Captain Riker

sabertooth1217 · **Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:38 pm Captain Riker**

Everyone knows William T. Riker as the first officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise D NCC-1701 and as the new Captain of the U.S.S. Titan (As of Star Trek: Nemesis) but Riker was given a lot of chances to become a captain on other starships, and Riker turned it down in each of the series of The Next Generation.
He was given at lest 3 different commands but Riker would not take them. He stayed as the First Officer on Enterprise for a very long amount of time.
He has been through tough times, relationships between Deanna Troi, Fights with Riker, Holodecks and having fun at a poker table. All of these things contributed to Riker�s Character.
What this topic is about is what you think of him. Do you think that Riker would have made a better captain If he took the first command that was offered to him, or did Riker needed to stay on enterprise to finished developing his character.

JordiLaForge · **Sat Jul 03, 2004 9:07 am riker as captian in tng**

well i think that Riker as a charactar or person, enjoyed first officer on 1701D. I dont think it really has all that much to do with character development, more it has to do with how his character was written in tng. Since Riker was so comfy in tng, it let him do things that other characters could not. for example: be a main character and be in a relationship with Deanna, be an advisor to the marvolus and supreme capt. Picard, be the first (as far as i can remember) char to deal with his own "clone", and best of all, be the best bluff at 5 card stud. in conclusion, as a character i dont think Riker took any oppertunity to be captian because he simply liked where he was and the people he was around. seriously if you were him, would you leave?

sabertooth1217 · **Sat Jul 03, 2004 1:00 pm**

If I was him would I leave? The moment that I was offered a command of any type of ship I would be packing my bags and moving o it. I would not give up the chance to have a command of my own. Riker did many times. That�s the part that makes me wonder, did he really believe that he could command a star ship without a safety telling him what to do. When you become a captain of a Starfleet vessel you rise to the next level. You are the one people that the crew looks up to for an answer, but when you don't have an answer your alone. I think the main reason that Riker didn't move up was because he was nothing but afraid of change. I would be to when I first start out as a captain of any vessel but I wouldn't pass it up just for comfort.

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

This is a question which a lot of us can ask for real. There may be people on this forum who hold a supervisory or managerial position in a job and it's a question that is relevant to them.

For Riker, the question he probably pondered was, do I want to be a big fish in a small pond, which is what he may have been on some starships? Relatively speaking, there may be situations where being a Commander on the Enterprise is much more satisfying than being a Captain on another ship.

When Picard was in his thirties, he was Captain of the Stargazer, a freighter. When Kirk was in his thirties, he was Captain of the Enterprise. The same rank but two different positions entirely.

My point is-I think Riker was wise to hold back on assuming his own command. Sometimes, in life, it is wise to wait.

I am actually going through something myself. I am in an administrative position at my workplace and have been working for a particular department for awhile now. A managerial position came up but it was working upstairs in a department that doesn't interest me at all. So, I've held back and will wait until a managerial position comes up within my current department.

sabertooth1217 · **Sat Jul 03, 2004 3:05 pm**

How long of a wait would you wait to get the position that you mainly desired. I can see what your saying when Riker would have been a Big fish in a small pond. The only position that could be a "bigger pond" for Riker as a first officer on the Fleet ships of the federation would be to be the captain of the enterprise.

I wouldn't mind for the most part on waiting a while to gain what i really want. But when it comes down to it I am very impatient.

DeltasVoyager · **Fri Jul 09, 2004 12:27 pm**

i think he made the right decision staying onboard the enterprise , i would rather be first officer of the enterprise than be captain of some crappy ship anyday, go on will!