I think Shelby and Data made love in The Best of Both Worlds Part 1.

[Mojochi]

Considering dialogue from "The Pegasus" put Riker just out of the Academy when that mutiny occured, Riker went from ensign to XO of the Federation flagship in just 6 years. That's remarkably fast, especially when you consider he was also offered command of the Drake before he took the XO spot on the Enterprise. (Dialogue from "The Arsenal of Freedom".)

I do think a possibility of his meteoric rise through the ranks is not just his skill and natural leadership abilities, but Pressman could very well have been pushing things a bit faster for him behind the scenes, as a sort of 'thank you' for being one of the only officers who backed him during the mutiny. While never stated on screen and is just a theory of mine, it would explain Pressman's line to Riker of 'I made you and I can break you'.

I too think this. He graduates 8th in his class. Then after the Pegasus stuff, gets sent to Betazed, which is about as "Lay low" an assignment as there is, that Pressman likely had a hand in, & probably came with Lt Jr grade bump. Then an opening with Lt. bump happens on the Potemkin, that Will jumped the line on, with Pressman as a hefty referral.

Then Nervala IV & his major heroics that nearly cost him his life. That almost certainly got him commendations & a bump to Lt Cmdr. Dude looks like a wonderkind, So DeSoto grabs him up to the Hood as XO

So then 1701-D comes up, offering a bump to Cmdr, OR a spot as the center chair on the Drake, but maybe also only as a Cmdr.

It's super fast, but with some heroics & a big admiral in his pocket, seems doable

 

[Guy Gardener]

I too think this. He graduates 8th in his class. Then after the Pegasus stuff, gets sent to Betazed, which is about as "Lay low" an assignment as there is, that Pressman likely had a hand in, & probably came with Lt Jr grade bump. Then an opening with Lt. bump happens on the Potemkin, that Will jumped the line on, with Pressman as a hefty referral.

Then Nervala IV & his major heroics that nearly cost him his life. That almost certainly got him commendations & a bump to Lt Cmdr. Dude looks like a wonderkind, So DeSoto grabs him up to the Hood as XO

So then 1701-D comes up, offering a bump to Cmdr, OR a spot as the center chair on the Drake, but maybe also only as a Cmdr.

It's super fast, but with some heroics & a big admiral in his pocket, seems doable

Lwaxana must have given him a promotion, diplomatic pressure, to get Riker off her daughter.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Lwaxana must have given him a promotion, diplomatic pressure, to get Riker off her daughter.

Plausible.

Reading between the lines in The Icarus Factor his father also pulled a few strings here and there as well.

 

[Mojochi]

This is what I think is at the core of Riker's unusual choice to stay at commander so long, after having been a young juggernaut. Imposter syndrome. He might feel like he's benefitted from connections & even one big one, that came at the cost of shipmate's lives, in order to get where he's at. It would explain why he's kind of a stickler with questionable crew (Barclay & Ro, & even Tom Riker) projecting his own self-loathing on them. He deep down might've been haunted by the thought that he wasn't worthy of being a captain.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Maybe it's one of Data's "multiple techniques".

According to Denise Crosby's standard convention lecture at the time, he has three speeds.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

This is what I think is at the core of Riker's unusual choice to stay at commander so long,

He did and he didn't.

He spent a long time at that rank, but his total time to Captain was 22 years, which isn't much longer than usual. Honestly, the first point where I really side-eye him not moving is after the destruction of the E-D (at 15 years time in service).

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

He spent a long time at that rank, but his total time to Captain was 22 years, which isn't much longer than usual.

We're just so used to Kirk's meteoric rise to that rank.

 

[JesterFace]

According to Denise Crosby's standard convention lecture at the time, he has three speeds.

Impulse, warp and wormhole?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

She never said. For all we know, it could be light, ridiculous, and ludicrous.

 

[Mojochi]

He did and he didn't.

He spent a long time at that rank, but his total time to Captain was 22 years, which isn't much longer than usual.

Isn't it reasonable to assume that most of those that take 20+ years to get to captain are due to a lesser availability of options for them? That's just how long it took before someone wanted them for it. I'll agree it isn't odd for Riker to have become a captain at the age he did. However, that stretch of 15 years as Picard's #1, might be one aspect of this that's rather odd, but I'd think the more unusual aspect is that he'd had 3 offers in only the 1st three years of that assignment, that he turned down.

The last time he did, it was during real hardship for the fleet, where he might've been sorely needed. That is the rare part of this. I imagine the remaining 12 years of stagnancy has to have been in part due to that choice. Ain't nobody even talking about him being a captain after that.

Honestly, the first point where I really side-eye him not moving is after the destruction of the E-D (at 15 years time in service).

I have a feeling the window of opportunity for him might have closed up by then. He's in the stretch of time where his failure to accept those earlier options has consequences in people thinking they shouldn't offer any more. We certainly don't hear about any.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I am adamant that when they returned back to the future as doppelgangers after First Contact. There wasn't a god in play to clean up after them, so it got messy. It was a slightly different universe which already had a Picard, Riker, Troi and Enterprise E claiming to be more authentic. Or you know the reason that these kids made it back and their doppelgangers didn't is because they were still getting fine mileage out of their Enterprise D, which was just not up to the task of another movie?

