I have always had the idea that Riker passed up on his own commands repeatedly because of how much he enjoyed his job versus what Picard's job looked like to him.
Riker wants to captain the Enterprise. No other ship is good enough for him to command. If it were a Klingon ship, Riker would have murdered Picard at Far-Point Station!
He wanted the Enterprise. Also, he'd been advised to stay in the Captains chair as long as he could. Because from that chair, he can do the most good. So, maybe he made a decision to cool his career track a bit at some point? He also had a family and lost a child, all of that takes time from the job. Just a lot of things in his life that make him different from Picard despite Picard certainly being his primary mentor in all things. That's actually pretty neat to think about. Heh.
I agree, but I also he did it for pragmatic reasons as well. Being First Officer of the Federation's flagship, and knowing that when Picard was eventually promoted, that he would be given the Captaincy. Or at least, I believe that was his plan.
I really like Riker's interpretation of his own duties, because it actually makes sense (why the hell is the captain leading away teams?), but Kira and Sisko are my favorite pairing because they have an excellent dynamic. She literally worships him, but also has huge reason to stand up to him, and does so frequently. She is a tough-as-nails soldier that finds herself acting as a sort-of diplomat, and grows into both. However, as a DS9 character, she does have an unfair advantage in good writing.
Riker and Leforge also have a real moment in Insurrection. When they're being pursued in the Briar patch and Riker tells Geordie to eject the core, which he already did. Riker gets a look of pure satisfaction knowing he's leading a team who are moving like a team. It's a real moment of leadership and humility.
Ransom managing to beat the shit out of someone while simultaneously affirming their sovereignty and rights is some pretty strong diplomacy, I don’t think Picard’s done that since his academy days.
When it comes to questions like this or questions like "Who is Star Trek's most important character?" You just need to go and always add: "Besides Spock"
Spock is not my favorite character (unless we're restricting it to the original series). That said, most important character? Yes, Spock. I doubt Star Trek would have continued as long as it had, or had the movies, the first animated series, or Next Gen without Spock.
@@commanderbracey7501William Shattner wrote a trilogy. Captain's Peril, Captain's Blood, and Captain's Glory. All the main characters are there. Kirk, Spock, Picard, and even Janeway. And a very interesting story. I think you'll like it.
@@Mighty-Man How old was that admiral that took the "youth serum"? In any case, I thought McCoy still being alive was (aside from TNG paying homage/fan service to TOS) just an example that in the 24th century with all the advances in medicine and technology, the human life span was greater. McCoy may have been on the far end of it, but still not the most rare, like someone today living to 100 and still able to do things like go on vacation to someplace like Europe with their family and walk around Paris or Rome or wherever for a bit with them. It's a great achievement to be sure, but not something completely unheard of.
One reason that Spock was often Kirk's advisor, while Riker was often just another voice among the staff, is that Spock (unlike riker) was the chief Science officer as well as being first officer. Riker is an skilled scientist, engineer, and tactician, but he didn't specialize in any of them. This gives him the knowledge necessary to come up with a solution to a wide variety of situations... but his role as first officer makes it more important to know who would have a better answer than to come up with one himself.
Kira had to run a station full of non-Starfleet/Bajoran people constantly coming and going, tense interactions with a race who very recently occupied her homeworld, a war with the Dominion, internal political and religious strife, and she had to do it all in a very tight jumpsuit. It's Kira all the way.
I googled out of curiousity. Her commission in season seven in Star Fleet was considered temporary. I'm not sure if she'd qualify as a traditional First Officer and DS-9 is very different than a traditional ship type situation. She put the interests of Bajore ahead of Star Fleet and when asked by Sisko about her loyalties early in the series she made this crystal clear. That's not a knock, I like Kira. Just a very different conversation than a conversation about Spock. About the jumpsuit, Trek of that era did have tight uniforms (in the first season of TNT that contributed to back pain for actors). And Trek is notorious for doing that to actresses.
