First I acknowledge every character makes a mistake from time to time. Kirk did in not raising his shields when he was approaching the Reliant, Spock admitted in "Unification" he made a mistake by putting Kirk and the Enterprise in the position he did in TUC, which is why he's taking on the Romulan peace opportunity by himself. Picard by getting a little too arrogant to Q about how great humanity was and Q decided to teach him a lesson by introducing them to the Borg to show how wrong Picard was. There was also that one where Picard let a Romulan spy get away thinking she was a Vulcan ambassador that had died in the transporter.
So no one is perfect.
But it is quite impressive when you look at just HOW many mistakes and to what degree he made them in "Generations". So I'm going to try and apply a tangible number to them.
Before that let's review what we have learned about William T. Riker over 7 years of TNG.
1. Highly competent. Picard never hesitated to leave the Enterprise under Riker's command and had no doubts what so ever about his abilities. Riker is offered his own ship several times but is happy on the Enterprise so that, plus the fact Frakes wanted to stay on the show, causes him to turn those chances down.
2. Extremely intelligent. Knows the ship an its procedures extremely well. Is good at reading people. Demonstrates an ability to quickly analyze and adapt to sudden changes.
3. Is able to think outside the box and not always go "by the book" Best demonstrated with his strategy to not just keep shooting at the Borg but to kidnap Loutus and see if he could tap into the Borg that way. Will disobey orders if he feels it's not in the best interests of the ship or the mission.
4. Strong leader, but not a tyrant who won't listen to suggestions from his subordinated.
5. Cool headed. Doesn't panic in situations where things looke extremely bad, instead realizes it serves no good and continues to look for a solution.
6. One of the best pilots in starfleet, mentioned several times in the series.
7. Unafraid to take risks. Shown best when he thought the battle against the Borg was over and he was seconds away from ordering the Enterprise to jump to warp and collide with the Borg in a last ditch attempt to destroy them.
8. Almost universally respected by his peers. Jellico hated him and Shelby had a bug up her ass about him for a while. Other than that seems to be well liked and respected by every other starfleet officer.
So keeping all of this in mind let's analyze and score his actions in "Generations" at key decision points where, if he'd made any one of these choices differently, it probably would have won the battle without losing the Enterprise. I'll give two points if Riker made the right decision. 1 point if he made a bad decision, but not the worst one, and zero if he made the worst decision possible.
1. LaForge beaming aboard. So given the fact that LaForge had been captured by the evil Duras sisters and a guy who was very good with electronics and liked to tinker, it would have made sense for Riker to order a complete physical on LaForge.....especially on the damn visor, especially since it's been used before by enemies to try and fulfill their plan, to make sure nothing was done to Geordi and/or the visor that might jeopardize the ship........Instead it seems like a quick look was done and he was given the OK to return to duty. I guess Riker maybe trusted Crusher too much and she was Lazy, but still he should have really been on top of this- so I'll give him a 1.
2. Having weapons locked on the BOP. So as the Enterprise and the BOP are facing off, it seems like the Enterprise is just waiting there feeling all safe behind its shields. Why not have the weapons powered up and locked on the BOP as well. It's not some unknown ship and you don't want to provoke it, it's the Duras who are murderous thugs who want to kill everyone aboard the ship, so why not be as prepared as possible. Plus if the weapons are locked they might be able to fire them in time to hit the first photon torpedoes the BOP fires. Bad decision, but I'll still give him a 1.
