star trek wiki uss titan

Picard's New Starship Took Inspiration From “Retro” Star Trek Canon

Picard’s showrunner and production designer break down the new USS Titan.

The best new starship in Star Trek canon isn’t the Enterprise ! In Star Trek: Picard Season 3, the bold new adventure will happen onboard a new starship even more retro than the Enterprise-D . Of all the new stars of Picard Season 3, the USS Titan is perhaps the most exciting for longtime fans.

But how does this ship fit into the Trek timeline? Is it an old ship? A new ship? A bit of both? Inverse got in touch with Picard showrunner Terry Matalas and production designer Dave Blass to get the details on the latest and greatest ship in Starfleet. Spoilers ahead for Picard Season 3, Episode 1, “The Next Generation.”

The USS Titan NCC-80102-A

In the Picard Season 3 premiere, “The Next Generation,” Will Riker and Jean-Luc Picard find themselves onboard a Neo-Constitution Class starship called the USS Titan . Picard refers to this as Will’s “old command,” which references the fact that after Nemesis , in 2379, Riker became captain of the USS Titan , NCC-80102. We never saw that version of the Titan in live-action, but that was a Luna-class ship, and it appeared in the Lower Decks Season 1 finale and the first two episodes of Lower Decks Season 2.

View on Instagram

But Picard Season 3 is way past that. We’re in 2402 now, and this isn’t Riker’s Titan . This is the next version of the Titan , which is why it has “A” after its registry. As explained by the official Instagram “Star Trek Logs” and Terry Matalas himself, this new Titan was built “using the original Titan spaceframe,” which is why Captain Shaw refers to having to purge all of Riker’s jazz music from the computer.

So is the new Titan a refit of Riker’s Titan or a brand-new ship? The answer from Matalas and Paramount is: yes. It’s both!

Is the Titan bigger than the Enterprise ?

The USS Titan -A in Picard Season 3.

Dave Blass, production designer on Picard Season 2 and 3, tells Inverse, “The USS Titan comes in at 1839 feet long compared to the 2250 feet Enterprise E and the 2108 feet Enterprise D. It’s designed as an exploratory vessel but not as a ‘family-friendly’ ship like the D.”

According to the 2021 Star Trek: Shipyards book , which covers ships from 2294 (the end of the classic movie era) all the way to the 3180s ( Discovery’s distant future), the USS Enterprise-C was 526 meters, which would make it about 1725 feet. So, because the new Titan is 1839 feet long, it’s about a hundred feet longer than the Enterprise-C, meaning it’s much closer to Catapin Rachel Garrett’s Enterprise (from “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) than either of Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s Enterprises .

Relative to other Titans , the new Titan-A is much bigger than Riker’s previous Titan , which — according to that same Shipyards book — was 1489 feet long.

The Titan’s classic Star Trek movie inspiration

The inspiration for the design of the Titan is the same in real life as it is in-universe. The official logs point out that the “Constitution III” class of the new Titan is inspired by the “retro” design of the Constitution refit. This means if you think the new Titan is evocative of the refit Enterprise from the classic films stretching from The Motion Picture (1979) to The Undiscovered Country (1991), you would be correct.

The refit version of the USS Enterprise in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Trek fans, and even various Trek writers and producers, have long cited this as their favorite starship design in the entire canon. In the 2016 Star Trek oral history book The Fifty-Year Mission by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, former TNG, and DS9 producer Ronald D. Moore put it like this: “The Enterprise in The Motion Picture is the best of all the designs. It’s sleek and beautiful and everything is in proportion.”

Terry Matalas agrees, telling Inverse that his love for that movie-era Enterprise is strong.

“The refit Constitution-Class is the best starship design ever made. Perfectly clean, retro lines,” he says. “It’s forever baked into my psyche.”

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is now streaming on Paramount+.

• Science Fiction

• April 10, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Preview Offers Intriguing Clues And The Return To [SPOILERS]
• April 10, 2024 | Mary Wiseman Really Doesn’t Want To Talk About Tilly Returning On ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’
• April 9, 2024 | Sonequa Martin-Green Talks About Exhausting Last Day On Set For ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
• April 9, 2024 | Review: The EXO-6 ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ 1:6 Odo Figure Is The Shape of Things To Come
• April 9, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Director Fesses Up To Unplanned Cameo In Episode 502

Interview: Terry Matalas On USS Titan Backstory, Seven And Riker’s Roles & More ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3

| September 14, 2022 | By: Anthony Pascale 170 comments so far

Star Trek Day brought our first look at the upcoming third season of Star Trek: Picard and at the event, TrekMovie had a few moments to talk to showrunner Terry Matalas, who gave us more details on what we can see in the new teaser trailer, and what to expect when the season arrives in February.

In our podcast interview , you talked about how you have a new DP (director of photography) for the show, And this new trailer looks very different, very much like a movie. Is that just trailer editing or does the show have a different look and feel in season 3?

It does. It is very different. We really wanted to make this as cinematic an experience as possible. If there wasn’t going to be a final Star Trek: The Next Generation movie then this 10-episode series would serve that and feel like that. So when it comes out, my recommendation would be to turn off the lights, pop some popcorn, and you got 10 chapters ahead of you that should feel as cinematic as possible.

Let’s talk ships. What can you tell us about the USS Titan?

So, in the trailer, you see our hero ship of season three. It’s actually a class that’s called, in Starfleet slang, the Neo-Constitution class or Constitution III. It’s based on a design by fan Bill Krause. Let’s say there are a few fan-designed ships that are canonized this season in the fleet.

But this is the Titan-A?

It is the Titan-A, yes. You’ll see in the season, that in the observation room we honor the previous Titans that have come before. You’ll see a gold model of the Luna class USS Titan as seen in Lower Decks , which was designed by Sean Tourangeau. And we even see a previous incarnation from the TOS movie era. We’ll see that there was a Titan that was a bit of a Constitution class as well, the original Shangri-La class [designed by Bill Krause]. So, the idea was that after the Luna class’s legacy run with Riker, that ship was damaged and retired. Some of the systems were refit and put into this new Titan, the Titan-A.

What kind of ship is it for Starfleet, more workhorse or more flagship? 

It is a classic exploratory vessel that is a bit of an underdog in the situation that it gets into. So we really wanted to take a moment here and think about where Starfleet is at and how it would see advantages in the diversification of ship designs including purpose-built ships that were designed for specific types of missions. The new Titan is more of a long-range workhorse of a ship. Harkening back to the Constitution class that was designed for the long 5-year missions. It is an exploratory vessel with some serious maneuvering capabilities. Have you seen those impulse engines? Phew!

The Titan-A shows off its quad impulse engines

Can you talk about the design process, and maybe who worked on it?

The Luna class felt like it was more TNG-era than the Picard -era we set up with the new Stargazer, so we looked at many, many designs. I sat with [ Picard production designer] Dave Blass along with Doug Drexler and John Eaves—both of which are Trek legends. One of the things we noticed was that the ships were starting to get a bit too aerodynamic. Oval and arrowheads. All curves, no angles. No proper saucers. We were quickly heading to Enterprise-J territory. So, we asked ourselves what if Starfleet designers looked backward to some of those old retro designs and updated them?—not unlike today’s modern car designers. But there needed to be a logic to it.

Doug Drexler had the idea that the round saucers and the wide saucers are inherently more stable in an emergency atmospheric entry. Not that we would see that in the season, but hey! It happens! His notion was that the elongated primary hull is more dependent on aerodynamic force fields, and ship’s computers to glide them in. So we started to tell ourselves some Trek stories to flesh it all out. Starfleet experienced an incident during an emergency atmospheric entry where a certain Sovereign class primary hull maybe inverted and perished. Then a repeat incident happened with an Intrepid class primary hull. Doug noted that nothing like this had ever happened in the long history of circular and wide-tracking hulls. Software solutions were computer tested but not 100% successful. Why this weakness did not show up in computer trials of the Sovereign is still a matter of debate amongst Starfleet engineers. Just ask Geordi. [laughs]

And that is why it has more of a retro design compared to ships like the Enterprise-E?

Well, the Enterprise-E was also created during the time of the Borg invasion and had a specific design put in it for that purpose. Now that the Borg are no longer seen as a major threat, the new designs would revert back to previous “scientific exploration” type designs. It’s also worth noting that with the Federation growing it’s harder and harder to get consensus on anything in Starfleet. One admiral pushes for building a bunch of the same design ships so that they can be replicated quickly and then parts can be exchanged. Thus, you end up with the Zheng He or Inquiry class fleet. The problem is once an enemy finds a flaw, they can exploit that on an entire fleet. You only learn this until you lose a whole squadron of ships, which is what Doug Drexler theorized happened with the Inquiry class.

Doug had an amazing take on this. He’d say, “A Jeep still is a Jeep.” And there are logical utilitarian reasons why the Jeep still works and hasn’t gone away, and won’t go away. Classic Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses were designed in 1932. They haven’t changed! Because it’s a perfect design. C’mon, the P-51 Mustang hasn’t been surpassed. And that’s why Maverick flies one in Top Gun . That design is almost 100 years old! And the Constitution Class starship is a perfect design. So, this is simple aircraft logic. That’s what defines Star Trek tech. You can thank Matt Jefferies.

The new USS Titan

There are some other ships in the trailer, can you tell us about those?

There is a science medical vessel you see early on, called the SS Eleos. That’s the first ship you see, and that’s Beverly Crusher’s ship.

Do you mean she is captain, or just assigned to this ship?

She is not assigned. She’s also not in Starfleet. I can’t really say much more than that.

Beverly Crusher’s ship, the S.S. Eleos.

But that is a Starfleet ship?

It used to be a Starfleet ship.

And it’s being attacked by some crescent-shaped ship, almost looks Ferengi?

They are not Ferengi.

The SS Eleos being attacked by an unknown ship.

What can you tell us about the Spacedock? Is it a new Spacedock or the old one with some add-ons?

It’s a new Spacedock. You actually find out the fate of the old Spacedock this season, but the new one is very much in the spirit of the Spacedock that I have certainly come to love in Star Trek III , and IV , and VI . I love that nautical feeling of a giant Spacedock and ships coming to and from around Earth. I just really wanted to return to that Starfleet pomp and circumstance.

The new Spacedock seen in the trailer.

Riker really feels like the core of this trailer, I think he has more lines than Picard. Does that translate to the season? Is he the core of season three?

Picard is very much foremost and at the center of everything in this. But Riker I would say, Riker and Beverly I would say, are very close number twos. But there is a lot of Riker, so if you are a fan of Will Riker, you are going to get a healthy dose of Riker. And some Riker you have never seen before. Some Riker you always wanted to see before. You are going to get a lot of things you always wanted for Christmas.

Regarding Seven, even though she greets them and sits in the chair, she’s not the captain of the Titan?

Saavik wasn’t the captain when she sat in the chair and took the ship out of Spacedock. So she’s not the captain. She’s definitely a commander.

Is the captain of the Titan someone we know?

To be announced. That captain is also a major character. It’s not a character you’ve ever seen before and you will be hearing more about the Titan-A from this captain. And it’s an actor that I’m very, very fond of.

Very fond? You have previously hinted at some 12 Monkeys people, so is that the connection?

I will say there are a few actors from the television series 12 Monkeys in this season that are pretty fantastic.

Commander Seven on deck.

More to come

TrekMovie spoke to a number of celebrities an creatives at on the purple carpet at Star Trek Day 2022. So check back for more exclusive interviews.

Rewatch the trailer

Star Trek: Picard season 3 arrives Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. Following its premiere, new episodes of the 10-episode long final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Content Distribution on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

Keep up with news for the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

Related Articles

Collectibles , Star Trek: Picard , TOS

Star Trek Coffees Launching In May With Several Blends

Discovery , Interview

Interview: Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman And Blu Del Barrio On ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5

Interview: Sonequa Martin-Green Talks Burnham’s Journey Into The Final Season Of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Interview: David Ajala And Doug Jones On Saying Goodbye To Book And Saru

His explanation for the Titan works for me!

He just made it up. 😂

But… isn’t everything made up?

Yep everything is made up. Huge surprise to some lol

PPSSHH no. Captain Branson went back in time and told Roddenberry everything.

Tolkien: The Ring gave Gollum unnaturally long life. A34: You just made that up! Tolkien: Yeah?

As opposed to… every other aspect of Star Trek, which is non-fictional?

Yeah, I still don’t love some of the design (mostly the secondary hull), but I do like the reasoning behind it, and also love that we’ll learn the fate of the previous Titan and space dock.

top of secondary hull really has an unfinished look in top pic, like somebody forgot to detail the shell.

Yes, the secondary hull looks completely ununiform to the neck connecting the primary hull. Also i will always prefer pylons that are straight over curved unless that are the Enterprise D ones.

Whatever “aerodynamics” Doug mentioned sounds like bullshit. I wish they actually consult their inhouse science advisors about it.

I really like how he gives very specific credit to designers and the kinds of feedback info they provided, rather than just using an imperial ‘we.’

He kind of lost me with his love of spacedock (I know, I know, mine is a minority view, but to me that orbiting blimp hangar was the first step down on the path away from Probert and towards JJ’s built-on-Earth nonsense.)

At least they built a suspenseful sequence out of the design of Spacedock, ie the doors opening. It is somewhat remarkable they could get something out of the Enterprise backing out of the garage. Though, Horner’s score did a lot of help there.

For me it was a little too obvious a setup; once you saw it had doors (to differentiate the vacuum of space from the vacuum of spacedock, I guess, or for dockworkers who didn’t want to wear RayBans inside their spacehelmets), you just knew that getting out was going to be harder than getting in. (and I still wonder about all those travel pods and shuttles trapped in there in TVH … were they all just caroming off the walls for the next day or two until Kirk righted things?)

I still think I’d’ve given the whole thing a pass if they’d really managed to ring all the suspense out of it that was possible, but the fact they didn’t have Sulu pivoting the ship through a quarter-barrel roll (so the engines would have been lined up with the doors opening vertically) was a missed bit of visual excitement for me. Of course if they’d just had the doors opening horizontally, that wouldn’t be so much of an issue.

My preferred or dream version of TUC — very little of which is in common with the movie except the premise — would have concluded with a near-totalled Enterprise riding point ahead of Kronos-1, blasting away at spacedock, which is crewed with Cartwright’s people, and eventually Kirk, riding solo, rams into the damn thing and takes it down into the atmosphere, allowing the Klingon peace party to reach Earth safely. Would have rid the universe of that mushroom for a time and given both Kirk and the -A an excellent dramatic ending, sort of DOOMSDAY MACHINE without the just-in-time rescue. But to quote TURNABOUT INTRUDER, “If only … if only.”

Of course, you could wait until the real 23rd Century (and probably beyond) before Paramount would have ever approved such a thing. The irony being, it would have beaten the hell off of the character falling from a bridge.

You’ve probably read how I wanted Trek to go after TSFS, with the crew staying renegade on the BoP. That’s as clear a way as I can imagine to show how my mind is WAY off from Paramount thinking (as is the way I wanted to follow up GEN, with a miniseries focusing on the E-B and the fact that all the political paranoia stuff in TUC was very much alive and festering for years afterward.)

Well, it probably was festering afterwards. How else could Spock and Kurzon have been Federation representative to the Khitomer accords? I’ve always thought there had to be more than one to get things really settled.

In terms of the in-universe logic of the design, I agree. But, dammit, I still think the thing looks cool.

I had a reply that fell out when the power cut here, but the short version is: had a lengthy debate nearly 20 years back with somebody (hobbytalk, trekbbs?) over the spacedock, and finally concluded that if they PeterEllenshaw’d it I’d stop complaining. That is to say, do what Peter Ellenshaw did for or to Robert McCall’s design for the CYGNUS in THE BLACK HOLE – keep the essential silhouette — so it is still ginormous, which is a selling point for some — but change it from slab-sided to filligree, which would tie back into the drydock of TMP while still increasing visual interest, since you’d be able get veiled looks at the stuff inside through all the piping.

Interesting. I like the veiled looks idea. I always loved that part of TMP… and TWOK.

I was in a very spirited debate over this at some forum or other nearly 20 years back, and the compromise I finally reached was to ‘Peter Ellenshaw the thing.’ As in what Ellenshaw did with (or to) Robert McCall’s art for the Cygnus in THE BLACK HOLE. Keep the silhouette/profile/size to make all the ‘big is better’ fans happy, but make it as filligreed as the drydock from TMP, so you can see in a veiled way through all these veiny pipes into lit sections within.

This interview is like a security blanket. Someone out there loves you.

I’m very tempted to wait for the entire 10 episodes to run and then watch this en masse. Go for the ‘cinematic feel’ as much as possible. This waiting week-to-week nonsense kills the momentum with serialized shows, imo. This franchise isn’t the only culprit, by far.

I’m tempted to do the same, but I am afraid of spoilers for 10 weeks. I might watch it weekly then if its good enough, do the first re-watch of any nu-Trek I’ve ever done.

Yeah, that’s the approach I am taking now with both the new LOTR and GoT shows — waiting until the first season ends, then watching them within 3-4 days.

I’m not a big Lower Decks fan, so I cancelled P+ and I am waiting to binge the season. I think the shows with a season arc to them are better watched that way. Not that LD is, I just didn’t feel the need to pay for 2-3 months to watch it.

If only I had the self-control. They should totally go Netflix for this particular season. Picard for better or for worse has always seemed like it would flow so much better if you could binge-watch it from first release.

Seems like people who actually understand and care about Star Trek are putting time and thought into many of the decisions for Season 3.

But I’ve been fooled before, namely by 4 seasons of Discovery and 2 of Picard, I’m very weary.

Yes, but we’ve also had a season of Strange New Worlds, so there is some basis for optimism.

It is nice to know so many people who worked on season 3 worked on the other classic shows before so that’s a huge plus for me.

But yeah that’s the issue for me as well, EVERY season of both Discovery and Picard has looked real promising and started off great in some cases and I been let down again and again personally. Maybe this will change but I still remain cautiously optimistic. I am liking everything I am seeing though.

The big difference for me is every Berman era show, at least IMHO got good or at least pretty decent by season 3. Discovery is well past that. But Picard hasn’t crossed that line yet.

Definitely agree there. All the Berman shows only got better in time and why they all remain popular today. Even Enterprise has gotten MORE popular today than when it got cancelled. I don’t know if Discovery has gotten worse by season 4 but ‘better’ is not a word I’ll use either.

Picard obviously can end on a big high note, but we won’t know until it airs obviously.

Great interview! I started watching 12 Monkeys recently after learning Terry would be working on Picard (12 Monkeys had been on my radar for a while I just never got around to it) and I am loving it. Really looking forward to season 3. I loved the original Picard cast (Soji, Rios, Jurati especially) and am a bit bummed we aren’t getting more of Rios and Soji (Jurtati’s arc was wrapped well I thought). Elnor’s character also didn’t have a chance to do much. Still, of course I am happy we’ll be getting the TNG cast back for this. I get it, it was their last chance to do so. If there’s no good story reason for Soji and Elnor (who is a cadet) to still be involved in the show then they shouldn’t be forced into it.

I truly have faith that Terry knows what he’s doing here. He is a good writer from what I’ve seen (12 Monkeys and early Picard S2 was strong) and he’s a longtime Trek fan. As someone whose mostly enjoyed all the new Trek shows and is still looking forward to new seasons of them (and most of classic Trek of course), I am really excited for this.

Really happy you are watching 12 Monkeys! There are dozens and dozens of us fans for that show here and other places. I watched it when it originally aired and was hooked on that show but I love time travel shows in general. But 12 Monkeys took those concepts and ran away with it in an way I haven’t seen in a long long time. Ironically it was a big reason I was so excited for Picard season 2, not just because Matalas was working on it, but because I thought we were going to get a lot of the same crazy time travel ideas and concepts since Star Trek has done a lot of loopy things (no pun intended ;)) with time travel in the past too.

Instead it was just a run-in-the-mill go to the past and preserve the future story line we seen over and over again on Star Trek, only stretched out to 10 episodes that ran out of ideas by episode 7. If the story itself was more interesting that would’ve been fine too of course but it was pretty bad IMO. Really bad.

So hoping season 3 will be better but 12 Monkeys shows he’s an amazing writer and now since he’s running season 3 by himself then it will show more. But it got you to watch 12 Monkeys so that was already a big plus!

Quick Q, which streaming service is 12 Monkeys on? I wanna check it out too.

If you live in America, it’s Hulu!

And if you don’t have it, it’s well worth getting it for one month to binge the show. That’s how strongly I feel about it. I think they have a free week for new subscribers. My advice, try and watch a few episodes if so and if you’re not liking it, then cancel before its up. Or just binge it all in a week lol.

Hulu. Live in America and I have it! Just not the Live TV version but that doesn’t matter. Thanks!

And I would love to know your thoughts on it when you finish. I hope you can remember my handle assuming I haven’t left or just finally banned by then, but let me know what you thought if you do watch it.

Don’t worry, I’ll remember. And i am amirami just about everywhere I post online :)

I still don’t follow his logic. Yes, Old things still exist today and function today, but today’s Jeep is a far cry from the old Jeep, and a F-22 isn’t remotely similar to a P-51 Mustang despite ostensibly being for the same purpose.

