Highest upvoted helmsman in this thread will be declared best helmsman in the fleet.
I’m gonna rank them because Sulu
- Sulu - has a sword. The OG. No comparison. Completely outclasses the others, but he’s had the most development as a character over the years, so I don’t really think it’s a fair comparison
- Ortegas - I’ve been surprisingly impressed with the actress and she’s without a doubt the most likeable after Sulu. The recent season has made her really interesting, and I hope the writers keep expanding her character. She’s fantastic. “I fly the ship!”
- Tom Paris - best character development after Sulu, has consistently great moments throughout Voyager. I did feel his acting felt lackluster at times, which is why I gave Ortegas the spot above
- Mayweather - good solid performance, interesting character with a better background with Paris. I wish the writers had done more with the character.
- Detmer - again great potential in the character, but the writers never really let her shine. I wanted to find out more about her, but Discovery was so overshadowed by Michael’s character that Detmer felt disappointingly underused.
- Ro - solid acting, but not much character depth. Never really clicked for me as a “helmsman” - always seemed like she was doing things other than piloting. Never really clicked as part of the crew in the way the rest of the cast did.
- Cartoon Dude - I have no idea what this guy’s name is, but he’s not Wesley.
- Wesley - I have great sympathy for Wil Wheaton’s difficult experiences on set as child actor, but that simply cannot distill the loathing I have for this character. TNG was a near perfect Trek in almost every respect, save when Crusher was in the scene.
Cartoon Dude is “Captain” Gavin, a civilian that got stuck on a replica Phoenix that was stolen by the Lower Decks crew, so they could use it to steal their own ship from dry dock.
When the Lower Decks crew made it aboard their ship, they left him to fly off in the Phoenix on his own for his “Trek amongst the stars!”
He was eventually rescued by Star Fleet, adrift near Jupiter
Thanks - I’ve watched a bit of the 1st season of Lower Decks, but hadn’t gotten to that part yet.
Still better than Wesley.
You gave words to my exact thoughts and feels.
Congratulations, you get to be me today.
I don’t even know a lot of those but yes, Wesley must go!
Wesley, Ro, and Bozeman Tourist are eliminated immedietly, we never see them do anything fancy at all, they input courses and hit engage, that’s it.
Of those remaining, Sulu is what most people think when they think fancy starship flying, but, if you really look at it, his top moments are manually flying a shuttle into a shuttle bay, and skillfully pulling rather relaxed but precise maneuvers piloting the Enterprise in V’Ger, the Bounty, and a Huey helicopter. No high speed are rapid maneuvering. So while he gets points for skill and for being able to fly anything he gets into, he’s not the top pilot.
Detmer has shown some fancy flying, including combat maneuvers, but only on the Discovery. We don’t know if she’s as skilled if she’s put into a shuttle or an atmospheric craft.
Mayweather, for all the failure to utilize his character, has been put in the hot seat with high pressure, rapid and precise maneuvering. Romulan minefields, combat against the Xindi, high warp precision formation flying, he really is a great pilot.
Ortega is right up there too, she flew into the accretion disk of a black hole while fighting the Gorn, even with her memory severely hampered she piloted the Enterprise through an asteroid field. She flies the ship, top marks, but…
Tom motherfucking Paris. This guy can fly through asteroid fields, through torn up subspace, fluidic space, quantum slipstream tunnels, shuttles, shuttles he designed, shuttles underwater, terrestrial vehicles, high speed combat maneuvers, you name it he can do it. Tom Paris is in my mind the unquestioned #1.
I like this breakdown, particularly the contrast between Ortegas and Paris. I think Ortegas is a better overall character, and gets big points for having her skills and progress matter to her character development. Paris, though, was an elite pilot before he showed up on Voyager, and then he spent years doing the most insane piloting anyone in Starfleet has ever seen. Ortegas is sort of the ideal of a relatable, blue-collar pilot with a promising career ahead of her, whereas Paris was a savant when he left with Voyager and a legend when he got home. He’s a tier above everyone else on the list, you gotta hand it to him.
Tom Paris is an amazing pilot but he’s the most bland bad boy ever. At least some of the others are interesting!
Isnt Wesley effectivly a traveler? Being able to “blip” into any part of the galaxy on demand is a pretty hard to beat feat for a helmsman.
Doesn’t count unless you’re actively commissioned/enlisted in Starfleet, though.
Doesnt that invalidate Tom then? He was given a battlefield reinstatement by Janeway, and most of his feats fell in the time period before it was “official” from Star trek command.
Whose to say that ol “make it so” Picard cant pop a commision on Traveler Crusher on demand?
Sulu has a sword.
But Captain Proton has a Destructor Beam!
Overrated! 😡
Ortegas has wielded a sword too. I’d like to see them both wield a bat’leth. For honor you know.
The Federation’s Helmsmen quality peaked in the 23rd century.
Its a battle of pilots… is it a hand to hand battle? And even so somehow sulu gets a sword, when they all had phasers? Seems conceptually backwards to me
Piloting and fencing both require excellent hand-eye coordination. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Mr. Sulu is the best helmsman. QED
Tom Paris
Underrated best pilot for sure. The only pilot in the show who constantly just wanted to pilot things.
Enters a space race, designs his own shuttle and makes it look like a hot rod and configures the controls for manual operation. Works on classic cars on the holodeck. He breaks the warp 10 barrier.
dont forget he has children with Janeway (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
I’m not sure breaking the warp 10 barrier is such a positive, knowing how that episode ends…
But I agree. Paris has my vote too.
Is that the episode I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to forget?
What episode whatnow?
The lizard one.
Its not the warp 10 barrier itself that matters. Its more that hes actually interested in being a pilot. Where all the others are very thin characters.
Sulu easy win
Target the other candidates and fire.
My vote goes to Erica
I will not stand for this Jadzia Dax erasure. Does any one else have TWO lifetimes of being shuttle pilots? No.
Didn’t the first Dax pilot die in a piloting accident, though?
I don’t know if she ever said if it was pilot error or not though. He was a test pilot, so the accident may have been due to a flaw in the shuttle he was testing
How many other pilots survived dying in a crash? You can’t buy that kind of experience!
Tom. Gotta be Tom
Tom is such a good pilot he broke the warp barrier, turned into a lizard, made his CO turn into a lizard, had sex with her, and returned back to human form all in a 30 minute episode. Top that
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Did he break the warp barrier in the first 18 minutes?
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“What makes you think it was [his] idea?”
My vote is for Ortegas.
Based and hair piled. Nobody else has that cut.
Detmer has a pretty savage side cut.
If she wasn’t on Discovery, she might have scored more points.
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The pilot seat is her realm.
Sulu all the way!
As far as I know he’s the only one with his own theme song.
I think advances in special effects give Ortegas and Detmer a pretty solid advantage over the others, just because fancier flying is now within tv production values.
But as far as I know, Sulu is the only one to make captain, get his own command, and have a ship named in his honor. Plus, he got to strut around in monster maroon.
And Tom Paris is a dick.
EDIT: of course, there is a guy who wore monster maroon at one point, got his own command, and made admiral. But for some reason, the helmsman of the Stargazer isn’t an option.
If anyone says to vote out Sulu, I’m coming at you with a fencing saber.
Foil.
Yeah, he took the foil and left me with the saber.
1701% Mr. Sulu
I’m going with Mayweather, because of reasons that I couldn’t possibly explain in four seasons.
He’s the best stick and rudder man of all time.
The people demand Ortegas. She has the killer instinct.
