Why Commander Riker was never a good character in TNG series ?

[DavidFalkayn]

but riker was perfect for the part, he and all the cast supported each other so well & had such a good vibe together in that show in ways I haven't seen in any show on TV since

Which goes back to what I was talking about earlier. I think the writers wrote themselves into a corner with "Best of Both Worlds." The next step for the character would have been his own command, but fans liked Riker and Jonathan Frakes as did his fellow cast members and the crew of the show--so how do you reconcile where the character should go and the wishes of fans and fellow cast members? Something has to give and as a result, later seasons Riker comes across as essentially lazy and a career deadender when instead he was always intended to be a very competent and ambitious officer.

 

[Herbert]

And a lot of us are against a lot of change. He was working alongside people he trusted, his friends, had a great routine going on. I really wouldn't want to leave, either.

The problem of course is due to how he is portrayed in season one. He's a young gung-ho officer whose primary goal in life is to earn the captaincy of a ship. He even gave up on a serious relationship with Deanna to pursue that ambition.
And then they changed the character and he goes from gung-ho to complacent.

 

[DavidFalkayn]

The problem of course is due to how he is portrayed in season one. He's a young gung-ho officer whose primary goal in life is to earn the captaincy of a ship. He even gave up on a serious relationship with Deana to pursue that ambition.
And then they changed the character and he goes from gung-ho to complacent.

That's the important thing right there. As he was written, his character could really only be in that spot for a few years until something big happened that would propel him to the next level and "Best of Both Worlds" did just that. By keeping the character in a status quo they pleased fans and fellow cast members but at the expense of the character.

 

[Herbert]

I've said this in other threads. It makes all the sense in the world for Riker to have been promoted to captain and thus be written off TNG
It makes zero sense for Frakes to give up an acting job simply on the basis that his character should be written off.

Everyone needs to keep that in mind when thinking about Riker and how his character changes during the course of the show. Another idea that would have been cool is when Tom Riker shows up, Will Riker could have been promoted to captain and left the Enterprise. However, Frakes remains and assumes the role of Tom. That would have opened up all sorts of interesting possibilites.

 

[DavidFalkayn]

I've said this in other threads. It makes all the sense in the world for Riker to have been promoted to captain and thus be written off TNG
It makes zero sense for Frakes to give up an acting job simply on the basis that his character should be written off.

Everyone needs to keep that in mind when thinking about Riker and how his character changes during the course of the show. Another idea that would have been cool is when Tom Riker shows up, Will Riker could have been promoted to captain and left the Enterprise. However, Frakes remains and assumes the role of Tom. That would have opened up all sorts of interesting possibilites.

That would have been the ideal solution. Will Riker leaves, Tom Riker remains and Frakes, who enjoyed playing the character and who fans and fellow cast mates liked would have remained. Win...Win...Win... Instead, we get a really poor resolution to Tom Riker's story in DS9 and Will Riker stuck in a holding pattern.

 

[miccaferoc]

Or, First Officer on the Enterprise is a great gig and exceeds the job fulfilment that captain of a lesser ship could provide?... this and the fact that Frakes was never going to leave TNG and most fans wouldn't have wanted him to either!

 

[Herbert]

Or, First Officer on the Enterprise is a great gig and exceeds the job fulfilment that captain of a lesser ship could provide?...

Perhaps but as Picard said, "You know, there really is no substitute for holding the reins"

this and the fact that Frakes was never going to leave TNG and most fans wouldn't have wanted him to either!

I agree but that's where my Tom Riker suggestion comes into play. I wonder if they ever considered that? Probably not

 

[Paradise City]

Worf has his Klingon heritage to struggle with from episode to episode, Data has his robotic nature to struggle with from episode to episode, LaForge has his visor..etc. Picard is the boss-man.

Riker is the hotshot that has had everythin' easy. OK, he has trouble with his dad. But that's only one episode. And then he gets comfortable as XO, it's slippers and contentment as Picard's diligent confidante essentially.

All of Riker's crises are one episode wonders, so there's no momentum given to that character that fuels the other characters.

