Talk:William Riker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Film Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Films. This project is a central gathering of editors working to build comprehensive and detailed articles for film topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the priority scale.
Editing Guidelines Please remember these guidelines when editing a film article: If a non-film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (film) in the title: Film Title (film) For more information see: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) When writing an article about a particular film, the general format should be a concise lead section, followed by a plot summary of no more than 900 words, production details, a cast list, a reception section, and references. Create an Infobox that tells all pertinent information about the film.
Additional Information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- 1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points are appropriately cited. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- 2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain major omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- 3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- 4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- 5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no

	Star Trek Portal This article is part of WikiProject Star Trek, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to all Star Trek-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

Contents 1 Serial number 2 Name 3 XO 4 Deleted 5 Tom Riker 6 Name inspiration 7 Picture 8 Trivia error 9 Facial hair 10 Riker's Galactic Conquest 11 Riker's home town 12 Admiral Riker??? 13 Seems Incomplete 14 In-universe

[edit] Serial number

What significance does "(231-427)" have in the infobox? I can't for the life of me figure out what this has to do with Riker. -Etoile 03:10, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

That is his starfleet serial number (given in Gambit, part 1). Cburnett 19:27, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name

Is his name not William Troi following Nemesis? Matthew Platts 21:32, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

That depends, if Will decided to honour the Betazed tradition or not. My guess (correct me if I'm wrong, anyone), is on Betazed he's name is William T.Troi, everywhere else he's William T.Riker (after all, Deanna is half-human). Great question by the way Mightberight/wrong 22:26, 30 October 2005 (UTC).

Captain Picard calling him "Mr. Troi" was a joke intended to make fun of Riker. Sort of a "who wears the pants" joke. I'm not sure if it is a Betazoid tradition to change the man's name. Mainphramephreak 13:54, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Agreed ("duh," even). Hence Riker's bemused expression and the wry smiles on the folks standing in the background. --EEMeltonIV 16:21, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] XO

Now that William T.Riker is a Captain, and in command of the USS Titan. I wonder who his First Officer will be, would he consider Lt.Cmdr Shelby. Mightberight/wrong 22:28, 30 October 2005 (UTC).

According to Star Trek: Titan: Taking Wing, his XO is Christine Vale. Shelby, at this time, is probably already the Admiral of Sector 221-G. PantherFoxie 00:18, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted

I deleted "(Starfleet has a bizarre habit of indulging officers who wish to stay with ships named Enterprise, even when it would be better for their careers to move on to new ships and postings.)" It isn't clear to me this is Starfleet's "bizarre habit" or limited to Enterprise. My impression is, XOs generally have the option to refuse command; I would guess there is RN influence at play here, since I'm unaware of USN officers being able to refuse promotion, but Brits seem able to. --trekphiler, 16/11/05

Riker was always the one to refuse the two other commands. Admiral Hanson (Best of Both Worlds, Part I) even went so far as to talk to Captain Picard about Riker being offered the Melborne. The admiral wanted Picard to basically kick Riker in the butt to get him off the Enterprise and into a command of his own. Good thing Riker didn't take it, too. Mainphramephreak 13:43, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tom Riker

Captain William T.Riker of the USS Titan, isn't the original William T.Riker. He & Tom are both transporter clones of the original Will Riker, does anyone agree? GoodDay 16:15, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

There is no 'Original Will Riker'. Both William and Thomas Riker are both the exact same person up to the point of the transporter incident. They both have the same history before that point. IE: Thomas Riker's bio would read identical to William's until the accident. I don't think that makes either of them a 'different' person from the original. The original didn't die and was replaced with clones. The original was just copied (the only technicality is that neither one is the original nor a 'copy'. They are just two versions of the original. It's as if I write out two copies of chapter one of a novel identically. Then, at that point, I write chapter two for one copy. Then I write a different chapter two for the second copy. Both copies of the story have the same first chapter, but neither is 'the original' or 'a copy' of the other. It's just two stories like Tom and Will are two people who originated from one person.

Another way to look at it is that a transporter reads a person's molecules, turns it into energy and then turns it back into molecules. So if you want to look at it another way, every time you transport, you're merely destroying a person and creating a copy. In this case, two copies were made instead of one. However, if you want to get absolutely technical, Geordi does mention that the original transporter chief created a second beam, and that was the one that bounced back. So in the most technical sense, perhaps Thomas comes from a 'secondary' transporter signal of Riker while Will was the primary transporter pattern. But ultimately they are both identical patterns. TheHYPO 22:34, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name inspiration

Any chance that there's a character name inspiration from William H. Riker? Cburnett 19:27, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

Forgive me if you guys have a different reason for having this picture, but isn't the pic of riker a little unflattering? Isn't that from nemesis, where he's REALLY old? Surely there's a better picture of him with the tng uniform and alot younger. He's certainly better known in that context. I would upload a picture, but I am afraid of violating one of wikipedia's rules or something. They're very complicated, and I'm not sure that I wouldn't be like banned immediately for vandalizing someone's hard work or something.

But that pic of riker has gotta go. He's fat, old, and in that hideous new uniform.

