Riker: An underrated character?

[TerragonSix]

I always hear that Riker is a bland character, but I tend to disagree. I compare him to Kirk in a LOT of ways. He is not a perfect, calculating individual. He does have flaws. In many ways, he's one of the more believable characters in TNG. I know many might disagree with me, but I really think Riker doesn't get the love he deserves as an important part of TNG.

Discuss. (This ought to be good.)

 

[BruntFCA]

I've always liked Riker and wish he had more to do on the show, A Matter of Honor is one of my favorite episodes of TNG.

 

[Captrek]

Riker fell into neglect starting with Sins of the Father. By any in-universe logic, Riker should have been Worf’s Cha’DIch and Picard should have been on the Enterprise overseeing investigations. Apparently a combination of Stewart’s clout and ego resulted in Picard getting the best material to the detriment of Riker. We discussed it in [thread=148056]this thread[/thread] a few months ago.

 

[Killandra]

Really? I always thought TNG became the Will Riker show. I liked Will and TNG, but I think he stole too much of the spotlight.

 

[AFEK ESLCAFE W]

Really? I always thought TNG became the Will Riker show. I liked Will and TNG, but I think he stole too much of the spotlight.

You must be refering to seasons 1 and 2.

Before Michael Piller came along, Riker was "the man" on the show, much like the way George Clooney was on "E.R."

Ironically, it was Michael Piller who wrote the teleplay to Riker's best episodes "The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I & II," yet also ended up writing the scripts for Jonathan Frakes's "Star Trek: Insurrection."

 

[BillJ]

Great character early on but became totally redundant beginning with The Best of Both Worlds. They came to a fork in the road with that episode, needing to choose either Picard or Riker, but instead tried to travel both roads and the show suffered for it.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

I liked Riker quite a bit, although like others have said I thought he was better written in the first two seasons. Nevertheless, there were some really solid Riker episodes later in the show; a couple of my favorites are Frame of Mind and Gambit.

 

[sonak]

Great character early on but became totally redundant beginning with The Best of Both Worlds. They came to a fork in the road with that episode, needing to choose either Picard or Riker, but instead tried to travel both roads and the show suffered for it.

you know, I never understood the point of drawing on emphasis on the lack of realism regarding Riker as the previously ambitious, now stagnant ten-year executive officer. I understand the necessity from a show point of view, but from an in-universe perspective it's absurd.

best to ignore it and find a different sub-plot for "BOBW."

 

[JarodRussell]

The problem with Riker is that he is an egomaniac insubordinate asshole. Chains of Command made me hate him (to be fair, Chains of Command made me hate the entire cast of characters except for Picard and Jellico).

 

[TerragonSix]

Great character early on but became totally redundant beginning with The Best of Both Worlds. They came to a fork in the road with that episode, needing to choose either Picard or Riker, but instead tried to travel both roads and the show suffered for it.

you know, I never understood the point of drawing on emphasis on the lack of realism regarding Riker as the previously ambitious, now stagnant ten-year executive officer. I understand the necessity from a show point of view, but from an in-universe perspective it's absurd.

best to ignore it and find a different sub-plot for "BOBW."

On the contrary, it can be realistic. Ideals and thought change over time for a man. Maybe he likes where he is at. He knows he has a good crew and Captain. We really don't know, and that's a shame. It would've been good to know what makes Riker tick.

 

[indolover]

I liked him, as he was a well written character. If think all characters in the show had some believable flaw. Picard didn't like children, Geordi had less than desirable success with women, Worf couldn't always balance allegiance between his own people and the Federation, etc.

 

[BillJ]

Great character early on but became totally redundant beginning with The Best of Both Worlds. They came to a fork in the road with that episode, needing to choose either Picard or Riker, but instead tried to travel both roads and the show suffered for it.

you know, I never understood the point of drawing on emphasis on the lack of realism regarding Riker as the previously ambitious, now stagnant ten-year executive officer. I understand the necessity from a show point of view, but from an in-universe perspective it's absurd.

best to ignore it and find a different sub-plot for "BOBW."

On the contrary, it can be realistic. Ideals and thought change over time for a man. Maybe he likes where he is at. He knows he has a good crew and Captain. We really don't know, and that's a shame. It would've been good to know what makes Riker tick.

But XO is a training ground for future captains not a career destination. Riker was holding others back by squatting on the position.