Absolutely agreed. I honestly think her only real competition is Spock (I love riker, but he’s very overshadowed) and Spock to me is a bit of a cheat as he’s also the science officer and I’d say that’s the role he contributes most to the story as.
I LOST it when you said "he doesn't let the fact he's up for it literally anytime with literally anyone interfere with his professional responsibilities"
I think Kira is ultimately the winner here, but I'm gonna stan for Ransom a bit more. Yes he's always portrayed as a musclehead, but he also has the grace to admit when he's wrong, shows empathy to even ensigns that are going through hard times, knows the crew well enough to send people to those ensigns when they're the right person for the job, survives having his personality flaws aired out in front of the entire crew on more than one occasion, and still subtly promotes and encourages model officer behaviour. Plus, his lat's are perfect.
Season 4 Ransom is much better than Season 1 Ransom in a way that's, if not more drastic than with other XOs, definitely more _deliberate_ (where "Is Riker a good XO?" was more of a question of who was writing for him that day, more than anything else).
I think Spock has gotta be the guy. Every time Spock was left in charge of the ship, Spock makes great decisions and he knows exactly what he's doing. I love how he handled the doomsday machine. Spock did everything exactly right.
I would suggest Major/Colonel Kira. She has the most to get through and has arguably the most character development of all the candidates. I would argue that because she has the most on her shoulders, notably coming through a Nazi style occupation as a resistance fighter and having to transition to peacetime operations in an at-times diplomatic role with her people's sworn enemy and broadly keeping her calm and poise make her absolutely superb.
Yeah, she's my pick as well. Even in season 1, she's got obvious talents that make her a good choice, but to see how she grew into the role over the course of 7 years on solidifies that pick. She's got a history that's fundamentally different from Starfleet to provide a unique perspective, she's picked up a number of skills that are also unique and helpful in a pinch, and she's now been on both sides of authority and, as such, is a good "canary in the coalmine" in terms of when things are going too far.
Kira would be my pick as well, followed by Riker, though he makes a fantastic argument for number one. Any of them would be the best first officer a captain could ask for for sure
I wish I could find a way to make it through even one episode of DS9 without falling asleep or giving up. For thirty years now, I've just not been able to figure out what so many other fans love about it. There are a few episodes and relationships which I think were really well acted and written, but, gosh. Then again, I liked Enterprise and Discovery and still count them as among my favorites.
@@ethelryan257I feel like I'm the only one who thinks Avery Brooks was the wrong actor to play Siko. His acting felt so wooden, sometimes over the top to me. As if he was on a Shakespearean stage and not on the set of a TV series. I do like the series, though.
as a devout follower kira looks up to sisko, the emissary, almost as much as riker looks up to picard. underrated line.. how did you keep a straight face lmao
You ever notice Kira only refers to Sisko as Benjamin once in the entire series? (Not counting calling him Bennie in Far Beyond the Stars.) In any case, Kira would be my choice for my first officer.
@@ryanperez5457 S5E10 Rapture. When she goes to Sisko in the holosuite trying to work out the puzzle of B'Hala, she finds him in a nonresponsive trance. She gets scared and calls out to him by his first name.
kira was kind of intresting because in later seasons she more or less was equal rank to sisko and was less a first officer as such but the senior bajor military officer assigned to ds9. a good example was the fact that she was able to litterally blockade the romulans during the domination war, she was independent enough in authority that shevcould resprent not just ds9 but the bajoran government.
For me its Major Kira, summarised best by her exchange with Sisko in Way of the Warrior in s4. "I wish I was going with you." "I know, but I need you." She also has a more unique role being an XO on a space station, not a starship. Tenure and experiences differ vastly. And despite early antagonism and conflict between Bajor and Starfleet, her way of doing things and adjusting to post-occupation life, as an outsider she comes to embrace the Federation and its values which help her over time and others to improve at their position and use it as strength to benefit what they do.
If I were a Starfleet captain, I'd want Spock as my XO, Phlox as CMO, Data at Ops, O'Brien as chief engineer, Paris at the helm, Reed at tactical, Worf covering security, Nog as an all-purpose junior officer and I'd keep Garak on hand to handle the shady stuff that needs to get done.
