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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.
( The Other Days )
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.
( The Other Days )
