Who are your top 5 first officers from among the list in the poll?
Who are your top 5 first officers from among the list in the poll?
- Thread starter Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos
- Start date
Chakotay, because I liked him.
Spock, obviously.
Worf, because of "PREPARE FOR RAMMING SPEED!!"
Kira, for being tough, feisty, and faithful.
And Data (not on the list) because he had to wait all those years and then they @*#$!-ing KILLED HIM OFF just before he finally got his chance.
T'Pol is passed over for her 7-esque outfits.
And Riker is a hard pass because he should have taken his own ship long ago.
And I haven't seen enough of the new ones.
Spock, obviously.
Worf, because of "PREPARE FOR RAMMING SPEED!!"
Kira, for being tough, feisty, and faithful.
And Data (not on the list) because he had to wait all those years and then they @*#$!-ing KILLED HIM OFF just before he finally got his chance.
T'Pol is passed over for her 7-esque outfits.
And Riker is a hard pass because he should have taken his own ship long ago.
And I haven't seen enough of the new ones.
C
Captain pl1ngpl0ng
Guest
Data was a captain once, and a damn good one to.
1. Spock (TOS)
2. Una
3. Kira
4. Saru
5. Riker
Easiest list so far.
2. Una
3. Kira
4. Saru
5. Riker
Easiest list so far.
Una Chin-Riley (aka, "Number One")
Can't rate her, I have only really seen her in TOS, and even there she didn't get enough screen time for me to base an evaluation on.
Spock (Prime)
The gold standard, of course, the prototype for all to follow. The dependable and strictly logical first officer that still fought a battle with his human side.
William T. Riker
Never cared for him. Even though we never see it explicitly as such in the TNG series, I always got this vibe he looked down on his underlings, and would betray them if he thought it would be good for his career-even though I don't think the character is intended as such. He really, really, isn't my personality type, which might be the reason I judge him a bit harshly. Fortunately he is improving (what we see in TNG is already a long way from the Pegasus).
Kira Nerys
Up there with Spock. One of the strongest characters Trek gave us. Like Spock, she comes from a distinctly different perspective than her captain, and has to bridge a loyalty gap, which causes conflict in her private sphere more often than not.
Chakotay
Could have been an interesting character -and partially was in S1-, but turned out just to 'fill' the spot of XO in later seasons.
T'Pol
Somehow, she never quite 'did' it for me, and I'm not entirely sure why not. I really don't feel the bond and trust and friendship between her and Archer at the time V'Lar refers to that (Fallen Hero), though I see it develop later in the series. And it's not as if they didn't try to develop her, with her character evolution in later seasons. Perhaps it's even just that they tried too hard to develop her as a character, emulate Spock-like conflicts, making it feel not entirely natural.
Worf
When was he first officer? On the Defiant? I guess he was OK in that role.
Spock (Kelvin)
Though he's no Spock Prime, I think I like his take on Spock. Of course you can't expect Quintana to do the same as Nimoy, he has to find his own way with the character and he should be allowed room for that.
Michael Burnham
Interesting character, but I don't think it's entirely fair to compare her to the other XO's, as she's in fact the protagonist of the series, so naturally she receives a lot more attention and character development than the other XO's can expect to get, so I won't rate her as such.
Saru
I like him! Even though I'm not sure exactly why. Perhaps because a lot of his personal struggles and dilemmas seem relatable to me, even while is partly truly inscrutable as an alien (and not from a race we understand somewhat as we've met them many times before, like the Vulcans).
All in all, I'd say my top 5 pick would be Spock Prime, Spock (Kelvin), Kira, Saru, Worf.
Hmmm... interesting, seems I just picked out most of the aliens and left the humans behind ...
Can't rate her, I have only really seen her in TOS, and even there she didn't get enough screen time for me to base an evaluation on.
Spock (Prime)
The gold standard, of course, the prototype for all to follow. The dependable and strictly logical first officer that still fought a battle with his human side.
