Numbah One?

[Bry_Sinclair]

Had the PTB decided after "The Best of Both Worlds" to get rid of the character of Riker by giving him the command he always wanted--after all he had gained a lot of important experience, led countless away missions, and most recently defeated the Borg attack on Earth--who do you think should've replaced him?

I see "Family" being an episode split between Picard in France dealing with the aftermath of his trauma, whilst Riker on the E-D is getting ready to leave and saying his farewells to all those he served with.

What happens then? Would you want Shelby to stick around as the new XO and finally get a first name? Or should they have let her go and promoted Data up, then hired someone new as Ops Manager? And what of Worf--when Riker was offered the Aries our resident Klingon was ready to jump ship, would he have done the same thing, and if so who'd have replaced him? Maybe Riker asked Counsellor Troi to join him, would she have gone?

How would you have liked to see the crew change at the beginning of Season 4? Thoughts, ideas, opinions?

 

[Makarov]

First Officer Wesley Crusher. Security chief Wesley Crusher, and if Troi left Counselor Wesley Crusher.

 

[Dukhat]

Yep, they should have kept Riker as captain for the entire season, and had Picard spend far more time getting over his PTSD. Then they should have started focusing on the rest of the crew either rising up the chain of command or getting promotions to different posts. Instead they kept this crew together for a ridiculously unrealistic amount of time, and aboard two different ships to boot.

 

[Maurice]

Except you don't have the star of show step out for a year and hope your ratings stay up.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

They could've kept him on, but remain on Earth going through his recovery so we could see what led him to once again return to Starfleet and the Enterprise. The show could've been split between the two locations.

Maybe not for the entire season, but at least fair chunk of it.

 

[Dukhat]

Except you don't have the star of show step out for a year and hope your ratings stay up.

I didn't say that he would step out for a year. I said that he would spend the season dealing with his PTSD while Riker took command.

 

[SPCTRE]

What's with the OP - is that Riker's rap name?

 

[2takesfrakes]

Taking Riker off of the ENTERPRISE? That way madness lay! As the resident studd, much of the female STAR TREK viewership depended greatly on his character being aboard, each ... and every week. But, had he received captaincy over the ENTERPRISE-D, then would Data hae been up to the challenge, at that stage in his development? He could issue commands, based on the needs of the moment, but his interpersonal skills were not up to the demands of being First Officer. Shelby, on the other hand, was trying too hard to prove herself, when we got to know her, so she'd need a personality overhaul, were she to receive that coveted Number One slot. Had she done so, the name "Bethany" would've been very cute on her, I'd say! Yes ... name her Bethany. The only other prospect that might've worked would've been the introduction of a new character, altogether, who was assigned there by STARFLEET as the new first officer. And why not a Vulcan? That would've been intriguing ...

 

[Amaris]

Taking Riker off of the ENTERPRISE? That way madness lay! As the resident studd, much of the female STAR TREK viewership depended greatly on his character being aboard, each ... and every week. But, had he received captaincy over the ENTERPRISE-D, then would Data hae been up to the challenge, at that stage in his development? He could issue commands, based on the needs of the moment, but his interpersonal skills were not up to the demands of being First Officer. Shelby, on the other hand, was trying too hard to prove herself, when we got to know her, so she'd need a personality overhaul, were she to receive that coveted Number One slot. Had she done so, the name "Bethany" would've been very cute on her, I'd say! Yes ... name her Bethany. The only other prospect that might've worked would've been the introduction of a new character, altogether, who was assigned there by STARFLEET as the new first officer. And why not a Vulcan? That would've been intriguing ...

No. No to all of this.
Also, no to whatever immediately comes after this.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

What's with the OP - is that Riker's rap name?

Huh?

 

[Squiggy]

But, had he received captaincy over the ENTERPRISE-D, then would Data hae been up to the challenge, at that stage in his development?

The "promote from within" mentality in Trek always annoyed me. That means that unless Picard left or got promoted then everyone else was stuck where they were.

