Why does Riker lean into corners?

[K'Ehleyr]

I like how Riker attempts to get through doors by head-butting them. It's a neat character trait, and definitely adds to the TNG drinking game.

LOL! This made me laugh out loud, literally. I never took note of it, but you're absolutely right...he charges doors like a ram.

I also noticed that it seems like the last ribs before his stomach kind of stick out...he can never have a completely flat mid section. I have this as well, although not as much as him. I think I've heard people actually have some of their bottom ribs removed to change this. Is that true?

This is indeed a very interesting thread.

So he's TNG's Juggernaut
I need the rules of the drinking game

I'm not sure about lower rib removal but I could imagine it being done, why would you do that to yourself just for aesthetic reasons? Like having back teeth removed to enhance cheekbones

 

[Chekov's Phaser]

I'm glad my friends and I are not the only ones who have noticed "The Riker Maneuver". I remember one Halloween when one of my friends dressed up as Riker. Anytime he entered a room, it was always with a very dramatic lean in. He also made sure that any chair he sat into, he would hike is leg over the top of the chair, or sit in it backwards.

 

[Destructor]

I need the rules of the drinking game

http://csayre.com/wordpress/?p=129

The Riker rule: Riker walks forward as if he’s trying to knock an imaginary door down with his forehead

 

[Balok's Head]

Haha, great thread.

He also gives EVERYONE the shit-eye, christ, even his captain. (looks them up and down, so that they notice)

Me and my brother always called his funny habbits the 'Riker manuever'

 

[Too Much Fun]

I've always found Riker's leaning hilarious...like he was trying to look like a heroic pirate standing majestically against the sky at the front of his ship I was almost laughing (even though it wasn't supposed to be funny at all) at the end of "Cause and Effect" where he's doing that pose and it allows Data to notice his pips as he must in order to save everyone.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

I'm glad my friends and I are not the only ones who have noticed "The Riker Maneuver". I remember one Halloween when one of my friends dressed up as Riker. Anytime he entered a room, it was always with a very dramatic lean in. He also made sure that any chair he sat into, he would hike is leg over the top of the chair, or sit in it backwards.

Fantastic!

I need the rules of the drinking game

http://csayre.com/wordpress/?p=129

The Riker rule: Riker walks forward as if he’s trying to knock an imaginary door down with his forehead

Cheers, I am going to be totally trolleyed

I am very glad I'm not the only one to notice this ~ and thrilled that it actually has a name 'The Riker Maneuver', brilliant

 

[K'Ehleyr]

...like he was trying to look like a heroic pirate standing majestically against the sky at the front of his ship .

Well sorry but he certainly ain't no Jack Sparrow

 

[Anticitizen]

He's daydreaming of being a jet pilot. Under his breath, he's making 'whoooshh' noises as he banks into his turns.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

He's daydreaming of being a jet pilot. Under his breath, he's making 'whoooshh' noises as he banks into his turns.

 

[Anwar]

Well, he is the best shuttle pilot on the ENT-D...

 

[SilentP]

He's daydreaming of being a jet pilot. Under his breath, he's making 'whoooshh' noises as he banks into his turns.

I used to do sort of that when I was younger, probably copied the style of movement directly off him too.

 

[imranbecks]

Interesting... Riker is my favorite character and I've always wondered abt his stance and posture throughout the series... Now I know...lol.. Is it really true that its because of an accident he had?

 

[ElScoob]

True story: Some years back, round about the early 90s, I saw Frakes at a con. During his bit on stage, a fan asked him what the difference between Frakes and Riker was. Frakes answered: "Well, for one thing, Frakes doesn't walk like this..." and launched into the Riker Walk.

It was pretty hilarious--Frakes was a funny and engaging con guest. I'm not sure how this plays into the question at hand, though, and seems kind of like it gives the lie to theories tying Riker's singular physicality to Frakes' back injury. I got the impression, one way or the other, that the Riker Walk was a deliberate choice... perhaps more on the part of producers and directors than on that of Frakes as an actor?

--g

 

[Therin of Andor]

Jonathan Frakes seems to have been born into a body a bit too big for him. He doesn't know how to use it and comes across as 'ungainly'.

Actually, I recall an early interview where Frakes discussed how Gene Roddenberry helped to groom him for his audition, and the casual leaning-on-the-sets stance was something Frakes developed as a signature character trait of Riker (or Ryker, as he was originally).

I don't think you'll see him leaning-on-the-sets, the same way, in "North and South Book II", "The Waltns", or "Falcon Crest".

 

[LaBarre]

I never knew that Frakes carried a back injury but always noted the strange sideways-crabwalk he used in TNG. I assumed it was a conscious tribute to John Wayne, another big man with a similar way of barging his way through scenes.

 

[ITL]

I always thought Frakes was a good shoulder actor. We nicknamed him "Shoulders", did me and my friends. What? No! We weren't sad in any way whatsoever!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

LOL! The DH (darling/damn) husband and i always comment on Riker's stance. Never even considered that it might be a pain/back problem. So when he turned into the neanderthal in Genesis, we thought it was very fitting~

 

[K'Ehleyr]

Regardless of the reason ~ back pain or character trait (thanks Therin) now I've noticed it I can't stop focusing on it
I'm watching TNG all through again ~ finding a lot of episodes I'd forgotten and Riker is definately growing on me this time.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Regardless of the reason ~ back pain or character trait (thanks Therin) now I've noticed it I can't stop focusing on it
I'm watching TNG all through again ~ finding a lot of episodes I'd forgotten and Riker is definately growing on me this time.

i need to do that again, re-watch in order. The only reason i havent started is those first couple of seasons ...(mostly the first)...some of those eps are seriously painful they are so bad.

i always loved Riker though. He has that devilish grin...and those eyes! And i enjoyed how in TNG HE was the womanizer as opposed to Kirk in TOS.

 

[KimMH]

I like how Riker attempts to get through doors by head-butting them. It's a neat character trait, and definitely adds to the TNG drinking game.

LOL! This made me laugh out loud, literally. I never took note of it, but you're absolutely right...he charges doors like a ram.

I also noticed that it seems like the last ribs before his stomach kind of stick out...he can never have a completely flat mid section. I have this as well, although not as much as him. I think I've heard people actually have some of their bottom ribs removed to change this. Is that true?

This is indeed a very interesting thread.[/

So he's TNG's Juggernaut
I need the rules of the drinking game

I'm not sure about lower rib removal but I could imagine it being done, why would you do that to yourself just for aesthetic reasons? Like having back teeth removed to enhance cheekbones

I believe it waas more common during the days of corsets when an hourglass shape (even for men) was considered aesthetically pleasing. As those days are long past it would have represented more medical risk then than now - talk about suffering for fashion!