LogFAQs > #933520161

18. William T. Riker
Why, hello, ladies.

I get what they were going for with Riker in season 1. Picard is the best of humanity in a philosophical sense: hes smart, diplomatic, and unfailingly ethical. Riker is almost that, but hes also young, handsome, and strong. Theres that one shot in the Ferengi episode where theyre all hunched over and look like rats while Riker, the human, stands tall above them. Its like a comical film student shot.

Everyone knows about growing the beard and all that, so I wont go into details. The important part is that Riker could have easily just been a guy on the bridge who says things Picard could have said instead. He could have easily been another Chakotay. Instead, Riker gets a lot of attention. Only Picard, Data, and Worf get more.

Riker gets a lot of flak for being Discount Kirk, and to an extent this is warranted. Hes brasher and more adventurous than Picard, and his literal role from a scriptwriting perspective is to go down to the planet, punch some guys, and get into trouble so we have a character we care about who needs help. I can accept that a lot of people dont see that much of a difference between them, but really, theres a huge gulf in terms of personality. Everyone remembers The Best of Both Worlds, but a lot of people dont remember that Picard isnt the protagonist. The protagonist is Riker. Hes the one whos like I dont know if I need a stalled career as the first officer of the flagship for the rest of my life and has to step up and prove that hes a capable captain in his own right. So while Riker and Kirk have similar roles in the story and sort of similar personalities, theres a huge difference in terms of inner conflict.

Id say Rikers biggest weakness may be Troi. The writers really needed to have put way more emphasis into their relationship or to put way less, but the way it comes off is kind of lame.

Speaking of kind of lame, no one suffers more in the movies than Riker. The writers clearly only had material for Picard and Data. Rather than try to fix this, they just shrugged and moved on. I cant think of a single thing Riker does in Generations or Insurrection, and all I can remember of him in First Contact and Nemesis is stunning Zephram Cochrane and personally fighting a Reman instead of sending a security guy to do it. At least Worf gets to shoot a Borg while saying Assimilate this.

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Started: July 6, 2005