If it’s supposed to be an old ship then thats fine, but what I don’t buy is the fact this is very deliberately mentioned as a successor to the Titan, given the suffix, and shares a single element with contemporary ships (The nacelles from the Stargazer which looked like a newer version of a ship) whilst still having literal components from 100s of years old designs.

Maybe just call it a hommage to both the Titan and the Constitution Class?

And maybe there’s also a very nostalgic admiral and loves retro designs?

Judging from dialogue about the Stargazer, it would seem Starfleet is suddenly hell bent on turning every ship into a ship of theseus, which considering post scarcity is kind of a silly prospect. You could literally recycle that matter into newer, better forms.

Seems to mee he pulled this logic out of his ass after the backlash to the retro design.

I like a retro design. I think they came up with it over the backlash on the Discovery era ships? I can’t stand any of them or their detached nacelles.

I still don’t get what purpose detached nacelles serve. The 32nd century tech depicted seems so weird and unadvanced.

How could he have? They interviewed him before many had the chance to comment.

If you looked at how they reintroduced the Ford Mustang and the Chevy Camaro quite a few years back – they looked at the past design of the cars for inspiration, whereas the Corvette has no resemblance to it’s predecessors.

Yet none of these are literally the same car they were in the 1960s. The Titan A saucer is pulled from a TMP era ship with extremely minor additions. Visually it looks like its 150 years older than the rest of the ship. It doesn’t flow.

Yet I never said that they were the same car from the 60s. Of you had bothered to actually read what I wrote, I said that they were inspired from the original. Not that difficult to understand. And that is exactly what he had said… Inspired from the ships of the past. I actually like the round saucer section. I’ve actually missed that look. The pointy nosed “saucer” section of the newer ships really didn’t work for me. Glad they are going back to some style.

I never said you said they were, but the saucer on the Titan IS literally ripped from TMP.

You mean in the fact that it is round. That is the only resemblance I see. But I do like the round saucers much better. I love that classic look. I love that inspiration.

In a world where we have to accept everything that we see on Lower Decks as stuff that actually happens in Star Trek’s future canon history, these kinds of inconsistencies/problems seem relatively minor.

Everything Lower Decks has done hasn’t seemed out of place. If anything, I much prefer their Obena Class Excelsior variant to the Excelsior II. Because again, it was something old tweaked to something different. We now have Excelsior II, Constellation II and Constitution III/Neo Constitution/ Titan III class. All really clunky nomenclature whereas Lower Decks has stuck with traditional naming schemes for Trek ships and classes.

The Cerritos itself is a visual callback to the TNG Aesthetic whilst very much being its own thing. This is all I want from Trek. It’s own thing whilst fitting in with the era its supposed to be from.

I have to agree. I think one of the reasons why Lower Decks is liked because it was the first show in the new era that tried to painfully stay accurate to the Prime the universe we knew for the last 50 years. I still remembered hearing the sound of the holodeck door opening in the first episode of season one and I remembered smiling because I haven’t heard or seen it in canon in literally 20 years. But if felt exactly like you would see it on the classic shows.

That was the complete problem with Discovery, it tried to overwrite the universe and failed miserably IMO. With LDS, they honored what came before but would add tweaks here and there. And of course it’s animated so it has a more creative license to do things a little differently but has done nothing major so far IMO.

LD clearly from a pure story perspective sticks to canon. WAY more than Discovery ever did as you mention.

I believe the problem isn’t that. I believe the problem people have is that LD doesn’t feel like it’s adhering to canon because it’s the first Trek show based on comedy and not drama. For 20+ years of Berman era Trek we had a 24th century world where people barely ever laughed and everything was aways so serious. Whether it was Picard being assimilated or the Dominion war or a crew lost 70 years from home or Florida being blown to bits. Is it any wonder when the first show of Trek’s return was so dire?

But the “prequel” generation of Trek fans I think tend to forget just how goofy TOS was. For every dead serious Balance of Terror or City on the Edge of Forever we had Spock’s Brain or Space hippies. And honestly one wasn’t any less “Trek” than the other.

Yeah I agree with that too, I think it’s the humor that still bothers some fans who don’t like it. Or people who thinks it’s not funny enough but it still goes to the same problem. Star Trek has always been a serious affair even though all the shows and a few films have had comedic episodes, situations and characters. But LDS isn’t just making the story it’s telling more lighter, it’s doing that to the universe as a whole while being more self aware; which is how most animated shows act today.

But that’s why I love the show, LDS tells people Star Trek isn’t just for ultra serious uptight nerds and knows the universe it takes place in is ridiculously absurd lol. So much craziness happens in the Star Trek universe than any other sci fi or fantasy franchise (although MCU is getting up there with the craziness these days), it’s hard to take it all seriously. That’s why the great Koala joke lands so well because it’s no less ridiculous than Vulcan Katras, non-linear aliens living in a wormhole, running into an Abraham Lincoln clone in space, fighting off alien Nazis or turning into salamaders after hitting warp 10 etc, etc. The difference is those things are couched in a super serious matter; but it’s all the same sci fi hokum end of the day. LDS just like to play around with it all.

But yet it still sticks to the values of what Star Trek is and every episode emphasizes them in some way. Either you appreciate that or you don’t I guess. I appreciate it fully.

I appreciate it too. And that’s the brilliance of make the show about lower tier officers. Obviously they aren’t going to carry the weight of the world that the senior officers do. So they story even rings true to a large degree.

I also think that’s why fans love the show more too because after season after season of Discovery and Picard saving the galaxy again and again it was just nice to have simple stories and lower ranked Starfleet officers dealing with more mundane issues. Maybe if the show came out at a different time or before those did, the reception could’ve been different. But it was just nice to have a show that didn’t take itself SO seriously on top of these overly large stakes every season.

Now that we have SNW and Prodigy it’s feeling like a better balance of shows with more ‘normal’ problems again like trying to move a comet from destroying a civilization or getting off a sentient murder planet that conjures up your thoughts into reality so it can eat you (it’s still Star Trek, right?). But LDS still focuses more on the mundane than those more often than not and why so many like it.

So true about SNW. It doesn’t just *look* so much like TOS with the amazing ship and uniforms and bridge and cast, it feels like it too with the perfect mix of drama AND comedic mix. They know when to lighten the F up

Hey there, I don’t know if you saw the new LDS episode yet but watching the cold opening to that episode made me think of this conversation we had here lol. NO spoilers but it really went directly to the point of how ridiculously absurd the Star Trek universe can be since they took that directly from a previous Star Trek episode (although one of the worse Star Trek episodes IMO) and made fun of it in the best way possible.

This is why I love LDS! And yes agreed about SNW. Another reason why it was popular out of the gate as well. But it just proves as much as we say as fans we want different stuff, reality we love our comfort food too as it’s probably the most ‘traditional’ Star Trek show since Enterprise ended.

In automotive design, modern day Ford Mustangs, Dodge Challengers and Jeep Wranglers intentionally call back retro legacy design cues from their predecessor models decades ago, but these are consumer products ; retro design is done in a bid to increase sales. Why would Starfleet – essentially a military organization — need to do that?

And even so, those modern car callbacks are just that – echoes of past designs. They don’t literally use the same hood as a ’67 mustang with holes cut into it, which is what this Titan is doing with the Saucer. If you could have just made the saucer echo that look, then fair enough. Make it visually different from the TMP aesthetic but influenced by. You can still make it a circular saucer Terry. You can still have height to it. STO already did it with the Exeter Class. Just do a riff on that.

Exactly this. They’re literally reusing the exact saucer with the rounded long windows in nearly identical arrangements, with a lower sensor dome and the rounded blue navigational deflector all identical from that of a refit constitution–from what I can see. It’s almost like someone grabbed those parts from the Enterprise-A and slapped them on. The new Ford Broncos call back and are ‘inspired’ by the older design, but the lines, the shape and build is entirely new and original. It’s not like they grabbed the square headlights from the 1987 Bronco and slapped them on the 2022 version.

Here I thought we were moving onto more organic, rounded and sharper curves not literally grabbing parts from a ship a century earlier. (cue Picard facepalm)

Actually, I bought a new Ford Bronco. And I bought it for the lines and resemblance to my original Ford Bronco when I was a teenager.

But with the shape of the Mustangs, Challengers and Camaros… they don’t use the same hood but they do use that same shape and outline of the body.

Really pleased Riker will be front and centre of the series. I always felt he was side lined as the TNG series went on and in the movies in favour of Data. It was great catching up with him in Nepenthe and seeing how he had changed and his relationship with Picard had evolved.

In a way he’s the character that’s come the furthest (of the legacy characters we have seen so far), from the fresh faced young officer being given the run around by his captain in Encounter at Farpoint to a mature peer of Picard’s. Love seeing them together on screen.

Yeah truly love Riker and happy he’s going to be front and center of this season. He was one of my favorite characters from the very start and loved him in all the films and other shows he popped in from time to time. And while I didn’t love Nemesis I did like that they gave him and Troi a nice way to end their arc by marrying them off and finally giving the guy his own ship which he probably should’ve gotten by season 5 in TNG. And it’s really fun to see that story arc continue in both Lower Decks (he’s suppose to be back on that show this season too) and obviously Picard. He was one of the best things about season one and it sounds like he’ll be in every episode of this season too if he’s joining up with Picard in the first episode.

Frakes must be pinching himself that he’s so integrated in Star Trek again, both in front of and behind the camera. And who knows, if we do get another Star Trek movie before 2030 in some form, he could possibly be a contender to direct the next one. NOT holding my breath but anything seems possible right now.

RE: Frakes directing the next movie, and if the next movie isn’t going to be Kelvin, the real question is whether or not the next set of movies will still be Bad Robot or go to Secret Hideout.

Great question, but I have no idea. It would make sense that Secret Hideout would get them if Bad Robot was done though but it’s probably not that simple obviously. I don’t care if Bad Robot stays or goes in terms of making a film as long as they can make other Star Trek films if this movie ends up being cancelled. And if it is I HOPE they do move on from the Kelvin cast only because it’s probably a big reason why it’s taking so long to make another movie because of the costs and fear the next one could bomb too. It was literally why the Hemsworth film was cancelled.

So IF this is cancelled too, hopefully they will move on to something smaller and maybe give Frakes the chair again if he wants it. But yes, I know its a long shot but a fanboy can dream lol.

Agreed about the Kelvin cast. Nothing against them, I thought they were all great in their roles (as directed) but between Pine and Saldana and probably Pegg they cost way too much. And with us already knee deep in TOS territory with SNW we don’t need it in the movies too.

I know the movies have different versions of Spiderman and soon Batman but I don’t think general audiences could take it with James T Kirk simultaneously. For almost 50 years there has only ever been one.

While I was never a huge fan of the Kelvin films, I always liked them. And if they keep making more of them, I would have no issue with that even though I would prefer something different or new at this point.

The problems is, well, we all know the problem lol. They seem stuck between a rock and a hard place. They seem afraid to move on from the Kelvin actors because it’s all they done in over a decade now but seem to afraid to make a movie with them as this will be the third attempt in six years. Something is seriously wrong there and it’s most likely money related.

I don’t want this to be another rant against Paramount and the movies (I been in a very good mood reading this thread ;)) but either make the movie or just put it on the back burner for a few years and come up with something new with a cheaper cast (and Frakes as director?) that everyone can get on board with. It’s clear they are not all on board with the film they are working on now.

And I just feel the Kelvin movies has had their time and the audience has basically moved on years ago already. They were already moving on when Beyond showed up and that was already six years ago and that was when there was no other Star Trek around.

Now that people have Picard, Janeway, Kirk and etc back not only on the small screen again but also back in the Prime universe as well which is what most fans cares about, it’s harder to make these movies feel more relevant today. And I think Paramount feels the same way at the moment.

OK, NO MORE movie talk lol. I always end up falling down this well for some reason. I guess because I want an actual movie. :(

LOL fair enough

I love Riker but to be fair her wasn’t nearly as sidelined as Crusher was. I’m really happy she is getting her turn in the spotlight now. As for Data, sure he is 3rd in command not second, but from the very beginning he was envisioned as TNG’s version of Spock and was always going to be in the spotlight next to Picard.

The more I watch that trailer, the more excited I get. It looks like we might very well, at last, get a strong season of PICARD.

It’s by no means a deal-killer, but I’ll just never love the Titan-A, sorry. To these eyes it’s ugly as sin — like the J.J.-Prise, a Constitution class gone entirely wrong.

Found it ugly at first but it’s slowly growing on me. Like the first time I saw the Excelsior in ST III – looked odd but practical and a logical evolution; same as the Titan-A.

By comparison the JJPrise looks like a model of restraint (and the alt-1701-A is more of a move back towards the TOS look, and I hope we get to see it on screen at least once).

These ships are very, very kitbashy, very fan-art to me.

Bill Krause is super talented, but I think what I’m missing here is some form of design unity.

I don’t think you can take a neo-Constitution saucer and just stick it on a weird angular body and then have weird curvy pylons and then angular nacelles; the shapes are fighting each other.

Whether you liked the 1701-D or not, it had design unity – ovals and curves, a good play of positive and negative space, it looked grand and futuristic, and that design language carried over into the bridge.

The TOS 1701 was sleek cylinders and spherical segments, very streamline deco, which was subtly updated for TMP.

The SNW 1701 doesn’t really deviate from the TOS formula, feeling like a plausible precursor or intermediate refit to the TOS version (or, as many say, ‘it always looked like that, we just got the low definition version first’).

This one.. if you were going to have design unity you’d either have to pick angular 25th century, or trad Constitution, and stick with it, not try to split the difference in an ungainly way.

Also, something I don’t get about the VFX here is the light bloom from every source, as if there’s fog or dust in space. At least in the KT films they try for some degree of realism in the lighting, lens flares aside, where you get bright daylight and harsher shadows.

Dirty blue space is just their thing I guess. It is such a corrupt and low-rez look, can’t understand the why of going that way at all, especially when the companies doing the work demonstrate on pretty much all their other shows that they can realistic and detailed renderings that don’t make me think I’m watching THE ABYSS.

Yeah. The ‘You Are There’, dust on the virtual lens thing is getting pretty old. I miss the relatively clean lighting and starscapes of the TNG to VOY era. I like DIS but their space scenes are too messy, especially the backgrounds which remind me more of those psychedelic skies from the 1966 Spider-Man cartoons. I would prefer the cleaner look of the KT films or something like Interstellar.

“Missing here some form of design unity.” “the shapes are fighting each other”

Both perfect ways to put that. I’ve been struggling to form my thoughts on the design and that sums it up exactly.

Glad to help. This is something that bugs me a lot in industrial design generally, and boutique-retro guitars specifically. So many of them look like melted lollipops, very disproportionate, with unfortunate styling cues that just end up a mishmash.

I somewhat like it from the side view but not at all from the front. But to be fair I felt that way about the Excelsior when I saw it for the first time as a Kid too. The truth is nothing will ever compare to the original 1701 to me.

Yep. Both the Excelsior and Sovereign classes look super-sleek and cool from the side, but the Excelsior looks fat and waddling from the front, and without a neck the Sovereign from the rear looks squashed flat. And with its stubby nacelles that don’t top the saucer, the Galaxy class only looks good FROM the back. In truth, there’s only one design that reads from all angles, and that’s Matt Jeffries’ original (and the TMP refit). Or maybe I’m just biased, old fart that I am.

Honestly it not just about the beauty either. The 1701 was designed with logic in mind. everything is separated with a purpose. The crew live in the saucer and most work there too. The secondary hull is separated from the primary because thats where the very dangerous matter/antimatter reactor is that can go kaboom and really only engineers go there (unless the bowling alley is really a thing lol). They you have the nacelles which are separated from both and in the back because thats where the WARP field is generated. Logical in every way.

Excelsior and Enterprise D retain some of that for the most part. But then you have ships like the Defiant and the Voyager that just fly in the face of it.

So in a way, I agree with the article here when they hypothesize that engineers took a long hard look at the current state of Starship design and said OOPS

Wow, I can’t wait to get Eaglemoss’ models of the new USS Titan and Spacedock.

Oh, wait… : (

ouch, too soon! :-(

Is it just me, but does Picard look a lot more expensive than SNW?

Hmm, the special effects look unfinished to me (sort of video-game level quality), so I would say no to that question. I expect that these are unfinished effects that will look better when we see them in the series?

I would agree that the CGI doesn’t look fully rendered, but productions often save a few bucks by skimping on rendering. But the overall look is much slicker and more cinematic.

I love that everything in this trailer feels bigger and more ambitious than the last two seasons (which I thought were big too but in a different way). Although we can’t base everything off a 90 second trailer it does at least look like we’re going to get a lot of cool ships and planets, something that was missing in the last two seasons outside 1 or 2 episodes.

Doug Drexler said in another interview season 3 is basically 10 episodes of what we saw in episode one of season 2. That alone gets me excited.

I think Season 2 got to go big in the first 2 and last eps because they saved so much in the middle being on real life earth for the most part.

I’m pretty convinced they probably went with a much lower budget in season 2 so they can pay the TNG cast and do all the ship porn and big space FX for season 3. It would explain soooo much lol.

OOOh thats a good point. Not only would it explain so much it would forgive so much too lol. Not everything but a lot. lol

Yeah, agreed! I mean they can’t excuse the awful writing but it would explain things like why is Picard and Guinan sitting in an FBI basement for an entire episode lol.

I was thinking the same. But TMP looked a lot more expensive than TWoK too. Lets hope the story is great this time around.

Again, he certainly talks a good game in terms of S3. I am hopeful. We’ll see.

PS: One thing that concerns me — you wouldn’t want starships going to warp right next to a Spacedock?

Why not? The enterprise went to warp right next to space dock in search for Spock.

Can’t see a problem with that, it’s not like warp exhaust is radioactive gunpowder. Now take TVH’s going to warp while in the atmosphere , which should have exterminated a lot more than a couple of whales … that I have a problem with.

(I’m of the firm belief that the TMP log line about going to warp while still in the system has to do with it being problematic to do so with untested untuned warp engines. There’s nothing in trek history that I’ve seen to indicate any problem with going to warp in-system, TOS did it all the time, as did TNG.)

The episode in DS9 where changling Bashir was about to fly a runabout into the Bajoran Sun with a payload of Trilithium to blow up the solar system. Kyra in command of the Defiant commands Dax to go to WARP to catch up to him before it’s too late. Dax says, with in the solar system? And Kyra says if we don’t there won’t be anything of the solar system left. And of course in that instance there was nothing wrong with the Defiant’s engines. But I do agree in the case of TMP the issue was not only that the Enterprise had untested engines but that Earth’s solar system has a massively dense asteroid belt and maybe the Bajoran one does not?

Perhaps the issue in DS9 was using warp to travel less than 1 AU or so. Starting AND finishing the warp within the same system.

Perhaps? I haven’t seen the EP in years. But assuming Defiant’s starting point was the wormhole/DS9, that was technically outside the solar system IIRC. Like right outside of it. Maybe in their heliosphere. but way way far away from Bajor and the theoretical “habitable zone” of the solar system.

That sounds like Ron Moore or somebody misremembering, sort of like with how many years since eugenics wars.

That has been so inconsistent in Trek for so long I can’t even complain anymore. Sometimes like in DS9 they say don’t go to WARP in a solar System let alone next to a Starbase. The next minute you have the Bird of Prey in ST IV going to WARP in Earths Atmosphere which should have put them at mars in like 3 minutes.

When did someone in DS9 say not to go to warp inside a solar system? Dax seemed surprised at the suggestion to go to warp within a star system, but even when I first watched that episode I thought the reason would be because warp is so fast and you’d be going and starting within a relative short distance. She didn’t say there was any risk to the system or anything like that.

Well sure, depending on where you are in a solar system I don’t think there would be damage to the solar system. It probably would be more about danger to the ship. But the point is danger is danger. In the case of warping so close to a starbase, I would gather that creating a warp field is the closest thing there is to creating an artificial momentary wormhole. It could very easily rip the starbase apart. Or in the case of the DS9 ep if you are coming out of WARP so close to the Bajoran sun you could destabilize the hydrostatic equilibrium by sucking too much matter into the field and disrupting the balance between the density of the star and the gravity holding it together and then BOOM.

I think all of this comes from some TNG writers having read Larry Niven, who always had something in his Known Space stories about being a sufficient distance out from the primary before kicking in hyperdrive, because you have to be away from gravity wells. Diane Duane used some of that theoretical science in THE WOUNDED SKY, which has a terrific space battle between the E and a lot of Klingon ships. Of course, then Moore has a ship go to warp right in a sun’s … what was it, the corona or the photosphere … in order to blow up the ships chasing it.

Problem is…unless he dumped the abysmal Season 2 writers, Season 3 will be just as bad

IIRC he had to leave 1/2 way thru Season 2 so the whole season might not have been his.

I just looked at a list of 12 Monkeys actors and one that jumped out was TOM NOONAN. NOONAN has never been in a Star Trek and this would seem to be the perfect opportunity. Counting down the days until NOONAN TREK…

Wow. Fingers crossed.

Didn’t he say the actor was female?

