Commands turned down by Riker: Right call or Bad career moves?

[Bry_Sinclair]

I'm sure I read/heard somewhere that Riker was a character the writers had trouble with finding what to do with. Having him stick around for fifteen years as XO makes no sense, especially for an up-and-coming officer Riker was supposed to be. Having him reassigned would've made sense, leaving the door wide open for him to return on guest appearances and getting to see his crew as well.

Had he taken the Aries it's most likely Data would've become the new Numbah One, which would leave a key role open and meant they'd need a new character (a strong female officer could've been added to help balance out the roster). Or if he'd taken the Melborne then Shelby could've been added to the cast, giving a new look to the command team of the ship.

 

[J.T.B.]

That doesn't fit with the vibe in TOS where Spock was an highly regarded officer, but absolutely not interested to be promoted.

But in TOS, you always have the five year mission as an explanation. Everyone's career could be considered to be "locked in" for the duration of that mission.

I'm sure I read/heard somewhere that Riker was a character the writers had trouble with finding what to do with. Having him stick around for fifteen years as XO makes no sense, especially for an up-and-coming officer Riker was supposed to be. Having him reassigned would've made sense, leaving the door wide open for him to return on guest appearances and getting to see his crew as well.

Yeah, I think there's a lot to that. Riker was initially supposed to be the action guy, and was presented as a take-charge type who got things done, just the sort you'd expect would want his own command.

TV shows need a (mostly) stable cast, which isn't a very good fit with a military organization, which needs a certain turnover through the ranks and needs good people to take positions of higher responsibility. But if they hadn't highlighted it, nobody would know if Riker was overdue for promotion/reassignment because viewers wouldn't have enough information. But making a big issue of it, multiple times as the OP noted, was not very good for the character. IMO, if it was addressed at all, it should have been Riker wanting his own command and Picard advising him to be patient and telling him, in the meantime, he was valuable on Enterprise.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, the main problem is that they oversold Riker's qualifications for command from the get-go, making him seem like a slacker when he never took one. It probably wouldn't have fit Gene's vision, but it would have worked better if they'd had him come on board as a flawed officer...somebody with a black mark on his record that gave him a need to prove himself. Picard could have been the one captain in the fleet ready to give him that chance.

 

[Infern0]

He made the right moves for himself.

He wanted to be on the Enterprise and distinguished himself as one of the finest first officers in starfleet. He showed many times that he could take command and was fantastic at it.

It's like kirk said about making a difference, and I reckon he made more of a difference on the enterprise than he would have on some garbage ship for a first command.

When Picard was taken by the borg Riker was given the enterprise, so he was next in line and I'm sure with the career he had that he could basically have taken any ship he wanted in the end.

I've turned down promotions before and been told "we will stop offering" but when the position I actually wanted opened up I asked for it and walked into it.

 

[Ssosmcin]

That doesn't fit with the vibe in TOS where Spock was an highly regarded officer, but absolutely not interested to be promoted.

But in TOS, you always have the five year mission as an explanation. Everyone's career could be considered to be "locked in" for the duration of that mission.

And, not for anything, it's like 70-odd years later. Things change. Policies amended. Starfleet was a lot more of a vague presence in the original series.

Also, there was never any indication that Spock turned down any commands. In fact, if we were to believe what he and he Romulan commander in "The Enterprise Incident" discuss, he was never offered one. It's possible he never distinguished himself until paired with Kirk and only made it to first officer after Pike left and officers like Number One were transferred. He called the Galileo missing at Taurus 2 his first command. Spock telling McCoy in private discussion that he doesn't seek command is a lot different than declining an offer to captain a ship.

 

[BillJ]

He made the right moves for himself.

He wanted to be on the Enterprise and distinguished himself as one of the finest first officers in starfleet.

And screwed other fantastic officers while he was at it.

He showed many times that he could take command and was fantastic at it.

So did Data. So did LaForge. Hell, even Crusher showed she could take command and was fantastic at it.

It's like kirk said about making a difference, and I reckon he made more of a difference on the enterprise than he would have on some garbage ship for a first command.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

When Picard was taken by the borg Riker was given the enterprise, so he was next in line...