I don't mind the picture, but I agree that we should probably include one from when he was most memorable: TNG. I'll find something. And as long as source information accompanies a picture, you should be able to upload one (anew or as a replacement) without difficulty. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 23:54, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Is it just me or does Riker become captain of the enterprise D at another time other than when Picard was assimilated? Where we see an old and greying riker, with an upgraded enterprise D ?

I think the picture is fine and flattering, but we need a picture of him later in the movie with Captains pips. Nicht Nein! 17:04, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Agree - I think the images from TNG are classic and work best, but I also agree it would be a good idea to have a later image from say, Nemesis, later in the article where Nemesis and the other TNG movies are mentioned, if no objections I will change this. Ejfetters 06:43, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia error

Marina Sirtis played Troi on three different series, too. TNG (entire run), ENT (TATV), and VOY (couple episodes including "Pathfinder"

In the time it took you to post that, you could have fixed it ;-) --EEMeltonIV 19:48, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Facial hair

Why did Riker grow a beard and mustache just before Season 2?--70.58.240.56 18:09, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I think IMDb(?)'s ever-reliable trivia section says he grew it for a Civil War-era film and kept it for the second season of TNG. --EEMeltonIV 18:10, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Riker's Galactic Conquest

Am I the only one who noticed that Riker was on a sort of Galactic Conequest, mainly to conqure all alien women he met? He seemed to be giving Kirk a run for his money...

Seriously. Before he got the beard, he seemed a little young and just sort of bathed in the attention he got from women. But you can pinpoint the exact moment his conquest began - it was in Up The Long Ladder. He gave that Irish woman his patented "Riker" stare, the one where he opens his eyes wide and smiles a bit. After that, no woman can resist him. It only seems to work from season 2 onwards though.

Just watch him after that. Every attractive woman he meets, he gives the look. After that, they all start to feel attracted to him. It's a good job that holographic woman Geordi summoned up never met him or he would never have had a look-in.

I feel there should be some mention of this in the trivia section perhaps. I have been trying to gather evidence, but it's a slow process. I wonder if Frakes had some influence over the scripting, or if Riker was just written that way?

[edit] Riker's home town

I don't recall Valdez being mentioned in any episode as Riker's birthplace. He was from Alaska, we know this, and he also lived in Canada for a time ("Lower Decks"). But I don't believe Valdez was mentioned except in the novel "Rock and a Hard Place", when he meets up with his childhood friend Carter and they recall growing up in Valdez. Once, a Valdez rep was at a trade show in my town, and I mentioned Valdez being credited as Riker's birthplace, so they could put up a sign, the way Riverside, Iowa has taken credit for James T. Kirk. GBC 20:30, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Valdez is mentioned in the Chronology as Riker's birthplace. I would guess his biography in "Conundrum" might show this : possibly "The Icarus Factor". Morwen - Talk 15:33, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Admiral Riker???

In "All Good Things..." Riker is an Admiral. Yet Riker is not listed as an Admiral in this article. I realize "All Good Things..." had it's illusions, but I thought I'd mention this. anyone care to comment if Riker as Admiral should go into the article?

\ —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Caffeine USA (talk • contribs) 03:01, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

Yes, I agree. Nicht Nein! 17:04, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Nah. He was Admiral in a possible future. In the current timeline of Star Trek:TNG, he is a Captain.Azn Clayjar 06:38, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Seems Incomplete

Most of this article seems to be about Riker's history before his service on the Enterprise which is secondary background info. Most of this article should highlight his career on the Enterprise. DO NOT DO an episode by episode description though. Azn Clayjar 06:38, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

• Alright, tried to fix the article to stress more on his TNG era career than his history. Hope you think it looks good. I know nothings cited, I still need to work on citing things, which I will just use Memory Alpha and startrek.com as my cites. I know there may be some typos here and there, if ya catch 'em , please fix them. Replaced with infobox picture with the red TNG era uniform, and other pictures are littered throughout the sections, to make it look more professional. I wouldn't however, add like 20 pictures to the article, it looks good the way it is.

If this goes over well, I may try to overhaul other Star Trek character pages that seem to need a lot of attention too. Ejfetters 06:33, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] In-universe

This article is tagged appropriately because it lacks out-of-universe information, and is strictly in-universe style. Examples of needed information would be casting info, critcal commentary, reception, etc. Ejfetters 00:06, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

• The in-universe tag is to be used when an article is completely written as if the person/topic were real. I don't know whether edits have been made since the tag was placed 2 weeks ago, but as it stands now there are sufficient references to novels, episodes and films that only the most naiive of readers would think this is real. That doesn't mean that additional sources can't be added; but that's the purview of another tag. 23skidoo 16:05, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

• I think you're conflating/combining "in-universe" and "unreferenced." Being in-universe isn't so much about whether it is referenced, but rather the type of information presented in the article. This article is overwhelmingly plot summary from the TV show and movies; it is "in-universe." For the tag to be appropriately removed, the plot summary needs to be substantially cut and the content expanded to include "out-of-universe"/real-world information, e.g. critical reaction to the character, merchandising, how the character was developed and cast, etc. --EEMeltonIV 19:29, 22 September 2007 (UTC)