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.

[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...)

[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.

[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.

[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!