What If Picard Had Died In The Best of Both Worlds II?

[Dayton3]

In the thread comparing "Q-Who" & "The Best of Both Worlds" it was pointed out that with Patrick Stewart in contract negotiations it was apparently considered that Picard would be killed off and that Riker would be the new Enterprise captain with Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy) as his first officer.

How do you think the Next Generation would've changed if that had happened?

I think you would've seen a dramatically different fourth season of ST:TNG. The fourth season went heavily into teh "family" aspect of the series.

I think with Picard gone and Shelby onboard, there would be much more conflict, both interpersonal and action wise.

How would Shelby deal with the crew? In particular Riker and Crusher?

I also think we would never have seen Michelle Forbes introduced as Ro Laren in Season Five. With the show already featuring a dynamic female character (Shelby) there would've been little need.

Perhaps the lethargy of ST:TNGs 6th & 7th seasons could've been avoided.

 

[Vanyel]

And it would have been cool to see him in command of one of the Enterprises in Parallels.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I wish he had. It would've shaken up the crew a bit having seen Picard turned into a Borg. Maybe keep him on as a recurring villain, even on Voyager. But, I liked that Shelby gave Riker shit at every possible turn, and would have loved seeing that dynamic for the rest of the series.

 

[TrueQ]

Many things would have changed. The plot, ranks of the characters and I'm not sure if I would have adapted to the new TNG. I also think that the Borg experience made Picard more experienced, wise etc. It would have been fun, but not long-term fun.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Frakes doesn't have the acting chops to play the lead on a tv series. I think the impact of Patrick Stewart no longer being there may have hurt the show.

 

[McCoy]

But if they had brought Jellico on...

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

Well, this is one of my favorite topics. I happen to agree slightly with Jack Bauer that Frakes's acting chops certainly don't equal Stewart's -- this is the guy who looked like Potsie from "Happy Days" in S1, before he grew the beard -- but I also think he would've risen to the occasion.

There would've been more conflict with Shelby, for sure, even though we saw a grudging accomodation between the two of them in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II."

Also, given his propensity for yelling, it would've been interesting to hear Frakes yell out in "Chain of Command, Pt. II" to Gul Madred, "THERE . . . ARE . . . FOUR . . . LIGHTS!"

Red Ranger

 

[Dayton3]

Jack Bauer said:
Frakes doesn't have the acting chops to play the lead on a tv series. I think the impact of Patrick Stewart no longer being there may have hurt the show.

Personally, I've always thought that Stewarts acting abilities were not necessarily the best fit for the type of show ST:TNG was. Or for the Trek franchise.

I also think that the writing staff of ST:TNG started to go overboard writing stuff just to "showcase" Patrick Stewart.

 

[blakbyrd]

Red Ranger said:
I happen to agree slightly with Jack Bauer that Frakes's acting chops certainly don't equal Stewart's...but I also think he would've risen to the occasion.

Ditto.

 

[Trekker4747]

Perhaps the lethargy of ST:TNGs 6th & 7th seasons could've been avoided.

Well, TNG's lethargy/week 6th and 7th seasons could've been avoided by waiting until TNG was done with its run to start DS9 or by not moving TNG's best writers over to DS9.

 

[LeadHead]

Red Ranger said:
I happen to agree slightly with Jack Bauer that Frakes's acting chops certainly don't equal Stewart's...but I also think he would've risen to the occasion.

I Honestly don't agree with that. I always thought Rikers Best moments were when he was in Command of something. I remember when I watched "Firstborn" I had missed the scene where Picard explains that he would be away, and I saw the scenes of Riker in command on the bridge and didn't wonder for a second where is Picard?

At least in my view, the Riker Character and Frakes' portrayal of him lent itself very naturally to Command. I think some episodes wouldn't have worked right without Picard and Stewart's Portrayal of him but I think Riker could have held his own.

 

[regemet]

To me I think they should have dropped Picard he was a far too staid character .I think Riker would have been a better captain especially with Shelby as executive officer because their relationship would have been far more adversarial.

 

[3D Master]

I think it would have been damn cool, that's what I think. It would have been bold too: kill off the captain, and continue on. Not to mention... Shelby's hot!

 

[shatastrophic]

I remember on tv 20/20 had a special on the TNG and Deforest Kelley was hosting it. It was a little segment they aired due to the fact that they were starting their 4th season and it was amazing or that it was surpassing TOS or something, i can't remember. But what i do remember is they kept showing clips of that episode where Riker was 15 ys in the future eventhough he wasn't. I guess it was a few episodes into the season but at the time they taped the segment it was the episode they were working on. The segment on 20/20 aired a few weeks before BOBW2. I remember seeing Riker with a gray beard and data in red and the bridge looking different and i was thinking wow they are really gonna change things up! Watching Deforest Kelley interviewing Gates McFadden was cool also. It got me excited to see the differencesthey were going to do and how they were going to do it, only to find out that nothing would actually change. After watching the 20/20 segment i watched BOBW2 a few weeks later when it aired knowing Picard was gonna die or leave or something, then he lived and everything was back to normal.

 

[LancasterTrek]

I think most of you are nuts! Picard made that show. All the characters were good, but Picard was the best.

Writing to showcase Stewart? You mean like "Inner Light" and "Tapestry", only two of the best episodes in the entire run?

Sorry, but I think Picard's death would have been the show's death in a couple of years' time.

 

[Noname Given]

LancasterTrek said:
I think most of you are nuts! Picard made that show. All the characters were good, but Picard was the best.

Writing to showcase Stewart? You mean like "Inner Light" and "Tapestry", only two of the best episodes in the entire run?

Sorry, but I think Picard's death would have been the show's death in a couple of years' time.

So, it only would have run 6 seasons instead of 7?

 

[C.E. Evans]

In hindsight, you can always talk about "what if" things, but now I kinda wished they had offed Picard or written him off as Locutus after BOBW and continued with Riker as captain and Shelby as XO. I do think TNG would have gone off in an exciting new direction and it would have been a Star Trek first. I'm sure a number of the fourth season episodes would have been about Riker and the rest of the Enterprise crew trying to move on after Picard, but by the time the season was over it would have been clear that the ship was now Riker's.

I do tend to agree that the writers tended to play up Stewart's stage talents and the series reflected that, IMO. To me, the style of the captain sets the style of the series. With Frakes, I think TNG would have evolved into something a bit more closer to TOS and DS9 towards the end.

Of course, it's also possible that had Frakes taken over and TNG gone in a different direction, so too would have subsequent Trek shows as well...

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

If Best of Both Worlds had happened at the end of season 2 and Picard died, then it wouldn't have had that much impact on the future of the series, I think. The show was still finding its ground and could bounce back from a cast shake-up.

Season 3 is where Picard started to shine, though, so offing him would've been a huge blow. Yes, a season makes that much difference.

 

[Mojochi]

The question isn't about how well Riker would fit into the mold of a captain. The question is how well would he fit into the role of the male lead of a dramatic sci-fi show, like TNG had become, in 3 seasons, & truthfully, he'd kind of suck at it, imo & the show would never have recovered, by my logic

 

[LancasterTrek]

Noname Given said:
So, it only would have run 6 seasons instead of 7?