The Death of William T. Riker

[JesterFace]

I rewatched the 2nd part of Best of Both Worlds last night, and I am 100% convinced now, that this is my own personal series finale. There is no way to fix it. It sells out its entire purpose, the arcs of the entire movie, and every character within it, to return to the status quo so quickly.

That's too bad, there's much awesome stuff after it.
From our perspective it took only a week for Picard to recover from his experience, what about in Star Trek land? There was episode 'Family' where he went through his experience. After that it could have been a longer period of time before the events of the next episode happened. Let's also remember Picard has access to medication and therapy from 24th century.

Also, Riker received a field commission for captain, isn't that like.... not a full official captain?

 

[Farscape One]

In "Family", the Enterprise was docked at McKinley station and was undergoing some retrofitting and upgrades. According to the end of the previous episode, it would take 6-8 weeks. Certainly at least a month passed in the episode, by the time Picard goes to LaBarre to the time he leaves town.

 

[Phoenix219]

That's too bad, there's much awesome stuff after it.
From our perspective it took only a week for Picard to recover from his experience, what about in Star Trek land? There was episode 'Family' where he went through his experience. After that it could have been a longer period of time before the events of the next episode happened. Let's also remember Picard has access to medication and therapy from 24th century.

Also, Riker received a field commission for captain, isn't that like.... not a full official captain?

he had the pips, and it was no different then what Picard did semi-permanently for Wesley. But its more then just that - the entire narrative fabric of the episode revolves around setting up these new positions, these new relationships, even setting up future dynamics, and it all goes absolutely nowhere. It feels like a big waste of an episode. It shows all of this growth, it moves the pieces around and establishes them, and even says goodbye to Picard. Then 10 minutes later he is rescued. It just feels pointless and circular. And, we already know that Picard is damaged more then he will ever admit by this, so all of that medication and therapy is irrelevent imo.

 

[Mojochi]

Family starts on 44012.3, where Riker said in BoBW 2 that they'd be docked at McKinley station for 5 or 6 weeks. Brothers starts at 44085.7 (however long that is lol) I always thought maybe the digit or two before the decimal point were days. If so, Brothers starts maybe 2 and a half months after Picard went home. I bet you they waited nearly 2 months before they resumed duty.

So, add up Picard stepping away home for maybe several weeks, & seeming normal to everyone else after his return, which wouldn't be hard for him, being so often impersonal anyhow. Now consider all the great tragedy everyone had just endured. Plus, they must've suffered a huge loss of captains at Wolf 359. (plus Riker not stepping up) Picard getting put back in command, when he was, might not seem terribly sensible from the outside, but it's relatively believable I guess, given the state of things .

 

[JesterFace]

@Phoenix219, if you use TBOBW part 2 as the final episode of the series is there any chance you might watch some episodes from later seasons before your personal final episode?

I couldn't skip any good episodes that happen after TBOBW 2, there's so much awesome episodes including the official final episode. Although for me STNG ends with AGT, I'm not interested in the movies.

 

[Jamie C]

I always thought Riker stuck around because of his father issues. Picard was the father figure he had been looking for his entire life, and he couldn't bear to leave him. Particularly after nearly losing him. I also think he appreciated the sense of community the Enterprise offered with families and civilians on board. I always thought the Titan should have been a Galaxy Class because of that. I guess what I'm getting at is I thought it was justified in-story, but I do see how it neutered the character somewhat.

As for fixing it, I guess they could have spun him off as the lead of DS9. I'd never want to lose Sisko, but I can see how it could have worked. They also could have done a mini-arc post-BOBW, where Riker takes command of another ship and does something to get demoted and sent back to the Enterprise. Like a two-parter inserted between BOBW pt. 2 and Family.

 

[at Quark's]

There was very little character development because there really didn't need to be any.

I'd say there was not much explicitly scripted character development. Still, some S7 characters were noticeably different from their S1 counterparts.

Picard: Less grumpy, better with children
Data: Has developed and became more 'human' in his responses even when he's not there yet
Deanna: In later years, actually develops into a somewhat competent Starfleet officer, and becomes more productive than 'I sense something, just not enough to tell you anything useful'.
Worf becomes more than 'it moves, I have to kill it!'

(I agree that character development of the remaining three Riker, Crusher, Geordi) is less clear or more ambiguous.

I'd say part of this process wasn't intentional (the actors becoming settled in their roles, but I think some of it was, Data becoming more human-like in his responses for example).

 

[at Quark's]

They never should have had Riker turning down a promotion to Captain in season 1, way to early for that. No need to start the clock so soon. Just before BOBW should have been the first time.

Was the XO job on the Enterprise his first XO job? (I don't quite recall, but if so, I'd agree it is too soon.) Even though I could understand that it might be a relatively small gap from the 'highest' XO position in the fleet (on the flagship) to a captaincy of a small ship.

 

[Mojochi]

Was the XO job on the Enterprise his first XO job? (I don't quite recall, but if so, I'd agree it is too soon.) Even though I could understand that it might be a relatively small gap from the 'highest' XO position in the fleet (on the flagship) to a captaincy of a small ship.

No, his only other 1st offer post was on the USS Hood with Capt. DeSoto, who put the note on his record about refusing to let him lead an away team, which caught Picard's eye.

Honestly, I never had a problem with the pilot making him a guy who turned down his own command for the D. It's a elite posting, & they wanted to highlight that fact. Plus, he was admittedly still green enough for him to be concerned about the job. He needed mentorship, & it appears he never got it with DeSoto.

They shouldn't have offered him another in season 2 though, with his dad interfering. Now, by the time of BoBW, he's been offered one each of those 3 years

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Was the XO job on the Enterprise his first XO job?

As noted, no.

He spent several years as the XO on the Hood prior to the assignment, which was itself subsquent to a stint as senior officer in the Operations Division on Pomtemkin, likely as Second Officer and at least one Operations Manager, Security Chief or possibly Chief Engineer. The last being the least likely IMO.

 

[Farscape One]

Riker was XO of the Hood for, at most, 2 years. "Second Chances" stated that transporter incident was 8 years prior to the episode, which by that point (almost the very end of season 6) he was XO under Picard for 6 years. He got a promotion very quickly after that Nervala IV incident... whether that was a position promotion or rank promotion to Lt. Cmdr. is not entirely clear.

He was definitely a Lt. Cmdr. as XO of the Hood though, since Picard mentioned in "The Best of Both Worlds" that Shelby sounded like a 'young Lt. Commander I recruited as first officer'. (We've seen others be XO as Lt. Cmdr., like Sisko on the Saratoga.)