The antagonist is supposedly female and someone he was very happy about working with. It seemed like he never had worked with her before.

That said, it would be wild if Tom Noonan was captain of the Titan.

He was featured in Manhunter, the original Hannibal Lecter film.

He directed two great indie films “What Happened Was…” and “the Wife” – and has a theater company.

Just the idea is making me happy.

Ahh gotcha.

Funny, it was Emily Hampshire, Barbara Sukowa and Todd Stashwick who leapt to mind for me.

Emily Hampshire has a number of other projects, including a starring role in the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman remake and a major film premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. The thought of her in a major role in Starfleet would be amazing though.

Clear out your bowels everyone, red alert!

ST TNG V: The Undiscovered Things

There is a really great interview of him and Doug Drexler talking to Robert Meyer Burnett on Youtube also talking about the trailer and they both go very in-depth discussing the Titan and other things without any major spoilers of course, but a very interesting and fun interview.

Both he and Drexler makes it very clear everything about season 3 is night and day from the first two seasons and use the Titan A as a big example of that being a big hero ship in the show (and not the ugly La Sierna which I STILL don’t like). Again they are saying the right things but I felt that way about seasons 1 and 2 as well.

But its no doubt this looks and feels like a proper TNG story line so that alone is pretty exciting. If this was a season one trailer and not a season three trailer I think people would feel even crazier about what they saw, including me. A lot of fans wanted a more traditional post-Nemesis shows with starfleet officers yelling things on the bridge and it looks like we are finally getting that at least. You add in all the iconic TNG characters and it’s even more of a thrill.

As a Star Trek fan since the late 70s, I really want them to knock this season out of the park. Although I am very critical of the new shows (as I was the old), I am a big fan of Prodigy, Lower Decks and SNW, so I like more than I don’t like. But out of all the shows, it’s Picard I really want to love the most because it’s the only new show that star both the characters and actors I grew up with! So I’m rooting for it to go out big!

Thanks for the heads-up. I’m watching it right now. Matalas seems like a cool dude. And I’m happy to see Doug Drexler having a good time there. He’s really been through some hell lately.

No problem! It’s a great interview, especially because Burnett is the one doing it and he’s been on record how much he hates all of NuTrek, from the Kelvin movies through SNW. Picard season 3 is the ONLY thing he has liked so far oddly enough. He considers Picard season 1 and 2 some of the worst Star Trek ever produced but is singing the praises of season 3 which keeps fans like me hopeful since I wasn’t a big fan of the first two seasons of Picard either.

And while I have known who Doug Drexler is for decades now, I’ve never seen him in a single interview until just recently with season 2 of Picard. He’s hilarious but also pretty blunt of what he thinks of certain shows including everything he’s worked on in the past. He was very honest of how much he thinks the cut and paste ship scene at the end of Picard season one was a travesty and made sure it wouldn’t happen again. But it’s obvious how much he loves science fiction in general and obviously Star Trek. If they make another 25th century show, I hope he’s working on that one full time too.

I know he recently lost his wife just from this interview but still has a positive spirit.

Wow, he didn’t like SNW? I know the show has a few distractors but I didn’t think those behind the scenes so to speak would be one of them. PIcard I obv get but not SNW.

To be fair, I only saw Burnett discussing the first episode of SNW and haven’t seen any of his discussions since, so he may have a different opinion about it now. But he was mostly complaining about the look of the show. He’s a hardcore TOS fan, one of those types ;), and he hates the Enterprise is just way too big and pretty lol. He wanted it to look closer to a battle cruiser like the original instead of a cruise ship for vacationers. I understand his point as others have said it in the past but it’s one of those things you accept or you don’t I guess. And I never really cared personally, they want to make it a more modern and cool looking ship. No different than what they did with the Kelvin based Enterprise but SNW’s version is much more in line with the original so no issues with it personally.

So it was more about how it looked in canon and it still doesn’t look TOS I guess but some people you will never please. I like Burnett and I do agree with some of his points even with some of the shows I like, but he’s one of those fans where NuTrek can’t do anything right and it’s all a sham to him….until Picard season 3 apparently.

I can’t really say this feels TNG to me but it does VERY MUCH feel like the TOS era movies which what I know he is going for and IMHO so far mission accomplished.

He’s trying to combine his two favorite eras, the TOS films and TNG era which the Titan seems to be the symbol of that, although with mixed reviews so far. ;)

Based on what he has said, it sounds like he wants the big sweeping scope of the films, but use character interactions and mythology of the TNG period. We seen very little but liking the direction at least.

Maybe they finally wanted to show the Constitution-class in TNG! They used the 80 years old Excelsior-class and found a way to use the Miranda-class, but refused to show a Consti, even when they had the opportunity in Generations.

I’m almost shocked the Excelsior ad Miranda-class ships didn’t stick around to the 32nd century lol. And I don’t think people have too much of a problem seeing the Constitution class in this era, I guess it’s just how the Titan A was designed and the fact they called it the Titan. ;)

I think if they called it something else in term’s of the ship’s name and made it clear it’s an older ship model and not a retro design which I guess this is suppose to be people wouldn’t be so bothered.

Well, the 1701 blew up but the 1701-A didn’t. How nuts would it be if we saw the 1701-A in the fleet museum?

“This ship, and her history, will shortly become the care of another crew”

I still have the theory that they have stolen the 1701-A from the museum just like they stole it in ST III. These scenes are clearly inspired by ST III. Otherwise it also could be a false clue to keep season 3 talking until it starts and all theories and hints by Matalas might be proven wrong.

I’ve been having the same thoughts. I might just have to keep a defibrillator next to be when I watch the show in case that actually ends up happening.

Me too. I mean I can’t tell if this has more of a ST III or VI feel yet but I get a little hint of both. Not that I think for a second Picard is stealing the Titan based on this interview anyways.

I have a feeling he WILL indeed need to steal the Titan-A and assemble his old mates for one last adventure… just like Kirk did it.

Perhaps later on in the season. In the trailer tho Seven seems to be taking her out per orders.

The ugly la Sirena? I always thought of it as a VanHalen-Tribute-Frankenstrat-class-ship. NCC-1984 or NX-51510 or NCC-OU812 or USS-For-Unlawful-Carnal-Knowledge. Guitar players and modders will get that. ;-)

It’s the Kramer Baretta of starships

OK I’m going to just say I love everything about this interview! It’s got my imagination running wind.

So Beverly Crusher is not currently in Starfleet. I’m guessing she tapped out after the ban on synths; maybe she quit Starfleet after not being able to help save Riker/Troi’s son? Maybe she quit before that? I’m excited to find out, but that would probably explain something Sir Patrick and Gates gave away during their co-interviews. Jean-Luc and Beverly have not seen each other in many, many years.

Also – 12 Monkeys was amazing! Bring on Jennifer Goines!

I like the idea of tapping out after not being able to save The Riker child. Not only is that a very Crusher thing to do, it’s kinda reminiscent of when McCoy couldn’t save his father and then immediately found a cure after.

So in response to criticism of his anachronistic ship, the writer tells us a story about how it was a collective decision to abandon a century of design progression–because all the scientists in Starfleet over 100 years had never run simulations on oval saucers during reetry.

Sort of makes you wonder how often saucersections have to do a re-entry. I assumed it was extremely rare, since in non-combat conditions it is a self-contained unit that would be safer up in space than down on a planet surface.

I got the impression from VOY that when the Voyager landed it’s indeed something that is not at all done very often. So maybe after Voyager returned home engineers were like, hey, if this starts happening more often we need to start rethinking things. That being said I would think a more arrow like saucer like voyager would be better than a circular shape like Enterprise.

A story it was. Probably the whole writers team sat down to come up with it after the reactions online.

A lot of these comments were shared on other sites on Star Trek Day though.

Well, it’s the same topic :)

Ok, sheesh, that was a lot of info! And exciting info! Titan and it’s constitution class saucer makes sense now and I am down. The original was the starship version of the perfect mustang!

It makes sense that Crusher isn’t in Starfleet because her ship is the “SS” and not the “U” “SS”.

It’s sweet that the Titan-A is a Constitution class starship but I hope that’s not what everyone meant by seeing a new “Enterprise”

I’m really dying to know what happened to the old Space Dock now. I’m hoping it wasn’t androids or Romulans that blew it up or something. And NOT NERO!

Never been a fan of the Akiraprise for the very reasons that I’m liking the ship and space station designs seen in the trailer. But the Refit Constitution Class is my favorite Sci Fi ship period, so (almost) anything that calls back to that perfect design works for me.

I clearly need help. As a fan in the 21st Century we’re supposed to be mad about everything and not like anything.

I really didn’t need that nonsense about starfleet returning to a retro design. Quite honestly, it looks good. All he had to say was, the ship was designed to evoke a feeling of exploration again after the Dominion war or something. He didn’t need that saucer atmosphere technobabble whatever.

Relax Terry, S3 will be great!

Same. It was a lot of reaching and justification bla bla I could’ve gone without. Doesn’t make anybody like their ship better or worse.

Terry Matalas is extremely skilled at dishing nerd scoops without spoiling essential plot points.

As one of the creators of the TITAN novel line and many of the characters therein, although I appreciate the use of TITAN in Picard and Lower Decks, I have yet to see any good reasons for them NOT to use any of the crewmembers from the novels. Given their sales, it’s not as if the novels were inconsequential to fans, and it would be incredibly easy to feature them.

Royalties most likely.

I mean, other than Riker, Troi, and Tuvok, weren’t all the characters either novel-exclusive? Even Vale was a character ported from the TNG novels.

Brent Spiner is the captain of the Titan-A, watch. Likely as a completely new android, fits with how he says its a major character, but one we’ve never seen before, and its played by a actor he is very fond of.

It’s a great idea of refurbishing old, tried & true ships and I get what Terry is doing here: going with an under dog theme for now. It will probably build up to getting back to a majestic, illustrious flagship-level vessel somewhere at the end of S3 or maybe in the probable SNW: TNG, as I like to call it.

I still think Terry is awesome since he clearly knows Trek

So… Stupid question… Is Seven going to be Commander Seven? Commander Seven of Nine? Commander of Nine? Commander Nine? Or maybe Commander Hansen?

She is a Commander… and it is a long story. We do not discuss it with outsiders.

PIC S3 is complete. I’ve a few acquaintances who are involved with Trek that have seen the episodes. The common response I’ve heard is that it’s TNG Season 8. They are quite excited for it, as am I. There are just some Trek fans out there who you can’t make happy. They’re only happy when they’re bitching about the current state of Star Trek.

Yes. The hatred out there for all new trek isn’t unique to trek. Seen it with other franchises recently. It’s a loud angry voice that complains nonstop and seems to be full of hatred. From complaining about minority casting to the color of a Klingon’s hair. They are the “trumpers” of fandom. I also think they are sad miserable people.

Not referring to just people who don’t like something and express that, but the people spewing anger and hatred on social media nonstop since discovery premiered. Whose whole feed is dedicated to complaining about shows nonstop for years. People who harass and insult writers and actors of a show they don’t like. People who insult fans for liking shows they don’t.

I definitely won’t speak for everyone here, but I’m guessing most are hopeful we are going to get a great season. And yes, the idea of a TNG season 8 would be a dream for many, certainly me.

But, you can’t blame people for feeling cynical IF they didn’t like either season of the show. Obviously for the fans who loved them, they don’t need to be convinced as much. But a lot of us went into first season wide eyed and very excited about what we were going to see. I can tell you there was not ONE single thing I objected to about season one before it started. I was completely open to all of it and still came away very disappointed.

Then when season 2 was on its way, I was pessimistic by then but the trailers (once again) won me over. I thought the first episode was some of the best Star Trek I seen in over 20 years. I was so excited for the rest of the season. By the time we got to episode 5 I was completely gutted again. It turned out out worse than season one IMO.

Now here we are again. They are saying the right things, the teaser (ONCE again) looks great. I don’t have any big issues with anything I seen. People are complaining about the Titan, but if we get a good story they will get over it.

But that’s the question, are we getting a great story this time? So far people who have seen it has praised it, but that’s not a guarantee obviously. But I think most people here really want to be proven wrong. But after two flailing seasons (if you didn’t like them), it’s hard to go in without any hesitation.

I appreciate Terry’s explanation and his obvious passion for the show, but I’m disappointed that this season isn’t going to be more visually consistent with the TNG era since we’ve had nothing but TOS reboots and Prequel shows showing us stuff like this already. And for me, this is just not an attractive ship at all. Weirdly the previous producers seem to understand this part of the show better than Terry. But Terry has this strange idea that TNG should resemble the TOS movies…I don’t get it, doesn’t work for me.

I kinda wish that they’d show the refit Constitution design on screen, even if it’s a quick visit to the Fleet Museum that we’ve heard so much about. We’ve never seen a full on Constitution refit on TV and haven’t seen one on screen since the movies. (I don’t count the possible destroyed one in the wreckage of Wolf-359.) We’ve seen a TON of the Miranda variants, but no Constitutions. Make it so! =)

So… they spent all this time on this gorgeous new Stargazer and now all of a sudden that whole design lineage is all wrong and too sleek and stuff? What even is he saying? Who wrote that?! That entire story makes no sense. LOL!

It’s just too much reaching and justification babble and I’m not buying it. Sorry, still don’t like the new design. And no amount of ‘explanation’ will change any mind. They need to get over certain opinions and accept that they’re just that. No amount of back story will change people’s minds, positive or negative.

These ships don’t last long, do they? The Enterprise D’s spaceframe was supposed to last 100 years, with major systems updates every 20 years. They made it to 7. Rumour has it that the E is now replaced and we now see that the Titan was replaced. (To be fair, we don’t know how old the TItan was, so it could have had a good run I suppose.)

Maybe the Pakleds destroyed the Titan?

I read the comments, so, I know I’m going to be the odd one out.

I utterly despise Terry Matalas.

What he wanted of PIC Season 3 was to bring back the Startrek of his childhood, with round saucers and all… and he pretty much bulldozed over anything that was in the way.

Anyone whom built or added something to Startrek and helped evolve that art and those designs, he can just decide to brush that away and bring up any excuse just to get what he wants.

It didn’t matter that the U.S.S. Titan existed in a time when books and games was what drove Startrek onward. It didn’t matter that the Luna-class had earned its share of fans, fans whom had rejoiced in seeing it in Lower Decks, and whom would have doubly rejoiced to see Riker’s moment in the sun with his ship in live action… something some people have been waiting since Nemesis. The Luna-class was certainly still period appropriate, as PIC S2 demonstrated.

It didn’t matter that the Luna-class actually had a successor design- the Titan-class – that could have been used/spruced up for screentime. A choice which would have moved the legacy started with that ship and moved it onward recognizably, even as it would have given the Startrek Online audience an additional reason to rejoice that one more part of their game was canon.

I’m happy for Bill Krause getting one of his creations as an hero ship, but I’m ambivalent since his success comes at the detriment of the success another could have had. I don’t dislike his ship. I don’t think it’s period appropriate, but I could have swallowed that bit down. But using the Titan-A name to grab for our nostalgia and slap it on a ship that really has no visual legacy with it (save of his own making) convinces me that Matalas is a poor steward for the future of Startrek.

I never had a strong bias against Picard as a series thus far, though I’ll acknowledge it hasn’t had a very strong showing in S1 and S2. But I’m very pessimistic about S3 every since Startrek Day.

After reading Terry’s explanation of the Titan on the toilet, aka the library, it’s good enough for me.

Commander Will Decker is the mystery guy…..12 monkey’s – His previous Tv show

• View history

USS Titan (NCC-80102)

The USS Titan (NCC-80102) is a Luna -class explorer in service with the Federation and Starfleet in the 24th century . From 2379 to 2385 , the Titan was under the capable command of Captain William Riker .

As of 2385 , the vessel was attached to the exploratory Task Force Enterprise of the Vanguard Fleet .

• 1 Appearance
• 3 Crew diversity
• 4 Command Crew
• 5 External links

Appearance [ ]

The Titan is a mid-size Starfleet vessel, approximately 450 meters in length (around a 100m larger than USS Voyager , while being smaller than the USS Enterprise -D ), with a crew complement of three hundred-fifty (350). The Titan ’s hull configuration is comparable to other established Starfleet vessels.

Features [ ]

The Luna -class is Starfleet's newest-generation long-range explorer, a starship not built specifically for combat, but like the Constitution -class of the previous century, a vessel designed for a long-term multipurpose mission into uncharted space.

Equipped with conventional tactical systems (deflector shields; phasers; quantum torpedoes ), the Titan also boasts of state-of-the-art propulsion and cutting-edge scientific equipment, as well as being a testbed for experimental science tech not yet available in other classes. the titan is manned by the most varied multispecies crew in Starfleet history, with humans taking up less than 15% of the 350-member crew.

Crew diversity [ ]

The diversity of the crew is intended to facilitate stories that will explore the ways that beings of different cultures, biologies, psychologies in physical appearances learn how to work together, or fail to, during the course of the missions being undertaken.

The Titan in flight.

Command Crew [ ]

• Captain William T. Riker ( 2379 - 2385 )
• Captain Christine Vale ( 2386 -present)
• Commander Christine Vale ( 2379 - 2385 )
• Commander Dalit Sarai ( 2386 -present)
• Commander Wesley Crusher ( 2395 )
• Lieutenant Commander Sariel Rager ( 2379 -present)
• Lieutenant Commander Nidani Ledrah ( 2379 )
• Commander Xin Ra-Havreii ( 2380 -Present)
• Commander Tuvok ( 2379 - 2381 )
• Lieutenant Commander Ranul Keru ( 2381 -present)
• Lieutenant Commander Shenti Yisec Eres Ree ( 2379 - 2386 )
• Lieutenant Commander Jaza Najem ( 2379 - 2380 )
• Lieutenant Commander Melora Pazlar ( 2380 -present)
• Lieutenant Commander Aili Lavena ( 2379 -present)
• Commander Deanna Troi ( 2379 -present)

External links [ ]

• USS Titan article at Memory Alpha , the canon Star Trek wiki.
• USS Titan article at Memory Beta , the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
• USS Titan article at Star Trek Expanded Universe .
• 1 Invincible class
• 2 USS Invincible (NCC-88777)
• 3 Valkyrie class (Vanguard)

• The Original Series
• The Animated Series
• The Next Generation
• Deep Space Nine
• Strange New Worlds
• Lower Decks
• Star Trek Movies
• TrekCore on Twitter
• TrekCore on Facebook

USS TITAN ( Lower Decks #2) — A Luna-class capital ship, the U.S.S. Titan was the first permanent command of Captain William T. Riker, following his service aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Alongside his wife, the empath Commander Deanna Troi, Riker led the Titan on a diplomatic mission of peace with the Romulan Star Empire after the death of their Emperor Shinzon. Though it was first mentioned in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis – and starred in its own novel series, in which the Vulcan officer Tuvok also joined the crew – ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ marked the first on-screen appearance of the U.S.S. Titan! A prestigious posting for any member of Starfleet, the Titan was the envy of the U.S.S. Cerritos – particularly Ensign Boimler, who desperately wanted a transfer. He got his chance when the Titan saved the Cerritos from an attack by Pakled Clumpships… though it didn’t last long.

Originally released as a relatively plain, subscriber-sized model back in 2017, the new Lower Decks -era  Titan starship is not only larger — measuring in at about twice the length of the original model — but it also features new blue, red, and purple color tones to match the ship’s animated palette.

The new  Titan model measures in at just over 9 inches long, and will retail for $54.95 / €49.99 / £39.99.

The 32nd century fleet from Star Trek: Discovery’s new time period also expands in April, as the tribute to Deep Space Nine actor Aron Eisenberg leaps from “Die Trying” to collectors hands as the  Eisenberg -class  USS Nog  (NCC-325070) arrives this spring.

USS NOG ( Discovery #14) — An Eisenberg-class vessel fielded by Starfleet in the far future of the 32nd century, the sleek USS Nog survived the Burn that destroyed so many ships of its class. It served to help conceal the embattled Federation Headquarters, generating a distortion field large enough to obscure its location. The USS Nog was named for the Starfleet officer Nog – the first Ferengi to enter Starfleet, and a prominent figure on the Deep Space 9 station. A historical figure by the time of the 32nd century, Nog was remembered for his feats during the Dominion War won him lasting renown. Behind the scenes, the Eisenberg-class was named for Aron Eisenberg – the actor who portrayed Nog on ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.’

Rather than clip-on struts to display the free-floating warp nacelles — like on the  Discovery -A and  Voyager- J models — the  USS Nog’s  display stand simply has a ‘shelf’ which allows the two nacelles to be placed on either side of the organically-shaped primary hull of the vessel.

The Eisenberg -class model measures in at just over 8 inches long, and will retail for $54.95 / €49.99 / £39.99.

One more new starship rounds out April 2022’s announcements, as the prototype vessel  USS Prometheus  (NCC-59650) becomes the next previously-released model to be enlarged for the XL Starships collection.

Originally released to subscribers in the standard size back in 2014, the new XL-sized  Prometheus returns in this much larger edition to represent the starship visited by The Doctor in “Message in a Bottle.”

