Thirty Days of Star Trek: Favorite First Officer

[selenak]

Day 15 - Favorite First Officer

Here I have to differentiate between "character I love who is also a first officer" and "favorite of the first officers who is actually good at being a first officer". And I choose to answer to the second category. (I mean: Michael is among my favourite ST characters, but going from the s1 opening two parter, I'm not sure she was a great first first officer, even when not committing mutiny, because she was too invested in Philippa vis a vis also caring about the big picture. Only caring about the later and losing sight of the individual is wrong, sure, but also the other extreme.)

Ideally, tv has taught me, a First Officer should be a good counterpart to the Captain, not the same type of personality, supportive when needed, but also offering other perspectives and, should the Captain be in the wrong, not afraid to put his/her conscience first. A good relationship between them is important, but if the XO is too much into his or her Captain, he or she might not be an ideal XO for the crew. (This, in case you're wondering, is why Spock isn't my choice any more than Michael is.)

Saru would have been a contender - despite, err, being hindered by his s1 Captain - but for certain s2 plot points and his behavior during same. I still love him, but he's not No1. in this category.

Kira definitely fits all the criteria and after the first few months, she develops a good working relationship with Sisko, neither too close nor to distant... but I feel Sisko has an unfair advantage here because he's the Emissary, and Kira is a True Believer. As she says in the episode with the other Emissary, if he'd ever used his position to give orders like the ones his "rival" does, she'd have obeyed.

Number One we've so far seen not enough of to judge her on the same type of canonical basis as we can the others.

In conclusion: It's Riker, William T. Riker isn't my favorite TNG character or even among the top three or four, but I do like him, and I think he's an excellent CO both for Picard and the Enterprise crew.





Day 1 - Favorite TOS Episode

Day 2 - Favorite Federation Race

Day 3 - Favorite Starship

Day 4 - Favorite Captain

Day 5 - Saddest Event

Day 6 - Happiest Event

Day 7 - Favorite TNG Episode

Day 8 - Favorite Federation Enemy

Day 9 - Favorite Character

Day 10 - Most Shocking Moment

Day 11 - Crew Position You Would Want

Day 12 – Crew Position You Wouldn’t Want

Day 13 - Favorite DS9 Episode

Day 14- Favorite Time Travel Episode


Day 16 - Favorite Voyager Episode
Day 17 - Favorite Trek Novel
Day 18 - Favorite Non-Aligned Race
Day 19 - Favorite Enterprise Episode
Day 20 - Character You're Most LIke
Day 21 - Least Favorite Character
Day 22 - Favorite Trek Film
Day 23 - Best Trek Tech
Day 24 - Best Overall Space Vessel
Day 25 - Favorite Discovery Episode
Day 26 - Planet You Would Most Like To Visit
Day 27 - Character You Would Date
Day 28 - Name Your Own Starship
Day 29 - Favorite Trek Quote
Day 30 - Favorite Trek Series

Comments

[yhlee]

This is such a great analysis, and I have to agree (from what I know of the various Treks). I didn't like Riker half the time, but he was a great complement to Picard.

[selenak]

*nods* That's what I was trying to express. :)

[felis]

Yeah, Riker isn't my favourite character either, but I came to respect him. His mature and lovely relationship with Deanna was one of the reasons, but I think the first time I really took notice was Measure of a Man, where he has the thankless role opposite Picard, arguing against Data's personhood, because someone has to in the court of law. And he does his duty and his best there despite his personal feelings on the matter, something Data later thanks him for. That certainly stuck with me.

Re: Saru, I agree that he was a good XO in the first season and also the total opposite of Lorca. Which, as we see in your list of criteria, is a wanted trait, but still made me scratch my head a bit because I kept wondering why Lorca would go for that. If he thought it would help him keep up appearances or if he underestimated Saru.

Does Chakotay fall into the Spock category of being too into his captain? :-D

(Also, to complete the line-up, this post made me google who the First Officer on ENT was, because even though I watched all four seasons quite recently, I still couldn't remember. Apparently it was T'Pol, which makes some sense, but somehow I thought it couldn't have been because she wasn't Starfleet...)

[selenak]

Oh, I think the Riker/Troi relationship is one of the best m/f relationships Trek had to offer - exes who were friends, supported each other, worked well with each other, and, despite lingering romantic feelings, didn't make a scene or made everything about themselves whenever either of them had other important relationships. I remember doing a TNG rewatch a couple of years ago after having been through several tv shows with a lot of "but you're miiiiiine" drama, and good lord, did the Imzadis feel refreshing by contrast. (It also made it possible to root for them to get together in the movies - we'd seen they were good for each other by show, not tell.

I kept wondering why Lorca would go for that. If he thought it would help him keep up appearances or if he underestimated Saru.

I think it was both to maintain his cover and because he saw that Saru had potential and would be good at his job. Lorca was a hardcore imperialist, but not stupid, and actually a good judge of who'd make a useful crew member. He had an eye out as to who'd be loyal to him, personally, hence Ash, sure, but I think in his high handed wannabe dictatory way he meant it when he told the Discovery crew over speaker he came to respect them in his last conversation with Saru, and that if he thought there'd be a chance they'd join him he'd have asked them to. (Now, that he thought Michael would join him is another matter, but then he had blinders when it came to Michael due to his relationship with her alter ego.)

T'Pol was on loan from the Vulcan High Command, which was a fancy way of saying "it's canon that Spock was the first Vulcan XO in Starfleet, so we need to find away around this" but actually fits with Kira never having been a Starfleet member, either - she's a member of the Bajoran militia on loan to Sisko throughout DS9.

Chakotay: that, and I just can't stand him.

[lilacsigil]

Picard and Riker were a fantastic team!

I think it was fortunate for Sisko that he was also the Emissary, because Kira could have made his life - and Starfleet's presence on DS9 - vastly more difficult otherwise.

[selenak]

Quite possible, though I like to think that once they got to know and respect each other as people, they’d hammered out a working relationship regardless. I mean: Kira could work with Garak and Damar on Cardassia Prime if needs must. Working with not-the-Emissary Sisko seems a piece of cake by comparison.

[watervole]

I agree with your analysis. I was thinking Riker as soon as I saw the question, and he's not among my favourite characters either.

[selenak]

He's the first officer's first officer. :)

[nolivingman]

I rewatched TNG last year and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I fell in love with Riker. Now granted, big, loud, extroverted, earnest heroic types are my type, and so in retrospect it shouldn’t have been surprising, but still.

He’s competent, caring, funny, always ready to do whatever Picard needs, and for all he gets crap for his love life, he is always extremely interested in making sure he has full consent from his partners. He’s awesome!

[selenak]

I was primed to dislike him because at first I thought he was supposed to be a Kirk clone, but without ever becoming my fave, he pretty quickly won me over. (With and without the beard.;) )