The Best Pilots in the Galaxy

Here’s my list of the 13 Best Starship Pilots:

1. Han Solo (from Star Wars) – Easily the best pilot, and he knows it. I’d include Luke too for his X-Wing flying, but he uses The Force. Isn’t that cheating? Would he actually be as good a pilot if he didn’t use The Force?
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2. Wash (from Serenity/Firefly) – Joss Whedon created a loveable, funny character in Wash. Then, he killed him.
Oops. That was a spoiler.
Can you tell it upset me?
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3. Alex Rogan (from The Last Starfighter) – He learns how to pilot a ship by playing a video game. Doesn’t get much cooler than that. Or more realistic. Yeah.
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4. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard (from Stargate: Atlantis) – He’s the definition of “Man Pretty.” And easily the prettiest pilot of them all… that includes #11. He used to be a pilot in the Air Force. Now he flies puddle jumpers and leads expeditions to new worlds.
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5. Starbuck (from Battlestar Galactica) – I’m being nice and including the remake chick in here too. But mainly, just to up the female bodycount. That is… If she counts as a female, seeing as how she has as much testosterone as most of the men on this list.

6. Tommy Webber (from Galaxy Quest) – “Peddle to the metal, Commander.” I had to include my favorite Star Trek spoof.
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7. Tom Paris (from Star Trek: Voyager) – Right after graduating, he piloted and crashed a ship that killed three people. When demoted, he was probably the oldest living Ensign. He eventually regained Lieutenant status. But remind me again, why was he supposed to be such a great pilot?

8. Buck Rogers (in the 25th Century) – A pilot who launches his ship in 1987, but get frozen by gasses and awakens 500 years later.

9. Col. Wilma Deering (from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) – Buck Rogers’ love interest and a great pilot in her own right.

10. John Crichton (from Farscape) – Kind of a remake of Buck Rogers, but instead of the future, he’s just thrown into another galaxy with Jim Henson muppets. I kid. Fans of the show, please don’t send hatemail.
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11. David Freeman (from Flight of the Navigator) – Time travel, Beach Boys songs, and more muppet-like aliens. The only part I couldn’t stand was PeeWee Herman’s voice for the ship computer.
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12. Carmen Ibañez (from Starship Troopers) – Has to choose between Casper Van Dien and Patrick Muldoon. Poor girl. I’d put up with giant killer insects for that decision.

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13. 1st Lt. Christopher Blair (from Wing Commander) – Because you can’t have too many white men flying ships.

Notice: I didn’t include pilots from such movies as Lost in Space and Planet of the Apes. If they were that great of pilots, they wouldn’t have gotten lost and crashed.

Update: For those confused why Sulu didn’t make the list… He wasn’t helmsman long. And last we saw of him, he was Captian of the Excelsior.


46 thoughts on “The Best Pilots in the Galaxy”

  1. You listed a lot of my favourite characters! Buck Rogers was great, they should rerun it over here. Tom Paris, Han Solo… Yeah!!
    My TT lists 13 oracle card decks I own.

  2. What a great idea for a list! Plus, Buck Rogers AND Colonel Deering. We’ve been getting the Buck Rogers DVDs from Netflix. Definitely a classic.

  3. Oh, it’s a pity because I haven’t watched any of the shows you listed above! I’ve only watched the latest StarWars where Harrison Ford wasn’t in it.

  4. Wing Commander hurt my eyes! You’re a very brave woman to post about that movie. You made up for it, though, by mentioning The Last Starfighter and Flight of the Navigator. Ah, it takes me back to the good ol’ days….

    I do have to admit though: John Crichton was always TOP NOTCH in my book.

  5. SciFi Chick, you ALWAYS have the best TT lists! Great one, and I wholly agree with #1.

    Poor Luke…he’s just as good, but he has to use the Force. So he’s NOT as good. 🙂

    I did a TT today too, wonder of wonders! Thirteen Albums I can’t live without.