We simply don't know this and "Chain of Command" definitely casts some doubts on this. Riker was the only officer available to command the Enterprise at that point. It isn't like they had a bunch of captains available to rush there. They were all gathering at Wolf 359.

I've turned down promotions before and been told "we will stop offering" but when the position I actually wanted opened up I asked for it and walked into it.

I worked for a company that had a department where everyone had been in supervisory positions for ten years and were blocking talented people below them from moving up by pulling that non-sense. My company eventually fired everyone that refused to move up from that department.

 

[Armored Saint]

We simply don't know this and "Chain of Command" definitely casts some doubts on this. Riker was the only officer available to command the Enterprise at that point. It isn't like they had a bunch of captains available to rush there. They were all gathering at Wolf 359.

Chain of Command was an odd case: a new security chief have also been assigned instead of having Worf replaced by someone of his team.

Starfleet chose Jellico instead of Riker because they didn't want a newly promoted Captain, so a novice, to negociate with the Cardassians. As we say in french, Starfleet wanted the butter and the butter's money. They wanted the flagship and an experienced Captain, but also use Picard's knowledge for another touchy operation and keeping all that secret.

 

[Lance]

When Picard was taken by the borg Riker was given the enterprise, so he was next in line...

We simply don't know this and "Chain of Command" definitely casts some doubts on this. Riker was the only officer available to command the Enterprise at that point. It isn't like they had a bunch of captains available to rush there. They were all gathering at Wolf 359.

Yeah definitely. I've always felt uneasy about this idea suggested by many of a natural 'line of succession' in Starfleet, sure I appreciate the chain of command being an integral part of any service, but on the other hand I think "Best Of Both Worlds" was definitely an emergency situation and under any normal circumstances there would be a review and the correct people appointed officially, rather than simply stepping up a rank. Heck, even BOBW addresses this by having Riker officially appointed by Admiral Hanson, and Riker in turn making a point of explaining to both Worf and Data why he's decided to keep Shelby where she is "for now". It's made very clear that the Borg incursion is an unusual circumstance warranting perhaps a different approach than simply 'Yay, punch the air, everyone gets a promotion!'.

The depiction of promotion on-screen has been wooly all the way through Star Trek, but I'd argue "Chain of Command" certainly handled the issue more realistically. Just because Picard is off the Enterprise doesn't mean Riker gets her by default, so his hanging around on the off chance that he might just get Enterprise one day seems... petulant. Far better I'd argue to simply rationalize it that he's appreciating and learning from Picard's command style, and that he spends 15 years there just to avoid being a hotshot fast tracker whose promotion exceeds his actual skill base. By "Nemesis" there's little doubt Riker is seasoned enough to finally take a command full-time (the fact that he seemingly makes the decision to fly the nest after so many years in fact supports the idea that NEM marks Riker finally feeling comfortable with his personal progress and moving on, issues he clearly didn't want to face in TNG itself).

 

[Timo]

Starfleet chose Jellico instead of Riker because they didn't want a newly promoted Captain, so a novice, to negociate with the Cardassians.

Beyond this, Jellico also appeared to be an actual specialist in Cardassian negotiations.

It's something of an anachronism that Starfleet would need to assign an expert captain to an on-the-spot starship. That's how it would work today: sending the new skipper to the hot spot on a plane would take hours, while sending the skipper's own ship would take weeks or months. But in Trek, the very ships themselves are doing the transporting of these key personnel, so Starfleet could just as well have sent Jellico and his ship to deal with the crisis. Or Jellico aboard another Galaxy-category supership. It would be an odd situation indeed if Starfleet couldn't spare a second Galaxy or a Nebula for this key assignment but "had to do with" the E-D, considering how immensely quickly the E-D herself redeploys to crisis areas in many episodes.

Perhaps it was a multiple-avicide issue: Starfleet could skimp on both ships and captains by giving Jellico the E-D, instead of providing him with another supership and Riker with a veteran CO.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

Definitely bad career moves by Riker, he got locked in his comfort zone. I suspect he only left for the Titan because Troi made him.

But if he was happy going nowhere...