USS PROMETHEUS (XL Starships #30 ) — An experimental prototype designed for deep space tactical assignments, the USS Prometheus was a combat vessel far ahead of its time. The fastest ship in Starfleet at the time of its launch, it boasted regenerative shields, ablative armor, and even the ability to split itself into three independent, wholly functional sections – dubbed the “multi-vector assault mode”. All this technology couldn’t prevent a Romulan hijacking, however – and only the intervention of the USS Voyager’s Doctor was able to avert disaster. Taking advantage of the prototype ship’s holographic projectors, the Doctor – himself a living hologram – arrived aboard the Prometheus by way of transmission, and knocked out the hijackers with vented gas.

Unfortunately, even this larger edition doesn’t include the starship’s beloved multi-vector assault mode — like a separable  Enterprise -D and a  Star Trek: Nemesis- style  Enterprise- E, it seems like that’s one of those fan requests that hasn’t yet gained enough traction.

The Prometheus model measures in at over 10 inches long, and will retail for $79.95 / €74.99 / £59.99, and you can already preorder this ship in the US webshop and the UK webshop.

For those of you who may have missed it, Eaglemoss / Hero Collector have also expanded into two  other well-loved space franchises in recent months —  Stargate and  The Expanse — and the company has revealed the first two ship models for each of those product lines so far.

Fans of the  Stargate universe have the Daedalus (BC-304) cruiser — the primary ship assigned to the Atlantis base in the Pegasus Galaxy — and the Goa’uld ha’tak attack ship as the first two releases for that franchise…

…and the  Expanse fanbase can now get their hands on the  Rocinante and the  Razorback racing ship as the first two entries in that show’s fleet.

We’ll be back next month with another look ahead to future  Official Starships Collection releases!

• Hero Collector
• Star Trek: Discovery
• Star Trek: Lower Decks
• Star Trek: Voyager
• The Official Starships Collection
• Trek Merchandise
• USS Prometheus

Related Stories

New star trek: discovery photos — “jinaal”, star trek: discovery 502 review — “under the twin moons”, star trek: discovery premiere review — “red directive”, search news archives, new & upcoming releases, featured stories, our star trek: discovery season 5 spoiler-free review, star trek: discovery’s final adventure begins in april 2024, interview — star trek: lower decks’ mike mcmahan on moopsy, creating the orion homeworld, tuvix, and much more.

TrekCore.com is not endorsed, sponsored or affiliated with Paramount, CBS Studios, or the Star Trek franchise. All Star Trek images, trademarks and logos are owned by CBS Studios Inc. and/or Paramount. All original TrekCore.com content and the WeeklyTrek podcast (c) 2024 Trapezoid Media, LLC. · Terms & Conditions

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

• Memory Beta good articles
• Federation starships
• 23rd century Federation starships
• Andorian starships
• 23rd century Andorian starships
• Federation frigates
• Federation warships
• Loknar class starships

USS Titan (NCC-2752)

• View history

The USS Titan ( NCC-2752 ) was a 23rd century Federation starship , an Andorian designed and built mark II -rated Loknar -class frigate in Starfleet service around the 2250s [2] decade .

• 1.1 Active service
• 1.2 Legacy and name
• 2.1 Connections
• 2.2.1 References
• 2.3 External link

Service history and disposition [ ]

Like the Loknar sister ships, the Andorians conceived of the Titan as a warship and the vessel was deployed by Starfleet in the Four Years War .

Active service [ ]

In the Four Years War .

Some, but not all, Loknar -class frigates were crewed by Andorians, becoming part of the Blue Fleet , and saw action in the Four Years War, an armed conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire .

The Titan was commissioned as a Mark II frigate on reference stardate 1/9803 . It was constructed either at the Salazaar Shipyard or Sol facilities by the Andorians. The Titan survived the Four Years War. On reference stardate 2/1402 , the Titan underwent a refit to Mk IV specifications, improving its weaponry and power systems. Following a refit to the Mk V configuration on reference stardate 2/1810 , the Titan became one of the latest Loknar -class models. ( FASA RPG module : Federation Ship Recognition Manual )

Legacy and name [ ]

The Saturnian moon Titan .

Starfleet named its Loknar -class frigates after cities and provinces of the Federation. ( FASA RPG module : Federation Ship Recognition Manual )

Titan was a moon of Saturn , the sixth planet of the Sol star system . ( TNG episode : " The First Duty ")

Also sharing the name was the Titan V rocket . In the 21st century , the Titan V was the rocket that launched the first Human warp -capable ship, the Phoenix , into Earth 's orbit in the year 2063 . ( TNG movie & novelization : Star Trek: First Contact )

At some point before the Loknar -class USS Titan , a teardrop-shaped starship named Titan had seen service. ( LD episode : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open ")

Model of the Titan in 2381 .

By the 24th century , Starfleet had commissioned a new ship named Titan . This USS Titan was a Luna -class starship. Captain William T. Riker kept gold models of ships called Titan in the observation lounge . Around stardate 58001.2 in the year 2381 , these included the Titan V missile , the teardrop-shaped Titan and the Loknar -class USS Titan . ( LD episode : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open ")

Appendices [ ]

Connections [ ], appearances and references [ ], references [ ].

• FASA RPG module : Federation Ship Recognition Manual (listed)
• LD episode : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open " (model depicted)
• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 FASA RPG module : Federation Ship Recognition Manual .
• ↑ FASA RPG module : The Four Years War .

William T. Riker

• View history

William Thomas "Will" Riker was a 24th century male Human Starfleet officer . Riker served as first officer for Captain Jean-Luc Picard for 15 years on the USS Enterprise -D and USS Enterprise -E before finally accepting his own command with the USS Titan . ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint "; Star Trek: First Contact ; Star Trek Nemesis )

As captain of the Titan , Riker and his wife Deanna Troi had two children: a son named after Riker's ancestor Thaddius , and a daughter named after Troi's deceased sister Kestra . Thad contracted mendaxic neurosclerosis , prompting his family to move to Nepenthe , where Thad eventually died from his condition. The Rikers remained on Nepenthe for the rest of the 24th century. ( PIC : " Nepenthe ")

In the early 25th century , Riker had returned to active duty as he was scheduled to give a speech during Frontier Day . During Captain Vadic 's attack on the USS Titan -A , Riker was temporarily placed in command by the Titan -A's commanding officer, Captain Liam Shaw . ( PIC : " The Next Generation ", " Disengage ", " Seventeen Seconds ")

• 1 Early life
• 2.1 Starfleet Academy
• 2.2.1 Service aboard the Pegasus
• 2.2.2 Stationed on Betazed
• 2.2.3 Service aboard the Potemkin and Duplication Incident
• 2.2.4 Service aboard the Hood
• 2.3.1 First year
• 2.3.2 Combat record
• 2.3.3 Diplomacy and cultural exchange
• 2.3.4 Undercover missions
• 2.3.5 Disciplinary actions
• 2.3.6 Medical record
• 2.4.1 First contact
• 2.4.2 Fighting the Son'a
• 2.4.3 Battle with Shinzon
• 2.5 Command offers
• 2.6.1 First assignment
• 2.6.2 Dealing with the Pakleds
• 2.6.3 Becoming a father
• 2.7.1 Life on Nepenthe
• 2.7.2 Return to duty
• 2.8 Rescuing an old friend
• 3.4 Other interests
• 4.1 Marriage
• 4.2.1 Jean-Luc Picard
• 4.2.4 Carol Freeman
• 4.2.5 Beckett Mariner
• 4.3.1 Kyle Riker
• 4.3.2 Thomas Riker
• 4.4.1 Beata
• 4.4.2 Minuet
• 4.4.3 Lwaxana Troi
• 4.4.4 Brenna Odell
• 4.4.7 Lanel
• 4.4.8 Carmen Davila
• 4.4.9 Etana Jol
• 4.4.10 Ro Laren
• 4.4.11 Soren
• 4.4.12 Kamala
• 4.4.13 Amanda Rogers
• 4.4.14 Rebecca Smith
• 4.4.15 Deanna Troi
• 5.1 First contact with Bragu's species
• 5.2 Malfunctioning holoprogram
• 5.3 Jam session on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
• 6 Alternate realities and timelines
• 7 Holograms
• 8 Miscellaneous information
• 9 Chronology
• 10 Memorable quotes
• 11.1 See also
• 11.2 Appearances
• 11.3.1 Character development
• 11.3.2 Legacy
• 11.4 Apocrypha
• 11.5 External links

Early life [ ]

A descendant of Yankee forebears , William Thomas Riker was born on August 19th , 2335 to Kyle and Betty Riker in Alaska on Earth . ( TNG : " The Last Outpost ", " The Icarus Factor ", " Conundrum ", " Second Chances ", " Lower Decks "; PIC : " The Bounty ") His distant ancestors included Thaddius Riker , a Union Army colonel who fought during the American Civil War of the mid- 19th century , and a particularly rugged great-grandfather of note. ( VOY : " Death Wish "; TNG : " Shades of Gray ")

Betty died when Will was only two years old, leaving his father to raise him alone. ( TNG : " Interface ", " Time Squared ") The Rikers remained in Alaska at Betty's wish. The only thing which kept Kyle going was Will, but he did not feel as if he could discuss the situation with him, even when Will was older. The memories of Betty's presence at their Alaska home were also painful for both. This initial trauma created a rift between the two Rikers which lasted thirty years. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ")

When Will first started school in 2340 , the five-year-old told all of his new friends that his mother was still alive. Eventually, he told the story so often that he began to believe the lie . Soon, his teacher learned of this problem, and both she and Kyle had to talk to Will and make him realize that his mother was dead and was not coming back. Will cried the entire night following, but later realized it was an important step in accepting his mother's death. ( TNG : " Interface ")

However, Will's relationship with Kyle continued to deteriorate into his early teens. He was often left to care for himself, learning such skills as cooking. ( TNG : " Time Squared ", " Future Imperfect ")

Will was never able to concentrate much on subjects such as math , as he constantly daydreamed about starships . ( TNG : " The Royale ")

Young Will Riker with a nice catch

In 2344 , Will and his father went on a fishing trip. Will was able to hook a large fish , but Kyle insisted on reeling the fish in. This incident bothered Will for many years.

He also practiced anbo-jyutsu with his father. By 2347 , when Will was twelve, Kyle admitted that his son's skills at the sport were superior. Will did not know that the only reason he always lost was because his father used illegal hachidan kiritsu moves.

Kyle completely abandoned Will by 2350 , when Will was fifteen. Will held a grudge against his father for the following fifteen years. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Starfleet academy [ ].

Will entered Starfleet Academy in 2353 . Paul Rice was at the Academy at the same time, and they were friends. Riker's superintendent was a Vulcan , who had taken the time to memorize the personnel files of each and every cadet . ( TNG : " Chain Of Command, Part I ", " The Arsenal of Freedom ", " The First Duty ")

During his first year, Riker felt at odds with everyone, as if the world was against him. ( TNG : " Frame of Mind ")

At one point, Riker calculated a sensory blind spot on a Tholian vessel and hid within it during a battle simulation . ( TNG : " Peak Performance ")

Upon graduation in 2357 , Riker was ranked eighth in his class and was commissioned as an officer with the serial number was SC 231-427. He set lofty goals for himself and hoped to reach captain before thirty-five years of age. ( TNG : " Chain Of Command, Part I ", " Gambit, Part I ", " Second Chances "; PIC : " The Bounty ")

Early postings and assignments [ ]

Service aboard the pegasus [ ].

Seven months after graduation, Ensign William Riker's first posting was to the USS Pegasus under the command of Captain Erik Pressman . He was the ship's conn officer, and his youthful appearance earned him the nickname " Ensign Babyface ," coined by fellow crewmember Lieutenant Boylen . ( TNG : " The Pegasus ") Phil Wallace was another of Riker's friends aboard the Pegasus . ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Fresh from the Academy, Riker was still somewhat serious about his work. Loyalty and obedience to his commanding officer were top priorities, with his ears still ringing with words like "duty" and "honor". This attitude caused him to behave against the principles of the Treaty of Algeron during a crisis on board the ship.

Captain Pressman had been illegally testing a prototype phasing cloaking device aboard the Pegasus . This top secret project was in violation of the Treaty of Algeron , not to mention extremely dangerous to the crew, leading most of the Pegasus officers, such as the first officer and chief engineer, to mutiny against Pressman. Riker was the only bridge officer to defend the captain, picking up a phaser and instigating a running firefight all the way to the escape pods . Only a few other members of the crew joined Riker and Pressman. Once safely away, Riker and the others watched as the Pegasus apparently exploded, killing the remaining seventy-one personnel.

Although Pressman commended Riker for his unquestioning loyalty, over the years Riker began to have doubts about whether he had made the right decision. The Starfleet Judge Advocate General investigated the Pegasus incident, but the survivors participated in a coverup. The JAG discovered evidence of a mutiny aboard the Pegasus before its destruction. While further investigation was recommended, Starfleet Intelligence declared the entire incident classified and no follow-up was ever conducted. ( TNG : " The Pegasus ")

Stationed on Betazed [ ]

Riker and Troi on Betazed

Following the Pegasus incident, Riker was stationed on Betazed . While there, he met Deanna Troi. The two began a relationship which lasted several years. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ", " Ménage à Troi ", " Second Chances ")

Sometime during his early career, Riker needed to wear a feathered costume while on a diplomatic mission to Armus IX . Similarly, he wore furs to meet with the leadership council on Kabatris . ( TNG : " Angel One ")

Service aboard the Potemkin and Duplication Incident [ ]

By 2361 , Riker was promoted to lieutenant and served in the operations division aboard the USS Potemkin . Aboard the Potemkin , he developed a tactic which involved using a planet 's magnetic pole and shutting down all ship's systems to confuse an enemy vessel's sensors. He also took up poker so he could ingratiate himself with the senior officers in their games, which came across as rather obvious brownnosing. Fortunately, they realized he was young and inexperienced and decided not to hold it against him. ( TNG : " Peak Performance ", " Lower Decks ")

Later that year, Riker led an away team to Nervala IV to rescue researchers stranded at the outpost on that world. Riker was the last to beam out. Atmospheric distortions threatened to dissipate his pattern, so the Potemkin transporter chief compensated by creating a second confinement beam. Only one beam was needed for Riker to rematerialize on the ship, so the second beam was shut down. In an odd twist of fate, the second transporter beam, which had exactly the same phase differential as the distortion field, maintained its integrity and was reflected back to the planet's surface, where it also successfully rematerialized a William T. Riker. The Potemkin crew did not realize that the beam had been reflected to create duplicate Rikers, resulting in the one on the planet (later known as Thomas ) remaining stranded there for the next eight years. Up until the moment of transport, both Rikers were the same person. As a result, both had an equal claim to being the "real" William T. Riker. However, as Riker and his crewmates were unaware that he was not the sole William T. Riker after returning to the Potemkin , he retained the identity thereafter. He later received a promotion to lieutenant commander for "exceptional valor" during the mission. He was quickly posted to the USS Hood as first officer . ( TNG : " Second Chances ")

Service aboard the Hood [ ]

Riker's commanding officer on the Hood was Captain Robert DeSoto . His service aboard the ship was exemplary, despite an incident where Riker, risking a court martial , refused to allow Captain DeSoto to transport into a hostile situation on planet Altair III . He was ultimately rewarded for this action, as it was what made his profile stand out in the eyes of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ", " The Pegasus ")

Riker was offered his first command, that of the ill-fated USS Drake , in 2364 . However, he turned down that position for a far more enticing offer. ( TNG : " The Arsenal of Freedom ")

Service aboard the Enterprise -D [ ]

First year [ ].

Riker, with Picard and Troi during the Farpoint Mission

William Riker was promoted to commander and first officer of the newly launched USS Enterprise -D in 2364. He was ferried to planet Deneb IV by the Hood and met the Enterprise at the planet. The ship had undergone a saucer separation after being threatened by the entity known as Q . Riker reported aboard the stardrive section and was briefed about the current situation and was ordered to perform a difficult and unusual manual docking with the saucer module , which he conducted very well.

During the Farpoint mission, Riker led several away teams which discovered that Farpoint Station was a living entity, trapped by the Bandi for their own selfish purposes. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ")

Q was intrigued with Riker, so much so that he believed Riker deserved to be empowered with the abilities of the Q Continuum . Q made a bet with the Continuum that Riker would accept the gift and trapped the Enterprise while it was en route to a disaster on a mining colony on Quadra Sigma III . Most of its senior officers were then taken to a deadly illusion world. Riker used his newfound powers to save the crew from hostile aliens inhabiting the fantasy, bringing Lieutenant Worf and Wesley Crusher back to life in the process. Picard was concerned about these events and requested that Riker not use his supernatural abilities. However, Riker changed his mind after he refused to save a young girl killed in the disaster. He became angry with Picard, feeling he had suppressed his abilities and caused the death of the girl.

Further temptation by Q led Riker to grant several wishes to the Enterprise crew: to Geordi La Forge , normal eyesight; to Worf, a Klingon female mate; to Wesley, full growth to adulthood. He nearly transformed Data into a Human, but Data refused the offer, feeling that it would be merely an illusion. As Picard predicted, the other crew also turned down Riker's gifts because of their inherent emptiness. Riker learned his lesson, and the powers were taken away once Q was recalled to the Continuum. ( TNG : " Hide And Q ")

The Enterprise was stolen from Starbase 74 by a race called the Bynars . Their computer-based society was on the verge of collapse after the star Beta Magellan went supernova and damaged their central computer. They required the Enterprise in order to repair it. The crew evacuated, but Riker and Picard remained on board, infatuated by a holodeck program created by the Bynars as a diversion. The two were successful in retaking the Enterprise and saving the Bynar homeworld from destruction. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Riker became involved with the alien conspiracy which infiltrated Starfleet Command in 2364. The possessed Admiral Gregory Quinn attempted to infest him with a parasitic being in order to have an alien operative aboard the Enterprise , but Riker resisted. He struggled with Quinn and was knocked out but was able to alert other personnel to the situation. Dr. Beverly Crusher incapacitated Quinn with a phaser, then determined the nature of the neural parasites. She implanted a fake parasite on Riker, who then beamed down to Earth just in time to prevent the infested Starfleet officers from co-opting Captain Picard. He and Picard were able to find the mother creature, hosted in Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick , and destroy it before the alien conspiracy grew any further. ( TNG : " Conspiracy ")

Combat record [ ]

Riker in 2365

Riker was an accomplished tactician, inventing several strategies while serving aboard various starships. He apparently acquired a reputation for using unorthodox solutions, as Enterprise Second Officer Data estimated he only used traditional tactics 21 percent of the time. In 2365 , Riker was given temporary command of the outdated USS Hathaway during a combat exercise to ready for the Borg invasion. The Hathaway was to fight the Enterprise in a simulation designed to test the response of a crew when faced with a substantially superior enemy. Although Riker's crew managed to turn the poorly maintained Hathaway into something flyable and score several hits against the Enterprise during the initial phases of battle, the test turned deadly when a Ferengi marauder intervened. The Enterprise believed that the Ferengi were a holographic trick designed to divert attention from the Hathaway , and therefore did not raise shields. The Ferengi opened fire, disabling the Enterprise 's weapons and shields. The Ferengi demanded that the Enterprise hand over custody of the Hathaway , as they incorrectly assumed the Hathaway had valuable Federation secrets on board. In order to fool the Ferengi, Riker devised a plan to have the Enterprise fire photon torpedoes at the Hathaway , which would jump to warp just before they exploded, making it appear to the Ferengi as if the Hathaway had been destroyed. Worf then fooled the Ferengi sensors into believing that a Starfleet ship had entered the system, scaring them away. ( TNG : " Peak Performance ")

Riker orders Worf to fire on the Borg cube

In 2366 , the Borg launched their first invasion of the Federation . A Borg specialist, Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Shelby , was assigned to the Enterprise . The two butted heads over protocol, and Riker felt that Shelby was trying to ingratiate herself to Captain Picard in order to prove her qualifications as a first officer, particularly since Riker had recently been offered command of the USS Melbourne and was having trouble deciding whether his reluctance to accept the post meant that he had become scared of his old ambitions to become a captain himself. Picard was eventually abducted by the Borg and assimilated , becoming Locutus of Borg . Riker was then left in command of the Enterprise and faced with the difficult decision of choosing to use a new deflector dish weapon against the Borg cube , which would destroy that ship along with Picard. When a rescue attempt failed, Riker gave the order to use the weapon. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ") However, the assimilated knowledge of Captain Picard gave the Borg an advantage, and they altered their shields to resist the weapon.