3. Position of the Enterprise. So if this missile could hit the sun in 15 seconds or so (damn that thing is fast) and the Enterprise couldn't be sure of getting a good lock on it. Why not move the Enterprise away from the planet towards the star where it would be in a much better firing position to stop it? If the Duras try to stop you, blow them away, they didn't have the Enterprise shield freq at this point and couldn't have done a thing. Bad strategy. Score-0
4. Pull some trickery. So even though he's he not Kirk in this department (Give me a minute to inform my crew in back to back films) Riker has pulled a double cross or two. As soon as Geordi is beamed why not immediately beam Picard back and open fire on Soran's missile with everything they have, I can't imagine the shield was that strong. And if the BOP tries to interfere, again, blow them away. It seemed though Picard picked one of his "I gave psychos my word, and god forbid I go back on it" moments. So maybe Riker was hesitant to act thinking Picard would solve it. So I'll give him a 1
5. BOP of fires penetrating the shields: Should Riker have instantly thought of how they did it and taken a logical course of action....YES!!!! Since the Borg it's been SOP to rotate shield frequencies. If Riker had given this one simple order the damage would have been limited to the first torpedo striked. Major fail-0 points
6. Did it make sense to fight back-ABSOLUTELY!!!! This is a 20 year old BOP and the shields probably aren't in top working order. The Enterprise has massive firepower. Open up with everything you've got and the shields will collapse rather quickly. Also while the shields are still the BOP will be having the living hell shaken out of it which would probably make targeting more difficult and might cause systems to fail from the massive vibrations it's experiencing. Instead Riker fires one phaser shot, kind of panics and decides to run. EPIC FAIL- 0 points
7. So since Riker decided to run....did he retreat in the best way possible? He could have ordered warp speed any heading, like Picard several times, gotten away from the attack, regrouped made a plan and warped back in a matter of minutes. Of course the warp engines may have already been off line since they are always the first thing to fail in battle. So if he runs on impulse the best strategy is to hit full impulse, head towards the BOP and blow right past it and keep on going. This way you keep the less vulnerable front of the ship facing the weapons and don't turn profile presenting a much larger target, or expose the more vulnerable back of the ship with it's warp engines. Also by the time the Enterprise passes the BOP it'll have a good head of steam built up and the BOP will probably have to turn around slowly and work up its engines to try and catch the Enterprise which already has a good head start. It will also probably throw off their targeting probably causing less shots to hit as the Enterprise is coming towards it.
Instead Riker gives the incredibly non specific order "Get us out of orbit...which involves turning the Enterprise around slowly 180 degrees, exposing its broadside to fire and then once it's turned having to start its engines from basically a dead stop and gain speed, all while the back side is exposed and the BOP could have already fired up her engines and closed the range and keep up as the Enterprise accelerates. Score for terrible retreat decision-0
8. Should the Enterprise fire with her rear weapons as she's fleeing? Why the hell not? Can't hurt and might cause enough damage so the BOP has to break off....But nope. No need to do that, we've already established an obsolete BOP with its shields up is invincible against one of starfleets most powerful ships. Score-0
9. When the helmsman is blown out of his station who does Riker have take over. Data? Well he is a little f'ed up from the emotion chip so he might have been risky, but he still has android reflexes. Worf? Well doesn't helm the ship very much, but probably knows enough to fill in in a pinch. How about Riker himself? One of the best pilots in starfleet, sure to be extremely familiar with the helm. Some would say he couldn't do it because he had to give orders....well the Enterprise bridge isn't exactly the Superdome. I'm sure he could yell orders loud enough for people to hear and people would be smart enough to come to him with any info. I don't think it's unreasonable to think a guy with Riker's skills could multi-task in this situation.....So instead he goes with Deanna....WAIT DEANNA!!!! Wasn't she just trying to become qualified at helm at the end of TNG? How experienced could she possibly be by "Generations" It's almost a sure bet she never helmed in combat or when the ship was being sucked into the atmosphere. If any of the other three were at the helm, especially Riker, there's a much better chance the ship is handled better during battle, maybe the Enterprise doesn't suffer fatal damage and even if it does the more experienced helm person may be able to make corrections that keeps the saucer in orbit so it's not a total loss. Nope...Deanna is our man. It's like she had just learned to drive on country back roads and suddenly she's skilled enough to handle Los Angeles during rush hour. 0 points. I wish I could give it a -1 for it's sheer stupidity.
10. Asking others for advice. Yes he does eventually does this which saves them from all being killed, but it took several minutes of the Enterprise getting it's ass kicked before he did so. Had he immediately asked for suggestions Data or Worf may have suggested a different course of action or come with the plasma coil thing quicker before the BOP fired the fatal shot. So yeah he relied on others but mostly too little too late. Score-1
So there it is. 10 key decision points, any one of which that had been made differently might have been a total victory, not resulted in the loss of the ship and could have avoided Kirk dying as well.
20 points possible for the decisions made. And Riker gets a whopping 4 points. Not a single one of which comes from him making the absolute correct decision.
Really can't believe Frakes, after 7 seasons of creating this character who was kind of unlikable in the first season or two but well liked by the end of the show because Frakes helped the character grow, actually read this scene and was "OK let's roll cameras"
Shatner and Nimoy would have gone through the roof if they'd been asked to film this scene and I think even Stewart would have probably demanded a lot of it be changed so he didn't look like an incompetent idiot.
Talk about a complete and utter character trashing. Don't think Riker was ever the same character after this. Not that the last 3 films gave him many opportunities.
So no one is perfect.
But it is quite impressive when you look at just HOW many mistakes and to what degree he made them in "Generations". So I'm going to try and apply a tangible number to them.