 

[Kevman7987]

Others have said on these boards that they believe Riker was unable to leave the Enterprise because they were his family. Riker was much like a child in this;

Picard is the father figure
Troi is the on-again/off-again girlfriend

Think of Riker's behavior and attitude throughout the series; especially towards Troi. Riker would never man up and commit to command. Riker was never able to get serious with Deanna. Once Riker had "grown up" and married his "childhood" on-again/off-again girlfriend, he was ready to move out and accepted the Titan to begin his new family on.

*Yes, I realize Troi is also Riker's sister in this metaphor.

 

[T'Polismygirl]

You present such a compelling case its hard not to agree that he absolutely made all the right calls.

Almost presciently so.

Maybe Riker is Future Guy.

 

[Last Redshirt]

I believe, for Riker, he followed the opposite of the 'Better the first in a village than second in Rome' saying, rather being on the flagship as First Officer, flying through the galaxy, exploring the unknown and making a difference, rather than captaining his own vessel, but being stuck on patrol missions in the Neutral Zone or being a glorified conference hall.

I suppose it was a right call, considering on many of the occasions in which he would've captained a vessel, the vessel ended up being destroyed. Indeed, he also gained quite the experience as both First Officer in his own right and following in the steps of Picard for years.

 

[Makarov]

I wonder why the same criticism isn't brought up with Picard. Wasn't he offered an admiral position? Are there a bunch of first officers pissed off at Picard for remaining as captain of the Enterprise for so long? There was also an episode where he was offered something like head of starfleet academy.

 

[Smellincoffee]

If he hadn't been on the hero-ship in a TV series, sticking around and waiting for the captain to retire or die might have been a good move considering the ship at stake. But Picard-as-character could never give him that opening.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I believe, for Riker, he followed the opposite of the 'Better the first in a village than second in Rome' saying, rather being on the flagship as First Officer, flying through the galaxy, exploring the unknown and making a difference, rather than captaining his own vessel, but being stuck on patrol missions in the Neutral Zone or being a glorified conference hall.

That's a good point. Riker's most recent comparison to his time on the Enterprise would have been his assignment on the Hood under DeSoto, and by DeSoto's own words, they pretty much spent their time going back and forth between starbases.

Although I guess that doesn't apply as much to the Drake offer, since it seems to have been made prior to Riker's assignment to Enterprise.

 

[Sistrin]

In context of Trek as a narrative when offered a command by Starfleet you take it, or command may pass you by. In context of a television show taking a command would have removed him from standard cast status, but I don't think that would have been such a bad thing for TNG, or any Trek show, to have had a few characters move on in order to make room for change.

The Tasha bit was a bit different, as Crosby wanted out. At least for a while.

 

[JesterFace]

It feels like the whole Starfleet is a bad career move, you put your life at risk and don't get paid... I'd stay on Earth doing something easier.

That is why I imagine Starfleet personnel get paid... otherwise why bother. And can a society work on charity work, which Starfleet and a society without money basically is... kind of.

 

[ReedEnterprise]

Considering Enterprise was THE ship to be on, and the fact that Riker had dear friends on board, including the love of his life.....he made the right personal decision. He knew he'd get flack for it. Knew he may never get the chance again to be a captain. And looking at BOBW, he made the right decision. In the end, with patience and timing, he got his ship and own crew and a wife he was always in love with.

 

[Riker Kenobi]

I think Riker realised in The Icarus Factor that his ambition to captain his own starship, which cost him his relationship with Troi, was borne out of a desire to prove something to his father. Once he resolved the fact that Kyle was just a jerk and he could let go of the need to impress him, he decided his "family" on the Enterprise gave his life more meaning.

Besides, as first officer he got to lead most of the away teams; as captain it would have been inappropriate for him to keep throwing himself in harm's way.

 

[J.T.B.]

Yes, it worked out (rather conveniently) in the end for Riker, personally. The other side of that, though, is it makes it seem like he was putting his personal preferences ahead of his duty as an officer. His superiors in Starfleet decided they wanted him to command another ship. Really, that should be the end of it; we know from "Chain of Command" that Starfleet Command orders captains to take command, and they had better follow orders. It also seems contrary to Picard's example of putting the needs of the service ahead of his own. Not, IMO, great qualities to highlight for the character.

 

[JesterFace]

As far as I know, Riker was still the 1st officer when TNG ended...

I guess you're talking about some not so official continuation to the series?