Riker isn't actually an implausible character. And he's a good complimentary to Picard. So I'm not unhappy with him but he does get eclipsed by the others.

 

[Farscape One]

Riker was a good bouncer. What I mean is that certain scenes work better with him as the one bouncing dialogue off from. Good example is when Worf was paralyzed and he wanted to commit ritual suicide. Some reallh good scenes happened, and I don't think they would have been quite as good with another character bouncing off Worf.

Riker having to prosecute against Data for rights. I don't think that could have worked with anyone else.

Riker taking Odan symbiote... good bouncing off Crusher. Worf and Data, it couldn't happen. The writers wouldn't dare with Troi at that time. Picard would be a no because he was in command, and he was needed for diplomatic help. LaForge likely not, simply because we need the Chief Engineer to BE the Chief Engineer.

This was a situation where he was the inly viable option, and the result was a great Crusher.

His character can best be described as a great assist in the NBA... has his episodes and moments, but functions far better helping the rest of the team make the shots.

In that regard, he served his purpose very well, and I cannot call him a bad character for it.

 

[Armus]

Riker was a good bouncer. What I mean is that certain scenes work better with him as the one bouncing dialogue off from. Good example is when Worf was paralyzed and he wanted to commit ritual suicide. Some reallh good scenes happened, and I don't think they would have been quite as good with another character bouncing off Worf.

Riker having to prosecute against Data for rights. I don't think that could have worked with anyone else.

Riker taking Odan symbiote... good bouncing off Crusher. Worf and Data, it couldn't happen. The writers wouldn't dare with Troi at that time. Picard would be a no because he was in command, and he was needed for diplomatic help. LaForge likely not, simply because we need the Chief Engineer to BE the Chief Engineer.

This was a situation where he was the inly viable option, and the result was a great Crusher.

His character can best be described as a great assist in the NBA... has his episodes and moments, but functions far better helping the rest of the team make the shots.

In that regard, he served his purpose very well, and I cannot call him a bad character for it.

Riker is a good character and Frakes was one of the best actors who could have played him. He had the authority, presense, energy, twinkle, and physicality to be Picard's number one. I agree that his character was poorly serviced during the last two seasons of TNG where he is often portrayed as a weary and cranky deskbound officer. The best example of how well his character plays off against Picard is in the episode Legacy. After Ishara betrays the away team and is held on the bridge, her comrades demand that she be returned. Riker gets pissed while Picard, who is the diplomatic father figure, gently difuses his steam and has Ishara released. Riker was Picard's bulldog.

 

[Marsden]

I believe what we have here is a laboratory specimen of an arrested career. A rating of D - on the Richter's scale of careers.

 

[Herbert]

I don't know about that. He's carved out a nice little directing career.

 

[DavidFalkayn]

As an actor and director, Jonathon Frakes has had and is having a very good career.

 

[maneth]

I always liked Riker. However, he should have taken that first promotion that he was offered. After he turned that down, his character never really went anywhere.
Picard is my favorite captain, but they should have made him British rather than French. He was completely unconvincing as a Frenchman.

 

[flandry84]

Riker was a good bouncer.

Riker taking Odan symbiote... good bouncing off Crusher..

Oh,he gave her a good bouncing all right.

 

[velour]

The problem also is that they wanted to keep Frakes on as a regular in the cast--so how do you reconcile the demands of character and plot with the desires of writers/producers/directors/fellow actors/fans to keep a popular actor?

It shouldn't have been about Frakes. I can understand why Frakes would want to stay with the show as long as possible. He got rich, he got relative fame, he got opportunities to direct, and whatever other benefits that TNG gave him.

But TNG should not have been a welfare program for Frakes.

Imo, Frakes' presence was not indispensable for the success of the show. Maybe Stewart, but definitely not Frakes and not the Riker character. For the most part, Frakes' Riker didn't add any more value to the show after BoBW. And it did make sense for Riker to go, for the reasons many posters have already written.

