Jeffrey Combes as William Riker.

[JustKate]

You know...

What strikes me is that the action hero idea isn't necessarily a bad one. I mean, sometimes you do want somebody to just get in there and kick butt. But a twist on the action hero idea might have been nice. And why not make him something besides the first officer? A security officer seems like pretty much a natural for an action hero, and yet they never tried to do that with Worf. Which is pretty odd, now that I think about it. Huh.

 

[DevilEyes]

I agree that Combs would almost certainly not have been very believable as an action hero; to that I say "Yay!" I am truly tired of Riker-type heroes, and so I think it would have been great if TPTB had come up with another idea for a first officer - Combs, a woman, a non-macho alien, SOMEthing besides somebody who's main job (most of the time) is to stick out his jaw in a manly way and say, "Shields up!"

Well, at least they eventually got the idea to make it a woman - since the subsequent 3 Trek shows all had a woman as either captain or second-in-command - it just took them some time!

Obviously, TPTB thought that there just a show HAD to have a conventionally handsome, male, human, white, extroverted macho action hero, and that captain was too intellectual and reserved... not to mention (shock! horror!) bald. Just shows that TPTB tend to be narrow-minded and don't really have an idea what the audience might like.

Eventually Riker the character had to morph into something else, not only because of his weight gain and the lack of need for him as 'the second lead' (by that time, if there was one, it was Data), but also because he couldn't really fit the alpha male concept, since the writers made him look unambitious, always content to be the first officer - which was, of course, the consequence of them trying to justify Riker staying on the show! Maybe it's because of the fact that they had nothing better to do with Riker that the writers starting giving him storylines like "Second Chances", "Frame of Mind" etc. But, while Frakes' waistline was expanding through the years, his acting ability was also getting better, so he was able to pull it off in the last couple of seasons.

As to Riker not being a leading man and TNG being an ensemble piece, the opening credits say that it stars Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes, and co stars everyone else. It's interesting how Frakes kept that billing even when his character was overlooked and others (Data/Spiner) were massively more popular.

The same thing happened on The Sopranos. Despite the fact that Edie Falco was clearly the show's second lead and, following the tragically completion of Melfi's arc in the third season episode "Employee of the Month," Lorraine Bracco, an increasingly unimportant supporting player, kept her second billing to the end, even though she's not in the final episode at all.

Bracco's role really did get smaller, but Melfi one of her greatest moment in season 5 premiere "The Two Tonys"... but there really wasn't much to explore about her relationship with Tony anymore, and she sank in the background, even though the therapy sessions were still an integral part of the show. The actual end of her storyarc is in season 6, though, when she changes her mind about treating Tony, but that felt a bit abrupt and just designed to give some sort of closure before the end of the show.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I see your point about Melfi canning Tony in the penultimate episode and the scenes leading up to it--the dinner party, the hilariously over-the-top scene where she reads the study--were excellent. But the real question for Melfi, subtextually reinforced in the first season by the echo of the fictional band Defiler's line "You know what we are, you know what we do, we're coming to defile, defile you" ("A Hit is a Hit") with Tony saying, a few episodes later, "You know what I am, you what what I do, you called me" when Melfi asks him to resume therapy, was whether her exposure to Tony would somehow defile her essential human decency. In support of this, we get scenes of her acting out violently when confronted with a smoker in a restaurant, drinking high-end vodka before her sessions with Tony and telling her own shrink to go fuck himself. "Employee of the Month" was the real test for her: after her rape, she refuse to become truly defiled by having Tony kill her rapist. Once she made that decision--once it became clear that, however fascinated and attracted she may be to Tony, she would never let him defile her--there really was nowhere for her character to go. That was when she stopped being the second lead and became, instead, a supporting player, like Silvio.

Not coincidentally, that was also around the time that Carmella had to face up to just how complicit she is in Tony's life and, subtly, how it was the cheating that bothered her all along, not the torture, murder and extortion that puts the five-hundred dollar shoes on her feet. By the end of the series, she's a full partner in Tony's crime family, a point made clear when she decisively opts to live in denial over Adriana's murder and move ahead on her spec house instead.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Sorry, but i loved Frakes as Riker and although i do love Combs, i just cannot see him in the part of Riker.

