Keeping Tasha

[Uncle Sock]

You have some great ideas. I'm all for getting Picard out as a regular and shifting things around. It's established early on that Picard has had a very full career as a captain, IIRC, twenty-two years. He then spent nine years on special missions before the Enterprise-D. I could see Picard finally accepting a promotion in season one or two and promoting Riker to captain. Both of them would actually have true character development in this way which was, of course, anathema to the writers/producers.

I like the idea of Yar as XO, too. She and Riker would have been an interesting command duo.

Interesting. I would’ve kicked out Riker, but I can definitely see Picard getting reassigned. And honestly, that might’ve worked out way better. Having Riker in command of another ship could’ve created all sorts of story problems. But if Picard had been promoted to admiral, he could’ve still shown up occasionally—maybe even as the occasional "Badmiral." He could’ve stuck around, if that’s what Patrick Stewart wanted.

Now that Riker’s the new captain, I’m getting some Riker-Shelby vibes from this setup. Except Riker actually trusts Yar, and she’s probably nothing like Shelby. But she could have been.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

...although making Worf the new CMO could have worked to both hilarious and possibly profound effect (the most obvious problem being he likely has no real experience with medicine).

Well, he is the only non-"blue shirt" cast member that we know has any kind of medical training (roughly to EMT level, including emergency childbirth!), so there's that.

You have some great ideas. I'm all for getting Picard out as a regular and shifting things around. It's established early on that Picard has had a very full career as a captain, IIRC, twenty-two years. He then spent nine years on special missions before the Enterprise-D.

Pretty much. We know that he spend between 2333 and 2355 in command of the Stargazer (which means he was a Captain by title and rank), and that he took command of the E-D in '64. His activities during the timeskip are largely unknown canonically and highly inconsistent in tie-in media but we know that he spent the bulk of it not on a starship (per a comment in Rascals he has spent roughly thirty years of a forty-two year career on starships to that date).

I like the idea of Yar as XO, too. She and Riker would have been an interesting command duo.

Now that Riker’s the new captain, I’m getting some Riker-Shelby vibes from this setup. Except Riker actually trusts Yar, and she’s probably nothing like Shelby. But she could have been.

Shelby does seem to be another bite at that apple (I've sometimes commented that Yar seems like the Second Officer at least as often if not more than Data does in S1), but IMO Yar would've had an easier time of because of the trust factor as you suggest.

 

[Riley]

I'll disagree that 20 episode seasons still work.
There's a lot of women that binge Grey's anatomy, and there's a lot of men that Binge House.
Also, Odo may not have pop culture appeal...but Worf does, and a good chunk of Worf's arc is on DS9.
Also, James Gunn isn't creatively bankrupt, I enjoy the hell out of James Gunn and Troma.
Suicide Squad and Superman were more fun than the depression in movies I've seen in a movie theater in 10 years.

That’s pretty sad, but true. Kirk wasn’t an essential part of the story at all and for me that’s kind of unforgivable. He should have been integral and not a cherry on top. Such a disservice to a truly iconic character.



Am I misremembering or did the actress who played Picard’s wife in the Nexus play the crew member who had lost her husband (and who had to endure Troi’s insufferable histrionics) in “The Loss”? Maybe she was still on board and they could have made a new life together?

Seeing how utterly toxic the Picard/Crusher relationship was in PIC completely soured me on that pairing. Retrospectively and forever!

Interesting. I would’ve kicked out Riker, but I can definitely see Picard getting reassigned. And honestly, that might’ve worked out way better. Having Riker in command of another ship could’ve created all sorts of story problems. But if Picard had been promoted to admiral, he could’ve still shown up occasionally—maybe even as the occasional "Badmiral." He could’ve stuck around, if that’s what Patrick Stewart wanted.

Now that Riker’s the new captain, I’m getting some Riker-Shelby vibes from this setup. Except Riker actually trusts Yar, and she’s probably nothing like Shelby. But she could have been.

She definitely could have developed some Shelby-like traits...of course, with Berman involved, you couldn't have too much conflict between the Starfleet crewmembers. All the tension Riker and Shelby had went out the airlock once she stuck around longer than one episode. The tension between Riker and Ro went the same route. Yar wouldn't have been much different.

Well, he is the only non-"blue shirt" cast member that we know has any kind of medical training (roughly to EMT level, including emergency childbirth!), so there's that.

Shelby does seem to be another bite at that apple (I've sometimes commented that Yar seems like the Second Officer at least as often if not more than Data does in S1), but IMO Yar would've had an easier time of because of the trust factor as you suggest.

Agreed. I think Data was seen as a capable science and Ops officer but his role as second officer was not given much attention early on. He was often on away team missions in the early seasons and command went to LaForge if Picard and Riker were gone. "Measure of A Man" changed all of that in a sterling example of the kind of rich character development the series should have mainted throughout its seven years.