It will always be Riker. He's got the beard and the perfect captain morgan stance. Also forgot hes the only 1st officer that i know of that has his own maneuver The Riker Maneuver from Insurrection.
@billkerns9258 In universe, I like to think the Pegasus incident, which was stated as a black mark on his record, kept him from being given his own command for a further 9 years.
Nimoy's Spock is still my favorite. He seemed like the kind of exec who knew how to give the Captain the information he needed and the logic to keep him on the right path to finishing his missions. The conversations Kirk and Spock had were as memorable as the arguments Spock and McCoy had.
I suspect the traditional of "first officer" comes from the Royal Navy rank structure in Napoleonic times where commissioned officers who were not in command held the rank of lieutenant. So the second in command was the first lieutenant, next came the second lieutenant etc.
It is also important to note that.. whoever has command of a ship, is the captain even if they are of a lower rank. So when LCmdr Data takes command of the Sutherland, he is referred to as captain when crew are responding to his orders. It's also interesting that technically that Picard, as commander of that operation - should have been referred to as "Commodore", as that is the position of a naval officer who commands a flotilla of ships, regardless of his captain rank. It would signify his senior position as overall commander of the operation - otherwise, Picard had no authority over Data's actions aboard an entirely separate vessel.
Deep Space 9 is my favorite Star trek series and a big reason for this was Major Kira. Having a first office not in Star Fleet was very compelling to me.
While I'd be honored to have any of these as my first officer (except Ransom, I think we'd get along but I'm not sure I'd want him there in a crisis), I'd personally go with Spock. Good to have that much brainpower standing by you.
@@gamesandstuff127 True on that, but that's just me personally. I think he and I would be good workout buddies and could gush about previous crews together, so best to keep some professional distance.
Kira has a lot of agency in DS9, especially when the Federation is trying to woo Bajor into joining. Not being in Starfleet she can openly disobey orders or counter without reprimand affecting her status. She DOES have to keep the Kai's happy, and represent the desires of the Bajoran militia though so she has a balancing act to maintain.
My age may be showing but my order is 1. Spock, 2 tie. Riker & T'Pol. 3. The original #1's recreation. Worf comes in as someone I would want as a friend and he would make an amazing 'first to enter 'AKA Marine. But although good at diplomacy It is 4th or 5th in order of priorities which takes him down a notch for a second in command in my opinion.
There is the thing with Voyager and Chakotay, without him as 1st officer there would have been a mutiny and the two opposing crews would not function with each other. This is something no other 1st officer had to deal with.
Honestly, the fact that Riker had his pick of commands by like, Season 3. At any time, if he wanted to take his road solo and just be his own captain - Star Fleet would bend over backwards to give him that command in a heartbeat. That alone shows that while he may have been a great first officer and friend to Picard, he was truly considered one of the best officers in the entire fleet.
Ooh I gotta say you did Saru pretty dirty there. He’s pretty solidly defined by his role as first officer, first to Lorca and then to Pike and later to Michael. He specifically laments never getting the opportunity to be Georgiou’s XO, and he even gives up the captaincy to go back to being a first officer. That’s even worse than Riker turning down all those captains chairs to stay on the Enterprise- you just cannot promote this guy! Also he’s pretty Spock-y as a brilliant but rule-abiding outsider type which serves him well in the role, balancing out brasher captains with Sage counsel. Not saying he’s better than Riker per se but he did deserve his own section I think!
I wholeheartedly agree. Although Voyager's first officer was pretty good, the combination Federation/Maquee crew make it hard to consider but they come pretty lose. I vote Riker by a few beard hairs and screen time...lol
There's a really great scene when Data is in command of the Enterprise and Worf is his first officer... I really like his evolution of shoot-first TNG security officer to seasoned leader on DS9.
It's hard to untangle my like for the character for sure, but I still think I'd have to go with Spock. He seems qualified for every duty that Riker has to take on, but I think offers a prospective and blunt evaluation of the circumstances that I would fine extremely valuable in a leadership position.
