The first time William T. Riker met William T. Riker!!!!!!! This is from Second Chances, a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode which aired in the sixth season of TNG in 1993. The plot is that, in 2361 AD, Lt. William T. Riker is assigned to the USS Potemkin. A transporter accident creates two Rikers -- one which remains on the planet, and one which beams up to the Potemkin. Eight years pass. Returning to the planet, the Enterprise discovers Lt. Riker still alive. By this time, our William T. Riker has become a Lt. Commander and then Commander, and even a brevet captain. The duplicate Riker, who adopts his middle name of Thomas as his first name, is still deeply in love with Counselor Deeana Troi. He clashes with his older self, who is more rigid and colder. The character was created because the shows writers were toying with the idea of killing off Commander Riker and promoting Data from Lt. Commander to Commander and making him the First Officer. This would allow Thomas Riker to take over at Ops on the bridge of the Enterprise, and alter the dynamic of the show - keeping it fresh. In the end, they decided not to make the change, but the idea of a Thomas Riker made sense and they went forward with it. Thomas Riker shows up again, this time in the third season episode Defiant of the series Deep Space Nine. It aired in 1994. Thomas Riker has left Starfleet and joined the Maquis -- the Federation colonists now caught on the wrong side of the border with the Cardassian Empire, and who are trying to win their freedom. Thomas exposes a plot by the Obsidian Order (the Cardassian CIA) to build a base and fleet of ships in the Orias sector to wipe out the colonists. In the end, the Cardassian military learns of the Obsidian Orders plans and angrily stops the project. (Ah, bureaucratic rivalry!) Thomas is captured, however, but the Federation wins life in a labor camp rather than a death sentence for him. Major Kira says shell return for him -- but she is never shown doing so!!!! LOL
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 22:27:09 +0000
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