The Sabotage of Tom Riker

[Discofan]

What we don't really know is what would have happened had Riker continue to hit her with less than lethal phaser blasts. Since she was clearly affected by phaser fire, It's reasonable to speculate that additional shots or a single more prolonged shot could have incapacitated her. Much like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know but thanks to trekbbs some people can concoct BS theories about it till the cows come home.

Spoiler

Hi Harry.

If Bs theories were forbidden, trekbbs' activity would drop to almost nothing. I like BS theories, I live for BS theories!!!

 

[Mojochi]

What we don't really know is what would have happened had Riker continue to hit her with less than lethal phaser blasts. Since she was clearly affected by phaser fire, It's reasonable to speculate that additional shots or a single more prolonged shot could have incapacitated her.

The hurdle there is that because she simply appears to be affected by his phaser hit does not necessarily make it so. She wouldn't be the first person to fain weakness or vulnerability as a way to make someone hesitate, long enough for them to take their target. All we truly know is that she's charging a target with lethal capability & intent, & his blast wasn't sufficient enough to prevent it or dissuade her. All Monday morning quarterbacking aside, if his next preventative measure was lethal force, and we have no reason to prove otherwise, then his action is just

 

[Timo]

The woman is on the verge of collapsing. She's harmless to Riker, being unarmed and in possession of no known superpowers other than the one she can wield against but one man in the universe. And that man can walk behind a door at his leisure while Riker keeps doing a further series of these nonlethal things on which Riker can do rigorous math and determine that, at the current setting and frequency of blasts, Yuta will take X hours to cover the remaining few meters.

Why would Riker believe in a secret superpower held in reserve? It would serve no tactical aim of Yuta's. If she's to leap at her target, two blasts ago would have been the perfect time to do that - she has made no progress since.

This won't change the fact that Yuta will keep on trying. If his target goes behind a locked door, she will keep on trying. If she is locked behind a door which is subsequently welded shut, she will still keep on trying. For centuries, perhaps.

So upping the setting can only serve the purpose of mercy. It isn't necessary for stopping the deed, although it certainly is sufficient. (But so would one of Chorgan's men walking behind her and breaking her neck. Or just Picard holding her hand. Provided he kept doing that until Chorgan dies of old age.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Herbert]

The woman is on the verge of collapsing. She's harmless to Riker, being unarmed and in possession of no known superpowers other than the one she can wield against but one man in the universe.

Speculation and nothing more. No more valid or invalid as any other theory.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Tom Riker, dammit! Next excursion into Will Riker territory and the thread is closed. Start your own Will/Yuta thread if it needs further exploration.

 

[Discofan]

Tom Riker could make artistic pictures with his phaser. Maybe he should have explored that talent instead of highjacking the Defiant.

 

[Mojochi]

As a brass player, I can tell you, Tom's trombone musculature would be shit after 8 years not playing. Thanks again Will, for rubbing it in. "Here. Take my trombone that you probably suck at now"

 

[Timo]

What else would our Robinson Crusoe suck at? He had access to replicated food, supposedly. If he didn't, his physiology ought to be a mess - the outpost evacuation might have resulted in canned food being left behind, but I doubt it would have provided a balanced diet for eight years.

He "did what he wanted", but would he have gotten any practice in speaking? His voice is surprisingly normal when we first meet him... But he might have had a holodeck down there for all we know. Then again, he's surprisingly sane if that's the case!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mojochi]

What else would our Robinson Crusoe suck at? He had access to replicated food, supposedly. If he didn't, his physiology ought to be a mess - the outpost evacuation might have resulted in canned food being left behind, but I doubt it would have provided a balanced diet for eight years.

He "did what he wanted", but would he have gotten any practice in speaking? His voice is surprisingly normal when we first meet him... But he might have had a holodeck down there for all we know. Then again, he's surprisingly sane if that's the case!

Timo Saloniemi

He's unrealistically sane, to be honest, but an insane Riker defeats the point of the episode, so they gloss over that. At the very least, he couldn't resume duty as soon as the episode depicts. He'd need extensive help reintegrating into society 1st.

It's possible, but I can't see him having a holodeck down there. He made that phaser etching years earlier, & that one was like the 3rd attempt. How bored do you have to be to spend time fine tuning a laser beam to make it into a carving tool & then use it to etch a landscape? lol

He actually says to Picard that the station's replicators stopped working "A long time ago". So I don't know WTH he's been eating/drinking. I assume he wasn't able to leave the station, since he was required to keep a radiation shield operating the whole time, which means the surface is entirely hostile to human life.