Before that let's review what we have learned about William T. Riker over 7 years of TNG.
1. Highly competent. Picard never hesitated to leave the Enterprise under Riker's command and had no doubts what so ever about his abilities. Riker is offered his own ship several times but is happy on the Enterprise so that, plus the fact Frakes wanted to stay on the show, causes him to turn those chances down.
2. Extremely intelligent. Knows the ship an its procedures extremely well. Is good at reading people. Demonstrates an ability to quickly analyze and adapt to sudden changes.
3. Is able to think outside the box and not always go "by the book" Best demonstrated with his strategy to not just keep shooting at the Borg but to kidnap Loutus and see if he could tap into the Borg that way. Will disobey orders if he feels it's not in the best interests of the ship or the mission.
4. Strong leader, but not a tyrant who won't listen to suggestions from his subordinated.
5. Cool headed. Doesn't panic in situations where things looke extremely bad, instead realizes it serves no good and continues to look for a solution.
6. One of the best pilots in starfleet, mentioned several times in the series.
7. Unafraid to take risks. Shown best when he thought the battle against the Borg was over and he was seconds away from ordering the Enterprise to jump to warp and collide with the Borg in a last ditch attempt to destroy them.
8. Almost universally respected by his peers. Jellico hated him and Shelby had a bug up her ass about him for a while. Other than that seems to be well liked and respected by every other starfleet officer.
So keeping all of this in mind let's analyze and score his actions in "Generations" at key decision points where, if he'd made any one of these choices differently, it probably would have won the battle without losing the Enterprise. I'll give two points if Riker made the right decision. 1 point if he made a bad decision, but not the worst one, and zero if he made the worst decision possible.
1. LaForge beaming aboard. So given the fact that LaForge had been captured by the evil Duras sisters and a guy who was very good with electronics and liked to tinker, it would have made sense for Riker to order a complete physical on LaForge.....especially on the damn visor, especially since it's been used before by enemies to try and fulfill their plan, to make sure nothing was done to Geordi and/or the visor that might jeopardize the ship........Instead it seems like a quick look was done and he was given the OK to return to duty. I guess Riker maybe trusted Crusher too much and she was Lazy, but still he should have really been on top of this- so I'll give him a 1.
2. Having weapons locked on the BOP. So as the Enterprise and the BOP are facing off, it seems like the Enterprise is just waiting there feeling all safe behind its shields. Why not have the weapons powered up and locked on the BOP as well. It's not some unknown ship and you don't want to provoke it, it's the Duras who are murderous thugs who want to kill everyone aboard the ship, so why not be as prepared as possible. Plus if the weapons are locked they might be able to fire them in time to hit the first photon torpedoes the BOP fires. Bad decision, but I'll still give him a 1.
3. Position of the Enterprise. So if this missile could hit the sun in 15 seconds or so (damn that thing is fast) and the Enterprise couldn't be sure of getting a good lock on it. Why not move the Enterprise away from the planet towards the star where it would be in a much better firing position to stop it? If the Duras try to stop you, blow them away, they didn't have the Enterprise shield freq at this point and couldn't have done a thing. Bad strategy. Score-0
4. Pull some trickery. So even though he's he not Kirk in this department (Give me a minute to inform my crew in back to back films) Riker has pulled a double cross or two. As soon as Geordi is beamed why not immediately beam Picard back and open fire on Soran's missile with everything they have, I can't imagine the shield was that strong. And if the BOP tries to interfere, again, blow them away. It seemed though Picard picked one of his "I gave psychos my word, and god forbid I go back on it" moments. So maybe Riker was hesitant to act thinking Picard would solve it. So I'll give him a 1
5. BOP of fires penetrating the shields: Should Riker have instantly thought of how they did it and taken a logical course of action....YES!!!! Since the Borg it's been SOP to rotate shield frequencies. If Riker had given this one simple order the damage would have been limited to the first torpedo striked. Major fail-0 points
6. Did it make sense to fight back-ABSOLUTELY!!!! This is a 20 year old BOP and the shields probably aren't in top working order. The Enterprise has massive firepower. Open up with everything you've got and the shields will collapse rather quickly. Also while the shields are still the BOP will be having the living hell shaken out of it which would probably make targeting more difficult and might cause systems to fail from the massive vibrations it's experiencing. Instead Riker fires one phaser shot, kind of panics and decides to run. EPIC FAIL- 0 points
7. So since Riker decided to run....did he retreat in the best way possible? He could have ordered warp speed any heading, like Picard several times, gotten away from the attack, regrouped made a plan and warped back in a matter of minutes. Of course the warp engines may have already been off line since they are always the first thing to fail in battle. So if he runs on impulse the best strategy is to hit full impulse, head towards the BOP and blow right past it and keep on going. This way you keep the less vulnerable front of the ship facing the weapons and don't turn profile presenting a much larger target, or expose the more vulnerable back of the ship with it's warp engines. Also by the time the Enterprise passes the BOP it'll have a good head of steam built up and the BOP will probably have to turn around slowly and work up its engines to try and catch the Enterprise which already has a good head start. It will also probably throw off their targeting probably causing less shots to hit as the Enterprise is coming towards it.
