The Sabotage of Tom Riker
- Thread starter Mojochi
- Start date
We don't know that Tom wasn't promoted offscreen. The episode was dealing more with his relationship to Will (and everyone else he was close to) than his own career. It would make sense that after settling in to his new position, his promotions and awards et al would be finally processed.
In fact, that's what's awful about Will. He's the one who got all the benefits, who didn't have to spend eight years alone in a cave but he treats his "brother" like an impostor even yells at him at the slightest provocation. If anyone should be angry it's Tom.
Actually, as of the DS9 episode that reprises Tom's character, he's still being referred to as a Lieutenant.
Now that's easily explainable as being a field promotion that Will got from his captain on the Potemkin, which was not afforded to Tom, because he wasn't serving under that same captain anymore, & no one advocated for him similarly (I'm looking at you Picard). Then a year later, when all that Pegasus stuff got exposed, it may have really flushed his promotion chances.
However, before that, what's truly idiotic is that no one ever stopped to think, "Hey, it's the same Will Riker we offered his own command" which, btw, was only 2 or 3 years after the Nervala IV incident. So basically, the only career difference between Will & Tom, at the time Will was offered the Drake, was a couple years as a Lt. Cmdr. & 1st officer of the Hood.
So basically, there is really no reason why Tom shouldn't be getting promotions or even offered his own command almost immediately upon discovery, because his capabilities are literally no different than Will's, who only had a small amount more experience before they began offering up those things. You'd think that SOMEBODY would jump at the shot to have a new Will Riker be their 1st officer. He's essentially the same guy that was in command of the ship which saved everyone from the Borg
Except He really wasn't the same Will Riker at least not any more. Tom had spent nine years alone on a planet which no doubt changed him into a completely different person with a different worldview and priorities than Will Riker. We see that in the very episode.
It takes time to adapt to the discovery of a "transporter clone" who is basically you.
The follow up episode, Defiant, just needed a villain so the writers plucked Lt. Tom Riker from the list of characters who hadn't been killed off yet. He probably "fell" down the promotion ladder when he became an advocate (and secret? member) of the Maquis. Who knows.
The follow up episode, Defiant, just needed a villain so the writers plucked Lt. Tom Riker from the list of characters who hadn't been killed off yet. He probably "fell" down the promotion ladder when he became an advocate (and secret? member) of the Maquis. Who knows.
Yes & no. It changed him, but into a completely different person? I doubt it. He's still the same guy, with the same Starfleet training, the same instincts, crisis management skills, resourcefulness. It's really only some of his personal motives that are different. If I spend the next 8 years in prison vs spending them working on a ship, I may have different experiences. I may be changed by them, but it's still me. Do we really look back on our past selves as entirely different people? I don't. We may longingly refer to them as different "Lives" but that really just means different chapters of life, or different ways of life. I'm still the me I was 8 years ago, no matter what transpired.
The point is, Will received a posting as the Hood's 1st officer very shortly after the promotion he got from this very incident. By all rights, Tom is still that guy, & with a little debriefing for lost time, he's just as capable of being a 1st officer as Will was, or even a captain, seeing how Will got offered a ship only a couple years after Tom got lost.
Actually, I think they probably came at it from the opposite perspective. Frakes wanted to do a guest spot, & the most interesting idea batted around was "Whatever became of Tom?" & sadly the best they could come up with was the same old mirror universe/evil twin trope that Star Trek frequents, which really does a disservice to the character, but it does at least line up with how his life unfolded, to some degree, but ultimately, I find that episode rather disappointing on many levels. It couldn't possibly be the REAL Will Riker... he has a Goatee!
The entire episode is about how Tom is different to Will because of what happened to him. Spending nine years in what is basically solitary confinement will change a person. There are studies and plenty of real life examples that prove this. Also, I'm not the same person I was 9 years ago, I've become more mature, level-headed and have a wealth of life experience that the younger mickmike didn't have. In terms of personality, beliefs, skill set, and opinions etc.. I'm a different person to my younger self. People are constantly changing based on life experiences, that is basic psychology.
Not always for the better though...
I know people that have become real jerks and were quite frequentable a couple of decades ago. I am aware that they may say the same thing about me though...
Not always for the better though...
I know people that have become real jerks and were quite frequentable a couple of decades ago. I am aware that they may say the same thing about me though...
Hey why are you looking at me?
Why didn't they just go down to the planet with a shuttlecraft?
Yes, but if I had to be me from 8 years ago, I could do that. I'm still that guy. If Tom is capable of resuming his career at all, then he is still close enough to the man he was, the Will Riker who got offered 1st officer positions & command assignments. Actually, if the episode portrays anything, it's that Tom is actually closer to that former Riker than Will is.
Will has settled. He's grown complacent in being the D's XO. He's not really chomping to be a captain anymore, like he had been 6-8 years earlier. The guy he was back in season 1 was a more upwardly mobile man who was being offered commands. That's much more the guy Tom is, the rising star of Starfleet, & after being set back for 8 years, he'd even be more likely to want to regain that. It makes no sense that no one would scoop him up, given his potential
I think they rule that out for some technical reason, likely a string of unpalatable technobabble that wouldn't tell you anything anyway.
Why should they? In their mind they were sure they saved each and every person when they beamed everyone aboard.
It was the Beard. As Q said, "Oh, you're so stolid. You weren't like that before the beard."Any Riker is probably a jerk. Just imagine what a pain in the ass that grungy beard Riker from the Parallels Borg reality must be
I think the question was meant to ask why they'd have used the transporters at all, given the interference. Nothing in the episode specifically addresses that. It may have been a time sensitive evacuation that couldn't wait on transports, or there also may have been conditions that made flying a shuttle more hazardous than beaming
When they 1st beam down to the station, they spot repair evidence that someone had been there, since Will had left it 8 years earlier. Worf posits that a vessel might've gotten caught in the distortion field and crashed, leaving survivors to take refuge there
So it's at least possible that using a shuttle to travel there would be hazardous, if that's a plausible theory.
Somebody must have done statistics on this - but my gut feeling is that shuttles are indeed more hazardous than transporters overall, despite the great number of things we know can go wrong with transporters. After all, the dramatic role of the shuttle is to crash or get stranded, and the expensive prop isn't trotted out unless intended to perform that dramatic role; uneventful, successful shuttle flights just plain don't happen.
Which is exactly as we would have it anyway. Our heroes use the transporter a lot. They must know what they are doing, even if we can't immediately tell.
Timo Saloniemi
Which is exactly as we would have it anyway. Our heroes use the transporter a lot. They must know what they are doing, even if we can't immediately tell.
Timo Saloniemi
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