Despite following the brave leaders sitting in the Captains chair, or destined to take it, for decades the captains of Starfleet changed the face of the galaxy on a weekly basis. But even deep into the final frontier, you still have to answer to the boss…
Feared by many and loved by few, Starfleet’s Admiralty deal with the big galactic decisions, lead high profile operations and make sure the fleet stays strong while making sure their Captains are kept in line. With their flashy uniforms, many of them stay behind the lines with others lead in the wilderness.
After travelling to the 32nd century, Discovery found a new boss to answer to in Charles Vance; Admiral and Commander in Chief of a merged Starfleet and Federation. All too often Admirals are used as the bad guy in the story, from the treasonous Admiral Layton to the Kelvin Universe’s war monger Admiral Marcus.
Vance however joined a very exclusive club of Admirals we could find some faith in; the type who wasn’t just a foil for our bold crew or an antagonist of the week, but a leader who in spite of his shattered world, embodied the ideals of Starfleet.
Fighting against the “Badmirals” trope that had become so common over the years, we’re taking a look at the top five Admirals who were actually the good guys!
Serving as a senior leader during the Klingon War in the mid-23rd century, Cornwell had a different career path than most Admirals we’d seen in Star Trek having previously worked as a therapist in her early career. From ships counsellor to Admiral, Corwell had gained a long and successful career but made a big impact as a fighting leader within Starfleet.
Appearing in Discovery’s first and second season, Cornwell was a former partner of Gabriel Lorca before he was replaced by his Terran counterpart and was actively involved in fleet operations involving the ship. While she had more time for Lorca than other members of the Admiralty due to their past, she always felt suspicious of his changed personality. Though at the time had no reason to believe he was a replacement and was just suffering emotionally after the death of his crew on the Buran.
Cornwell planned to dismiss Lorca from command, however she was captured by Klingons and held captive by General Kol. It was there she met her supposed interrogator, L’Rell, and developed a quick respect for each other. Working together to escape Kol’s grasp, they build a foundation of trust that would lead to them working together again to help L’Rell ascend to the top of the Empire and carry out T’Kuvma’s will of unifying the Empire.
Using her talents as a counsellor Cornwell helped calm Ash Tyler from a panic attack due to PTSD, and later helped to guide Dr Culber to help resolve his resentments and identity crisis after being resurrected. However her key strengths always lay in being willing to fight when she needed to at one point boarding and taking command of Discovery after the revelation of Lorca’s true identity and again joining the crew to help lead some time later during the Control crisis.
Her strong will and likeable personality were key in Jayne Brooke’s portrayal. Unlike most Admirals on screen, she had a more extended life on screen having a rekindled, if brief, romance with Lorca, empathy for those under her command and was a leader willing to get into the heat of battle when she needed to be.
From both ending petty squabbles between Pike and Leland, to helping to support both Discovery and Enterprise in their battle with Control, Cornwall became one of the most likeable and fleshed out Admirals within the Star Trek franchise.
Unfortunately the final battle with control was her final battle too. Standing with Captain Pike on the bridge of the Enterprise, the ship was hit by a torpedo that wedged itself in the hull. Insisting that Pike’s role as Captain, and her belief that he was everything Starfleet should be, she insisted on disabling the torpedo herself. Sadly her bomb disabling skills weren’t as refined as her counselling abilities.
Her only way of saving the ship was to seal herself behind bl ast doors while the torpedo detonated to help control the explosion and minimise damage to the Enterprise. Cornwell’s sacrifice saved the ship, which was needed to win the battle and send Discovery into their next mission into the 32nd century.
…AND THE REST?
With maybe one or two surprises, the full article is available to SFCQ2 Members in our most recent edition of Comms as we pick out four more Admirals who made a lasting impression, from the Supportive Admiral Forrest to Deep Space Nine’s Admiral Ross.
And of course, we were far too tempted not to flip it all on it’s side and feature some of the baddies as well![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]To find out who our top five were, check out our latrest edition of Comms as we have a Discovery Season 3 special in our biggest issue to date!
You can also check out past editions of A Fistul Of in our Comms archives exclusive to members of SFCQ2.com. Read the latest issue now, download past issues or enlist today for easy access!
About the author
[Universe] Section 31 Release Date, New Additions to Trek & More
As Star Trek shifts to a new era as several shows have came to a close, October has offered a glance at whats to come in it's future with new cast joining two upcoming shows and a final launch date for the Section 31 offshoot announced.
Lower Decks: The Final Season Begins…
Mariner, Boimler and the lower deck crew are back this October as the Second Contact specialists take on a new mission to investigate the mundane for the Cerritos' final flight!
