So something I've been thinking about in the back of my mind recently: what does the average Federation citizen think about the captains of the various Star Trek shows? They're all legends within Starlet, more or less, but the average human or Vulcan going about their day to day lives probably isn't that aware of them, and to the degree that they are their impressions are probably pretty different than ours as the audience.
James T. Kirk was largely unknown to the general public during the 2260s, though perhaps there was a bit of fanfare when the NCC-1701 completed its five year mission successfully. He was promoted to Admiral, but such promotions don't get a lot of press. The average Federation citizen probably hadn't even heard of Kirk until 2271, when he saved the Earth from V'Ger. At that point he was probably hailed as a hero, had a surge in fame, and probably some of his adventures during the 2260s likely became more widely known. And then he probably sunk back into obscurity until 2285, when the news broke that he
stole the Starship Enterprise, disabled the Federation flagship, and flew his stolen ship into a quarantined sector, with later revelations that he killed a bunch of Klingons and took relations between the Federation and the Empire to their lowest point since the war in the 2250s. But then, he
saves Earth from a giant space probe again and is basically exonerated by the Council and given a clunker of an older model of starship to tool around in. But then he appears in the news in 2293 when he's somehow involved in the assassination of the Klingon Chancellor, adding drama to an already stressful situation about Klingons being relocated into Federation space, but then he rescues the Federation President from another assassination attempt. Who is this guy? Why is he always surrounded by drama? And then about a year later there's reports of him dying on yet another Enterprise trying to rescue some aliens. At which point the average Federation resident was probably a bit sad that someone famous had died, but didn't dwell on it because Kirk's constant swirl of drama was probably exhausting to think about. Who knows if the general public ever learns about him coming back from the Nexus in 2371 and dying again.
Jean-Luc Picard spent most of his career toiling away in obscurity, winning friends and allies within Starfleet, but not really being all that visible to the public. Maybe there were some news reports of the Stargazer being destroyed by an unknown alien race, but nothing that would really catch the public imagination. When he's made the Captain of the 1701-D, there was likely a press release, and folks shrugged and were like "okay, he sounds like exactly the kind of person who would get that job" and not think about him again ... until January 2367 when the Borg attack Earth and this Starfleet captain seems to be
helping them. Sure, he then is brought back, but his role in the defeat of the Borg is subtle enough that the average Federationer just remembers Picard as this guy who was somehow involved with the slaughter at Wolf 359 and the terrifying days when everyone thought Earth was going to be assimilated. He doesn't really show up in the public consciousness again until the next Borg attack in 2373, when it's not all that clear what happened but he definitely helped save Earth this time. So maybe the general public warms up to him, which likely lasts until the early 2380s, when suddenly he's all over the news regarding this plan to bring Romulans into Federation space to save them from the destruction of Romulus, which is hugely controversial and leads to some very violent situations — and then in 2385 the androids building Picard's rescue fleet go nuts (thanks, Romulan fanatics) and tons of people die on Mars and Starfleet's main shipyard is destroyed. Picard gets caught up in the swirl about this, as we've seen in the new show, and burns his career in the ground fighting to keep the Romulan rescue plan moving, despite the public hating it. By the time we get to the newest season in 2401, Picard has restored his reputation within the fleet. But the average Federation citizen? To the degree they know who he is, they associate him with the Borg attacks, the Federation Day disaster, and the Romulan crisis. They probably don't like him.
Benjamin Sisko was likely broadly unknown to the general Federation public, despite his fame on Bajor and his role as Admiral Ross's adjutant. His daring moves to liberate Deep Space Nine, his role in the fall of Cardassia, and his death on Bajor would certainly be mentioned in history books, but were unlikely to get the kind of news coverage that would have led to much personal fame for Sisko. Sad, because Sisko rocks.
Katherine Janeway probably first came to public notice in news reports about the loss of the Voyager in 2371, and then again when the ship was declared lost in 2373. But then in 2374 Starfleet would announced that the Voyager wasn't lost — it was in the Delta Quadrant! Any good media organization would spray this all over the front pages. Stories about the families and friends of the crew learning their loved ones were (mostly) still alive would have been everywhere. Starfleet would be harangued for updates. Janeway and her ship would have become a symbol of Starfleet's grit and skill, and she'd be famous. When she brought the ship home in 2377, she'd have been a hero (as shown by the fact that she was promoted all the way to Vice Admiral by 2379). Starfleet would play on her popularity by designing its cadet training holograms to look like her in the 2380s.
Jonathan Archer would be, by far, the most famous captain of any Star Trek series. Not only did he lead Earth's first deep space mission, not only did he respond to and end the Xindi crisis, not only did he help foil a very public terrorist attempt to prevent the formation of the Coalition of Planets, he likely played a large role in the Romulan War of the late 2150s, and, according to a biography seen briefly on screen in the future, Archer became the
first President of the Federation in 2161. Some of our later captains probably went to high schools named after Jonathan Archer. Like any politician, he probably had his detractors, but there's every reason to believe that despite being featured in the most unloved show, he was actually the most beloved captain them all. Weird.
Gabriel Lorca was a run of the mill Starfleet officer who would not have been well-known to the general public, and the mysterious circumstances around his death likely never made any news given the general chaos of the Klingon War.
Saru was a run of the mill Starfleet officer who would not have been well known to the general public in 2258.
Michael Burnham was a run of the mill Starfleet officer, probably occasionally profiled in the news in connection to her relationship with her adopted father Sarek but otherwise not well known in 2256. The scandal regarding the start of the Klingon War would have likely brought a great deal of negative press attention on her (and Sarek), and her mysterious apparent death in early 2258 would likely have been noted. She probably retained a fairly negative public opinion in death, given that her prosecution in 2256 would have been a lot more visible than her role in ending the war without destroying Qo'nos in 2257.
Carol Freeman really needs to not let reporters come aboard the Cerritos, because she has managed to make herself both very public and, likely, rather unpopular.
Christopher Pike was an incredibly well respected captain amongst his colleagues, but the NCC-1701 wasn't involved in the Klingon War, and so far nothing we've seen about him on screen seems like the sort of thing that would have lent him the sort of public profile necessary for the average Federation citizen to know much about him, unless they were really into Starfleet minutia. But to the degree that anyone knows about him, they probably thought he was great, which he was.