William T. Riker
Never cared for him. Even though we never see it explicitly as such in the TNG series, I always got this vibe he looked down on his underlings, and would betray them if he thought it would be good for his career-even though I don't think the character is intended as such. He really, really, isn't my personality type, which might be the reason I judge him a bit harshly. Fortunately he is improving (what we see in TNG is already a long way from the Pegasus).
Kira Nerys
Up there with Spock. One of the strongest characters Trek gave us. Like Spock, she comes from a distinctly different perspective than her captain, and has to bridge a loyalty gap, which causes conflict in her private sphere more often than not.
Chakotay
Could have been an interesting character -and partially was in S1-, but turned out just to 'fill' the spot of XO in later seasons.
T'Pol
Somehow, she never quite 'did' it for me, and I'm not entirely sure why not. I really don't feel the bond and trust and friendship between her and Archer at the time V'Lar refers to that (Fallen Hero), though I see it develop later in the series. And it's not as if they didn't try to develop her, with her character evolution in later seasons. Perhaps it's even just that they tried too hard to develop her as a character, emulate Spock-like conflicts, making it feel not entirely natural.
Worf
When was he first officer? On the Defiant? I guess he was OK in that role.
Spock (Kelvin)
Though he's no Spock Prime, I think I like his take on Spock. Of course you can't expect Quintana to do the same as Nimoy, he has to find his own way with the character and he should be allowed room for that.
Michael Burnham
Interesting character, but I don't think it's entirely fair to compare her to the other XO's, as she's in fact the protagonist of the series, so naturally she receives a lot more attention and character development than the other XO's can expect to get, so I won't rate her as such.
Saru
I like him! Even though I'm not sure exactly why. Perhaps because a lot of his personal struggles and dilemmas seem relatable to me, even while is partly truly inscrutable as an alien (and not from a race we understand somewhat as we've met them many times before, like the Vulcans).
All in all, I'd say my top 5 pick would be Spock Prime, Spock (Kelvin), Kira, Saru, Worf.
Hmmm... interesting, seems I just picked out most of the aliens and left the humans behind ...
Poor Ransom. Lower Decks will never get its due, I guess.
I don't see that. Indeed Riker shreds his own career early on. He started out taking the Enterprise assignment as a stepping stone: a year or so on the flagship, then take his own command. Had he followed that path, he'd have probably been wearing admiral's braid by the time he was 45.
Why do you think Picard was practically drop-kicking him out the airlock by "Best of Both Worlds"? He certainly valued Riker's presence on the ship, but understood that he was ready to take command, and that he was "hurting his career by staying put". Picard's actions were for Riker's benefit and Starfleet's, not his own.
In short, Riker might lose his place on my "best first officer" list because of his recalcitrance, but I don't see him as obsessed with his career, or as a backstabber. His only harm to other officer's careers was blocking one of the most coveted billets in Starfleet.
Una, Spock (prime), Riker, Kira, T’Pol
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Neither will Tilly.
Spock (Prime), Riker and Kira were easy choices.
Worf I picked even though I only considered him a part-time first officer of the Defiant, as he shared that role with Dax depending who was in command.
Since the poll required a fifth, I choose Chakotay rather reluctantly. He had some good moments and I wanted to like him, but it just seemed like his character was never strong or fully developed beyond the stereotypical Native American guy. I know a lot of this had to do with the writers and producers more than the actor and there have been revelations that Robert Beltran had issues during the shows run, so the potential for making him a better first officer was there.
Data would have been a choice had he ever been allowed to get his due and not screwed over by Riker having to stay in the safe space of Picard's shadow for so long.
But apparently poor Decker, even after getting stripped of command, demoted and then turned into "something", still can't catch a break by his absence in the poll
.
Worf I picked even though I only considered him a part-time first officer of the Defiant, as he shared that role with Dax depending who was in command.
Since the poll required a fifth, I choose Chakotay rather reluctantly. He had some good moments and I wanted to like him, but it just seemed like his character was never strong or fully developed beyond the stereotypical Native American guy. I know a lot of this had to do with the writers and producers more than the actor and there have been revelations that Robert Beltran had issues during the shows run, so the potential for making him a better first officer was there.
