Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we celebrate our 300th installment of this segment with the best moments of my favorite first officer. No, not Spock as we've done on many prior anniversary segments, but William T. Riker from TNG.
Will Riker often presented himself as a daring and fun character in his role as Number One on Picard's ship, but we do not get to see him fully embrace such a personality until the episode A Matter of Honor. In this episode, Riker serves in an exchange officer program with the Klingons and has to be a daring tough guy to survive as a Klingon crew member.
QUOTE (from A Matter of Honor, S2):
""A Klingon is his work, not his family; that is the way of things!"
"He's your father!"
"Klingons do not express... ...feeling the way you do!"
"Perhaps you should."
"We would not know how!"
"Yesterday, I did not know how... to eat gagh!" "
"He's your father!"
"Klingons do not express... ...feeling the way you do!"
"Perhaps you should."
"We would not know how!"
"Yesterday, I did not know how... to eat gagh!" "
Later in season 7's The Pegasus, we see Riker's first commanding officer come on board the Enterprise to search for the vessel they served on many years ago. The mystery of this Pegasus ship reveals interesting character development for Riker as the mistakes of the past come out into the open when he reveals his former commander had broken a treaty with the Romulans about cloaking technology. This is much like Riker's version of the Wesley Crusher episode The First Duty, a view of how mistakes and flaws in the past can help you develop into a better officer later.
QUOTE (from The Pegasus, S7):
"Now that doesn't sound like the same man who grabbed a phaser and defended his captain twelve years ago."
"I've had twelve years to think about it. And if I had it to do over again, I would've grabbed the phaser and pointed it at you instead of them."
"So, on reflection, you'd rather be a traitor than a hero."
"I wasn't a hero, and neither were you! What you did was wrong, and I was wrong to support you, but I was too young and too stupid to realize it! You were the captain; I was the ensign. I was just following orders.""
"I've had twelve years to think about it. And if I had it to do over again, I would've grabbed the phaser and pointed it at you instead of them."
"So, on reflection, you'd rather be a traitor than a hero."
"I wasn't a hero, and neither were you! What you did was wrong, and I was wrong to support you, but I was too young and too stupid to realize it! You were the captain; I was the ensign. I was just following orders.""
Like some other characters, one of Riker's best episodes was one in which he thinks he is going crazy and has to overcome the challenge. In this episode entitled Frame of Mind, Riker is actually phase shifting between an alien hospital and the Enterprise, where he is rehearsing for a role in a play as a crazy man, ironically.
QUOTE (from Frame of Mind, S6):
""Commander, I must congratulate you on your performance this evening."
"Oh?"
"Your unexpected choice to improvise was an effective method of drawing the audience into the plight of your character. You gave a truly realistic interpretation of multi-infarct dementia." "
"Oh?"
"Your unexpected choice to improvise was an effective method of drawing the audience into the plight of your character. You gave a truly realistic interpretation of multi-infarct dementia." "
Finally, in what might be a surprising choice to some, my pick for best Riker episode is the two-parter Best of Both Worlds. Sure, Picard is assimilated by the Borg and all, but the first episode focuses more on Riker being in conflict with another commander who wants his job and questioning his career choices, while the second episode features Riker taking command of the ship to overcome the Borg while personally dealing with grief over the apparent loss of his mentor and captain. This is really the key Riker story of the series. Nobody can forget this cliffhanger line, as well, when Riker decides to take on the Borg led by Locutus.
QUOTE (from Best of Both Worlds, S3-4):
"Mr. Worf...fire."
Other episodes of note include A Matter of Perspective from season 3, Future Imperfect from season 4, and Second Chances from season 6. Riker was a well-developed right hand man for Captain Picard, and without him and his iconic beard after season 1, TNG would not have been as good and successful as it turned out to be.
Commander Riker was played by Jonathan Frakes, who is still active in Hollywood today with recent directing roles on The Librarians, The Orville, and of course, Star Trek Discovery.
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