Pick one...

1. They quickly murdered their doppelgangers and assumed their lives, Starfleet being none the wiser.
2. The Doppelgangers also chased the Borg back into a different past, and they never met each other, and if they returned, they returned to a yet more alternate present.
3. The two sets of the same identical crew worked out a treaty where they shared their lives with their doppelgangers, and split their promotions and families.
4. The Department of Temporal Affairs flipped a coin, and put one crew into time jail.
5. I'm wrong.

Three Will Rikers.

That we know of.

They all can't be Admiral, and they all can't marry the same Deanna.

 

[Shat Happens]

sweet little bedazzled sandals for your wife on a holiday in Fiji.

I misread that as 'betazoid sandals'. This sounds more like they have them in Risa than Fiji. Next to the Horgahn stands. Do Betazoid sandals have sensitive powers? Do flipflops?

 

[Guy Gardener]

I misread that as 'betazoid sandals'. This sounds more like they have them in Risa than Fiji. Next to the Horgahn stands. Do Betazoid sandals have sensitive powers? Do flipflops?

Recycling taken to an absolute, they feed their dead into the replicators.

Betazoid sandals are people! Beatzoid sandals are people!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Plausible.

Reading between the lines in The Icarus Factor his father also pulled a few strings here and there as well.

ARRRGGGH!

It's so fricking obvious!

Lwaxanna assigned Worf, not Sisko, diplomatic pressure, to Deep Space Nine, to get that rugged Klingon off her daughter... Although, that would have made her Alexander's Meemaw, which is something that I think that she would be into... Until his growth spurt?

 

[Oddish]

Isn't it reasonable to assume that most of those that take 20+ years to get to captain are due to a lesser availability of options for them? That's just how long it took before someone wanted them for it. I'll agree it isn't odd for Riker to have become a captain at the age he did. However, that stretch of 15 years as Picard's #1, might be one aspect of this that's rather odd, but I'd think the more unusual aspect is that he'd had 3 offers in only the 1st three years of that assignment, that he turned down.

And that was hurting his career. Remember that scene in "Best of Both Worlds", where Picard (at the admiral's suggestion) was practically stuffing him out the airlock?

The reason I don't include Riker and Picard in my "never promoted and should have been" category (which currently has 5 members) is that they were both offered assignments that came with higher ranks and turned them down.

 

[Shat Happens]

my "never promoted and should have been" category (which currently has 5 members) i.

I am curious. One of them has to be Kim

 

[Oddish]

I am curious. One of them has to be Kim

Since this topic began with a joke and is already in drift, I see no reason not to answer. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Data, TNG. He demonstrated proficiency as a first officer and as a captain, and saved the Federation from disaster on two separate occasions. And yet, not only did Picard not promote him, but he was never offered a commander's berth elsewhere.

2. Travis Mayweather, ENT. Even if we assume that (1) the 2151 Starfleet used the old RN rank system (no "hollow pip" ranks and (2) Riker's holosimulation wasn't historically accurate... he was an ensign for four years. And he was the most competent person on that ship.

3. Hoshi Sato, ENT. She made more mistakes than Mayweather did, so if I was actually ranking these guys, she would always come in below him... but her contribution was crucial to the mission's success. And, she made enormous progress as a spacefarer.

4. Ens. Livik, LD. It's not that he was more worthy of ranking up than Rutherford was, the latter had earned it several times over. But this poor sap was literally at his promotion ceremony, and then had it taken away from him... that's like offering a little kid a piece of candy, then yanking it away and giving him a vicious slap across the face. And, keeping him at ensign for months after the fact adds permanent career damage to the humiliation.

5. Harry Kim. There's literally no justification for this one that I can't tear to ribbons in seconds. And the fact that the showrunners deliberately rubbed the viewers' noses in it makes it worse.

 

[Kor]

Yes, even Crusher and Troi both became full commanders even though the rank wasn't necessary for their "staff officer" career paths, by taking the Bridge Officer's Test, and then being able to have shifts in command of the ship which had nothing to do with their primary jobs.

Data himself already had plenty of experience as a bridge/line officer. I wonder if his stagnant rank had something to do with him being in Operations. It occurred to me that we rarely ever saw a shipboard full commander in Operations Gold in the TNG-onward era (have we ever seen one at all?). The only goldshirt full Commander who comes to mind is Pete Harkins who was stationed on Earth at a research center as a project head. So if Data wanted to pursue the full Commander rank and stay on a ship instead of being posted at a base, maybe he would have had to switch to the redshirt command division.

Kor

 

[Oddish]

So if Data wanted to pursue the full Commander rank and stay on a ship instead of being posted at a base, maybe he would have had to switch to the redshirt command division.

I would think that if a blue shirt could hold three pips, then so could a gold... and if not, red it is. I'm not a member of the Cult of Jellico Can Do No Wrong, but I will say that he let Data be his first officer, and Data pretty much rocked it.

 

[Mojochi]

I would think that if a blue shirt could hold three pips, then so could a gold... and if not, red it is.

I've really become of an opinion that shipboard service in the operations or security divisions has some kind of Lt. Cmdr ceiling. I can't think of anybody who rose above Lt. Cmdr, in a yellow shirt.