the limits of his duty, and as Sisko later
08:19admits, he never received clearance to fire chemical weapons in the pursuit of these people. We're fairly
08:24certain that poisoning a planet to flush out your quarry goes against at least some Starfleet regulations.
08:30Number 2. Katherine Janeway
08:33Katherine Janeway is the angel to Rudy Ransom's Devil. Faced with similar conditions,
08:37she managed to keep her crew, her ship and her conscience in one piece, for the most part,
08:42all while facing uncharted space and unknown worlds. Her resolve to strictly adhere to Starfleet
08:47regulations was tested and ultimately broken when Voyager encountered Omega in the Delta Quadrant,
08:52a devastating molecule that could, when detonated, obliterate subspace for light years, thus preventing
08:58any ship from establishing a stable warp field, it posed a direct threat to Voyager's journey home.
09:03The Omega directive clearly stated that Janeway had to destroy the molecule,
09:07without aid from her crew, and inform no one. The first chink in the armour was Seven of Nine,
09:11who already had knowledge of Omega. There was certainly wiggle room for argument in recruiting
09:16Seven to help. However, it is Chakotay who convinces her to break the big rule, and share the existence
09:21of Omega with the rest of the senior staff. As she says herself, had Voyager encountered the molecule in
09:26the Alpha Quadrant, there wouldn't have been any thought or debate, they would never have been informed.
09:30However, their unique position encouraged Janeway to break this rule, and, in turn, entirely for the better,
09:37as the sheer amount of Omega discovered, would have required far more resources than her original
09:42shuttle-based plan would have provided. Number 1. Harry Kim
09:47Let us here give the man his due. While it may have been in an alternate future that was then erased
09:53by the actions of a certain Admiral Janeway, Harry Kim was, for a time, the captain of the USS Rhode Island.
09:57This Nova-class vessel detected Janeway's adapted shuttle and was sent to intercept,
10:03with only Kim knowing that she intended to use experimental Klingon technology to travel through
10:07time and change the past. There is an irony here. In Timeless, an older Harry Kim breaks every rule
10:13he can to change the past, thus saving Voyager from destruction. Here he is tasked with preventing
10:18Janeway from doing exactly that. However, anyone ever truly believed that the forever ensign wouldn't
10:23side with his old captain? Their exchange may be brief, but Janeway and Kim understand how vital
10:28her mission is. As she reminds him, he was once an eager youth who was ready to fly headfirst into a
10:33Borg-infested nebula to get their ship home quicker. As he was always going to, Captain Kim relents,
10:39disobeyed his orders from Starfleet, and violates the Temporal Prime Directive in one breath.
10:44Though he may never know it, history proved his actions to be correct. For that shining moment,
10:49Captain Kim helped save the lives of everyone on his old ship.
10:53Thanks so much everyone for watching along, we hope you enjoyed this, and hope you enjoyed the
10:57original article which is available over on whatculture.com. You are awesome, you are wonderful,
11:01you can follow us on the various socials, at TrekCulture, you can follow myself at Sean Ferrick
11:05as well. Look after yourselves though, talking to you again. The world is a bit of a manic place,
11:11so do your bit to just put some love and happiness out there in the world, and put out what you would like
11:18to get back. That's all, you're awesome, you deserve the best, live long and prosper, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye!
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