Riker as captain of the Enterprise

As the Borg continued on a direct course for Earth, Admiral J.P. Hanson gave Riker a field promotion to captain. Riker chose Shelby as his new first officer. Even though their relationship had a rocky start, Riker realized that they worked well together, and Shelby had the knowledge necessary to mount a successful fight against the Borg. Riker was still reluctant to accept the responsibility in light of Picard's abduction, but Guinan , an old and close friend of Picard, was able to convince him that he needed to let Picard go not only to win against the Borg, but also to save Picard. The Enterprise was repaired after its use of the deflector weapon and warped to rendezvous with the fleet at Wolf 359 . It arrived shortly after the devastating Battle of Wolf 359 , where many ships, including the Melbourne , were destroyed. At this point, Riker formulated a plan to recover Captain Picard, in hopes that the Borg might halt their approach with Locutus gone. The Enterprise caught up to the Borg and used Shelby's plan of separating the saucer section. Picard had been briefed on this plan before he was assimilated and knew that the stardrive section was the only threat. As the Borg focused their attack, the saucer launched a shuttlecraft carrying Data and Worf. They beamed aboard the cube and brought Picard back to the Enterprise . The Borg were temporarily confused but continued on course. Data and Dr. Crusher later learned that the Borg interconnectedness gave them access to the entire Collective through Picard. Data linked himself to Locutus and accessed the Borg command structure as the cube entered Earth orbit. Initial attempts to deactivate the Borg were fruitless, and Riker prepared to ram the Borg cube with the Enterprise in hopes that the collision would disable the vessel. Picard was able to tell Data to instruct the Borg to regenerate, which was a low-priority command. The cycle ended up in a feedback loop, and the cube exploded, cutting Picard's link and restoring his Humanity. Riker returned to his post as Enterprise first officer following Picard's recovery, having proven to himself and others that he was capable of shouldering the burdens of command, but chose to remain on the Enterprise because he liked the friends and relationships he had formed on the ship rather than because he was frightened of reaching for more. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ")

During the Klingon Civil War of 2368 , Riker was placed in temporary command of the USS Excalibur along with Geordi La Forge as his 1st officer. The ship was part of an armada led by the Enterprise -D and set up a tachyon detection grid using blockade tactics in order to reveal Romulan assistance to the House of Duras . ( TNG : " Redemption II ")

On stardate 46235.7, Riker was again left in temporary command of the Enterprise when Captain Picard and three other crew members were transformed into children. The ship was attacked by a pair of B'rel -class Bird-of-Prey ships under the command of Ferengi privateers. During the battle, the Enterprise was overwhelmed and subsequently boarded by the Ferengi. The Ferengi seized control of the ship, and it was only with the help of Captain Picard and the other transformed crewmen that control was regained. ( TNG : " Rascals ")

Riker braces himself as the Enterprise -D crashes into Veridian III

Riker with the captain's chair after the Enterprise 's destruction

Riker was in command during the Enterprise -D's final battle in 2371 . The ship had been attacked by the Duras sisters by order of Dr. Tolian Soran . The sisters were given an unfair advantage, as Soran had placed a visual transmitter in La Forge's VISOR , giving them access to the Enterprise shield modulation. Riker's quick thinking led to the identification of a plasma coil flaw on the sisters' old Bird-of-Prey , which was destroyed. Unfortunately, the Enterprise suffered catastrophic damage to its warp core . Riker ordered a saucer separation, and the saucer section maneuvered to safety before the engineering section exploded. The shock wave from the blast caused the saucer to plunge into the atmosphere of Veridian III , where it crash-landed. The entire crew survived, although Riker was disappointed that he would never have the chance to command the ship. ( Star Trek Generations )

Diplomacy and cultural exchange [ ]

Riker participated in first contact with the Ferengi in the Delphi Ardu system in 2364. The Enterprise and a Ferengi marauder were trapped in orbit, paralyzed by a Tkon energy-dampening weapon. An away team commanded by Riker contacted the Tkon portal . The portal sensed Riker's great courage and dignity, while it only found deception with the Ferengi, leading it to grant Riker's request and release both ships. ( TNG : " The Last Outpost ")

Riker conducted another diplomatic mission that year on the planet Angel I . Survivors from a Federation freighter , the Odin , were discovered on the matriarchal world and sentenced to death for advancing policies to grant equal rights for male members of the society. Riker successfully argued their case to Mistress Beata , Angel I's Elected One , convincing her that change was inevitable. She later allowed the Odin crew and their families from Angel I to be moved to an isolated continent so they could continue their lives without affecting mainstream culture. ( TNG : " Angel One ")

Riker was an early participant in the Officer Exchange Program , temporarily transferring to a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, the IKS Pagh , in 2365. To prepare for the assignment, he indulged in many different Klingon foods . Worf also gave him an emergency transponder shortly before his departure, just in case of an emergency situation. On board the Pagh , Riker had to quickly learn the Klingon way of doing things, physically fighting the second officer to prove his loyalty to Captain Kargan and enduring the abusive comments of the Klingon crew. At the same time, the Enterprise became infected with a hull-degrading bacterium, which it inadvertently transmitted from the Pagh . The Klingons believed that it was a new Federation weapon and returned to attack the Enterprise . Riker was able to relieve Kargan by giving him the transponder and sending him to the Enterprise , then staging a mock battle with the Starfleet vessel to maintain the honor of the Klingon crew. Riker returned to his post aboard the Enterprise following the incident. ( TNG : " A Matter Of Honor ")

In 2366, the Enterprise hosted negotiations for rights to the Barzan wormhole . The Federation representative, Mendoza , was poisoned by the Ferengi delegation, requiring Riker to take his place. The wormhole later turned out to be useless, as its terminus fluctuated between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants . ( TNG : " The Price ")

The Enterprise responded to sensor readings which indicated a Romulan outpost on Alpha Onias III in early 2367 , on Riker's birthday. Riker led an away team to investigate but was trapped by an alien named Barash . The alien had been hidden on the planet by his mother to keep him safe from their enemies and was given technology to generate any type of fantasy. He became lonely and hoped Riker would stay to keep him company. When Riker regained consciousness, he was confronted by an Enterprise sixteen years into the future. Dr. Crusher claimed that he was infected by Altarian encephalitis and had lost all memories since Alpha Onias III. He was a single parent with one slightly troublesome child, " Jean-Luc Riker ." "Admiral" Picard then arrived on a Romulan warbird with a diplomatic delegation. Riker was to complete the final peace accords with the Romulans, which he had been working on ever since the Enterprise rescued a damaged Romulan ship. Although Riker began to accept his new circumstances and give "Jean-Luc" attention, the simulation quickly began to fall apart as the technology was not able to keep up with Riker. The Enterprise computer was much too slow, and the senior staff were unable to answer Riker's questions about the previous sixteen years. Moreover, a recording of his wife revealed her to be Minuet , a holographic fantasy. This illusion gave way to another wherein Riker was imprisoned in a Romulan laboratory. Barash stayed in the form of the child, now called " Ethan ." Riker and Ethan plotted an escape, but Riker figured out this second deception when Ethan accidentally called Tomalak "ambassador," a rank he only held in the first illusion. Barash then revealed his true nature to Riker. Will offered him safety and companionship aboard the Enterprise , and the two transported back to the ship. ( TNG : " Future Imperfect ")

The Enterprise was crippled after a defect caused its dilithium chamber hatch to explode. Initially the incident was blamed on Romulan espionage, but it was later determined to be a problem with the hatch, which had been replaced at Earth Station McKinley a few months previously. Riker participated in the initial questioning of a Klingon suspect named J'Dan . After Admiral Norah Satie came aboard and instigated a "witch hunt" with the intention of forcing out Romulan collaborators, Riker served as defense counsel for Crewman Simon Tarses . Tarses was singled out as a spy because his grandfather was Romulan. Satie's investigation was later canceled by Starfleet Command when it became apparent her accusations had very little factual support. ( TNG : " The Drumhead ")

Riker piloted Trill ambassador Odan to a meeting on Peliar Zel in 2367. En route, their shuttle was attacked, and Odan's host body injured. The symbiont was removed, and later transplanted to Riker at his insistence. Human physiology was not totally compatible with the symbiont, but Odan survived in Riker's body long enough to complete negotiations between the two moons of the planet. Odan had been romantically involved with Dr. Beverly Crusher, and she was confused by Odan's change. She tried to avoid him as much as possible as she was uncomfortable with the Trill way of life. Eventually, Crusher realized that she was attracted to Odan's personality as much as his physical appearance and made love to him in Will's body. When a new Trill host arrived, the symbiont was removed from Riker, and he recovered with no long-term effects. ( TNG : " The Host ")

Will was left in command of the Enterprise in 2368 while Captain Picard visited Romulus in search of Ambassador Spock . He was ordered to investigate the disappearance of the Vulcan ship T'Pau from Qualor II when the wreckage of its deflector array was found among the debris of a Ferengi cargo ship . The Enterprise discovered that a mercenary vessel had been stealing ship components from the surplus depot which orbited the planet. The mercenaries were killed when they attacked the Enterprise , ( TNG : " Unification I ") forcing Riker to turn to the planet for information. He found a Ferengi trader named Omag who revealed that the Vulcan parts were being sent to Galorndon Core . The Enterprise continued to investigate, and Sela attempted to divert the Enterprise by sending a fake distress signal from a Federation colony . Riker saw through the deception and the Enterprise went to intercept the stolen Vulcan ships at the Romulan Neutral Zone , but they were destroyed by a Romulan Warbird before entering Federation space . ( TNG : " Unification II ")

Riker was to escort Iyaaran ambassador Byleth during his visit to the Enterprise in 2370 , but the ambassador insisted on Worf instead. ( TNG : " Liaisons ")

Undercover missions [ ]

Riker disguised as a Mintakan in 2366

While serving on board the Enterprise -D, Riker participated in away missions in which he employed disguises to protect Starfleet's Prime Directive .

When a cultural observation post on Mintaka III was severely damaged in 2366, it was discovered by a Mintakan named Liko . Liko was severely injured after being startled by the structure's appearance, requiring his transport to the Enterprise for treatment. While there he briefly woke and saw Captain Picard, whom he believed to be a deity. Several members of the observation team were also injured and wandered from the post. Riker and Troi attempted to correct the damage done to their culture by masquerading as Mintakans. They tried to convince the Mintakans that Liko was merely delusional. Riker was able to retrieve one of the observers, Dr. Palmer , from the Mintakans, but Troi was left behind. The Mintakans, terrified that Picard was a god and would come to punish them, wanted to execute her as a sacrifice to Picard. Picard later transported their leader aboard the Enterprise and convinced her that he was not a god, and Troi was released. ( TNG : " Who Watches The Watchers ")

In 2367, Riker was injured while observing the Malcorians . In preparation for the mission, his face was surgically altered to look Malcorian. He posed as Rivas Jakara . After being injured, he was treated in the local hospital. A female Malcorian nurse, Lanel , who discovered that he was an alien, offered him help when he agreed to make love with her. Unfortunately, Riker was soon discovered by others and detained. Minister Krola , a government official who was frightened of the idea of alien visitors, attempted to kill himself with Riker's phaser. Riker was eventually rescued by Dr. Crusher and Worf. ( TNG : " First Contact ")

Riker defending himself while undercover on Tilonus IV

In 2369 , he undertook an undercover mission to Tilonus IV to find and rescue a Federation research team on the planet. He was disguised as a Tilonian merchant but was eventually discovered, ambushed, and drugged. The Tilonians then tried to operate a neural drain on him in an attempt to learn secrets in his mind, but his mind kept fighting back with recent memories that included a play about an alien sanitarium. His mental defenses eventually allowed him to regain consciousness and fight his way to his concealed communicator, allowing the Enterprise to beam him away to safety. ( TNG : " Frame of Mind ")

In 2370, Data was damaged on a mission to Barkon IV. Riker and Dr. Crusher disguised themselves as Barkonians and brought Data back to the Enterprise . ( TNG : " Thine Own Self ")

Riker as a Bajoran in 2370

Also in 2370, Riker and Ro Laren were sent on a mission to infiltrate the Maquis . Riker was disguised as a Bajoran and claimed to be a relative of Ro's. Ro eventually betrayed Riker and joined the Maquis, but she allowed him to leave. Riker wished her "good luck" as he returned to the Enterprise . ( TNG : " Preemptive Strike ")

Disciplinary actions [ ]

The Enterprise left Riker and other personnel at the research station of Dr. Nel Apgar in 2366. They were to inspect his Krieger wave converter technology, as his research had been funded by Starfleet. While there, Apgar's wife, Manua , tried to seduce him. Dr. Apgar caught them kissing, and he and Riker fought nearly the entire visit. Tensions were at a breaking point when the Enterprise returned to pick up the crew. Shortly after Riker beamed out, the station exploded, killing Apgar. Riker was initially suspected of murder due to accusations by Apgar's widow and assistant , and he was placed under arrest by Tanugan authorities. The Enterprise crew began their own investigation using the holodeck. They determined that the station was not destroyed as a result of a phaser blast from Riker into the station's power core, but as a result of an energy beam directed at Riker by Apgar. Apgar had actually been developing the new technology into a weapon which he wished to sell to the Romulans, and he was worried that Riker had discovered his plan, which would terminate the research before the weapon could be created. The beam was intended to disperse Riker's pattern as he beamed off the station, but it unexpectedly deflected off the transporter beam and into the power core. Upon this revelation, chief investigator Krag dropped all charges. ( TNG : " A Matter of Perspective ")

Shortly after Cardassian withdrawal from the Bajor sector in 2369, Captain Picard was reassigned to a covert infiltration of a Cardassian outpost on Celtris III . Command of the Enterprise was transferred to Edward Jellico at the order of Admiral Alynna Nechayev . Riker tried to convince her that he was suited for the position, but she wanted an officer with experience in dealing with the Cardassians. The transition from Picard to Jellico was difficult for the entire crew. He reassigned many crewmembers from engineering to security, placed overbearing demands on all departments, and instituted new duty shift cycles which led to personnel management problems. As first officer, Riker was the recipient of complaints. Jellico saw Riker as arrogant for questioning his changes and questioned Picard's high opinion of him. ( TNG : " Chain Of Command, Part I ") Riker was present for the negotiations with the Cardassians and learned that Picard had been captured on Celtris III. Jellico deemed Picard lost and refused to attempt a rescue mission. He and Riker got into a verbal altercation in which Riker accused Jellico of sacrificing Picard's life and Jellico accusing Riker of challenging his authority. Riker was subsequently relieved of duty, with Data taking his place as first officer. The Enterprise later developed a plan to ambush a Cardassian invasion fleet in the McAllister C-5 Nebula , involving a shuttlecraft planting mines on the hulls of the Cardassian warships. Riker was the only pilot with the experience to fly the mission, and Jellico returned him to duty following a conversation wherein they both vowed not to let their opinions of one another affect their duties. ( TNG : " Chain Of Command, Part II ")

Early in 2370, Captain Picard was believed to have been killed on Dessica II . He was transported to a mercenary ship commanded by Arctus Baran and joined their crew with the name " Galen ." The Enterprise pursued the mercenaries to the Barradas system , where Riker too was abducted. He worked with Captain Picard to learn more about the mission of the mercenaries and assumed the role of a rebellious and untrustworthy Starfleet officer, trying to gain the trust of Baran. He later attempted to deactivate the Enterprise 's shields with his out-of-date command codes, giving a signal to Data to drop the shields. ( TNG : " Gambit, Part I ") Picard reconfigured the ship's weapons to a harmless setting, and the Enterprise pretended to be damaged. The mercenaries continued on their quest, and Picard eventually learned that they were planning to assemble an ancient Vulcan psionic weapon . The final component was aboard a shuttle piloted by a Klingon named Koral , who had been pulled over by the Enterprise . The mercenaries planned a raid on the Enterprise with Riker's help. Meanwhile, Baran instructed Riker to kill Picard, who had challenged Baran's authority. The group transported to the Enterprise and found the last component, but Picard then shot Riker before returning to the mercenary vessel. Riker was merely stunned, however, and reassumed command of the Enterprise . The ship went to Vulcan and stopped T'Paal , a Vulcan isolationist , from using the weapon. Back on the Enterprise , Picard jokingly suggested that Data place Riker under arrest for treason. Data did not understand the joke, and actually brought Riker to the brig . ( TNG : " Gambit, Part II ")

Cmdr. Riker together with Admiral Erik Pressman in 2370

In 2370, the wreckage of the Pegasus was detected in the Devolin system . Erik Pressman, now an admiral, came aboard the Enterprise and the ship was sent to locate the Pegasus and to salvage it. Starfleet Security was interested in retrieving the phasing cloaking device , which also piqued Romulan interest. Pressman then told Riker that the the head of Starfleet Security had sent orders not to discuss the true mission of the Pegasus . The badly damaged Pegasus was found submerged deep within asteroid Gamma-601 , but the phasing cloak was still intact. It was returned to the Enterprise , but the Enterprise was now trapped within the asteroid as a result of Romulan weapons fire. The phasing cloak was the ship's only hope of escape, and Riker revealed its existence to the Enterprise crew, to the ire of Pressman. La Forge and Data were able to connect and activate the cloak, letting the Enterprise escape. Picard informed the Romulans of what had happened, then took Pressman into custody. Riker was also arrested, at his own insistence, and appeared before a board of inquiry at Starbase 247 . Riker, however, was allowed to return to duty despite this setback. ( TNG : " The Pegasus ")

Riker playing the chef of Enterprise NX-01 in the holodeck in 2370

Riker had only discussed the truth about the Pegasus with ship's counselor Deanna Troi, and had difficulty deciding whether or not to reveal the true circumstances of the Pegasus incident to Captain Picard. At Troi's suggestion, Riker recreated the final mission of Enterprise NX-01 on the holodeck in order to gain command insight and to try to learn from the relationship between Captain Jonathan Archer and his chief engineer, Commander Charles Tucker III . He interacted with several Enterprise crew members as " Chef ", and as a MACO participated in the mission to rescue Shran 's daughter . By observing Tucker's willingness to disobey orders during a critical moment, saving the life of Archer and ensuring the birth of the Federation, Riker realized that telling the truth and trusting Captain Picard's faith in him was much more important than obeying Pressman's orders. ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Medical record [ ]

While leading an away team to planet Minos in 2364, Riker was encased in a stasis field by one of the automated weapons drones reactivated by the USS Drake . Data was able to use a phaser to free him. ( TNG : " The Arsenal of Freedom ")

Riker was attacked by the Ornaran T'Jon in 2364. T'Jon wanted Picard to hand over a shipment of felicium and threatened to kill Riker if he did not comply. ( TNG : " Symbiosis ")

Later that year, Riker was "absorbed" by the malevolent entity Armus on Vagra II . He was later returned to the planet unharmed, although he was completely covered in a viscous black liquid. ( TNG : " Skin Of Evil ")

Gregory Quinn, under the influence of the neural parasites, knocked Riker out after throwing him through a table. ( TNG : " Conspiracy ")

While exploring Surata IV in 2365, Riker was stuck by the thorn of a native plant. The thorn contained an organism which began to attack Riker's central nervous system and caused him to fall into a coma. Dr. Katherine Pulaski was able to stimulate certain memory centers in Riker's brain. The emotional response provided resistance to the organism, which was suppressed. ( TNG : " Shades of Gray ")

Treated for scratches in sickbay

Riker was part of a cultural observation team on Malcor III in 2367. The Malcorians were on the verge of warp capability, and the Federation planned to make first contact with the race. However, Riker was mugged and badly injured in a Malcorian city and was brought to a Malcorian hospital for treatment. His different anatomy and physiology perplexed the Malcorian doctors, and rumors soon spread that Riker was indeed an alien. Despite his best efforts to escape, Riker was kept captive and his whereabouts left unknown to the Enterprise . Furthermore, the strong xenophobic tendencies of the Malcorians were demonstrated when Krola , a member of Malcorian leader Durken 's staff, tried to make it look as if Riker assassinated him in order to make it appear as if the Federation was hostile and therefore discourage any contact. Riker was eventually rescued by a team from the Enterprise and treated by Dr. Crusher. However, the incident proved to Durken that the Malcorians were not ready for contact with other species, and he requested that the Federation leave the system until the culture was better prepared. ( TNG : " First Contact ")

Riker's arm was broken when the Enterprise investigated an apparent distress call from the USS Essex on Mab-Bu VI in 2368. His injury prevented one of the disembodied criminals trapped there from inhabiting his body. ( TNG : " Power Play ")

In 2368, Riker was one of three Enterprise officers mentally assaulted by a Ullian named Jev . Jev forced Riker to relive an accident in main engineering where he was forced to seal a crewmember, Ensign Keller , behind an isolation door , causing her death. Riker then fell into a coma, which was believed to be a side effect of Iresine Syndrome . Investigation by Enterprise personnel revealed that Jev was the cause of the comas, and doctors from the Ullian homeworld helped with Riker's recovery. ( TNG : " Violations ")

Taken by the solanagen aliens

Riker being examined

Early in 2369, Commander La Forge made enhancements to the sensor array during a survey mission to the Amargosa Diaspora . The modifications involved channeling warp power through the main deflector. Unknown at the time, the energy signatures reached into a tertiary subspace domain and allowed a group of solanogen-based lifeforms from another universe to gain access to the Enterprise . They wanted to learn more about our universe and potentially discover a way to project their universe into ours. Riker and several other crewmembers were abducted and analyzed by the aliens, sometimes involving gory medical experiments. Riker's right arm was amputated and reattached at some point. The side effects from the experiments left him very fatigued and claustrophobic, and it was these symptoms which led him to speak to Counselor Troi. She brought Riker together with other Enterprise personnel who were experiencing similar feelings, and the group was able to create a holodeck simulation of the alien environment where they were taken. Later, Dr. Crusher found evidence of the medical experiments in all the abductees. In order to close the link between the normal universe and the solanagen universe and seal a spatial rupture forming in the Enterprise cargo bay, Riker wore a homing beacon which was able to isolate the tetryon emissions emanating from the solanagen universe and allow La Forge to initiate a graviton beam to seal the breach. Dr. Crusher also gave him a counteragent to ward off the sedative used by the aliens. Later that night, he was removed from the ship and taken to the alien laboratory, where the homing beacon allowed the Enterprise to seal the rupture shortly after Riker returned with another missing Enterprise crewmember. ( TNG : " Schisms ")

Also in 2369, the Enterprise stopped at the Remmler Array for a baryon sweep . While there, the Enterprise command crew was invited to a reception at Arkaria Base . A terrorist group took them hostage in order to secure trilithium resin from the Enterprise . Dr. Crusher devised a plan to use La Forge's VISOR as a way to knock their captors into unconsciousness but needed a distraction to make the modifications. Riker went up to one of the terrorists and tried to punch him but was hit in the jaw himself. ( TNG : " Starship Mine ")

In the play Frame of Mind

Later in 2369, Riker was sent to Tilonus IV to track a Federation research team lost when the government collapsed into anarchy . During the mission, he was abducted and held captive in a facility run by Dr. Syrus . The doctor began experiments on Riker's mind which threatened his sanity. His mind resisted the torture by accessing memories of a play, Frame of Mind , which Riker had participated in as the main character shortly before the mission. He began shifting between practicing the play on the Enterprise and actually living the plot of the play, with the characters as Tilonians . He was committed to the hospital after being found guilty of murder and was threatened with synaptic reconstruction before resorting to a procedure called reflection therapy . In the end the two events merged, with Riker being rescued from the mental hospital by the Enterprise . Syrus was present throughout the hallucinations, allowing Riker to deduce that he was fantasizing and regain consciousness. He was rescued by the Enterprise before Syrus was able to inflict further damage, and he personally dismantled the Frame of Mind set as part of his therapy. ( TNG : " Frame of Mind ")

Riker hated cats , but was one of many Enterprise crewmembers who attempted to care for Data's cat, Spot . Riker was in charge of feeding Spot while Data was away at a conference in late 2369 and was scratched on the forehead as he attempted to set down a bowl of food. Riker later passed responsibility for Spot to Dr. Crusher and was somewhat wary of entering Data's quarters. ( TNG : " Timescape ")

In 2370, Dr. Beverly Crusher treated Reginald Barclay for a case of Urodelan flu and accidentally activated a dormant gene, mutating his T cells . The gene became airborne and began to affect the rest of the crew, causing them to "de-evolve" into more primitive forms of life. Riker devolved into an australopithecine and was found by Picard and Data attempting to break open Livingston 's fish tank in the captain's ready room . He then tried to attack Picard and Data but was stunned by a phaser and taken to sickbay. Data eventually discovered a way to reverse the effects, and the crew was returned to normal. ( TNG : " Genesis ")

Service aboard the Enterprise -E [ ]

First contact [ ].

