Riker's rank change in Best of Both Worlds Question
- Thread starter tim0122
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This is why I have to come to dislike this episode in the decades since it's release. I know that Riker didn't move to another ship because Frakes had a contract and Berman wasn't going to do anything fresh or inventive, like having Riker on another ship while the Enterprise continued without him.
However, "The Best of Both Worlds" was the death knell for William Thomas Riker. We learn in season one that he could have been a captain even before he became Picard's XO, and he passed up several chances at the center seat over the subsequent two seasons. This worked until the end of season three, when he finally got command (and of the Enterprise itself) and then immediately went back to XO after.
Riker was nothing more than a piece of set dressing after that. The core of his characterization-seeking command over everything else-was gutted so that he could repeat story elements or exposition that other characters said so that the audience could understand better. He became, as Q pointed out, stolid and boring and, worst of all, a jerk. I really wish he'd been replaced by Thomas Riker, though it was too late to do anything by that point in the series.
Agreed. I'd also suggest that Picard was mentally and emotionally compromised after the events of "The Inner Light." Both episodes do incredible damage to Picard and yet we're expected to believe he just moves on because he's an "evolved" 24th century human. The real reason is because Rick Berman and the studio wanted to keep stories largely self-contained.
If TNG were produced today, there would be far fewer episodes per season and that would allow time to really focus on the repercussions of stories like this. Picard is compromised and is removed from duty for treatment on Earth. Crusher and Troi remain with him. Riker's promotion is made official. He promotes Data and makes him his XO. Worf becomes the new head of Ops. A new doctor and counselor come aboard, refreshing the cast for season four. The show would shift between the Enterprise's missions and Picard's healing.
Perhaps at the end of the season, it's expected that Picard will retake the Enterprise. He decides to accept a promotion and job on Earth and marries Beverly. Troi returns to the Enterprise in a new position, Diplomatic Officer or some such.
This sounds counterintuitive to me. If anything, with fewer episodes I'd think they'd blow right past the repercussions of stories like this unless they were a key part of the narrative for that season. For instance, in a ten-episode season, I doubt "Family" ever would have happened following "BOBW", especially considering TPTB weren't too sure about it to begin with.
I don't mind letting it function as a series finale, then jumping straight to first contact. There's very little lost afterward imo. You can start DS9 with the borg connection and not lose much by skipping TNG cardassian and bajoran episodes imo.
I remember reading a BSG (original) - Star Trek TNG crossover once, where the fact that in BSG 'commander' was higher than 'captain' caused some confusion among BSG officers when they met with the Ent-D crew
I don't know if it was his death knell, but it was frickin' BAD. Riker's character had the perfect exit arc, as we saw a powerful and decisive captain emerge... ending in a fizzle. Only good thing about it is that it spared us Shelby as a regular cast member. I honestly found her rather insufferable. But that's counterbalanced by Data not getting the promotion he deserved, either.
This is true of BoBW, Inner Light, and Chain of Command. Any of these were valid reasons for Picard to spend a few months sipping lemonade and discussing his feelings at a mental health spa on Betazed. Which is why it pisses me off so much when Picard (still in possession of all his faculties) is unceremoniously bullied out of command in "Rascals". Assimilation, subjective time travel, torture, all no big deal. Shorter and has hair, sorry, Johnny, you're fired.
Here's the thing though. Maybe it wasn't the original plan, & was somewhat subtextual canon, & maybe they even piecemealed it together over the series, on the fly. However, what they did with Riker, post BoBW, while pretty unflattering for the character overall, actually wasn't bad writing, from an objective POV.
I've begrudgingly had to admit that it was arguably better writing, because it reversed course on him. It made him a stalled man, with some pretty unappealing character flaws, who by the end was shown as insubordinate to a replacement captain, exposed for some ugly history, consistently troubled whenever having to replace Picard, & something of a house of cards masked in bravado. It stands to reason he's the best poker player. He's a cornucopia of false fronts.
Frankly, that's a better written character than the guy in the 1st two seasons, even if he's been unofficially abandoned as a heroic archetype. Just look at A Matter of Perspective. (Which came even before BoBW) While no one among his peers or the viewers ever really doubted his innocence, it is quite telling how his nature could be legitimately misconstrued by both other witnesses.
He's objectively a bit audaciously authoritative, puffed up, exuding machismo of sorts, & one could see why a person like Apgar, who was doing underhanded things, would immediately think he had something to fear from him. Riker's got cop energy, & Frakes is just a natural at it.
