Does it bother you Riker got the USS Titan and not a Galaxy class?

Admiral Pressman stated at the end of the episode that he had powerful friends.

Maybe they couldn't do anything against Picard, but they did get a degree of revenge on Riker by stopping the offers of command for years.

Discontinued as in ceasing production of new ones? We saw a fair number during the Dominion War in battle scenes, but I suppose they could have stopped production at some point.

Why wouldn't Riker have still wanted one of the existing ones?

In the (extremely unlikely) event that a Riker-Titan TV series is produced, I would hope that TPTB create a wholly new design for the ship. We never did see it on screen, in canon.

 

If there was a Titan series, I have no doubt we'd see a brand new design for the ship whether we had seen one before on screen or not.

 

I think some fans believe that the Galaxy-class was something of a failure and that the Sovereign-class was developed as a replacement for it. But really, there's not much weight to that argument given Starfleet's tendency to have many different starship designs in service simultaneously. For all we know, the Galaxy-class is still in production as of 2391, although I don't think the design was ever meant to be produced anywhere near in as high numbers as the Miranda- and Excelsior-classes, IMO (I don't think there will ever be much more than a dozen Galaxys in service at any given time in the fleet).

 

Whats sad about Riker is how well the portray a man who spent his whole life trying to get back at a Dad who wasn't actually trying to be cruel to him. Instead of moving on, he holds that angst forever and everything is a measure of "how would this make dad mad?".

I'm not sure why Riker isn't viewed much more as a sad and incomplete man and officer, rather than always as "good ol' Will".

 

I remember reading somewhere that the Sovereign was actually supposed to be replacing the Excelsior class, not the Galaxy class, and the Enterprise-E was never supposed to be a Sovereign class because the Galaxy class D was supposed to have an operational lifetime of 100 years. Only after that would the D have been replaced with the E, which by that time would have been the actual replacement for the Galaxy class. But because of the wonderful idea of destroying the D only 8 years into her operational lifetime was it decided to rush another Enterprise into existence.

 

Honestly, Riker's getting a command at all, at this point, does seem arbitrary, kind of. Instead of Riker and the Viceroy ripping off the Kirk/Kruge battle, Riker should've been given some opportunity to impress upon STARFLEET - and the audience - that here's a man who is Captain material. We don't get that. It's just dropped into the script, even though it seems contrary to being a married man, in the first place.

Yes, there have been married captains, in the past, but Riker having been offered a command so late in his career, at an age when it appears he should be settling down doesn't make a lot of sense, really, without something in the movie to justify it. Had John Logan pulled his head out of Brent Spiner's ass long enough to bring some objectivity to his script, he might've recognized this flaw ... and hopefully corrected it. But that didn't happen and it's such a shame, because the Riker character got his wedding and that's as much as this movie wanted to devote to him ...

 

What pisses me off more than anything is that iTunes offers the Titan novels as audiobooks but only in German. Frakes did a phenominal job reading many Trek audiobooks.

As for a Titan series, I'd love it but I'm also intrigued by the Captain Worf idea for a series. Worf could be depicted as a seasoned and capable leader, having been mentored by Starfleet's best captains (Picard, Sisko, Riker, etc.) as well as General Martok, a powerful warrior and a successful diplomat. Still, Will Riker has potential as a lead character in his own series. As for the ship, I would expect a TV series with the Titan to try to harken back to the original series so the ship would likely look more like an updated version of the 1701 than the 1701-D or -E. Lastly, I'm not at all opposed to an animated Trek series.

 

I think that was another fan-based idea. I know it's been proposed here at trekbbs by various posters over the years.

To be fair, though, the idea that the Enterprise-D was supposed to last 100 years came solely from the TNG Tech Manual, and while it was written by people who worked on the show, it was never regarded as something absolute.

At best, one could probably say that the Galaxy-class design was meant to last 100 years, but the actual life-span of individual ships in the class may vary considerably.

 

From the wedding reception, it would seem that Starfleet decision to bless Riker with his own command was already a done deal.

However, it would have been interesting if Riker had been forefront in the resolution of the movie's central plot and as a direct consequence was then give his own command.

 

In my mind, I see the Titan as part of the new Nebula-class... just as the Nebulas matched to the Galaxys, I see the Titans matched to the Sovereigns...

 

Sure, that's entirely possible. I don't recall where I heard it from, but it did kinda make sense to me.

Well, it's more absolute that what some fan comes up with

But seriously, I've always felt that the Galaxy class 100 year operational lifetime was a perfectly reasonable idea. I mean, look at how long other ship classes like the Excelsior and the Miranda lasted.

 

We could even argue that Riker's stellar success prior to hitting the E-D was thanks to Pressman bribing him with promotions. It would suffice for Pressman to be discredited; he wouldn't need to do anything active to stall Riker's career, even if (when) Riker would be an innocent recipient of benefits rather than somebody who realizes he is being bribed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

... Agreed!!! Excellent post, by the way. I'd all but forgotten about Riker's command being mentioned in Picard's Best Man speech. But, yes, Riker should've been given an opportunity to show his command prowise, so that when he does leave for the TITAN, you're allowed to feel happy for him. As it is, there's no emotional impact to it, we're not allowed to feel happy, or proud for him ... it's just there as a matter of fact.

 

I'm sure I also read that the Sovereign was intended as a replacement for the Excelsior class, but as you say this could have been fan based. It would make sense though as the Excelsior class had exceeded it's lifespan and I doubt the Federation would intend to replace the Galaxy after 8 years. The Sovereign would probably have been in it's design phase when the Galaxy was launched.

Had the Ent D not been destroyed I'm sure it would have remained the flagship for many years despite the introduction of the Sovereign and other new classes of ship.

 

I didn't think it was the best send off for Riker, I would have liked to have seen him on the bridge of a Galaxy class Titan with it then leaving space dock. Always felt he wanted the Galaxy class and it would have been good to see the ship once more in the TNG finale.

 

That the Titan might have been a Galaxy class is something I hadn't considered.