Riker aboard the Phoenix

Riker transferred to the new USS Enterprise -E in 2372 , along with most of the senior staff of the Enterprise -D. In 2373 the Enterprise took part in the Battle of Sector 001 against Starfleet orders. Thanks to the ship's intervention, the Borg cube was destroyed, but not before it launched a sphere which generated a temporal vortex and traveled to the year 2063 . The Enterprise pursued and destroyed the sphere before it could prevent the first flight of Zefram Cochrane aboard the Phoenix warp ship. The Phoenix was damaged during the attack, and several Enterprise -E crewmembers assisted Cochrane in repairs. Riker also needed to convince Cochrane of the importance of his first warp flight, as Cochrane considered canceling it following the Borg attack. Riker, along with Geordi La Forge, was present on board the Phoenix for Cochrane's historic flight. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

Fighting the Son'a [ ]

Riker in 2375

In 2375 Riker, along with the Enterprise crew, defied Federation orders and rebelled against the plan to relocate the Ba'ku people from their homeworld in order to harvest the metaphasic radiation from their planet's ring system. While Picard and the rest of the senior staff protected the Ba'ku on the planet, Riker took the Enterprise out of the Briar Patch and alerted the Federation Council to the real issues surrounding the forced relocation. During the journey out of the Briar Patch, the Enterprise was engaged by two Son'a vessels. The ship was seriously damaged in the process and forced to eject its warp core to seal a subspace tear . Riker needed to invent a new tactic on the fly. Dubbed the " Riker maneuver " by chief engineer Geordi La Forge, it involved collecting metreon gas with the Bussard collectors and then venting the gas while the ship continued to move. The cloud left behind the ship reacted with the isolytic weapons of the Son'a ships, destroying one and crippling the other. Riker then returned with the Enterprise in time to disable Ru'afo's flagship and beam Picard off of the Son'a collector before it exploded. ( Star Trek: Insurrection )

Battle with Shinzon [ ]

Commander Riker leads a team to combat a Reman boarding party

Will Riker's last mission aboard the Enterprise -E was during its encounter with Praetor Shinzon in 2379 . Although Riker was eager to begin his life aboard the USS Titan with Counselor Troi, he realized how important it was to stop Shinzon and was willing to sacrifice anything in order to prevent him from using his thalaron radiation weapon on Earth .

The Scimitar fought and weakened the Enterprise in the Battle of the Bassen Rift , sending several boarding parties to the ship. Riker and Worf took a security detail to fight off the invading Remans . The Reman Viceroy entered the Jefferies tubes in an attempt to reach the bridge and kidnap Captain Picard. Riker followed and they fought hand-to-hand, with Riker eventually killing the Viceroy by knocking him down an Enterprise maintenance shaft. ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Command offers [ ]

Riker was offered several commands during his tenure aboard the Enterprise- D and Enterprise -E. In addition to the Drake , he was offered the USS Aries in 2365 and the USS Melbourne in 2366. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ", " The Best of Both Worlds ") The Aries command was offered to Riker because of his exceptional abilities as an explorer and diplomat. He turned down the Aries posting because he felt he was not yet ready to leave the Enterprise and the distinction that the first officer post held. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ") Starfleet put a great amount of pressure on Riker to accept command of the Melbourne . Many admirals and even Captain Picard felt that he had remained too long on board the Enterprise and should have accepted a command by that point in his career, lest it seem like he was standing still in a sea of upstart officers like Shelby. Even Riker questioned why he remained as Enterprise first officer and was unable to understand what kept him from leaving. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ")

Ultimately Riker did not need to make a choice, as he was field promoted to captain during the encounter with the Borg and the Melbourne was subsequently destroyed at Wolf 359. Although it was believed Riker would have a pick of any command because his decisive leadership was a major factor in the defeat of the Borg, he still elected to remain Enterprise first officer. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ")

Captain William T. Riker prior to taking command of the USS Titan .

By 2379, Riker decided to accept promotion to captain of the USS Titan , assuming command of the ship that year. Troi also transferred to the Titan . ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Commanding the USS Titan [ ]

First assignment [ ].

Following Riker's assuming command of the Titan , they were dispatched to the Romulan Neutral Zone to serve as the command ship for a diplomatic task force . ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Dealing with the Pakleds [ ]

Captain Riker in command of the Titan

In 2380 , Riker, along with the Titan 's crew, saved the USS Cerritos when it was being attacked by three Pakled Clumpships . He later offered Ensign Brad Boimler a promotion to lieutenant junior grade and a position aboard the Titan based on the Cerritos ' first officer Jack Ransom 's recommendation, which Boimler accepted. ( LD : " No Small Parts ")

Three months later, the Titan fought several Pakled battle harpies . To escape, Captain Riker ordered the ship to enter a nearby anomaly , where the Titan and its crew underwent gluonic disruption . ( LD : " Strange Energies ")

Riker debriefing his bridge crew on his suspicions of the Pakled attacks

In 2381 , the Titan was ordered to investigate the takeover of a mining colony located on Karzill IV . While Riker expressed unabashed love for his captaincy of the Titan and her role in the fleet, he also admitted to Boimler that he wished he could return to exploration and "solving science mysteries" like during his years on the Enterprise -D, fondly noting " Damn, do I miss that ship. " ( LD : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open ")

Becoming a father [ ]

Captain William Riker shortly after the birth of his son Thaddeus.

Later that year, Riker and Troi welcomed their first child, Thaddeus Troi-Riker , although the delivery was touch and go. Riker was on the bridge of the Titan when he was hailed from sickbay to get down there right away. It took him seventeen seconds to get down there, during which Riker thought he was going to lose his unborn son and Thad's whole future flashed before Riker's eyes.

Sometime after Thad's birth, he met up with Picard at 10 Forward Avenue on Earth to share a celebratory drink of whiskey . ( PIC : " Seventeen Seconds ")

Reserved retirement [ ]

Life on nepenthe [ ].

As of 2399 , the retired Admiral Picard still considered Riker a loyal colleague who would not hesitate to join him on a mission if asked. By that time, Riker had left active service in Starfleet, though he remained in reserve as needed and settled on the planet Nepenthe . His house there was protected by shields due to trouble with the Kzinti . He remained married to Deanna Troi and along with Thaddeus, had a second child, Kestra . "Thad", as his family called him, died in childhood from mendaxic neurosclerosis , caused by a silicon-based virus that could have been cured with the aid of an active positronic matrix ; by the time Thad was diagnosed , however, there were no active matrices to be found, and none could be made due to the ban on the technology following the attack on Mars in 2385 . ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ", " Nepenthe ")

Riker shares a moment with Picard

Picard soon arrived on Nepenthe later that year with Soji Asha , whom Riker immediately recognized as being an android descended from Data. As Picard had expected Riker and Troi both offered to help him without hesitation, opening their home to him and Soji for as long as they needed. ( PIC : " Nepenthe ")

Return to duty [ ]

Captain Riker on the Zheng He in 2399

Shortly afterwards, Riker temporarily left retirement to command the USS Zheng He at the head of a fleet dedicated to helping the residents of Coppelius resist a Zhat Vash attack. There, he confronted General Oh , claiming Coppelius to be under Federation protection, but the Zhat Vash fleet withdrew before a fight could begin, due to Soji's deactivation of the beacon. Riker contacted a relieved Picard, explaining that he had returned to help after learning of Picard's SOS in order to help his old friend since he wasn't going to talk Picard out of his plan. The Zheng He then withdrew from Coppelius with the rest of the fleet to escort the Romulans from Federation space. ( PIC : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 ")

Rescuing an old friend [ ]

Captain Riker was temporarily in command of the USS Titan -A after its captain, Liam Shaw, was injured.

In 2401 , Riker had returned to Starfleet full time. He was scheduled to give a speech at the Frontier Day ceremony. He aided Picard when Riker learned of Crusher's message to Picard. ( PIC : " The Next Generation ")

Personal interests [ ]

Riker plays the trombone

Riker was a jazz aficionado, and his favorite musical instrument was the trombone . Although he was an accomplished player, his skills were not quite up to that of a professional musician ( TNG : " 11001001 ") and he had trouble with certain pieces, including " Night Bird ". ( TNG : " Second Chances ") As captain of the Titan , Riker was known to frequently clean his trombone, to the point that Boimler considered it to be somewhat disruptive. ( LD : " The Spy Humongous ")

Riker could also play the piano and taught Amarie , a musician in a bar on Qualor II, some jazz routines when the Enterprise visited the planet in 2368. ( TNG : " Unification II ")

Data performed Irving Berlin 's " Blue Skies " at Riker's wedding to Deanna Troi because of his knowledge of Riker's fondness for "archaic musical forms." ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Riker first began playing poker as a junior officer aboard the Potemkin . ( TNG : " Lower Decks ") He became a notoriously good player aboard the Enterprise , participating in most of the ship's weekly poker games and even teaching master classes on the game. ( TNG : " The Measure Of A Man ", " The Price ") He also knew several card tricks, one of which was used in a failed attempt to fool Data in 2367. ( TNG : " Legacy ") His poker skills were noted by Captain Picard, and their connection to diplomatic skills was one of the reasons he was selected to replace Mendoza as the Federation representative in the Barzan wormhole negotiations. ( TNG : " The Price ")

In an alternate timeline , Dr. Crusher noted that Riker raised his left eyebrow slightly while bluffing, although she later claimed to be kidding. ( TNG : " Cause And Effect ") In 2369, Riker, La Forge, and Worf made an unconventional wager with Dr. Crusher: if any of the men won the hand, she would become a brunette, and if Crusher won, the men would shave their beards . However, the senior staff were called to the bridge before the hand was over. ( TNG : " The Quality of Life ")

Riker was skilled in other forms of gambling and won large sums of latinum at the dabo tables in Quark's during an Enterprise visit to Deep Space 9 . Quark claimed he was unable to pay Riker at the time, and later voided the winnings in exchange for information about the whereabouts of the Duras sisters Lursa and B'Etor . ( TNG : " Firstborn ") Riker met DS9 officer Jadzia Dax at Quark's about this time. ( DS9 : " Defiant ")

Riker had several sports-related hobbies. Anbo-jyutsu was one such interest, ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ") as were Parrises squares ( TNG : " Future Imperfect ", " Timescape ") and handball . ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ") He had skills in the martial arts, tai chi chuan in particular and took Worf's mok'bara classes. ( TNG : " Second Chances ", " Clues ") He also enjoyed fishing . One of his favorite fishing spots was Curtis Creek , which he recreated in a holoprogram . ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ", " Second Chances ", " Future Imperfect ")

Other interests [ ]

Riker was quite skilled at three-dimensional chess , as he used the Queen's Gambit coupled with the Aldabren Exchange to defeat the Ferengi Nibor during the closing reception of the biennial Trade Agreements Conference aboard the USS Enterprise -D. ( TNG : " Ménage à Troi ") Riker had an interest in cooking from when he had had to fend for himself as a child. ( TNG : " Time Squared ", " Remember Me ") He was a member of Beverly Crusher's theater troupe aboard the Enterprise -D and played the lead in two plays, Something for Breakfast ( TNG : " A Fistful of Datas ") and Frame of Mind . ( TNG : " Frame of Mind ") His favorite vacation spot was Risa . ( TNG : " Captain's Holiday ", " The Game ") Riker also enjoyed dabo, although the beckoning profits did not appear to be the motivating factor. At Quark's on Deep Space 9 , Lt. Jadzia Dax staked Riker three strips of gold-pressed latinum when his winning-streak ran dry. He later contacted Quark and traded his unclaimed winnings for information on the Duras sisters . ( TNG : " Firstborn "; DS9 : " Defiant ")

Personal relationships [ ]

Marriage [ ].

Wedding ceremony in Alaska

Will and Deanna were finally married in 2379 , shortly before their transfer to the USS Titan . Their wedding party in Alaska included Captain Picard as best man, Dr. Crusher as bridesmaid, and Data, La Forge, Worf, and Wesley Crusher as groomsmen. Guinan was also present. Another ceremony, a traditional Betazoid wedding , was planned on Betazed shortly following. However, that ceremony was delayed when the Enterprise was diverted to Romulus . ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Friendships [ ]

Because of his fair and decisive command style and his easy-going, affable personality, Riker was popular among the Enterprise -D crew and had friendships with senior staff members as well as junior officers. ( TNG : " Data's Day ") Some junior officers, such as Sam Lavelle , found him less easy to get along with. Riker was slightly annoyed with Lavelle, claiming he was too eager to please. Later, Counselor Troi suggested that his adversity actually stemmed from the fact that Lavelle was very much like Riker when he himself had been a junior officer. ( TNG : " Lower Decks ")

Riker flirts with Guinan

Riker had known Geordi La Forge longer than any of the crew, but they didn't become friends until they served on the Enterprise together. ( TNG : " The Next Phase ") He counseled La Forge following the loss of his mother in 2370, although La Forge did not heed his advice at the time. ( TNG : " Interface ")

While Dr. Beverly Crusher was head of Starfleet Medical in 2365, Riker was one of the Enterprise officers who made sure Wesley Crusher kept up with his studies and responsibilities aboard the ship. ( TNG : " The Child ") Riker and Guinan tried to advise Wesley on his relationship with Salia , but their assistance rapidly went off track from its original intention. ( TNG : " The Dauphin ")

Jean-Luc Picard [ ]

Riker and Captain Picard on the bridge of the late Enterprise -D

When choosing a first officer prior to the launch of the Enterprise in 2363 , Captain Picard nearly passed over Riker's record. He stopped when he saw the incident with Captain DeSoto and Riker's refusal to allow the captain to beam down. This was a major factor in Picard's selection of Riker as his first officer. He was impressed that a first officer would challenge a captain's authority out of regard for the safety of the captain and the crew. ( TNG : " The Pegasus ") The trust Picard held in his first officer almost certainly saved the Federation. When the Enterprise encountered the Borg cube after the massacre at Wolf 359, Locutus of Borg, being reminded of that trust by Riker, would, though he knew perfectly well it was a lie, at least listen and respond to Riker's attempt to negotiate the circumstances of assimilation, distracting the Borg long enough to locate Locutus on the cube and effect a rescue, eventually using Picard's link to the Collective to destroy the ship in Earth orbit. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ", " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ")

Captain Picard was very cold towards Riker during their first meeting and ordered the manual docking as a test of Riker's abilities. When he performed the docking with great expertise and skill, Picard formally greeted Riker, and requested that his new first officer made sure that he didn't allow Picard to "make an ass of himself" in front of the many children aboard the ship. One year later, Picard felt as if he had not done a good job of congratulating Riker, so he did it once more, this time making his feelings clear. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ", " The Icarus Factor ")

Eventually, Riker and Picard became very good friends. With the best of intentions, Riker suggested that Picard vacation at Risa in 2366, asking him to return a horga'hn . Picard did not realize the history behind the statue and kept it with him after purchasing it for Riker, making it appear as if the captain was seeking jamaharon . ( TNG : " Captain's Holiday ")

The only time Riker and Picard ever verbally fought in front of the Enterprise crew was in 2366 while under the influence of emotions projected by Ambassador Sarek (whom Picard greatly respected), suffering from Bendii Syndrome . ( TNG : " Sarek ")

Picard tried to counsel Riker when he was offered command of the USS Melbourne in 2366, reminding him that the Enterprise would continue without his presence and that officers like Shelby were very much as he himself had been before he learned the lessons necessary for command of a starship. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ") Riker also came to Captain Picard for advice when Worf wanted his help with the hegh'bat and when he struggled with a decision involving Soren . ( TNG : " Ethics ", " The Outcast ")

In early 2369, members of the Enterprise crew, including Picard, were turned into twelve-year-olds by the effects of a molecular reversion field . Unfortunately, a group of Ferengi commandeered the Enterprise about that time. Believing Picard to be a child, they confined him to a classroom aboard the ship while Riker was held in the observation lounge . Picard threw a tantrum and demanded to see his "father," Riker. They pretended to be father and son for Picard to plant a suggestive message to Riker, requesting access to the Enterprise main computer from the classroom. Picard, along with the other affected Enterprise crew members, was able to design a plan to retake the Enterprise from the Ferengi. ( TNG : " Rascals ")

During the Pegasus incident of 2370, Picard tried to investigate the circumstances surrounding the ship's disappearance. He ran into many dead-ends, as most records had been sealed, and had to use many favors in Starfleet Command to even get a look at the findings of the board convened to investigate the loss of the Pegasus . Riker would not divulge further information under the orders of Admiral Erik Pressman, and Picard reluctantly continued the search. He made it clear to Riker that he hoped he still considered the safety of the Enterprise his top priority and said that if he found this to be untrue, he would re-evaluate his trust in Riker. After the crisis was resolved, Picard visited Riker in the brig and returned him to duty aboard the Enterprise , understanding Riker's mistake in the past and satisfied that he had made the correct decisions in the present. ( TNG : " The Pegasus ")

Picard served as Riker's best man during his wedding to Deanna Troi in 2379 . He gave a toast to Riker, calling him his "trusted right arm" for the previous fifteen years and lamenting his loss of a fine first officer. ( Star Trek Nemesis )

While aboard the Enterprise , Picard generally referred to Riker as " Number One ", a nickname he used for his first officer. ( TNG : " Disaster ") Chillingly, Locutus of Borg also called Riker "Number One" while dealing with the Enterprise crew. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ", " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ")

Worf considered Riker one of his closest friends, despite their vastly different personalities. Riker was one of the only Humans who participated in Worf's brutally violent holodeck calisthenics program . ( TNG : " Where Silence Has Lease ") In 2365, Worf wanted to transfer to the USS Aries with Riker, concerned for his safety. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ") Riker also tried to convince Worf to donate his blood in order to save the Romulan Patahk , rescued from Galorndon Core in 2366. He tried to make Worf realize that this gesture of goodwill might be the first step toward healing the differences between their peoples. ( TNG : " The Enemy ")

Riker at Worf's side after his paralysis

Worf asked Riker to assist him in the hegh'bat , a Klingon ritual suicide, following his spinal cord injury in 2368. Riker was appalled by the request, feeling that Worf's life was still worth living and that suicide would be an insult to all their comrades who had struggled for life up until their death. He researched the tradition before coming to Worf with his decision. He found that the hegh'bat was generally practiced with the oldest son, and then left it up to Worf to ask his young son Alexander Rozhenko to help. Worf was unable to ask Alexander to participate in the ritual, and later decided to attempt a risky surgery involving the genetronic replicator . ( TNG : " Ethics ")