 

[sonak]

you know, I never understood the point of drawing on emphasis on the lack of realism regarding Riker as the previously ambitious, now stagnant ten-year executive officer. I understand the necessity from a show point of view, but from an in-universe perspective it's absurd.

best to ignore it and find a different sub-plot for "BOBW."

On the contrary, it can be realistic. Ideals and thought change over time for a man. Maybe he likes where he is at. He knows he has a good crew and Captain. We really don't know, and that's a shame. It would've been good to know what makes Riker tick.

But XO is a training ground for future captains not a career destination. Riker was holding others back by squatting on the position.

exactly. From the perspective of a quasi-military organization like Starfleet, you can't just have a guy who's fully qualified to be captain just sitting as an XO for as long as he wants to. He is, as BillJ writes, holding others in the organization back.


That's the realism I was referring to, not the character motivations. Which is why it would have been better not to have the show bring the issue up, since it can't be satisfactorily resolved.

 

[antiquityscion]

As a character, I liked Riker. I never understood why some people had the vitriol for him that they did. And Riker serving as First Officer for 7 years, is TOTALLY believable. Post-Generations is where the case can be made that he should have moved on, especially since he even stated he was hanging around, in part, to command Enterprise-D.

Then there was BoBW. He actually was promoted to Captain. Now I realize that having been the Captain of the Enterprise during the mission to both rescue Picard from the Borg, and essentially being in the chair while the Enterprise-D saved Earth pretty much guarantees Riker can choose whatever assignment he wants, but what kind of reward is it to just demote him back to commander, once Picard is back on his feet?

I had always thought that it was odd that they did that. I think Riker should have been captain in rank (but not of the Enterprise), and if he wanted to serve on the Enterprise still as first officer, they could have either invented a special position for him (sort of like how Scotty was Captain of Engineering, and even in real world, large ships like aircraft carriers often have multiple captains), or even promoted Picard to Commodore, Rear Admiral or even some sort of "field Admiral" so that he still outranked Riker. Heck, I always saw Picard as a De Facto Commodore, anyway, as he was the captain of the flagship of starfleet, and typically always took the lead, when he assembled a battle group of ships (IE redemption, First Contact), so it could have worked.

 

[Supernuke]

Riker was a great character and they focused on him PLENTY after season 1 and 2. Just not as much as Picard, which is understandable because one is the captain and one is the commander. Riker was used very well in season 3 and 4 in The Best of Both Worlds. After this he had many episodes that focused on him that were all some of my favorites of the series (First Contact, Frame of Mind, Second Chances, Future Imperfect, etc.)

 

[horatio83]

The problems mentioned here are a result of Riker only being Number One. It is no coincidence that among the three post TNG series the only other 'merely an XO' character is the weakest.

 

[BillJ]

The problems mentioned here are a result of Riker only being Number One. It is no coincidence that among the three post TNG series the only other 'merely an XO' character is the weakest.

The biggest problem was they built the desire to command a starship into his character and showed him to be an able commander on more than one occasion.

So his remaining on the Enterprise made no sense in the grand scheme of things.

 

[horatio83]

If you are merely an XO you naturally strive to become a captain. T'Pol and Spock on the other hand have no desire to command, they are science officers. Chakotay was a captain and it would have been natural for him to desire to also command the Voyager but he was castrated early on and converted from a freedom fighter / terrorist into a wise guy.
Merely being a first officer is feasible but not dramatically interesting. You end up being the guy sitting on the bench doing nothing.

 

[Lord Garth FOI]

He and the rest of the cast besides Stewart, Dorn and Spiner all all blocks of wood.

 

[sonak]

If you are merely an XO you naturally strive to become a captain. T'Pol and Spock on the other hand have no desire to command, they are science officers. Chakotay was a captain and it would have been natural for him to desire to also command the Voyager but he was castrated early on and converted from a freedom fighter / terrorist into a wise guy.
Merely being a first officer is feasible but not dramatically interesting. You end up being the guy sitting on the bench doing nothing.

Chakotay didn't have Riker's choice. There was only one Federation ship in the DQ, "advancement" for him would've meant leaving Voyager and possibly staying in the DQ, or mutinty, and the Maquis were outnumbered. Plus, he became loyal to Janewy rather quickly. And you're right about Spock and T'Pol. So really this problem only existed for Riker.