Basically, I have to surmise that when he was down to his last functional replicator, & began facing the truth that he was on countdown to having none, he used it to stock up on foods that could be stored & rationed for years. Ultimately, he must've done a good job of it, because he doesn't look terribly depleted or malnourished. That could be why he hasn't had a good meal in a while. All the things he stored had to be uncooked or easily cooked. Not exactly gourmet cuisine

 

[Timo]

Then again, Riker does fancy himself a gourmet chef later on. Perhaps he's unusually well versed in the properties of foodstuffs for a 24th century denizen, and was able to prepare a delicious menu years in advance?

I mean, he could have replicated a fridge and an oven if he needed those. And repaired them over and over again without advanced technology.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mojochi]

Then why would he act like he hadn't eaten any decent meals in a long time? Somehow I have a much more dire take on how bad things were for him. With the seismic instability of the station, where he'd broken his arm & then nearly dies? I fear that place was on the verge of falling apart on him, but I do think you're right about his culinary skills from childhood. Whatever he was able to put his hands on, I imagine he made the best of it

But a chef is only as good as his ingredients lol

 

[Herbert]

Tom Riker, dammit! Next excursion into Will Riker territory and the thread is closed. Start your own Will/Yuta thread if it needs further exploration.

Do we really need such draconian moderation?

 

[flandry84]

As a brass player, I can tell you, Tom's trombone musculature would be shit after 8 years not playing. Thanks again Will, for rubbing it in. "Here. Take my trombone that you probably suck at now"

But I thought you blew into a trombone,not sucked it..

 

[Timo]

A common mistake, Sir.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Discofan]

Is it my imagination or has there been some retconning about Riker's trombone playing?

 

[Mojochi]

But I thought you blew into a trombone,not sucked it..

You're taking the piss right? because I said he sucked at it now? lol

Just in case you're not though... You do blow into it, but you raise & lower the pitches with mouth & jaw muscles, which atrophy just like any honed muscle, if you don't practice/train it. So instead of blowing it well, Tom would suck on it pretty badly lol

Is it my imagination or has there been some retconning about Riker's trombone playing?

I'm not sure what you mean

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Do we really need such draconian moderation?

Yes, Herbert, we do.
After a gentle request, five separate posts were about Will/Yuta. Part of the moderator's job is to keep threads reasonably on the OP's original topic. If my more forceful reminder seems Draconian, I can't help you see reason.

 

[Discofan]

...


I'm not sure what you mean

At the start of "Future Imperfect" Riker doesn't play the Trombone very well, even Deanna says so. In later episodes, it seems like he's always been a competent Trombone player...

At any rate, it would be quite possible that Tom Riker didn't know how to play the Trombone at all.

 

[Mojochi]

At the start of "Future Imperfect" Riker doesn't play the Trombone very well, even Deanna says so. In later episodes, it seems like he's always been a competent Trombone player...

At any rate, it would be quite possible that Tom Riker didn't know how to play the Trombone at all.

Troi remarks that he's been trying to get "Nightbird" right for ten years, which predates Nervala IV.

I'd say Will's always been depicted as a mediocre trombonist, from when the holodeck character in 11001001 tells him so, right up to his little practice scene in Thine Own Self, which is kind of ugly TBH. The only performances he gives are when he spontaneously decides to noodle around with the Dixieland band in The Next Phase, & one actual concert in Second Chances, that he can't even get through without Troi requesting a song he can't play. His performance skill in 11001001 is consistent with those two other performances imho, which is to say... meh.

 

[Roundabout]

Then again, Riker does fancy himself a gourmet chef later on. Perhaps he's unusually well versed in the properties of foodstuffs for a 24th century denizen, and was able to prepare a delicious menu years in advance?

I mean, he could have replicated a fridge and an oven if he needed those. And repaired them over and over again without advanced technology.

Timo Saloniemi

Riker might fancy himself a gourmet chef, by his own account. But was he really any good as a cook.

I remember only one time when Riker was shown cooking. He scrambled some eggs and cooked it on a portable grill. It doesn't take much skill to make scramble eggs; and besides, Riker didn't look all that impressive doing it. Perhaps in the age of food replicators, making scramble eggs would be considered gourmet cooking.

I don't know if it was Riker's lousy cooking or if it were lousy eggs, or both. But iirc only Worf, with his weird Klingon taste buds, enjoyed Riker's cooking.

-----

I wondered how Will would have reacted to news of Tom being taken prisoner by the Cardassians. Would Will have been indifferent, or what? I wish there would have been an episode where Will got word of Tom's situation.

I assume Will would have been informed of Tom's situation since Will was his Starfleet next of kin. Btw, in Starfleet's personnel files, would Will and Tom be listed as siblings? Or maybe, the Starfleet of the 24th century would have a category called "brothers from some weird other"? for cases that involve family members who come into being by some transporter, or other, anomalies.