Despite his discomfort with the androgynous nature of the J'naii , Worf helped Riker during his mission to rescue Soren , realizing how important Soren was to Riker. ( TNG : " The Outcast ")

Riker also liked to good-naturedly rib Worf, who was notorious for his lack of a sense of humor. This was proven correct as Worf only glared or growled in response to Riker's antics. During the Iyaaran visit in 2370, Riker jokingly chastised Worf for thinking the dress uniform was too feminine and weak looking, later telling Worf he thought he looked good in a dress. ( TNG : " Liaisons ")

Riker encouraged Alexander's love of jazz music by giving him several recordings. Worf, however, was not a fan. ( TNG : " Phantasms ")

Riker wanted to give Worf a surprise party for his birthday in 2370, but Deanna Troi talked him out of it. ( TNG : " Parallels ")

Riker with Worf in 2371

In late 2370, Worf began dating Deanna Troi, which placed some strain on his relationship with Riker despite Worf's best efforts to prevent it. ( TNG : " Eye of the Beholder ", " All Good Things... ") Worf tried to ask Riker for his permission to date Troi, but the attempt came off as comic rather than serious. ( TNG : " Eye of the Beholder ")

Riker first met Data on the Enterprise holodeck in 2364. Data was trying to whistle " Pop Goes the Weasel ," but could not finish the last few notes. Riker helped him finish, later giving Data the nickname " Pinocchio " in reference to Data's wish to become Human. Riker later recalled this incident fondly during Data's wake, although he was unable to remember the song Data was whistling. ( Star Trek Nemesis ) At first Riker was skeptical about Data's abilities as a machine, he even assumed that his rank of lieutenant commander was merely honorary. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ")

In 2365, Data's status as a sentient individual came into question. A trial was set on Starbase 173 , but the base lacked a complete legal staff. As Enterprise first officer, Riker was forced to act as attorney for Bruce Maddox and was given the difficult task of convincing Judge Phillipa Louvois that as an android , Data was not sentient. He very nearly proved that Data was a simple machine by deactivating him, but Picard's defense later made Louvois grant Data complete rights as a sentient being. Riker was distressed over the incident and felt terrible that he nearly cost Data his rights. Data did not hold any ill will towards Riker, though, and was grateful that Riker participated, for if he had not, the ruling would have been a default in Maddox's favor. He assured Riker that he would not forget that the actions the commander found so upsetting had saved his life. ( TNG : " The Measure Of A Man ")

Riker with Data aboard the Cleponji in 2366

Riker was also aware of the fondness the rest of the crew felt for Data. In 2366, after Data's apparent death in a shuttlecraft explosion (while ferrying hytritium , a compound too unstable for transporter use), upon seeing La Forge's furious refusal to accept that Data himself might have been responsible for the accident, Riker told Picard that, for someone incapable of feeling emotions, he was quite capable of bringing them out in others. Soon afterward he accidentally brought about Data's recovery, as it was Riker's suspicions – that since the hytritium, needed to purge tricyanate from the water on Beta Agni II , did so in seconds rather than hours, the water must have been poisoned – which launched an investigation of Kivas Fajo , who had provided the hytritium (in exactly the amount needed). Upon learning of Fajo's status as a collector, the crew, deducing that their friend's death had been faked, quickly tracked down Fajo's ship and returned Data to the Enterprise . ( TNG : " The Most Toys ")

Data sought Riker's help and advice on several occasions. One instance was when he asked for Riker's advice on friendship and betrayal following a mission involving Ishara Yar in 2367. ( TNG : " Legacy ") Data also asked for Riker's help when Keiko Ishikawa temporarily called off her wedding to Miles O'Brien in 2367. ( TNG : " Data's Day ") He also came to Riker for advice when he started to date Jenna D'Sora . ( TNG : " In Theory ")

Years after Data's physical death in 2379 aboard the Scimitar , Riker continued to remember Data with great fondness. His daughter Kestra Troi-Riker learned a great deal about Data and his life through stories from the past. ( PIC : " Nepenthe ")

Carol Freeman [ ]

William T. Riker and Carol Freeman.

Riker was one of Captain Carol Freeman 's old friends, close enough for Riker to consider Freeman his cha'DIch and reminisce about the times they got into trouble together, although Freeman contended that Riker alone was responsible for starting incidents. Riker was also a mentor to Beckett Mariner , Freeman's daughter. He was also the source of many contrabands that Mariner collected. Seeing Riker was the source of Mariner's frequent insubordinate behavior, Freeman was slightly annoyed when they met again in 2380. ( LD : " No Small Parts ")

Beckett Mariner [ ]

William T. Riker and Beckett Mariner.

Riker was a mentor to Ensign Beckett Mariner and a source of Mariner's contrabands, such as Romulan ale. Riker owed Mariner a favor sometime prior to 2380, which he considered paid when his ship, the USS Titan , saved Mariner's ship, the USS Cerritos from being captured and destroyed by the Pakleds.( LD : " No Small Parts ")

Kyle Riker [ ]

Will saw his father Kyle Riker for the first time in fifteen years when he came aboard the Enterprise to brief him on the USS Aries command. The two remained adversarial, despite Kyle's wish to heal any wounds before Riker departed on his mission. Dr. Pulaski, an old flame of Kyle's, told Will about Kyle's bravery following the Tholian attack and suggested that the time had come to resolve their conflict. Will and Kyle decided to settle their differences with a match of anbo-jytsu, at which time Will discovered that Kyle had been cheating since Will was twelve. The activity allowed them to vent the tension and have an actual conversation about their true feelings, which they had never done. Kyle finally told Will that he loved him before returning to Starbase Montgomery . ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ") After this incident, Will was finally able to put their past difficulties behind him. ( TNG : " Second Chances ")

Thomas Riker [ ]

Thomas and William

The Enterprise was sent to Nervala IV in late 2369, when the atmospheric disturbances began to subside. Riker led an away team to the surface, and discovered his duplicate, later known as Thomas Riker . The two quickly clashed over various issues, including Tom's resistance to direct orders and his attempts to rekindle a relationship with Deanna Troi. Tom felt that Will was the one who had benefited from his misery of being stuck on the planet for eight years. After working together to retrieve log files from the station computers and saving one another's lives, they began to accept one another. Thomas transferred to the USS Gandhi , and Will gave him their trombone as a parting gift. ( TNG : " Second Chances ")

By 2371, Tom had resigned his post to join the Maquis . He pretended to be Will Riker in order to gain access to the USS Defiant , which he then stole for use by the Maquis. ( DS9 : " Defiant ")

Romance [ ]

Riker spent the night with Mistress Beata during his mission to Angel I in 2364, presenting her with an Albeni meditation crystal . She was fascinated by his strength and power, traits which were not abundant in the males of her world. Riker donned the traditional clothing of the planet, drawing snickers from Counselor Troi and Lieutenant Natasha Yar . ( TNG : " Angel One ")

The Bynars created a holographic woman named Minuet to distract Riker while they hijacked the Enterprise -D in 2364. Riker found her convincingly real and was disappointed when her program was lost after the Bynars left the ship. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") Her image was used by Barash 's holosimulators to create a wife for Riker in the illusory future he experienced in 2367, making Riker realize the deception. ( TNG : " Future Imperfect ")

Lwaxana Troi [ ]

Ambassador Lwaxana Troi entered the Betazoid phase in 2365. When she visited the Enterprise , she set her sights on several male crewmembers as potential mates, including Riker. She announced their "wedding" on the bridge of the Enterprise shortly before moving on to Captain Picard. ( TNG : " Manhunt ")

Brenna Odell [ ]

Riker was romantically linked to the Bringloidi colonist Brenna Odell , but the relationship was limited to her brief stay aboard the ship in 2365. ( TNG : " Up The Long Ladder ")

The Enterprise worked to reunite the Gatherers with their Acamarian home in 2366. Riker became involved with one of Sovereign Marouk 's aides, Yuta . Yuta was actually a Tralesta who had been genetically altered to deliver a microvirus to members of another clan, the Lornak , which the Tralestas had fought centuries earlier. The last Lornak , Chorgan , was now leader of the Gatherers, and Yuta attempted to assassinate him. Data and Dr. Crusher later discovered Yuta's true nature, and Riker was forced to kill her in order to prevent Chorgan's death. ( TNG : " The Vengeance Factor ")

Riker returned from shore leave in late 2366 and saw Data's "daughter" Lal in Ten Forward . He did not realize that she was an android and flirted with her. Lal immediately picked Riker up and planted a kiss on his lips, copying behavior she had observed earlier. When Data asked Riker what his intentions were with his daughter, Riker hastily left, embarrassed and confused. ( TNG : " The Offspring ")

While Riker was held captive in the Malcorian hospital in 2367, a nurse named Lanel approached him and offered to help him escape if he made love to her, as it had long been her dream to do so with an alien. Riker tried to maneuver his way out of the situation by claiming there were differences between their cultures, but Lanel was persistent. It is unclear just how far the two went with their relationship, but Lanel eventually helped Riker try to escape. When asked if she would ever see him again, Riker somewhat sarcastically responded he would look her up next time he passed through her star system. ( TNG : " First Contact ")

Carmen Davila [ ]

Riker romanced Carmen Davila in early 2368 while some of the Enterprise crew helped establish a colony on Melona IV . However, Davila was killed when the Crystalline Entity ravaged that world. Riker wrote a brief letter to Davila's family when Starfleet informed them of her death. Riker believed that her death and the loss of countless other lives at the hands of the Entity were reason enough to destroy it rather than attempt communication. ( TNG : " Silicon Avatar ")

Etana Jol [ ]

Riker visited Risa later that year and met a Ktarian female named Etana . Jol was actually working for a Ktarian dissident movement which attempted to take over the Federation in 2368. She was able to get Riker addicted to the game they used in the mind control plot, which he then returned to the Enterprise . Fortunately, Data, Wesley Crusher and Robin Lefler were able to reverse the effects of the game and foil the Ktarian plot. ( TNG : " The Game ")

Ro Laren [ ]

When the Enterprise was affected by a Satarran memory weapon in 2368 , Riker and Ensign Ro Laren felt an attraction to one another. They spent several nights together before Dr. Crusher discovered a way to restore the memories of the entire crew. ( TNG : " Conundrum ") Later that year, Riker later wanted to say a few words about Ro at the funeral planned when it was believed she and La Forge were dead. Ro was frustrated because she and La Forge were rephased before Riker made his speech. ( TNG : " The Next Phase ")

In 2368 Riker helped the J'naii rescue the crew of one of their shuttlecraft trapped in a pocket of null space . During the planning stages of the mission, he became close to one of their pilots, Soren . The two were attracted to one another, a relationship forbidden by the oppressive government of the J'naii. Their relationship was discovered, and Soren was arrested. She was given psychological treatment to remove her inclinations to be female. With help from Worf, Riker mounted an illicit rescue mission, but it was too late. She refused to go along with him and did not wish to be returned to the way she was before treatment. ( TNG : " The Outcast ")

Kamala , a Kriosian empathic metamorph , tried to work her charms on Riker in 2368 . He was able to resist her but needed to visit the holodeck after the encounter. ( TNG : " The Perfect Mate ")

Amanda Rogers [ ]

Amanda Rogers came aboard the Enterprise in 2369. She had a somewhat obvious crush on Commander Riker, which he found flattering but did not reciprocate. Q used her interest in him to discern whether she had the abilities of the Q, causing several cargo barrels to fall from a ledge onto Riker. Amanda deflected the barrels to Riker's side. Later, after Q had begun to tempt Amanda with her new-found abilities, she abducted Riker and brought him to a romantic fantasy environment. Will still turned down her advances, but Amanda then used her powers to cause him to fall in love with her. Ultimately, Amanda realized that the encounter was devoid of meaning and sent him back to the Enterprise . ( TNG : " True Q ")

Rebecca Smith [ ]

Will dated a new tactical officer, Rebecca Smith , in 2370. They went for a walk in the arboretum and became intimate, but the mood was ruined when Riker rolled into Cypirion cactus and was stuck by several thorns. ( TNG : " Genesis ")

Deanna Troi [ ]

Will Riker with Deanna Troi in 2375

Deanna Troi and Will Riker began an intense and close relationship shortly following his posting to Betazed. They referred to each other as imzadi , a Betazoid word for "beloved". Troi apparently taught Riker how to communicate telepathically, but he seemed to have lost the ability by 2364. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ") Will later remarked that he knew Deanna better than anyone. ( TNG : " Man Of The People ") One of their favorite and most special locations was Janaran Falls . After Riker was transferred to the Potemkin , the two stayed in touch and planned to meet at Risa in 2361 , but Will was promoted shortly after the Nervala IV mission and forced to cancel their date. He made his career a priority over their relationship, and they gradually lost touch and did not see one another until they were both posted to the new USS Enterprise in 2364. ( TNG : " Second Chances ") It was difficult to see each other again, and Troi tried to speak to Riker alone during their mission to Farpoint Station . He maintained a distance, and she did not make another attempt. ( TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ") They eventually decided to keep a professional yet friendly relationship. They stayed close friends and confidants, often approaching each other either to talk or for support in times of crisis. ( TNG : " Violations ", " Second Chances ") As first officer and counselor, they were required to manage crew evaluations every three months. ( TNG : " Man Of The People ", " Lower Decks ")

While under the influence of the polywater intoxication in 2364, Troi attempted to seduce Riker, but Riker maintained control and brought her to sickbay . ( TNG : " The Naked Now ")

Riker was dismayed to learn of Troi's betrothal to Wyatt Miller in 2364. Troi reassured him that he would always be a special part of her life and that she still cared for him greatly. Riker was delighted when Troi remained aboard the Enterprise after Miller left to help the Tarellians recover from a plague . ( TNG : " Haven ")

Riker and Troi attended the funeral service for Natasha Yar together after she was killed by Armus in 2364. Riker comforted Troi during and following the event. ( TNG : " Skin Of Evil ")

Troi was impregnated by an alien life form in early 2365. Riker had mixed feelings about the pregnancy and resultant child but was with Troi for the birth and supported her during the ordeal, especially after the child sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise . ( TNG : " The Child ")

Troi was visibly upset when Riker almost accepted assignment to the Aries in 2365. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ")

When Riker was affected by the predatory plant microbe picked up on Surata IV , Troi stayed with him through his convalescence. She was present during his treatment and relayed the emotions Will was experiencing to Dr. Pulaski, giving her indication of which memories to activate and which to suppress. ( TNG : " Shades of Gray ")

During the negotiations for the Barzan wormhole in 2366, Riker was challenged by the Chrysalian representative, Devinoni Ral , in more ways than one. Ral and Troi began a romantic relationship, and Ral used this to intimidate Riker. However, the Barzan wormhole was later determined to be worthless, and Riker gleefully withdrew the Federation bid in front of Ral, who had just secured rights for the Chrysalians through underhanded means. ( TNG : " The Price ")

Later that year, Troi backed off when Riker made his interest in Yuta known. ( TNG : " The Vengeance Factor ") She stood by him after he was accused of Dr. Nel Apgar 's murder, even when it seemed he must be guilty. After he was exonerated, she squeezed his hand in affection. ( TNG : " A Matter of Perspective ")

The couple tried to take a romantic holiday on Betazed in 2366 but were interrupted by Lwaxana Troi . A Ferengi DaiMon , Tog , later arrived to kidnap Lwaxana, taking Deanna and Riker with her. They later engineered an escape and were rescued by the Enterprise . ( TNG : " Ménage à Troi ")

The Enterprise became trapped by two-dimensional lifeforms in early 2367. They also suppressed Deanna's telepathic abilities and she found it difficult to deal with her loss. Will tried to help her cope with the trauma, but she resisted. He then called her "aristocratic" and thought she was upset because her empathic powers helped her feel superior to her shipmates. When the Enterprise was freed, her abilities were restored. She apologized to Will, but also made it clear that he was not to call her aristocratic again. ( TNG : " The Loss ")

Will and Deanna attended the wedding of Keiko and Miles O'Brien together. ( TNG : " Data's Day ")

Sometime prior to 2368 , Riker and Troi had a romantic encounter following a poker night. Troi was reluctant to continue a relationship at the time and the incident remained isolated. ( TNG : " Violations ")

Both Riker and Troi were affected by the Satarran energy weapon, but Troi still felt a connection to Will. Her suspicions were confirmed when Riker found a copy of Ode to Psyche given to him by Troi, with the inscription "To Will, all my love, Deanna". ( TNG : " Conundrum ")

When Riker expressed interest in Soren, he went to see Troi in order to gain her approval of the relationship. Once again, Troi assured him that they would always be special to one another, even if they saw other people. ( TNG : " The Outcast ")

Ambassador Ves Alkar telepathically linked with Troi in 2369, using her as a receptacle for his "psychic waste". Troi's behavior was drastically altered, and she began to rapidly age due to the stress. She appeared for a crew evaluation meeting with Riker in a seductive outfit, then revealing that she had just slept with a male junior officer. Riker claimed that he felt her love life was none of his business, but Troi continued to press the issue, causing Riker to leave. Troi later tried to kiss Riker, then scratched him for no apparent reason. Riker reported this behavior to Dr. Crusher, who uncovered Alkar's plan and broke his link with Troi. Troi thanked Riker for his support, and he promised to love her even when she became old and gray. ( TNG : " Man Of The People ")

The discovery of Riker's double on Nervala IV complicated his relationship with Troi. That Riker had spent eight years pining for Troi and was eager to resume their relationship. He tried to have her transferred to the Gandhi , but she refused, not wanting to give up the life she had spent so long building on the Enterprise . ( TNG : " Second Chances ")

Lwaxana Troi felt that Riker was partly the reason Deanna was still unmarried by 2370. While suffering from strain due to repeated telepathic contact with the Cairn , Lwaxana approached WRiker in Ten Forward and yelled at him, telling him to leave Deanna alone. She later had Deanna apologize for her behavior. ( TNG : " Dark Page ")

Troi attempted the Bridge Officer's test in 2370. Riker supervised the tests and did not show any favoritism towards her. After she attempted the engineering qualification several times without much luck, he came to tell her the tests were canceled. However, by insisting to her that, despite their relationship, his loyalty was to the Enterprise , he gave her a hint which told her what the test was really about – her ability to send a crewmember to their death. Knowing that she would never simply give up, he entered the holodeck just in time to congratulate her on passing the test. ( TNG : " Thine Own Self ")

Worf began courting Troi in 2370, thankful for all the help she had provided in Alexander's care over the prior two years. ( TNG : " Parallels ") Worf was concerned that Riker might feel betrayed by their relationship and wanted to discuss the issue with Riker late that year. ( TNG : " All Good Things... ")

Riker and Troi stayed friends into their early years aboard the Enterprise -E. He helped her through the outcome of an alcohol binge instigated by Zefram Cochrane while they were trying to convince him to conduct his warp flight in 2063 (though he made no attempt to hide his enjoyment of witnessing her drunken behavior). ( Star Trek: First Contact ) However, things changed when they encountered the radiation of the Ba'ku planet in 2375 . They began to playfully flirt with one another and ended up taking a bubble bath together. Their rekindled romance continued after the Enterprise left the Briar Patch . ( Star Trek: Insurrection )

The two were planning to vacation in 2377 . Troi arrived at the beach first; Riker was going to meet her a few days later. They later decided to spend the rest of their vacation in Tiburon instead. They invited Reg Barclay to accompany them, wanting to introduce him to a mutual friend, Maril . ( VOY : " Inside Man ")

Anything but canon scenarios [ ]

First contact with bragu's species [ ].

William T. Riker when he met Bragu

According to an anything but canon account, when the Enterprise-D arrived at a planet that was inhabited by a race that just achieved warp drive technology , three officers were assembled to make first contact with them, and Riker served as the commanding officer of the away team .

They beamed down to the building where the scientific breakthrough took place, and it's there that they met Bragu . Upon talking to them briefly, it took little time for them to learn about their fixation with boogers . They were extremely grossed out by this, especially when the scientists offered them some leftover fish cooked in a microwave . It only got worse when Bragu blew his nose on the fish, using his own snot as sauce . This was the last straw for Riker, who distracted them, telling them there was Gorn invaders behind them. They actually looked behind them, and he seized the moment to use his phaser to destroy their warp engine , and he tells them it must not be ready yet after all. The landing party then returned to the ship . ( VST : " Worst Contact ")

Malfunctioning holoprogram [ ]

Riker hologram 2

Riker hologram 1

In a malfunctioning holoprogram , two different holograms of William T. Riker showed up in this program . The first one seemed to be a holosuite program that Quark was showing to Garak in the holosuite at Quark's on Deep Space 9 to prove that he can make a fake worthy to trick the Romulans into entering the Dominion War . That too ended up actually being part of the simulation .

