So of all the captains in all the Star trek series... Which was the best and why?
Captain Kirk. Because he was bigger than life; he made you believe that the crew of the Enterprise would follow him anywhere, as great Captains do; because we believed the illusion of that ship and that mythology. Had ST TOS failed, Star Trek would have disappeared without trace. The other characters were very important and great, but he was the glue that made it work. Shatner should be recognized for this. The later Captains, all very good. But Kirk was the model.
And the best Klingon captain was Christopher Lloyd, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , as Kruge. Really great.
Picard was a thinker, but also a fighter. As a younger man, he'd fought a lot, and would get into trouble. He mellowed with age, but was still capable of taking it to the enemy. But he had a greater capacity for compassion and empathy, which I think made him a more capable leader, and someone who could be trusted to do the right thing.
And I won't deny it... Picard has enormous sex appeal. ?
Focusing only on the original series vs. TNG, when compared with Captain Kirk, one is sometimes tempted to dismiss Jean-Luc Picard as being too cerebral. Notwithstanding Kirk’s fistfights, shoulder rolls and numerous dalliances, I find Picard as the one to emulate. Stabbed through the heart in a bar by Nausicaans, assimilated by the Borg as Locutus, tortured without surrendering to the Cardassians, taken on the Romulans and having had a passionate relationship with fellow anthropologist Vash, one simply cannot accuse Picard of being a dispassionate academic.
I'm a Star Trek fan but I can't say that I really have a favorite captain. Still, I'd say Kirk and Picard are out front, with Janeway a close third. They each brought something different to the shows they were on. Kirk was a fighter, Picard was a thinker, and Janeway was a bit of both.