And in my opinion Spiner was born to play Data.

 

[JustKate]

^ I can't see Combs in the part of Riker as we now know Riker. But I can definitely see him as first officer of the Enterprise - he would just be a very different first officer than the one we ended up with.

And as the ever-gracious WillsBabe knows (but she's nice to me anyway ) I really am not a Frakes/Riker fan. At all. But I don't think that's the only reason I craved something different in a first officer. I like to think so, anyway. I really think the show would have been even better if it would have been a little bit more...adventurous in its casting.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I have read that Jeffrey Combes was second choice to Jonathan Frakes for the role of William Riker.

I thought it was Billy Campbell ("The Outrageous Okona," The Rocketeer) that was the runner-up for Riker.

Lastly, I liked Diana Muldur and Dr. Pulaski and I wish she would have stayed on the show and thrown Beverly Crusher off an airlock.

Muldaur wanted to stay on the series. But she also wanted some time off to film a television movie. Since that would have taken her out of the series for several episodes, they had McFadden brought back and Muldaur was sent walking. It was all about power plays behind the scenes in those early days, sadly.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Most Hollywood "leading men" are short.

And get stood on boxes.

And when was Riker a "leading man"?

During casting. Picard wasn't bumped up as sole leading man until Patrick Stewart was signed.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Muldaur wanted to stay on the series. But she also wanted some time off to film a television movie. Since that would have taken her out of the series for several episodes, they had McFadden brought back and Muldaur was sent walking. It was all about power plays behind the scenes in those early days, sadly.

Yep. Had Muldaur signed a five-year contract, she wouldn't have been free to do things like "The Return of McCloud" but, because she wasn't signed to that kind of contract, her request to be released for three consecutive episodes at the beginning of a new season was denied... in the harshest way.

 

[KobayashiMaru13]

Combs could have definetely played Riker. Sure, Riker definetly would not have been the same, but Combs did such a great job with Weyoun that he could have made Riker great(er) as well. Maybe he could have made him as popular as Data.

 

[Diddle]

Not sure if I would like Combs as Riker, given that I don't particularly like the Riker character. But I do love Jeffrey, which probably would make it easier for me to like Riker if he were to play him.

EDIT - Just to clarify, I have no problem with Frakes as an actor, I just don't like the character. (But I do prefer him as a director.)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Muldaur wanted to stay on the series. But she also wanted some time off to film a television movie. Since that would have taken her out of the series for several episodes, they had McFadden brought back and Muldaur was sent walking. It was all about power plays behind the scenes in those early days, sadly.

Yep. Had Muldaur signed a five-year contract, she wouldn't have been free to do things like "The Return of McCloud" but, because she wasn't signed to that kind of contract, her request to be released for three consecutive episodes at the beginning of a new season was denied... in the harshest way.

The sad thing is that, as an ensemble series, there's absolutely no reason why Muldaur's request couldn't have been fulfilled. She wasn't the lead. Yes, she was a major character, but not every episode needs/requires a medical mystery. And, even if it did, there was little reason why a scene or two couldn't have been filmed on a later episode.

This really comes down to the producers being jackholes when there was absolutely no need for it.

 

[DevilEyes]

Most Hollywood "leading men" are short.

And get stood on boxes.

No reason why Combs couldn't stand on a box, too.

An easier solution to make an actor look taller is to make everyone else short. But then they'd either have to cast someone shorter as Worf, or make everyone stand on boxes when they're near Dorn. Hmm...

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Muldaur wanted to stay on the series. But she also wanted some time off to film a television movie. Since that would have taken her out of the series for several episodes, they had McFadden brought back and Muldaur was sent walking. It was all about power plays behind the scenes in those early days, sadly.

Yep. Had Muldaur signed a five-year contract, she wouldn't have been free to do things like "The Return of McCloud" but, because she wasn't signed to that kind of contract, her request to be released for three consecutive episodes at the beginning of a new season was denied... in the harshest way.