  6. What a cool list!
    Unfortunately I don’t know half of them, but my favorite would be Wash anyway. I just recently discovered Firefly and Serenity and I am still heartbroken about the fact that there won’t be any more episodes or movies about these guys…

  7. If they were that great of pilots, they wouldn’t have gotten lost and crashed.

    Exactly. Haha. This is a great list.

  8. Wow – I’m impressed you were able to come up with 13! I agree – I loved Wash.

    I remember when I saw The Last Starfighter always wondering why the poster doesn’t look anything like the actual actor playing the role.

    Now…who is that actor playing Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. Uh…wow!

  9. Yes, I cried when Wash died, too! He was awesome and loveable and completely wacky, and I adored him. How could he die?!?!? (And how is Sulu not on your list?!?!?)

    You might like my T13–it’s Mandarin curses from Firefly, with translations. *grin*

  10. Han Solo- check.
    Wash- double check

    But how could you leave off Sulu? The man could fly the enterprise out of anything!

    Also to kill the testosterone, my favorite Star Trek character possibly of all time, Major Kira!

    good list though!

  11. Another cool list, as ususal.

    I like the new Battlestar Galactica but the female Starbuck is about the most annoying character on TV right now.

    Nice call in Flight of the Navigator. That’s always been a favorite of Lovely Wife, Me and the Girls.

  12. I loved the list. I too was heartbroken when they killed Wash. I was so hoping that they would revive the series.

    So, um, you forgot Wesley Crusher. I so so loved him.

  13. Carrie – I must admit that I had a crush on Wesley too. But I’d be crucified alive by most fanboys if I put him on a top list of anything besides most annoying characters. LOL

  14. So OT, but I had to come over and express my jealousy that you get to see JM/Spike this next week! You HAVE to give a full accounting with pictures, 😀 (((pretty please))) lol

  15. Great list.

    I’d probably have included Susan Ivanova because she could throw a Star Fury round with the best of them when they let her off playing the part of cynical traffic cop on B5’s bridge.

  16. Michelle – You can count on it!

    Mark – I knew I’d get someone asking about B5! But I only watched the first season, so I’m not an expert on their pilots.

  17. Paris ROCKED. Ok, I’m biased I adored Voyager.

    What about poor Chewie.

    “I don’t know fly casual.”

    Great list! I can’t believe they turned Starbuck into a girl. See just proof I haven’t seen the new BSG.

  18. Great idea for a TT list! I don’t even think I could come up with 13 pilots. I like David Freeman the best…classic movie!
    Thanks for sharing!

  19. Great list.

    Umm, I just watched Wing Commander again yesterday. There was nothing else on and I really needed something to keep me focused while I was on my treadmill – honest *heehee*

  20. Great list! Han Solo was the coolest in the seventies. Buck Rogers in the eighties and then came John Crichton…Gals need guys like these in sci-fi! 🙂

  21. Kick-ass list! And good job having Han Solo first. He’s by far the best, flooring it through and asteroid feild AND out-manuvering a Star Destroyer all at once, definatly!

    Ah, Tom Paris outflies/outmanuvers Borg vessles, that’s got to count for something.

    I haven’t seen much of the old Battlestar Galactica, but I think the two Starbucks should be listed seperatly. They’re two different characters just filling in the same role in two different versions of the series.

    There’s one pilot you missed though; LONESTAR! Then again, was he so great? “Everybody okay back there?” “No you idiot! Where’d you learn how to fly?!”

  22. (If this is a double post, then my bad. I appologize in advance.)

    Awesome list! Good job putting Han Solo first. Flooring it through an asteroid feild while out-manuvering Tie-fighters, none of the others even come close!

    Ah, Tom Paris outflied Borg cubes, that’s got to count for something.

    I think the two Starbucks should be listed seperatly (even though Kara does probably have as much testostorone as the original Starbuck). They’re two different characters just filling in the same role in two different versions of the series. Their names aren’t even exactly the same- for the female, “Starbuck” is just a nickname.

    There is one pilot you forgot here though; LONESTAR! He wasn’t always the best I know (“Everyone okay back there?” “No you idiot! Where’d you learn how to fly?!”) but steering through those tunnels in the Mega Maid can’t have been easy. 😀

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