Riker: Why The Hate?

[Thrall]

I don't know if this has been posted before. But I've seemed to notice alot of my trekkie pals and people I know seem to dislike the guy alot for some reason. They kind of see him as this Zap Branigan-type who thinks he's a badass like Kirk but is too stupid and bumbling to be anything of the sort. I disagree but some of the comments I've heard over the years have been pretty funny actually:

"So Admiral Riker put another nacel on the old Enterprise. Isn't that kind of like putting a fin on the back of a pinto?"

"The Riker Maneuver. So basicly what it is, is lighting a big ball of gas of fire. So, when you get down to it, all it is is lighting a massive fart in space. Must have learned that from his frat days."

"When ever he would tell the pilot to "Engage" I half expected him to start doing pelvic thrusts while he said it. Of course when he becomes an old Admiral(what, did all the good officers die or retire or did someone lose a bet?)he'd have to have some young ensign do it for him."

 

[CaptainStoner]

Well I think some of those comments are obviously in fun, something that doesn't always translate in text. Just people goofing on him. If you think that's bad, read Wil Wheaton's TNG episode reviews.
And the first comment was really more a dis of the Enterprise D, I think in reference to "All Good Things". I think I take more issue with that comment than making fun of Riker.
Because Riker has some character flaws, you know, he has his cool side, but occasionally he's a numnutz and I think that's why he gets some flak. When Riker's on his game, he's a pretty cool character. Like asking Picard to pick him up a Horgon or whatever it was called on Risa. Classic Riker there.

 

[DavidFalkayn]

Riker's not a bad character at all. Jonathan Frakes did an excellent job portraying a man with strengths and weaknesses. I see him as originally a hard charger who gradually became too comfortable in his station on the Enterprise to the point where he, as the series progressed, began to lose his edge--I liked that dimension to the character--in many ways, he was a failed Kirk--but also a very human figure. Riker also still showed us in the later episodes flashes of what he really was capable of had he of moved on to his own command.

Frakes endowed the character with wit, charm, and yes, a measure of complacency and an unwillingness to go beyond the status quo which contributed to what I think is a very deep three dimensional character.

 

[wahwahkits]

I like Riker. Obviously he was created to be a Kirk clone but he quickly outgrew that premise. My only beef with his character is that he should have been captain way before the end of season 7, but he was in the comfort zone.(plus he wanted a crack at command of Enterprise)

 

[3D Master]

Not to mention a crack at the best alien babes - they all come around to the flagship of the Federation sooner or later!

This evidenced rather oviously: the moment he's no longer single to bag all of those babes, off to captain his own ship!

:rimshot!:

 

[wahwahkits]

Yes I can imagine Mrs Riker being the jealous type. Can't say I blame her with his track record with women!!

 

[Spider]

Riker has always been one of my favorite Trek characters.

 

[Michael]

Spider said:
Riker has always been one of my favorite Trek characters.

Mine, too.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

The only things that annoyed me about Riker were the crotch in the face pose he adopted on the bridge, and that he always telgraphed his punches.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I actually liked Riker a great deal when TNG first aired, especially in the first and second seasons (also, BOBW). Yes, he started out as a sort-of Commander Re-Kirk but I liked that he had not yet achieved his goals and was still struggling with what exactly he wanted in life; Troi or his own ship. Yet, I felt the writers mishandled him a lot by showing us someone who was willing to commit career suicide by refusing command THREE times. Bad, bad writers. The solution to the end of BOBW would've been to promote Picard, so as to keep Stewart, to Admiral in charge of a larger exploratory mission with the Enterprise as the flag ship with Riker as Captain in operational command of the ship. Or some such non-sense.

End of rant. In the end, I like Riker and if you do to, read the Titan books!