Instead Riker gives the incredibly non specific order "Get us out of orbit...which involves turning the Enterprise around slowly 180 degrees, exposing its broadside to fire and then once it's turned having to start its engines from basically a dead stop and gain speed, all while the back side is exposed and the BOP could have already fired up her engines and closed the range and keep up as the Enterprise accelerates. Score for terrible retreat decision-0
8. Should the Enterprise fire with her rear weapons as she's fleeing? Why the hell not? Can't hurt and might cause enough damage so the BOP has to break off....But nope. No need to do that, we've already established an obsolete BOP with its shields up is invincible against one of starfleets most powerful ships. Score-0
9. When the helmsman is blown out of his station who does Riker have take over. Data? Well he is a little f'ed up from the emotion chip so he might have been risky, but he still has android reflexes. Worf? Well doesn't helm the ship very much, but probably knows enough to fill in in a pinch. How about Riker himself? One of the best pilots in starfleet, sure to be extremely familiar with the helm. Some would say he couldn't do it because he had to give orders....well the Enterprise bridge isn't exactly the Superdome. I'm sure he could yell orders loud enough for people to hear and people would be smart enough to come to him with any info. I don't think it's unreasonable to think a guy with Riker's skills could multi-task in this situation.....So instead he goes with Deanna....WAIT DEANNA!!!! Wasn't she just trying to become qualified at helm at the end of TNG? How experienced could she possibly be by "Generations" It's almost a sure bet she never helmed in combat or when the ship was being sucked into the atmosphere. If any of the other three were at the helm, especially Riker, there's a much better chance the ship is handled better during battle, maybe the Enterprise doesn't suffer fatal damage and even if it does the more experienced helm person may be able to make corrections that keeps the saucer in orbit so it's not a total loss. Nope...Deanna is our man. It's like she had just learned to drive on country back roads and suddenly she's skilled enough to handle Los Angeles during rush hour. 0 points. I wish I could give it a -1 for it's sheer stupidity.
10. Asking others for advice. Yes he does eventually does this which saves them from all being killed, but it took several minutes of the Enterprise getting it's ass kicked before he did so. Had he immediately asked for suggestions Data or Worf may have suggested a different course of action or come with the plasma coil thing quicker before the BOP fired the fatal shot. So yeah he relied on others but mostly too little too late. Score-1
So there it is. 10 key decision points, any one of which that had been made differently might have been a total victory, not resulted in the loss of the ship and could have avoided Kirk dying as well.
20 points possible for the decisions made. And Riker gets a whopping 4 points. Not a single one of which comes from him making the absolute correct decision.
Really can't believe Frakes, after 7 seasons of creating this character who was kind of unlikable in the first season or two but well liked by the end of the show because Frakes helped the character grow, actually read this scene and was "OK let's roll cameras"
Shatner and Nimoy would have gone through the roof if they'd been asked to film this scene and I think even Stewart would have probably demanded a lot of it be changed so he didn't look like an incompetent idiot.
Talk about a complete and utter character trashing. Don't think Riker was ever the same character after this. Not that the last 3 films gave him many opportunities.
) Sure, failing to do the spot-check on Geordi's VISOR was arguably a stupid move, and it's that failure above all else which sets events in motion. I won't deny that. However, it might just be excused as simply an oversight. Maybe. Whatever, my point here is that the Enterprise crew are caught on the back foot when the BOP suddenly and unexpectedly manages to breach their shields.
That's why the crew are caught completely on the back foot when those first two torpedoes come straight through the shields and hit the hull of the ship. Instead of a proportion of the damage being absorbed, they're getting 100% of the torpedoes potency hitting a broadside of the vessel. And then we see the follow-up disruptor shots likewise fire straight through the shields and tear chunks out of the hull. It's like as if somebody started attacking a tomato with a clawhammer.
