Person of the week: Riker

[Teaos]

Well we have done pretty much all the ships we have enough information about to have a decent debate. Any of the ones left such as the saber and enemy ships we just don't know enough about to make it worth while.

So we now have the person of the week thread. Discuss their strengths and weaknesses, their mistake and triumphs.

This week we start with my all time favorite Star trek character.

Riker is a great officer and would be a great man to serve with. He knows his stuff and is a competent commander while also being more of a mans man than Picard is. The way those two mesh together is a lot of what made TNG great.

Him being duplicates is also interesting. I wonder what he feels about his doppelganger. Does he consider him a twin a member of his family or just someone who happens to look like him. It's a real shame they didn't explore this further.

His continued refusal of a command so he can stay second on the Flag ship was also something I found very believable and a nice element to the story.

If I had to serve with any officer in Starfleet it would be him by a mile.

[Captain Seafort]

He knows his stuff and is a competent commander.

Eh? This is the bloke who lost the Federation Flagship to an obsolete pile of junk because he fired one phaser blast before resorting to technobabble. If he'd kept firing (a la the barrages of BoBW) the BoP would have been shredded.

His performance otherwise was better - BoBW Pt2 probably showing him at his best, by using Picard's assimilated knowledge against the Borg, and gambling that that transfer of intelligence worked both ways.

[Teaos]

Yeah he screwed up but I doubt I'll be able to make a single thread for a person with out them having some dumass to their name.

Also Its been 10 years since I saw Generations (My least favourite of the new era movies) But wasnt their some reason behind him not firing?

[Jim]

Riker was a player... don't hate the player, hate the game.

[Enkidu]

OK. Time for my pet Riker theory, which I have nursed since the first run of the TNG, despite having no evidence for it beyond my gut feeling.
I thought that Riker was basically a thinly veiled retread of Kirk, (though I didn't know this at the time, he also seemed to have had some of the personality traits of Decker, the first officer and Kirk Mk II of the aborted Second Phase series) a thirty something, alien female sha, er, romancing, alien male hand to hand fighting, decisive, ambitious, all American hero type. Without the beard, he even looked a bit like a young Shatner.
I suspected he was a backup plan, if the character of Picard didn't catch on. I remember there was some raising of eyebrows at the prospect of an older, wiser, French Captain played by a bald British Shakespearean thesp. If ratings were poor, Picard could have bought the farm and Kirk Mk III could have tried to salvage the series.
When the series, and the Picard character, had unprecedented success, Riker grew a beard and the charcter was able to develop down his own path a little more.
Just my pet theory.

[Teaos]

I suppose it could be true but I dont consider Riker and newer version of Kirk. Mainly because I hate Kirk and want to carry Rikers love child so I dont really get the similarity in character.

[Mikey]

I always felt that there was a lot of untapped potential in Riker's character. His completely different style of command from Picards's should have led to more conflicts (since military discipline is NOT a hallmark of Starfleet) and his continued refusal to accept a command of his own - while necessary for the continuation of the franchise intact - was to me, a failing in the character.

I do somewhat agree with Enkidu in that Riker was something a vessel of the "Kirk-ness" that was absent in Picard, although Riker's Kirk-ness certainly wasn't up to true Kirk levels. I believe Riker developed more than any other character, excepting maybe Worf, as the series progressed, which was nice to see. I agree that I would have liked to see some backstory angles treated more thoroughly: his relationship with hs father or with Thomas Riker, for example. And why did he always stand with his neck crooked? Did he never learn to stand at attention at the Academy?

All in all, a decent character, and one that certainly got better with age, but not my fave by a long shot.

[Sionnach Glic]

Meh, an alright character I guess.
I never really got the impression from him that he should be promoted to captain, though.

[Thorin]

Anyone find this strange?

In BoBW, Riker is Captain, Sisko is Lieutenant Commander
In Insurrection, Riker is Commander, Sisko is Captain

While not a brilliant prospect for command (his one attack on the bird of prey, for example), he is truely one of the best ones - they gave it Janeway, after all, whereas I do believe Riker was offered Voyager.

[Mikey]

No, I don't find that strange at all. Riker was captain merely by fact of circumstance - he was the highest ranking officer on the ship, so it's a given that he would assume the captaincy. Sisko went on to commander and then captain because of his ability.

Riker's continued refusal of commands was a little ridiculous - in actuality, after you refuse your first few, you don't get offered any more.

[Teaos]

He had a choice of staying second in command of the Federation flag ship or commander of some second rate ship.

I would have stayed on the Enterprise to if I was him.

[Captain Peabody]

Riker is da man...period. In the beginning, he's a fairly obvious Kirk-substitute, but by the time he gets the beard, he's one of the coolest people on the Enterprise. His best episode is probably Frame of Mind, though Best of Both Worlds really does show him at his best.

So, to Riker; the Real Man of the Enterprise...

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Riker was awesome. Best of the TNG characters, except maybe Worf.

[Mikey]

He had a choice of staying second in command of the Federation flag ship or commander of some second rate ship.

I would have stayed on the Enterprise to if I was him.

It depends on your priorities. If you wanted to remain a part of the flagship of the Federation, then you stay on the Enterprise. If you want to continue furthering your career, you have to move on. The idea that Riker refused so many opportunities and was still offered one again is just nuts. I don't care if I was second in command to the Pope; if I was offered my own captaincy, I would jump at it. Remember, they weren't offering him garbage scows to command, but real big-boy starships.

[Tsukiyumi]

I always felt that Riker stayed to learn more from Picard about command, so that when he finally got his own, he'd be a better captain because of the experience.