From: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: Riker in command
Date: 5 Jan 93 18:45:52 GMT
Reply-To: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Dept., Madison, WI

In <1993Jan4.144357.572@rivers> ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu writes:
>>>No, I'm saying the job a person has will bring out different traits in a 
>>>character, as we saw in "Disaster" when everyone had to do work they were
>>>unaccustomed to.  

>> Everyone seemed to behave in "Disaster" with the same character traits
>> they've had all along (meaning, in some cases, they were pretty bland :-)
>> Thinking through the roster - Picard, Data, Worf, Riker, Dr. Crusher and
>> LaForge - they all seemed to be roughly the same in that episode.

>Let me see now, Picard has to stifle his impatience with children and 
>when he does this we find out he wouldn't be such a bad father after all.

This character trait dates back to the first season; it is by no means new.
In fact, Picard DEALING with it began back in the first season as well.

>Troi has to dig down and find backbone and make some command decisions
>in a crisis situation.  

Nothing really new here, either.  Her cautious manner also grows basically out
of her character (what little there is of it) as depicted in the past (well,
except for nauseating aberrations such as "The Loss").

>Worf has to be a Doctor!  And when he does so, he learns to his surprise
>that it isn't as easy as he thought.  

I didn't see anything new here.  Worf reacted in a manner entirely consistent
with his character as previously depicted.

>Their basic characters remained the same, yes, but the facets of the
>crystals were turned in each case to allow us to see sides that aren't
>ordinarily brought out.

Not really.  It was pretty much old-hat as far as the characterization went.

I think that "The Naked Now" was more successful at getting at the CHARACTERS
than "Disaster" was, mainly because it did focus on the character, rather than
on their functions and tasks.

>>>If Riker were the Number One guy on the ship (pun intended), then he would
>>>also get more attention from the writers and therefore his character will
>>>develop more.

>> I tend to doubt it.  Data and Worf are both better developed than Riker
>> (and arguably both are better developed than Picard, though they've royally
>> screwed up Data's character over the past two years).  I think Picard has
>> merited attention from the writers because of Stewart's acting abilities.
>> They just don't seem very interested in Frakes.

>they aren't interested in Frakes because First Officer isn't such an
>interesting position on a ship.  He's the chief bureaucrat.  He actually
>does the nuts and bolts organization of the departments, and that doesn't
>make for good drama.

He's not just the "chief bureaucrat".  He also leads awayteam missions, and
the writers have done darned little with him in THAT role!

>			Put him in the Captain's chair and development will
>happen.  Right now he's a seed without soil and a pot. 

I'd put it that other way around:  He's soil and a pot without any seeds
(i.e., the writers don't seem to know what they should be planting in him to
make his character interesting).

>>>once his goal in life is met, i.e. command of a starship.

>> I find it hard to envision a Riker more relaxed than he is now; he's
>> positively MELLOW these days!

>Don't have trouble with your eyesight do you?  This is the second time you
>say you can't see something....

Actually, in this instance I DO see something:  I see Riker as a mellow
character.

>>>True enough, but still its "flagship" title is in debate.

>> The TITLE is in debate?  In what way?  The Enterprise has *EXPLICITLY* been
>> called the flagship of Starfleet at least twice!  What room for debate does
>> that leave?

>It's been called the flagship.  I do not dispute that.  What I wonder is
>if this is an official designation in the mission logs and all that kind
>of thing, or an honorary thing pegged on her by Starfleet personnel because
>of her name, crew, and Captain.  I wonder this because the flagship business
>wasn't mentioned at all in the first three years of her run.

Why is this relevant to our discussion?  Whether or not it's an "official
designation", the point is whether the Enterprise is too important a ship for
Riker to command on his first permanent command.  (And you've already admitted
in another post that the Enterprise is Starfleet's best ship.)

>> This issue has been debated extensively before on this newsgroup.  I recall
>> some people pointing out that there are classes of naval vessels in the US
>> fleet TODAY which are the only ships of their class.

>> While the existence of a USS Galaxy is implied in the class name (just as
>> the existence of a USS Constitution was in Classic Star Trek), we don't
>> actually KNOW if either exists or existed in the Trek universe.  It doesn't
>> stretch my imagination at all to conceive that a class need not have a ship
>> named after the class.

>> It also doesn't stretch my imagination to envision that Starfleet may lack
>> the resources to construct additional Galaxy-class vessels, especially
>> after the Borg encounter.

>Why does it also stretch your imagination to go in the direction that has
>been implied all along, that there are more Galaxy-class vessels?  

Implied by what?  Name episodes and quite lines to me.  I don't recall any
such implications.

>>>Because someone will be bright enough to see that Riker's only been waiting
>>>on the Enterprise so that he will eventually get the Enterprise.

>> But why should they give him the ship, therefore?  There are surely
>> better-qualified commanders.

>There are?  There are other commanders who know the Enterprise inside and
>out?

Jellico seemed to have a pretty good idea.

>	There are other commanders who have served on the Enterprise and
>with her crew almost from her very launching?

There are others who have served as Captain longer than Riker.  Riker lacks
experience as captain.

>Making Riker the Captain makes the most sense because his transfer up to
>the Captain's chair will be less disruptive than installing a new Captain
>above him, therefore more efficient.

I wonder if the US military does things this way?

>I tend to think Jellicoe's appointment was intended as short-term, since
>the Vice-Admiral specifically mentions his experience with the Cardassians
>as the real reason she gave him the job.

On the other hand, Riker said that "they don't usually go through the ceremony
for a temporary assignment".  If the assignment were temporary, then they
would have just made an impromptu move as they did with Riker in "The Best Of
Both Worlds" (where Riker was temporarily assigned as captain of the
Enterprise).

>					   If Picard had died, I don't
>think Jellicoe would have stayed on much longer after the Cardassian
>incident, but they went through the command ceremony in case the Cardassian
>incident was going to turn sour and drawn out, in which case there would
>be no time or need for the Enterprise to go on to other assignments.

That doesn't make any sense.  WHY would they go through the ceremony then, if
it was intended to be a temporary assignment, but not tell ANYONE else?  The
only functional purpose of the ceremony we know of is that it indicates to the
crew (and others, perhaps) that the change is intended to be permanent.  If
it's NOT intended to be permanent, why put on the pretense that it IS?

>There is also still the possibility that the Vice-Admiral was indeed a spy,
>which is even perhaps likely given the unlikeliness of Picard's selection
>for the mission.

What evidence do you have that she was a spy?  It's highly unlikely that she
has the authority all by herself to remove Picard from his command.  More
likely she had authorization from her superiors.

-- 
Michael Rawdon				  rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department,  Madison, WI
( Now in the Boston, Massachusetts area! )

No optimistic outlook survives contact with the human race.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current