Tom Riker replacing Will Riker

[The Fatman]

This may be an old tidbit to most, and I apologize. I was just idly going through Memory Alpha, and on Tom Rikers page, I read this:

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, the TNG writing staff toyed with the idea of killing off Will Riker in "Second Chances," permanently replacing him with Thomas Riker as the new ops officer and moving Data to the first officer position.

I have to say... in retrospect, that is one of the biggest missed opportunities in TNG. I would have really liked it if they did this. Without radically shaking up the cast, that would have opened up a LOT of story ideas for the late 6th/7th seasons.

What are everyone else's thoughts?

 

[WillsBabe]

I remember at the time thinking I was glad that they didn't do it, because, as you may notice, I'm fond of Will. Retrospectively, I think I wish they had done it. It would have had interesting reprecussions for the movies, as well. Frakes said that he would have been happy either way, as long as they needed some guy with a beard. If Will had been killed and Tom had replaced him, maybe he would have gone on to Voyager (the Maquis connection). That would have been interesting, too.

 

[thegreatgalling]

I like how they ended up doing it, but did feel Tom was a wasted avenue for later shows. It did always bother me how quickly he just accepted his fate. I don't think I would change my name so quickly.

This was one of two Trekisodes that were really cringeworthy. Just the idea of the two of the same people idea always freaked me out to no end. Maybe because I am in a very happy relationship and I wouldn't know WHAT to do if some other me showed up expecting to be with her.

The other episode with a similar premice was the Tuvix episode of Voyager. It involves Neelix and Tuvok being merged into one person during a transporter malfunction. One of the best.

 

[JB2005]

The other episode with a similar premice was the Tuvix episode of Voyager. It involves Neelix and Tuvok being merged into one person during a transporter malfunction. One of the best.

Debatable..

 

[Cuhl]

I thought it was a big missed opportunity, too. Replacing Will with Tom Riker would have jump-started the Riker-Troi romance, which was going nowhere (and would continue to do so). Tom Riker would have been an interesting person, probably ambitious and eager to make up for lost time, maybe a little reckless. That would have provided conflict between the characters that was often lacking. The change would have shaken things up on the Bridge, with Riker holding a lesser position, more the peer of Geordi and Worf, and maybe Data moving up to first officer. And you can't really do anything like this, having an actor play a diffierent version of the same character, anywhere but in science fiction, so why not run with it? I bet Frakes would have had a lot of fun with it.

 

[The Fatman]

I thought it was a big missed opportunity, too. Replacing Will with Tom Riker would have jump-started the Riker-Troi romance, which was going nowhere (and would continue to do so). Tom Riker would have been an interesting person, probably ambitious and eager to make up for lost time, maybe a little reckless. That would have provided conflict between the characters that was often lacking. The change would have shaken things up on the Bridge, with Riker holding a lesser position, more the peer of Geordi and Worf, and maybe Data moving up to first officer. And you can't really do anything like this, having an actor play a diffierent version of the same character, anywhere but in science fiction, so why not run with it? I bet Frakes would have had a lot of fun with it.

My thoughts almost exactly!!

Taking some more time to think about it, I can see how that would have been hard in an episodic format show like TNG, so maybe it's best they didn't pull the trigger. But so many great stories could have been told. Imagine everyone attending Will's funeral... when he's technically right there. The drama writes itself.

 

[Agenda]

Okay, which unimaginative bigwig nixed this great idea!

 

[Forbin]

I like how they ended up doing it, but did feel Tom was a wasted avenue for later shows. It did always bother me how quickly he just accepted his fate. I don't think I would change my name so quickly.

Exactly my thoughts. How many of us, faced with this situation, would accept so quickly that they were the lesser "copy". I know John Chrichton wouldn't!

 

[nx1701g]

I would have personally enjoyed it. It would've been an entirely new and more interesting dynamic.

 

[HairOfTheDog]

It's easy to say I would have liked for them to have done so. After all, we already know what happened and wishing for an alternate path is like wishing for more TNG!

 

[RandyS]

I have mixed feelings about it. Part of me loved it, and part of me hated it.

Of course, if they had done it, once they got to Nemesis a decade later, Picard could've simply promoted Tom to First Officer once Data died.

 

[TS-1838-SWATH]

Okay, which unimaginative bigwig nixed this great idea!

DO YOU REALLY NEED TO ASK

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Rick Berman (sp?)

 

[USS Triumphant]

Just the idea of the two of the same people idea always freaked me out to no end. Maybe because I am in a very happy relationship and I wouldn't know WHAT to do if some other me showed up expecting to be with her.

I like myself, so for me, this wouldn't be a problem. On the contrary - we'd be RICH.

Regarding Tom Riker, I think I might like to see him...

Spoiler: The Path To 2409 at ST: Online

...as part of Captain Data's crew on the Enterprise. Maybe even Exec.

 

[Xerxes1979]

I would go along with it if it prevented the character assassination of otherwise loyal starfleet officer to the traitorous Maquis.

Where is Tom now? Only a fool would think he survived the Dominion War.

 

[AstroMike]

I also have mixed feelings about it. I was against it when the showed first aired, but hindsight being 20/20 it would have injected new life into the stories. Looking back on it the series was starting to decline and went on to less that stellar movies (except First Contact) comapared to TOS. This would have helped it.

 

[Michael]

Interestingly the Wikipedia article about Tom Riker states that he was '[...] originally conceived as a way to allow Frakes to permanently join the Deep Space 9 cast after the conclusion of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Producers thought the idea of Riker joining the DS9 crew intriguing but knew it would be problematic for Riker to hold a rank as high as Commander on that series. It was therefore planned to have Tom Riker join the crew so that Riker could hold a lower rank, possibly assuming the role of Starfleet Security Chief.'

I don't know about the credibility of that, but as Riker is my favorite TNG character that's something I would have loved to see happening!

 

[nx1701g]

^ I think that would've been interesting. There was also talk though about Riker being given command of Voyager when Voyager was announced and TNG ended.

 

[DevilEyes]

It would have been interesting to know if Tom Riker ever met Ro while he was in the Maquis, and how they got along. There were sparks between Ro and Will Riker, even though they did not get along, and he even wanted to give a eulogy to her when she was presumed dead, so apparently he liked her more than he wanted to admit. But Tom and Ro have a lot more in common, both damaged, troubled and rebellious people, and both ended up joining the Maquis.

 

[Jbarney]

I'm a big Riker fan and didn't know this was something the writers actually considered doing at the end of the 6th season. Not sure how it would have worked out, but it certainly would have been interesting.

 

[Hober Mallow]

It was inevitable that they would end up not doing it. They were always thinking about doing something big and then not doing it. They thought about not giving Troi her powers back in "The Loss," but they couldn't even go through with that.

And I don't believe that stuff about Tom Riker joining the DS9 cast for a second. We fans were allowed to follow the development of DS9 for a good year before it premiered, and the producers were pretty open about wanting only two TNG characters to crossover and be main characters on the series -- Chief O'Brien and Ensign Ro.