Is the 1st officer position in Star Trek = Vice-President

[Good Will Riker]

Seriously, to some fans of the show, some of the characters to have portrayed the 1st officer on Star Trek are treated in the same light as vice-presidents of past US presidential administrations, such as Richard Nixon, Spiro T. Agnew, and Dan Quayle, while few of the others are comparable to Al Gore, who can stand his own ground apart from his boss.

What gives?

It is almost as if there are times when there are doctors, chief engineers, or even chief security officers on the respective shows that are treated with more esteem by the fans than the character in the 1st officer post.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If you're implying that Trek first officers are portrayed as buffoons or ineffectual, I'm not seeing it. Spock? Riker? Kira? Chakotay? T'Pol? They have all had their time in the sun, so to speak.

Hell, even Will Decker (who admittedly did seem like kind of a wuss at times) got to save the ship in the end.

About the only XO that was a real, honest-to-goodness idiot would probably be Voyager's original first officer, Cavit. And I only say that because he picks a moment of extreme crisis - the ship in the middle of being yanked across the galaxy, and is being thrown haphazardly about - to go RUNNING ACROSS THE BRIDGE where he is certain to be killed.

 

[Fel]

Way to stand up for the first officers!

 

[Avilos]

Isn't this just another variation of "Why isn't Commander Riker everyone else's favorite character? I think he's the best!" Which you create threads on all the time Good Will Riker! I cannot be the only one who has noticed....

 

[cbp44189]

My observations are, The 1st officer pretty much runs the ship. He/she does the "Meat and potatoes work." While the captain has overall responsiblity and gets all the glory.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My observations are, The 1st officer pretty much runs the ship. He/she does the "Meat and potatoes work."

That's pretty much it, yeah. The Captain gives the orders; the XO directs the crew to carry out those orders.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Isn't this just another variation of "Why isn't Commander Riker everyone else's favorite character? I think he's the best!" Which you create threads on all the time Good Will Riker! I cannot be the only one who has noticed....

Word.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Isn't this just another variation of "Why isn't Commander Riker everyone else's favorite character? I think he's the best!" Which you create threads on all the time Good Will Riker! I cannot be the only one who has noticed....

Well if we're talking about that again - if only they'd have given the role to Jeffrey Combs, Riker might have stolen the show out from under Picard's big nose!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Isn't this just another variation of "Why isn't Commander Riker everyone else's favorite character? I think he's the best!" Which you create threads on all the time Good Will Riker! I cannot be the only one who has noticed....

Well if we're talking about that again - if only they'd have given the role to Jeffrey Combs, Riker might have stolen the show out from under Picard's big nose!

Apparently, Vaughn Armstrong (many different roles) was also up for the role. But I think playing Riker would have been a waste of Armstrong's talents.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

Even though I hated Riker, of all the Trek XOs, he's the one who most easily fit into the captain's chair.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I've always imagined the exec's position to be rather tough. After all, his basic job is to make things easier for the captain. So while the captain is in charge of a ship's overall mission, the exec has the responsibility of making sure the ship and crew are at peak form and generally has to deal with all the daily

that pops up, IMO...

 

[SFRabid]

Even though I hated Riker, of all the Trek XOs, he's the one who most easily fit into the captain's chair.

That's because his character was played with an arrogance that even surpassed de Lancie's "Q". That is the reason I never like the character of Riker.

 

[cbp44189]

Even though I hated Riker, of all the Trek XOs, he's the one who most easily fit into the captain's chair.

That's because his character was played with an arrogance that even surpassed de Lancie's "Q". That is the reason I never like the character of Riker.

Me too.