Something that bugs me about VOY and TNG

[Ian8781]

I was really offended on behalf of Jean-Luc Picard when I saw the beginning of Nemesis when he received orders from Admiral Janeway.

Picard has been in command of the Enterprise (The flagship no less) for over 15 years, and he was also in command of the Stargazer prior to his tour of duty on the Enterprise. He has commanded fleets of ships in battle and has oodles of experience in a variety of command situations.

Janeway's first command was Voyager and she did this job extremely well for seven years. She has also been absent from the Alpha Quadrant for some time.

Why is she an admiral and Picard still a captain?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Good question, and nice to see you joined up, Ian.

 

[steve12553]

Remember the advice he got from Kirk in Generations about never giving up the Captain's job. Maybe he took that advice.

 

[Ian8781]

Good thinking.

I still can't believe that an offer Admiralty has never been heard of (excluding alternate timelines). Riker was offered the captains chair on three different vessels before he accepted the Titan. Why can't someone recognise Picard's experience and achievements and offer him a promotion???

 

[carrie221]

Maybe Captain Picard is happy on the Enterprise and wants to stay captain... he very well may have turned the promotions down.

 

[Pyan]

Kirk was promoted to Admiral and then busted down back to Captain by court-martial, wasn't he? Perhaps Starfleet, unlike most military organizations, learn from their mistakes.
But, as Ian says:
'He has commanded fleets of ships in battle and has oodles of experience in a variety of command situations.'
Wouldn't that make Picard a Commodore at least?

 

[Dave]

Wouldn't that make Picard a Commodore at least?

Probably, but not many Commodores were shown since the Original Series, and the structure of Starfleet is still very unclear.

I also think that Starfleet still worry about Picard - will Locutus ever resuface again? - unfair, but a possibility!

 

[carrie221]

I also think that Starfleet still worry about Picard - will Locutus ever resuface again? - unfair, but a possibility!

Good point, There did seem to be some of that fear in I think it was first contact or one of the other movies

 

[rolav drol]

Picard was offered a promotion to admiral once in the first season of TNG. He turned it down.

 

[Urien]

Picard was never promoted owing to his scandalous behaviour at Star Fleet cheese and wine parties.

 

[Doggyforce]

I dunno, maybe the star-trek universe we're seeing is some kind of quirky alternate timeline itself, where like in every other timeline, Jean-Luc is promoted to admiral after his first tour on the Enterprise-D. I just think that of all the quirky timelines they encountered, the one we're watching must be a pretty far-out place too, a dimension where Jean-Luc never gets promoted to admiral and Janeway, Janeway, for the love of god, gives him orders... what the hell is this timeline comming to???

(can I buy a transporer accident for my Televison???)

 

[ray gower]

Never had any problem with the difference in ranks for the film.

Promotion from Captain to Admiral is based on scores and vacancies.

If you are offered a promotion and refuse, then your promotion score is cancelled and you have to build it up from scratch (only more so as your age will start to have a negative effect at some point).

Picard declined a promotion at some point and never achieved a good enough score to qualify again.

The rank of Commodore was removed from the RN and USN lists in the mid/late fifties as it was simply not applicable any longer.
A Commodore (who may be a Captain but not a captain) would command a permanent battle squadron that does not contain a capital ship but does contain more than one officer with the rank of Captain e.g. a cruiser squadron.
Which broadly means that Picard never qualified for the rank.

You could of course quibble about whether Janeway holds the rank of Captain?
From all the bumpf on the net, Voyager is a destroyer class vessel, so would normally be captained by a Commander

 

[The Ace]

The greatest moment in Kirk's life was when he was busted to Captain. Maybe Starfleet took the point that a good field captain is wasted behind a desk and if Picard doesn't want promotion it shouldn't be forced upon him. He certainly didn't have a problem dealing with Janeway's senior rank.

 

[Delvo]

The popular theory at another forum is that Starfleet, upon reviewing her performance while her ship was lost, realized that Janeway was a horribly bad captain but that it would look bad to simply fire her upon her return home, so they promoted her to where they figured she could do the least damage.

 

[The Ace]

That's it. Thanks, Delvo.

 

[Kostmayer]

From what I remember, Picard was only offered Promotion because his friend suspected a plot within Starfleet, and wanted Picard back at Starfleet Command so he'd have someone he can trust on the inside. Seems unfair that Picard turning that promotion down should count against him

 

[Dave]

Especially unfair, given the number of promotions turned down by Riker, and yet he still gets a command in Star Trek Nemesis, and actually commands the Enterprise in two alternative realities - Parallels and All Good Things.

 

[Shrek Baby]

Picard was called Captain and Ambassador by Geordi in an alternate future explored in "All Good Things". Perhaps he never made Admiral at all.

An analogy could be Tony Blair - he made PM and was happy running the country and then he is some kind of Ambassador to the Middle East. But he will never be King! I think I lost my way somewhere there!!!

 

[Darz Rixx]

Maybe Picard is too much of risk to the admiralty, so they won't promote him. After all, if there is a war going on, he is part of it. He disobeyed orders in First Contact to go and help the fleet, and he has Borg parts in him, so they may be afraid to give him a promotion.