Data would have been a choice had he ever been allowed to get his due and not screwed over by Riker having to stay in the safe space of Picard's shadow for so long.
But apparently poor Decker, even after getting stripped of command, demoted and then turned into "something", still can't catch a break by his absence in the poll
.
I know .... and despite the material you quote, I still get the vibe I describe with him.
The real world problem might have been that they initially characterised him as a fast track boy, willing to take a few risks for his career, and then, around the 3 year mark, found out that these character traits aren't actually compatible with a show that last much longer than the time he would be expected to stay on as XO, and then decided to lampshade it once (in BOBW) and ignore it mostly from that point onwards. (Also, I believe, because at that point it wasn't actually certain Patrick Steward would return for a 4th season) Perhaps their initial expectation was that the show wouldn't last much longer than 3 years in the first place?
Even so, in BOBW the implication seems to be that he apparently took the decision to stay on board longer than he originally planned, without being fully conscious of his own motives for doing so.
I've read/heard varying accounts about whether they knew if Stewart was returning for S4. It's possible that they kept things ambiguous for that reason... that's why I'm usually tolerant of Riker's decision. It's the only way the show could have kept two popular cast members.
EDIT: I am NOT, however, tolerant of Data remaining a LCDR as a result. He did more to deserve that third gold pip in one season than Deanna did throughout the series. And if Deanna and Beverly could be commanders, certainly the third ranking officer on the ship could.
EDIT: I am NOT, however, tolerant of Data remaining a LCDR as a result. He did more to deserve that third gold pip in one season than Deanna did throughout the series. And if Deanna and Beverly could be commanders, certainly the third ranking officer on the ship could.
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The Riker condition is pretty silly when compared with the real world. In the US Navy, a ship the size of the Enterprise would not only have captains (O6) as both commanding and executive officers, both would have experience as commanding officers of smaller vessels. Riker would have legitimately already had his first command and would have been of equal rank of Picard, although below him in the chain of command.
That would make the script writing a little too complex for the show. However, we have seen multiple Captains assigned to the same Star Ship before:
TUC
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For competence, Spock followed by Chakotay.
Based on advice/counseling, Spock, Chakotay, Riker, Kira, Shelby, T'Pol, Thelin
For militant badassedry, Kira, Chakotay, Spock, Riker, Shelby, Thelin (he's Andorian/Aenar, so presumably he's skilled with an ice-blade)
For my dumpling soup, Saru
For keeping the redshirts and dweeb ensigns in line, Kira, Riker, Spock, Chakotay, Shelby, Thelin, T'Pol
For diplomatic missions, Chakotay, Shelby, Spock, T'Pol, Thelin, Kira, Riker (sorry, but the last two are too passionate for diplomacy, in very different ways)
For my eggroll meat, whatever's left of Saru
For leading dangerous away missions (that don't involve crossing paths with alien boobies), Kira, Chakotay, Riker, Shelby, Thelin, T'Pol, and Saru (as emergency rations)
Based on advice/counseling, Spock, Chakotay, Riker, Kira, Shelby, T'Pol, Thelin
For militant badassedry, Kira, Chakotay, Spock, Riker, Shelby, Thelin (he's Andorian/Aenar, so presumably he's skilled with an ice-blade)
For my dumpling soup, Saru
For keeping the redshirts and dweeb ensigns in line, Kira, Riker, Spock, Chakotay, Shelby, Thelin, T'Pol
For diplomatic missions, Chakotay, Shelby, Spock, T'Pol, Thelin, Kira, Riker (sorry, but the last two are too passionate for diplomacy, in very different ways)
For my eggroll meat, whatever's left of Saru
For leading dangerous away missions (that don't involve crossing paths with alien boobies), Kira, Chakotay, Riker, Shelby, Thelin, T'Pol, and Saru (as emergency rations)
Spock
Spock
Riker
Would have picked Spock five times if it were possible.
Spock
Riker
Would have picked Spock five times if it were possible.
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