Highest upvoted helmsman in this thread will be declared best helmsman in the fleet.
Gotta go with Tom. Going from prison to full redemption, while at the same time growing into a loving father married to a hot badass half-Klingon is definitely life goals. Not to mention his affinity for history and classic cars.
Dude designed and built his own shuttle, then had a breakthrough in warp field theory that let him exceed warp 10. In addition to scraping through multiple battles with Borg and other fleets of enemies. How is he not the clear winner?
He broke warp 10 before he designed the Delta Flyer. Season 2 for warp 10 and season 5 for Delta Flyer.
He loses points for the time spent as a lizard, I think
Just as long as it's not time for his yearly mid-life crisis.
I don’t care who wins as long as Wesley Crusher loses.
Just load him into the pattern buffer and pull the plug.
I've been waiting since TNG aired to upvote your comment.
I'm gonna rank them because Sulu
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.
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
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.
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.
My vote goes to Erica
Erica has to win. Being the pilot of the Enterprise is her only character trait, so it would be unfair to pick anyone else.
Also, SNW writers, GIVE US MORE ERICA ORTEGAS. After the strike, of course.
The pilot seat is her realm...
She needs someplace to put all that nonconformist sex appeal.
I’m upvoting this even though my vote goes to Sulu. Erica “I FLY THE SHIP” Ortegas needs her own fucking episode already.
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
Sulu easy win
Target the other candidates and fire.
I will not stand for this Jadzia Dax erasure. Does any one else have TWO lifetimes of being shuttle pilots? No.
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.
1701% Mr. Sulu
I'm going with Mayweather, because of reasons that I couldn't possibly explain in four seasons.
Sulu FTW!
The people demand Ortegas. She has the killer instinct.
Ro and Paris team up to rogue their way through everybody else, expecting to betray each other at the last minute. Tom cooperates, Ro defects.
Sulu without a doubt
Are we considering their piloting skills or their personality off the bridge?
Yes.
Star Trek memes and shitposts
Come on'n get your jamaharon on! There are no real rules—just don't break the weather control network.