A Fistful of Connections
Connected universe on screen have been a bigger deal now more than ever before now that one of the most popular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has embraced Marvel's diverse history before it was it's own singular media empire. Shared universes have always been a bit of a cool thing to see on screen whether it was a subtle one such as Michael Keaton reprising his Jackie Brown role as Ray Nicollet in Out of Sight, to spin offs such as Frasier bringing in the old Cheers gang, there's a novelty to seeing the fictional worlds interconnect with each other from time to time.. For Star Trek's divergence to telling a story about another crew, the shared universe began with unsubtle hints that this was the same universe as Kirk's adventures with DeForest Kelly in aged make up as retired Admiral […]
[Away Team] USS Tesla heads to Acme Comic Con This weekend! 28/29th September in Glasgow
Ahead of SFC's fiftieth anniversary, our flagship crew from the USS Tesla are beaming down for Acme Comic Con in Glasgow! Now a regular fixture at the Glasgow convention, the crew will be on hand to talk Trek, the fleet and with their array of props on hand this coming weekend!
[Q2&A] The Academy
It's become a thing of legend that Star Trek fans are the type of fans who like to know the details. All the details. It's a stereotype that's been enhanced by our own fandom. We had the Nitpickers Guide series. We had Technical manuals. We had fans writing to production staff to ask how transporters worked. In turn we had the infamous 'Get A Life' sketch and tributes to the fandoms from news pieces of people doing jury duty in uniform to shows like Futurama introducing the Star Trek church (in a rather affectionate nod!).
[Ships Of The Line] Prometheus Class
Starfleet may be all about exploration at it's core, but peace isn't it's only mission. As the first line of defence for the Federation, the fleet has engaged in as much war time as it has on missions of peace from bitter wars with the Klingons and Romulans, to invasions from the Borg and Dominion. While some ships are designed to be travelling research labs and others comfortable homes for long term exploration missions, some are built to fight.
Related
A Fistful of 2024: What Trek Left Behind
As a new year begins we can't help but look back at whats been a strangely filled year for Star Trek. 2024 was a bittersweet year with a stunning amount of Star Trek on our screens, all of which was coming to an end in their final and news from behind the curtain about the next steps into the final frontier. Looking back at the highlights, even with saying goodbye to three separate shows in the wider universe, it's still been a tremendously good year in the final frontier! LONE GUARDIAN One of Star Trek's biggest surprises in recent years was the animated show built for a teenage audience as a gateway to the franchise and it's second season was a massive highlight for Star Trek in 2024. Now protege's of Admiral Janeway, the outlaw crew became entwined in the […]
A Fistful Of Bad Romance
As Lower Decks returns for it's final season, it answered one of the unresolved questions from it promised recent history as Jennifer made a return after vanishing from the unresolved conflict with Mariner at the end of the third season. And it went exactly as we'd expect for a Lower Decks romance storyline.
A Fistful of Connections
Connected universe on screen have been a bigger deal now more than ever before now that one of the most popular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has embraced Marvel's diverse history before it was it's own singular media empire. Shared universes have always been a bit of a cool thing to see on screen whether it was a subtle one such as Michael Keaton reprising his Jackie Brown role as Ray Nicollet in Out of Sight, to spin offs such as Frasier bringing in the old Cheers gang, there's a novelty to seeing the fictional worlds interconnect with each other from time to time.. For Star Trek's divergence to telling a story about another crew, the shared universe began with unsubtle hints that this was the same universe as Kirk's adventures with DeForest Kelly in aged make up as retired Admiral […]
A Fistful of Time Travel Adventures
Time Travel has always been a core sci fi trope for the Star Trek Universe. Whether it's going back to the 1980's to save the whales, or jumping ahead to see the Enterprise-J to avert a time war, it seems the heroes of Starfleet can't fly into space without wandering into a temporal investigations nightmare.
A Fistful Of Undeveloped Missions
It's only been seven years since the streaming era of Star Trek begun and already we've been given a full three ring circus treatment of the franchise. Kicking off with Discovery's story of darkness into light, we've had a standard planet of the week with Strangew New Worlds to character exploration in Picard right down to straight up off the wall comedy in Lower Decks. Considering the previous era which often tried to replicate The Next Generation was branded as having fatigue, it's safe to say Star Treks future is in finding variety of the stories they can tell...
A Fistul Of Loose Ends…
Picking up a loose thread from the Next Generation, Discovery turned a one off story about a quickly forgotten galactic revelation into a full season of expanding the lore and mystery of the Progenitors. It's not for the first time either. Spock's plan for unifying Romulus and Vulcan started in the 24th century and had been realised by the time Burnham landed in the 32nd. It's not just Discovery pulling at the tapestry. Picard showed us what happened to the disconnected Borg Hugh, Lower Decks revealed Academy dropout Nick Locarno as a season baddie. Even Prodigy picked up on Janeway's career following her cameo as an Admiral on the big screen. The trend continued in recent years with Picard mining the Next Generations past, answering questions fans had long pondered from the fate of Ro Laren to what happened to […]