 

[WillsBabe]

I think a lot of the Riker hate comes because he was a character a little out of time. He had a lot of "macho" qualities that lost favour pretty soon after TNG began airing - the love of fast starships and fast women; the action man aspect of his character. How many times was he shown in Ten Forward with a hot woman and a cold beer? Those things were virtually de rigeur in the leading man-types in the 60's/70's and early 80's. As the 80's became long in the tooth and became the 90's he was a little left behind. I think that's why he gets a bit of a bum rap.

But I adored him. So, I wonder what that says about my taste in men!

 

[OmarB]

He's a great character, one of my favorite in all Trek lore. His weakness is that he's a man of action who got lulled into comfort by such a great captain. He was a bad-ass who never really got to show it because Picard usually had it in control. Plus I think there was an element of him wanting to stay with Picard and learn as much as possible. He's gung ho, man of action and I think he wanted to temper that with Picard's diplomacy.

 

[Amaris]

Riker is my favorite character on TNG. As much as I love them all, he is just so, if you'll pardon the french, kickass.


J.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I always liked Riker. I think it's clear that he started to pioneer "first officer syndrome" when the creators decided to take full advantage of Stewart's talents, forgetting the clear delegation of responsibilities and allowing Picard to hog more and more of the action. (On paper, given everything they'd done with the characters at that point, it would have made a lot more sense if Worf had chosen Riker as his cha'Dich in "Sins of the Father".) And I don't hold it against the character that they had to rationalize his staying a first officer to keep him on the show.

My favorite Riker bit was when he'd take a seat in the Ready Room by swinging his leg over the back of the chair!

 

[Jack Bauer]

I've never seen much hate aimed at Riker. Lots of jokes about him but thast's more on the silliness of the writers than the actual character.

 

[Balthier the Great]

wahwahkits said:
Yes I can imagine Mrs Riker being the jealous type. Can't say I blame her with his track record with women!!

Well, it's not Mrs. Riker that's the problem. It's having a mother in law that can read your mind. I would think that would cut down on the hot woman/cold beer thing.

But I still like Riker. He and Jordi both seemed a lot more three dimensional than the rest. But honestly I hear a lot more Wesley-hate than anything.

 

[DanTheGrey]

I didn't mind Riker. I will admit that by the end of the series, the fact that he didn't have his own command yet was kind of irking me a bit. I understand the logistics of the show, but it just seemed forced.

In general when given a chance to be in command he was quite good and he did have a depth of character that was far greater than some of the other cast. At least his name pops up pretty much right away when I think of the cast.

At times he seemed overly stoic and standoffish, but then again he seemed capable of expressing emotions in a way Picard typically wasn't.

So no hate here.

 

[AstroMike]

Where is Good Will Riker when you need him?
Riker was my favorite NG character before it began, while it was on, when it ended, and still is to this day. I thought Frakes did a great job with the character. Yeah, he was poorly written at times after BOBW, but they couldn't exactly kick him off the show. I think the way it was handled was fairly well done. I have never understood why people assume everyone has to be on the James T. Kirk fast command track. That was rare. Kirk was the exception and not the rule. I know they had the character down that path at the start, but things change. Sulu and Spock were not captains until later on. If Riker liked where he was at in his life, then so be it. He eventually got a ship and the girl. The novels are fantastic and have taken his character to another level.

 

[WillsBabe]

The Old Mixer said:
(On paper, given everything they'd done with the characters at that point, it would have made a lot more sense if Worf had chosen Riker as his cha'Dich in "Sins of the Father".)

I agree. Irritated the hell out of me at the time.

 

[mon capitaine]

WillsBabe said:

The Old Mixer said:
(On paper, given everything they'd done with the characters at that point, it would have made a lot more sense if Worf had chosen Riker as his cha'Dich in "Sins of the Father".)

I agree. Irritated the hell out of me at the time.

As a Picard fan even I thought it was highly dubious.

Mind you, I also thought Worf should've asked Picard to kill him rather than Riker in Ethics. Asking Riker to do that but not support him in Sins of the Father didn't make much sense to me.