I understand why they did it from a TV standpoint...but haven't the same crew of 7 insanely experience people on the same ship for 7 years (aside from Crusher's 2nd season absence) doesn't make any logical sense. That that knowledge and spread it around.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I am betraying no secrets here, when I say that Picard was originally meant to basically stay sequestered in his Ready Room, to OK the paperwork and sign everybody's cheques, whilst Riker effectively ran the bridge and went on all of the Away Missions. This arrangement justified Riker's turning down all of the commands STARFLEET offered him, but then Picard began taking over Away Missions and even getting "The Girl" sometimes. Once this happened, Riker's decision to remain as 2nd in Command became very difficult to justify.

True, there was Deanna, but he wasn't getting any Imzadi action, anymore. There were his friends, in general, but ... in theory, they could've been transfered out to other postings. I'm not sure what transpired behind closed doors that kept Sir Patrick Stewart from leaving the show, when he had the opportunity during TBoBW ... but it effectively undermined Riker's choice to turn down commands. And if anyone had a promising acting career outside of STAR TREK, Sir Patrick Stewart certainly did! In short: command of the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE-D really should've belonged to William T. Riker. And I find the question of who would be a suitable Executive Officer under his leadership to be an intriguing one.

 

[borgboy]

I'd have kept Shelby as first officer.
Funny, I've been so used to Shelby having a first and middle name from the New Frontiers novels for so many years - Elizabeth Paula - that I didn't realize that she only had a last name on tv.

 

[Lance]

Yep, they should have kept Riker as captain for the entire season, and had Picard spend far more time getting over his PTSD. Then they should have started focusing on the rest of the crew either rising up the chain of command or getting promotions to different posts. Instead they kept this crew together for a ridiculously unrealistic amount of time, and aboard two different ships to boot.

The idea is sound, but it's way beyond what anybody working on the series in 1991 was actually prepared to do. They kvetched enough about the idea of devoting a whole extra episode to Picard's recovery, I don't doubt for a moment that the idea of making it a season long thing would've been met with complete resistance from the powers that be.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I thought at the time of writing BOBW they were unsure Stewart would come back.

If that did happen it would have been interesting to see Captain Riker and Commander Shelby and see their relationship develop. Shelby was easily one of the most memorable single appearance characters and it was clearly staged for Riker to deal with a Young Riker.

 

[USS Triumphant]

As much as I've ended up liking Shelby from her appearances later (mostly in novels), I found her being first officer in BoBW to be offensive. DATA was second officer, and should have become first, and if he wasn't ready for that then he also had no business being second officer, either, since if both captain and first were incapacitated he would have to be ready to take command.

So whether Riker commanded with Picard gone, or Picard remained and Riker left, my answer to the OP is Data.

 

[Kevman7987]

Too bad the writers didn't come up wth Thomas Riker (TNG: Second Chances) until season 6. Jonathan Frakes could've replaced himself. W. Riker leaves for his own command, Data is promoted to XO, T. Riker is promoted to Lt. Cmdr. and replaces Data as Ops. Officer & Second Officer.

 

[Squiggy]

A LT marooned on some spelunking outpost for a decade would have been totally unqualified to be the Operations Manager on the flagship.

 

[Dukhat]

The idea is sound, but it's way beyond what anybody working on the series in 1991 was actually prepared to do. They kvetched enough about the idea of devoting a whole extra episode to Picard's recovery, I don't doubt for a moment that the idea of making it a season long thing would've been met with complete resistance from the powers that be.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that TPTB for TNG weren't going to go this route. I just found it quite unrealistic that Picard's PTSD didn't last long. For that matter, it's completely unbelievable to me that he immediately went back to commanding the Enterprise after what happened to him in "The Inner Light."

 

[InklingStar]

As much as I've ended up liking Shelby from her appearances later (mostly in novels), I found her being first officer in BoBW to be offensive. DATA was second officer, and should have become first, and if he wasn't ready for that then he also had no business being second officer, either, since if both captain and first were incapacitated he would have to be ready to take command.

So whether Riker commanded with Picard gone, or Picard remained and Riker left, my answer to the OP is Data.

Riker's rationale in BoBW2 seemed to be that he needed both Data and Worf in their existing positions. He turned out to be right, as Data would not have had the time to spend working on Locutus in his lab if he was first officer. It had nothing to do with how much Riker liked Data, or how much he deserved to be promoted, but was simply about the needs of the current mission.