That's what happens after a hundred-something episodes. The writers begin writing to what the actor best brings to the character, & sometimes that means the character changes dynamics to better fit them, & embraces the chair straddler of an actor.
I've begrudgingly had to admit that it was arguably better writing, because it reversed course on him. It made him a stalled man, with some pretty unappealing character flaws, who by the end was shown as insubordinate to a replacement captain, exposed for some ugly history, consistently troubled whenever having to replace Picard, & something of a house of cards masked in bravado. It stands to reason he's the best poker player. He's a cornucopia of false fronts.
Frankly, that's a better written character than the guy in the 1st two seasons, even if he's been unofficially abandoned as a heroic archetype. Just look at A Matter of Perspective. (Which came even before BoBW) While no one among his peers or the viewers ever really doubted his innocence, it is quite telling how his nature could be legitimately misconstrued by both other witnesses.
He's objectively a bit audaciously authoritative, puffed up, exuding machismo of sorts, & one could see why a person like Apgar, who was doing underhanded things, would immediately think he had something to fear from him. Riker's got cop energy, & Frakes is just a natural at it.
That's what happens after a hundred-something episodes. The writers begin writing to what the actor best brings to the character, & sometimes that means the character changes dynamics to better fit them, & embraces the chair straddler of an actor.
I can kind of relate to Riker...
At work, when I was younger, I had interest in becoming a manager or team lead and having people to supervise and, I suppose, feeling important. Basically, I was ambitious.
But now I'm still just an independent contributor, but I'm also paid well and have a manager with whom I get along well and who treats me decently, and while I likely could find ways to advance my career, they might involve working for or with people whose company I wouldn't enjoy to the same degree. I'm not saying I won't at some point regain my ambition, but right now there's a fair degree of, "Why mess with something that's working out pretty well for me?"
Riker formed friendships on the E-D, had an ex-lover there with whom he was still on very good terms, had a captain who he had a harmonious relationship with, etc. He likely decided (perhaps not entirely consciously) that was worth more to him than a captaincy.
At work, when I was younger, I had interest in becoming a manager or team lead and having people to supervise and, I suppose, feeling important. Basically, I was ambitious.
But now I'm still just an independent contributor, but I'm also paid well and have a manager with whom I get along well and who treats me decently, and while I likely could find ways to advance my career, they might involve working for or with people whose company I wouldn't enjoy to the same degree. I'm not saying I won't at some point regain my ambition, but right now there's a fair degree of, "Why mess with something that's working out pretty well for me?"
Riker formed friendships on the E-D, had an ex-lover there with whom he was still on very good terms, had a captain who he had a harmonious relationship with, etc. He likely decided (perhaps not entirely consciously) that was worth more to him than a captaincy.
Wasn't BOBW part 1 written/made when it was still unclear whether Patrick Stewart would renew his contract, so that they had to set the situation up in such a way that Picard not being rescued was also an option? In that case, Riker becoming the new (and permanent) captain of the Enterprise would narratively have been the most logical choice (even though it probably would work out differently in the real world, I think Starfleet 'really' would have flown in a far more seasoned Captain after the crisis was over and offer Riker a more junior captaincy).
But I do feel they perhaps hadn't thought the alternative through (what if Stewart does come back for S4?), and the Riker character got shorthanded as a result. Because realistically the only option for him would have been to disappear from the series (the character, not necessarily the actor - Will Riker could have taken his own captaincy, being replaced by Thomas Riker as an officer serving below XO data from that point)
If Riker's career path is a problem, how about this?
Our heroes have a lot of different adventures.
Maybe think of an episode as one adventure they have and that's it.
They continue boldly going but nothing that interesting happens that someone would make an episode about it.
What would be the odds that all the things that happened in STNG happens to the same crew?
Well, there's Q, he can arrange that but thinking the adventures as a single event, the most exiting thing the crew ever experiences might help?
Obviously in the case of the Borg for example you need 'Q Who' before TBOBW but that would be one longer adventure.
Our heroes have a lot of different adventures.
Maybe think of an episode as one adventure they have and that's it.
They continue boldly going but nothing that interesting happens that someone would make an episode about it.
What would be the odds that all the things that happened in STNG happens to the same crew?
Well, there's Q, he can arrange that but thinking the adventures as a single event, the most exiting thing the crew ever experiences might help?
Obviously in the case of the Borg for example you need 'Q Who' before TBOBW but that would be one longer adventure.
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