The sad thing is that, as an ensemble series, there's absolutely no reason why Muldaur's request couldn't have been fulfilled. She wasn't the lead. Yes, she was a major character, but not every episode needs/requires a medical mystery. And, even if it did, there was little reason why a scene or two couldn't have been filmed on a later episode.

This really comes down to the producers being jackholes when there was absolutely no need for it.

Much the same thing happened to Wil Wheaton in the fourth season when he wanted to take the first few episodes off to do a movie. He recalls the story on his website:

From his site:

A couple of days before the season was ready to premiere, they wrote me out of the episode entirely. What they were doing was they were sending me a message. The message was, "We own you. Don't you ever try to do anything without us." That was the last straw for me. I called my agents and said, "They don't own me. It's time for me to leave this show, it's time for me to be gone." That's what really pushed me over the edge. It's not worth it anymore. That's why I left.

IIRC, he goes into much more detail in his essay/memoir book The Happiest Days of Our Lives when he writes about shooting his cameo for Nemesis.

Personally, I would've preferred Muldaur to stay and for McFadden not to return, except maybe in a guest role.

Moreover, I'd have like Wheaton to stay with the show as well. His character, at that point, was starting to develop into a proper officer instead of "Wesley Crusher, boy genius". Too bad, that was all undone by Wheaton's later guest spots--excluding "First Duty"--where his character became "Wesley Crusher, whiner and angst mystic".

 

[Navaros]

Combs definitely would have been a far more interesting and therefore much better Riker than Frakes. Combs in the role would easily have made Riker the character become head and shoulders above any other on the TNG show.

On the other hand, I'm glad that didn't happen because having Combs play Weyoun & Brunt instead is a greater contribution than a Riker character would be. At least, based on the Riker that was actually delivered on the TNG show, but then again, Combs might have elevated the character to be way beyond the Riker we know and ergo, way too good for show itself, so it is not entirely certain which contribution might have been greater.

I'm grateful to Frakes, however, for having the good sense to bring Combs back in as of DS9, out of respect for Combs' acting prowess during Combs' audition for Riker.

As for Enterprise, forget first officer to Archer. Combs/Shran should have been the star of that show. Then it probably would have been a great show and lasted the full 7 seasons.

 

[Trevacious]

since Gene was resistant to a "bald captain"

The exact response, as I recall, was, "Jesus Christ, Bob! I don't wan't a Bald man!"

Combs could have been Such a needler as a first officer. I think each of his Trek characters have carried a certain superiority complex. I can imagine him constantly challenging Picard's authority and decisions and competence in general. Really, how could he help but to believe himself to be the better man for the job?

 

[Nardpuncher]

Are you sure you read right? I think it was William Campbell that was second choice for Riker. I could be wrong.
He was the actor from The Rocketeer and was Okona in the second season TNG episode The Outrageous Okona.

 

[Kirk1980]

Nard, you're right. That's who was second. I liked what Frakes did with Riker.

Combs is just too...well, it's hard for me to picture him playing anything other than slimy weasels.

 

[Therin of Andor]

But then they'd either have to cast someone shorter as Worf, or make everyone stand on boxes when they're near Dorn. Hmm...

A bit off-topic, but have you ever read "Chekov's Enterprise", Walter Koenig's diary on the making of ST:TMP?

In it, he describes how Takei, Nichols and he all got stood on the same box in the "Clear the bridge!" scene, but Takei and Koenig had to balance with either toes or heels hanging off the box in a turbolift, to attempt to create a better height differential, and to fit everyone on it. It doesn't work, and Uhura ends up looking way too tall in that scene, while Sulu and Chekov act their hearts out, pretending to look like they're not teetering and giggling.

 

[DevilEyes]

^ I need to watch TMP again just for that.

Nard, you're right. That's who was second. I liked what Frakes did with Riker.

Combs is just too...well, it's hard for me to picture him playing anything other than slimy weasels.

You think of Shran as a slimy weasel?! [where's an Andorian smiley when you need one?)

 

[Kirk1980]

No, but Weyoun, Brunt, the character he played in The Frighteners, etc, etc were slimy