Also, it would have been logical that there would be turnover at the first officer position. Often, it is a stepping stone position. Had Riker been written off one way or another, the character/actor who would have replaced him might have turned out to be just as popular or even more so. It might have even given TNG writers better storylines that they didn't have before.

By not writing Riker off the show, TNG missed an opportunity imo.

The story should have been more important than the actor. Successful shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead have had major characters/actors come and go from the show throughout the run of those series.

 

[DavidFalkayn]

I understand where you're coming from and from a story perspective, you're right. But, unlike Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, show renewal was mostly determined by ad revenue which meant good Nielson ratings. Would Frakes fans have stayed with the show if Jonathon Frakes were dropped? Good question. I'd like to think Trek fans would have stayed regardless as long as the show maintained its quality and by this point, TNG was hitting its full stride. Also, it would have meant negotiating for a new actor to take on the role of first officer which means auditioning, screen tests and making sure the new actor can work with the established cast. This was also a time where shows really didn't like rocking the boat as regards cast--unlike today where you do have characters and actors come and go.

A good example of when an actor replaced another actor was when Dick Sargent replaced Dick York as Darrin on Bewitched. Even though Sargent was a very good actor, no one ever bought him in the role--also, Dick York WAS Darrin Stephens and was really the most important character in the show, but I'm getting off topic. The point is, that shows at that time were far more conservative regarding cast changes than now.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

They wrote a character who should have never been happy stagnating in his career and put him in a long term episodic series where he can't possibly be moved. This was a mistake, and they made it even worse when they started offering him commands.

It's like in sitcoms where they're like "Wait...our genius kid is college age now. ...Crap."

Another thing they could have done is have him take an offer for command in one of the two parters, but then by the end of the two parters, he makes a bad decision that destroys his career and leads to the destruction of his new ship. Then his career would be over, but Picard fights for him to be reinstated into Starfleet, and he's the only one who will take him. Then Riker has to deal with the sobering prospect that all his dreams are crushed.

 

[Prax]

Getting rid of Riker would have been a bad decision. He had many good episodes in the last 4 seasons, some of which address his comfortability. I think the episode where they find his duplicate is one of TNG's greatest. Plus, what would we do without those "Is Riker losing his mind?" episodes. Things can be both "good for the story" and bad for the show at the same time. Is Frakes supposed to say "my contract- I want out! It might be better for the story"? That's not his prerogative.

There are many characters who should have moved on that we could say that about, like Troi, Beverly, Worf, Bashir, Dax, and many more. We'll have to assume that a space assignment is not the equivalent of a modern day posting in the military or navy. It only gets farfetched in the movies, which can be said for the TOS movies, too(maybe more so).

 

[A Chimpanzee & 2 Trainees]

I love BoBW as an episode. I think it was great TV, but as others point out, does create problems for the character and the larger world within which he operates.

It exposes one of the biggest logical flaws of the Starfleet organization. It's supposed to be large, with many dozens of vessels, but the hero ship is almost always facing things alone - even when they are WITH other Starfleet vessels, those ships just service as background for attempted scale and provide little to no actual contribution to solving anything. That's a natural consequence of TV, but it means that we the audience, and Starfleet organizationally, have to check our brain at the door. It also means Riker had nowhere to go from the beginning. That's the problem with putting a fast-tracker in the second highest position on the ship - you need Patrick Stewart to leave or he ceases to fast track toward anything.

If Starfleet were operating in any sort of realistic world, the entire command crew would have been broken up after BoBW because Starfleet would have been a depleted organization that needed to reallocate their resources. Riker would have been told "You are taking command of USS <X>, and if you don't, turn in your badge and go bartend on Risa!" and Picard would probably be spending the rest of his life dealing with emotional trauma from the experience.

This is to say nothing of the fact that beyond this one episode, almost every week, one or two of the crew is doing something that would likely warrant a medal/commendation, promotion, or sometimes - court martial, yet no one really enjoys the rewards (or suffers the consequences) of their actions. Riker saved the entire Federation of assimilation, and doesn't even get a promotion? Sure...