Another hologram of Riker shows up later in the program . This time, it seems that scene changes to the USS Voyager , where Neelix was watching a holonovel on his PADD . He decides to go to bed , and he lies down. Then Trip Tucker tells the computer to pause playback . But to his surprise, he's not the real Trip Tucker. In fact, he was part of a hologram that was a five- headed monster . The other heads were Nyota Uhura , T'Pol and Spock . Riker's head was also part of this five-headed holo- beast , in fact he was the head on the far right side of the monster's body , where the right arm was located.

At this point in the program, the computer voice begins speaking , saying that something is clearly wrong. The computer then says: "Computer, freeze program." The head of Tucker realizes that there must really be a malfunction, because it seemed as though the computer was talking to itself, and he said: "You are the computer! Who are you talk--" -- but he was cut off before he could finish his sentence , because he was frozen along with the rest of the program. ( VST : " Holograms All the Way Down ")

Jam session on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) [ ]

Riker playing along with the rest of his band

In a very unusual setting , Riker was present on the Federation 's original starship Enterprise during the 50th aniversary of Star Trek: The Animated Series .

He and Hikaru Sulu step off of the turbolift and onto the bridge with their musical instruments in hand . Riker was carrying a trombone , while Sulu was carrying his keyboard . They then decide to start jamming to one of their songs , which Riker described as falling into the genre of Post Mainframe Acid-Cardassian Ten Forwardcore .

While they were playing their music , a fleet of Klingon D7 class battle cruisers unexpectedly attacked the Enterprise . D'Vana Tendi informed everyone that the alert wasn't part of the song , nevertheless they continued to play their instruments and finally there was a violent explosion on the bridge. ( VST : " Walk, Don't Run ")]]

Alternate realities and timelines [ ]

Riker from six hours in the future

In 2365, the USS Enterprise -D encountered the shuttlecraft El-Baz from six hours in the future, including a future version of Captain Jean-Luc Picard . Using a variable phase inverter , a future log entry was retrieved showing Riker having escorted Captain Picard to the shuttlebay and standing in the bay while Picard departed the ship. ( TNG : " Time Squared ")

Riker is killed in an alternate timeline

In 2366, the USS Enterprise -C emerged from a temporal rift . Its disappearance from the year 2344 caused an altered timeline, wherein the Federation was losing a war against the Klingons. Riker was still the ship's first officer, but he was much more toughened due to the horrors of war. He questioned the plan to send the Enterprise -C back to the past, especially after Captain Rachel Garrett was killed, but Captain Picard allowed Richard Castillo to assume command and return the Enterprise -C to 2344 . Riker later worked the tactical station following Tasha Yar's transfer to the Enterprise -C but was killed in a subsequent Klingon attack. ( TNG : " Yesterday's Enterprise ")

In 2367, Beverly Crusher became trapped in a warp bubble . Her thoughts created a universe where people and objects rapidly began disappearing. Riker was one of the last Enterprise crewmembers to vanish. ( TNG : " Remember Me ")

Captain Riker of a quantum reality where the Borg had decimated the Federation

Lieutenant Worf encountered a quantum fissure which caused him to begin shifting between quantum realities in 2370. In several universes, Riker was still Enterprise first officer and planned a surprise birthday party for Worf even though Worf had made it expressly clear he did not want one. In others, he had been promoted to captain. In the final universe in which Worf arrived, Riker was the captain, as Captain Picard had been lost in the Borg encounter of 2367. In another reality, the Borg had conquered the Federation and the Enterprise was one of the few ships left. Riker was in command of that ship as well and was desperate not to return to his universe once all the Enterprise s began spilling into a single universe. After attempting to get the attention of the present-reality Enterprise by firing lightly upon them, the Borg-damaged ship was destroyed by Capt. Riker with the alternate Riker on board to prevent further damage to his ship. The events following Worf's encounter were erased from the timeline once the fissure was sealed. ( TNG : " Parallels ")

In an alternate 2364 , Riker was left on Farpoint Station when the Enterprise was diverted to investigate a temporal anomaly in the Devron system . ( TNG : " All Good Things... ")

In an alternate 2370 , Riker became uncomfortable with the growing relationship between Worf and Deanna, but he refused to voice his concern. ( TNG : " All Good Things... ")

Admiral Riker in the anti-time future timeframe

In an unknown, alternate future timeframe , Riker had been promoted to admiral and was assigned to Starbase 247. The USS Enterprise -D, substantially refitted and upgraded, was his flagship . In this timeline, Deanna Troi had died twenty years previously, causing Worf and Riker to become estranged, as each blamed the other for preventing a relationship with her. Riker attempted to make amends at Deanna's funeral, but was rejected, possibly due to the bad timing.

Picard contacted him for help in investigating the anomaly, but Riker refused to allow him passage to the Neutral Zone, thinking Picard had been affected by Irumodic Syndrome and was delusional. Later Picard convinced his ex-wife, Beverly Picard , to take her medical ship, the USS Pasteur , to investigate the anomaly. The Pasteur was attacked and destroyed by Klingon attack cruisers , but the Enterprise arrived to rescue the crew and fight off the Klingons. Immediately Worf and Riker began to bicker. Picard once again pleaded with Riker to return to the Devron system, but he was then sedated and returned to quarters. Armed with new information gathered from the other two timeframes, Picard woke and went to talk to Riker and the other former Enterprise officers. He convinced them that the anomaly existed, and the Enterprise returned just in time to watch it form. Riker ordered the Enterprise into the anomaly, where it used a static warp shell in concert with the other Enterprise s to collapse it. During this time, Riker made an overture to Worf that was accepted, asking for his old friend's help on the bridge.

After the anomaly was sealed, the timelines were erased and only Captain Picard retained memory of those events. Picard told his staff of his experiences in the future, in hopes that things such as the conflict between Worf and Riker would never happen. ( TNG : " All Good Things... ")

Holograms [ ]

Riker seeing himself in Krag's holoprogram

William Riker was holographically duplicated on several occasions.

• In 2366, on Stardate 43610.4, a series of holographic simulations , Deposition Program Riker One , Hypothetical Krag One , Manua Simulation One , Tayna Simulation Three , and La Forge One , were used by Krag in his investigation into the murder of Nel Apgar , of which Riker was suspected. ( TNG : " A Matter of Perspective ")
• Later that year, on Stardate 43807.4, at least two holographic recreations of Riker were created by Lieutenant Reginald Barclay when he suffered from holoaddiction . One was on a recreation of the Enterprise -D; the other was part of The Three Musketeers and was considerably shorter than the real Riker. Troi believed that the latter's short stature was due to the fact that Barclay found Riker's height intimidating. ( TNG : " Hollow Pursuits ")
• In 2368 , on Stardate 45254.8, a hologram of Riker was used to fool Sela so Spock , Captain Picard , and Data could escape from Romulus . Picard told Data that he did not get the hair quite right. ( TNG : " Unification II ")
• In 2369, on stardate 46424.1, a hologram of Riker was used by James Moriarty to trick Picard into releasing his command codes. Another was used in turn by Picard to trick Moriarty into releasing his control over the Enterprise -D. ( TNG : " Ship In A Bottle ")

Miscellaneous information [ ]

The personnel files of Thomas and William T. Riker in 2371

Riker's quarters on the Enterprise -D were on Deck 8, room 0912. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ", " Night Terrors ", " Chain Of Command, Part II ")

By 2369, Riker had been decorated by Starfleet five times. ( TNG : " Chain Of Command, Part I ")

Riker replaced the trombone that he had given Thomas Riker with a King 3B 2103 "Legend" tenor trombone. ( TNG : " Thine Own Self ")

Riker spoke "a little" of the Klingon language ( TNG : " The Emissary ") and had a rudimentary knowledge of the Romulan language , specifically Romulan curses. ( TNG : " The Enemy ", " The Defector ")

By early 2365, Riker had permanently grown out his beard because he was tired of people always telling him how young he looked. ( TNG : " The Neutral Zone ", " The Child ", " The Pegasus ") He also felt the beard was a proud, ancient tradition and a symbol of strength. However, he did not see it as an affectation and was not opposed to shaving it; he had just gotten used to it. ( TNG : " The Quality of Life ") He briefly shaved it in 2375 after he resumed his relationship with Deanna Troi. ( Star Trek: Insurrection )

In Reg Barclay's holofantasies of the Enterprise crew programmed in 2366, Riker was a short toady fellow who followed The Three Musketeers : Picard, Data, and La Forge. Riker was incensed to discover his holosimulation, which Troi believed Reg made short on purpose because Riker's height may have been intimidating. Riker then deleted the character. ( TNG : " Hollow Pursuits ")

Riker pulled from the timeline for Q's trial

Q "called" Riker to testify during the trial held to determine whether the Q later known as Quinn should be allowed to die. The trial was held in 2372 aboard the USS Voyager while it was still lost in the Delta Quadrant, and Q plucked Riker from a time period between 2366 and 2370. Riker explained the significance of a portrait of his ancestor, Thaddius "Iron Boots" Riker , colonel of the 102nd New York Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War , and later realized that Quinn was standing next to Thaddius, as he had saved Thaddius from death during the Battle of Pine Mountain . Q concluded by saying that had Quinn never existed, Q would have lost at least a dozen good opportunities to insult Riker over the years. Riker was then returned to his timeframe without any knowledge of being aboard Voyager . ( VOY : " Death Wish ")

Chronology [ ]

Starfleet's personnel file on William T. Riker, circa 2401

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Riker, W.T. reporting as ordered, sir. "

" He calls that a little adventure? "

"Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise ."

" Mr. Worf… fire. "

" So what did you wish for, Will? " " Music lessons. "

" I'm going to miss this ship. She went before her time. "

" Smooth as an android's bottom, eh, Data? "

" Serving with you has been an honor. " " The honor was mine... captain. "

" Carol! I guess those Cali -class ships can hold their own longer than people say. " " Thanks for the assist, Captain. " " No need to be so formal. You know, I was her mentor. " " Uh, yeah, well I remember it differently. " " You were sort of my cha'DIch ! We used to get in so much trouble! " " 'We'? "

" Hey, how about you buy me a drink? You know, since we're even? Remember? The thing with the aliens where I saved your ass? " " We are not even, and we don't use money. What happened to you, man? You used to be sharp. "

" I'm sorry I'm late, I was watching the first Enterprise NX-01 on the holodeck. You know, Archer and those guys ? What a story. Those guys had a long road getting from there to here . "

" Red alert! I'm starting to think this jam session's got too many licks and not enough comp! " " WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! "

" General, or commodore, or whatever you're calling yourself, right now I'm on the bridge of the toughest, fastest, most powerful starship Starfleet has ever put into service, and I've got a fleet of them at my back. We've got our phasers locked on your warp cores, and nothing would make me happier than you giving me an excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass. But instead, I'm going to ask you one time to stand down. "

Appendices [ ]

See also [ ], appearances [ ].

• " Encounter at Farpoint "
• " The Naked Now "
• " Code of Honor "
• " The Last Outpost "
• " Where No One Has Gone Before "
• " Lonely Among Us "
• " Justice "
• " The Battle "
• " Hide And Q "
• " The Big Goodbye "
• " Datalore "
• " Angel One "
• " 11001001 "
• " Too Short A Season "
• " When The Bough Breaks "
• " Home Soil "
• " Coming of Age "
• " Heart of Glory "
• " The Arsenal of Freedom "
• " Symbiosis "
• " Skin Of Evil "
• " We'll Always Have Paris "
• " Conspiracy "
• " The Neutral Zone "
• " The Child "
• " Where Silence Has Lease "
• " Elementary, Dear Data "
• " The Outrageous Okona "
• " Loud As A Whisper "
• " The Schizoid Man "
• " Unnatural Selection "
• " A Matter Of Honor "
• " The Measure Of A Man "
• " The Dauphin "
• " Contagion "
• " The Royale "
• " Time Squared "
• " The Icarus Factor "
• " Pen Pals "
• " Samaritan Snare "
• " Up The Long Ladder "
• " Manhunt "
• " The Emissary "
• " Peak Performance "
• " Shades of Gray "
• " Evolution "
• " The Ensigns of Command "
• " The Survivors "
• " Who Watches The Watchers "
• " The Bonding "
• " Booby Trap "
• " The Enemy "
• " The Price "
• " The Vengeance Factor "
• " The Defector "
• " The Hunted "
• " The High Ground "
• " A Matter of Perspective "
• " Yesterday's Enterprise "
• " The Offspring "
• " Sins of The Father "
• " Allegiance "
• " Captain's Holiday "
• " Tin Man "
• " Hollow Pursuits "
• " The Most Toys "
• " Ménage à Troi "
• " Transfigurations "
• " The Best of Both Worlds "
• " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II "
• " Brothers "
• " Suddenly Human "
• " Remember Me "
• " Reunion "
• " Future Imperfect "
• " Final Mission "
• " The Loss "
• " Data's Day "
• " The Wounded "
• " Devil's Due "
• " First Contact "
• " Galaxy's Child "
• " Night Terrors "
• " Identity Crisis "
• " The Nth Degree "
• " The Drumhead "
• " Half a Life "
• " The Host "
• " The Mind's Eye "
• " In Theory "
• " Redemption "
• " Redemption II "
• " Ensign Ro "
• " Silicon Avatar "
• " Disaster "
• " The Game "
• " Unification I "
• " Unification II "
• " A Matter Of Time "
• " New Ground "
• " Hero Worship "
• " Violations "
• " The Masterpiece Society "
• " Conundrum "
• " Power Play "
• " The Outcast "
• " Cause And Effect "
• " The First Duty "
• " Cost Of Living "
• " The Perfect Mate "
• " Imaginary Friend "
• " The Next Phase "
• " The Inner Light "
• " Time's Arrow "
• " Time's Arrow, Part II "
• " Realm Of Fear "
• " Man Of The People "
• " Schisms "
• " Rascals "
• " A Fistful of Datas "
• " The Quality of Life "
• " Chain Of Command, Part I "
• " Chain Of Command, Part II "
• " Ship In A Bottle "
• " Face Of The Enemy "
• " Tapestry "
• " Birthright, Part I "
• " Birthright, Part II "
• " Starship Mine "
• " Lessons "
• " The Chase "
• " Frame of Mind "
• " Suspicions "
• " Rightful Heir "
• " Second Chances "
• " Timescape "
• " Descent "
• " Descent, Part II "
• " Liaisons "
• " Interface "
• " Gambit, Part I "
• " Gambit, Part II "
• " Phantasms "
• " Dark Page "
• " Attached "
• " Force of Nature "
• " Inheritance "
• " Parallels "
• " The Pegasus "
• " Homeward "
• " Sub Rosa "
• " Lower Decks "
• " Thine Own Self "
• " Eye of the Beholder "
• " Genesis "
• " Journey's End "
• " Firstborn "
• " Bloodlines "
• " Emergence "
• " Preemptive Strike "
• " All Good Things... "
• Star Trek Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek Nemesis
• DS9 : " Defiant " ( okudagram )
• VOY : " Death Wish "
• ENT : " These Are the Voyages... "
• " Nepenthe "
• " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 "
• " The Next Generation "
• " Disengage "
• " Seventeen Seconds "
• " No Win Scenario "
• " Imposters "
• " The Bounty "
• " Surrender "
• " The Last Generation "
• " No Small Parts "
• " Strange Energies "
• " Kayshon, His Eyes Open "
• " Worst Contact "
• " Holograms All the Way Down " (hologram)
• " Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

Jonathan Frakes goes before the cameras as Riker

Riker was played by Jonathan Frakes in all the character's film and television appearances. The young Riker seen in photographs, in the episode " The Icarus Factor ", was portrayed by an unknown actor .

Character development [ ]

During the early production stages of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Riker's name was spelled "Ryker". According to Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 13), his description in the original casting call was as follows:

" NUMBER ONE (AKA WILLIAM RYKER) – A 30-35 year old Caucasian born in Alaska. He is a pleasant looking man with sex appeal, of medium height, very agile and strong, a natural psychologist. Number One, as he is usually called, is second in command of the Enterprise and has a very strong, solid relationship with the Captain. "

Other background details which were eventually added to Riker's preproduction character bio claimed Riker "doesn't fully appreciate the female need to be needed" and that he is "privately called William by Picard and Bill by 'female friends'" (Troi does refer to him as "Bill" in " The Naked Now " and " Haven ", although this nickname was apparently dropped in favor of "Will". However, in the script for "Encounter at Farpoint", Picard refers to him as "Bill".) The preferred spelling of "Will" is not clear; scripts and closed captioning often alternate between "Wil" and "Will".

The original concept of Will Riker had much in common with the Willard Decker character intended for Star Trek: Phase II ; indeed, the background story of the love affair between Riker and Troi is somewhat similar to that of Decker and Ilia as seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 66))

Another source of inspiration when fleshing out the character was James T. Kirk . According to the writer's guide for the second season , " Like the legendary 23rd century Kirk (when in his early thirties), our Number One is very strong and agile and has a tendency toward 'derring-do'. Also like Captain Kirk, Riker has a healthy sex drive. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 007) Riker was also given the same middle initial T. as Kirk, although his middle name was not actually decided until " Second Chances " in the sixth season . According to Jeri Taylor , a variety of names including "Tecumseh" was considered before the writing staff settled on "Thomas" as the "simplest" choice. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., pp. 13 & 250))

Among the actors who originally auditioned for the role of William T. Riker were James Horan [3] [4] , William O. Campbell , Jeffrey Combs , Christopher McDonald , Eric Pierpoint [5] , Erich Anderson , and Vaughn Armstrong (each of whom later played at least one Star Trek role). Campbell was Gene Roddenberry 's preference for the role. However, Jeffrey Combs, Ben Murphy , and Michael O'Gorman were also regarded as front runners for the part.

In a memo from John E. Ferraro to John Pike , dated 13 April 1987 , Frakes, Gregg Marx , Murphy and O'Gorman were named as being considered for the role, with O'Gorman described as a favorite and an atypical but good choice for the role. [6] Campbell was at one point even cast as Riker. " [John] Pike didn't like him, " recalled Rick Berman . " He didn't feel he had a sense of command. He wouldn't follow this guy into battle. I think it was really more that he didn't audition that well for the part, and that's when we went to our second choice, who was Jonathan Frakes. " Frakes himself reflected, " I auditioned seven times over six weeks for this part. Unlike anything I have ever had to fight for before. The last few auditions, I would be sent to Gene's office prior to going to whichever executive needed convincing on this particular audition. I kept going up the food chain. In Gene's office, Gene would give me a pep talk, and Corey Allen , the director of the pilot , was there [....] As a young actor, eager and willing, I really got caught up in [Roddenberry's] vision. " Berman concluded that Frakes "turned out to be a terrific choice." ( The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years , p. 95)

Riker is one of four characters to appear in two series finales ( TNG : " All Good Things... " and ENT : " These Are the Voyages... "), the others being Deanna Troi , Worf , and Miles O'Brien .

One of Riker's costumes from the first season of TNG was added to the ScienceFictionArchives.com collection and was showcased at Paris science museum during a 2010-2011 exhibition, "Science (and) Fiction: Imagination Meets Reality". [7]

Riker was the inspiration for the custom Minecraft skin of Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley, better known as Xephos. Originally, the skin was Riker, but it evolved into its own character. [8]

Riker was the inspiration of the TV Tropes ideal of "Growing the Beard" – the concept of a series or franchise becoming markedly better than previous installments after a certain point – by the fact that, after actor Jonathan Frakes grew a beard for season two, TNG began to take a turn for the better in various ways. [9]

Riker narrated the commentary on the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual and also appeared in the original Star Trek: The Experience : Klingon Encounter ride at the Las Vegas Hilton.

According to StarTrek.com , William Riker was born on August 19 2335, in Valdez , Alaska, and his mother's middle initial was "C." [10] The Star Trek Encyclopedia  (3rd ed., p. 411), also, stated that Riker was born in Valdez.

Apocrypha [ ]

In the alternate future of the Pocket DS9 book series Millennium , Riker was made captain of the Enterprise -F after Jean-Luc Picard was promoted to admiral. Among his crew were Deanna Troi, Geordi La Forge, Tom Paris , and B'Elanna Torres . However, the Enterprise -F was lost with all hands during a bloody battle with the Grigari. This timeline was eventually erased.

Before Riker's middle name was established as "Thomas", it was given as "Thelonius" – perhaps after famous jazz musician Thelonious Monk , as a way to reflect Riker's love of that music style – in Peter David 's novel, Imzadi . That book also delved into the relationship between Riker and Troi.

The novel Q-Squared gives Riker's full name as "William Thomas Thelonius Riker".

In the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy, Riker and the crew of the USS Titan were one of three ships that were instrumental in the final conflict with the Borg , including connecting the Columbia NX-02 to the Borg and locating the Caeliar and Captain Hernandez . In the follow-ups, Riker and Troi have a child together and name it Natasha, after their old friend from the Enterprise -D.

Riker is promoted to admiral in the Star Trek: The Fall miniseries, as Fleet Admiral Leonard James Akaar suspected a conspiracy in the upper echelons of Starfleet Command and needed someone in the admiralty that he knew he could trust. Despite his new position, Riker retains the Titan as his flagship and attempts to go on missions on it whenever he can.

External links [ ]

• William T. Riker at StarTrek.com
• William T. Riker at Wikipedia
• William T. Riker at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• William T. Riker at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• 3 Ancient humanoid