An important wrinkle to Major Kira is that she is sometimes seen as Air Traffic Controller and Customs Inspector. Giving her some responsibility as a naval coordinator.
I figured it's from the Captain's perspective. The captain looks and says, "That person is my first officer. That person is my second officer." And so on.
💯 The Captain is the 'origin point'. TNG (first) went over the fact that Starfleet Captains have a lot of leeway and privledge, in picking and choosing officers.
It’s Chakotay. He’s the one who had the option to keep the sides apart, but he understood that the ship needed a United crew. And he wasn’t afraid of providing discipline when needed. This was shortly after the Voyager crew had suffered many crew fatalities and morale was low. Not an easy decision, but one showing a very capable XO’s abilities.
It goes all the way back to the days of sail, when the only commissioned ranks below admiral were "captain" and "lieutenant". Every officer in a ship below the captain was a lieutenant, and they were numbered in order of seniority from the first lieutenant down, and customarily assigned responsibilities according to their position. "First Lieutenant" got to be the term for the officer with a particular set of responsibilities, executive officer to the C.O. even when the C.O. ranked as a lieutenant. Then as ships got bigger and more technical navies had to adopt more complex command structures and were forced to create more officer ranks, which led to commanders and lieutenant-commanders doing the traditional "first lieutenant" duties.
Troi: He's singing. Captain Picard is singing. Riker: He's been replaced by a matter duplicate. Troi: How do you know? Riker: The real Picard doesn't sing and when he does it's not this good. Troi: But... Riker: Didn't you see the beginning of Star Trek: Insurrection?
I think “first officer” refers to the captain’s first officer rather than the ship’s first officer. The term “first mate” is a bit clearer in that a captain is a distinct rank from that of a mate. It would have made more sense if the person in charge was called the commander and the second in command was called the flight lieutenant as those are the ranks NASA uses, however Paramount felt the audience would be more familiar with naval ranks.
@@BigHenFor NASA didn't forget anything, they just chose to have a different and less hierarchical structure because it wasn't a large military. You're not commanding a ship of thousands, you're in charge of a mission of 3-12 people.
No one wants to be called "number 2". The audience may not take them seriously. Can you imagine Picard or Kirk saying, "Number 2 lead the away team or Number 2 take the helm?"
Riker is great but his behavior towards captain Jellico was questionable and he stayed in his role as first officer until the end of Nemesis. That's 12(!) years after Picard asked him bluntly "What are you still doing here?" during best of both worlds. This can be excused as a writing/production related issue but it's still detremental to his overall character
Idk. I don’t like how it’s seen as a downside to be content where one is. The ultimate capitalistic drive to be at the top of the hierarchy is overrated imho. I appreciate that Riker appreciates where he is as number one and doesn’t feel the need to be captain just for the sake of it.
I get it, but like you said, it's just down to having to keep the crew together. They couldn't promote Riker and then split the series between two captains or just drop him after said promotion. What is egregious is that he's still a Commander... in Picard! Wth, man?? That's like 30 years or whatever of being stuck at Commander even if he did take a break!
@@threeofeight197that actually was a episode where people asked Riker why he stayed under Picard for so long. Honestly it could make for a better crew cohesion during conflict and less "I don't understand your command". So I definitely see your point and Beckett touched on it as well when she met her cadet mates and they asked her why didn't she "rank up" as she was still just a ensgin willing
@@Vulcanerd Riker was captain in Picard. He was captain since the end of Nemesis when he took command of the Titan and appeared in that capacity in Lower Decks.
@@threeofeight197 Good point. There is nothing wrong technically with being happy where you are and Starfleet obviously allowed him to do that but it still comes across as weird or at least unusual in an organization where climbing the career ladder is the norm. The episodic nature of TNG didn’t allow him to move on without writing him or Picard off the show and that’s ok for the seven years or so the show portrays. Even for Generations it’s fine but by first contact most of the characters, especially Riker should have moved on. Imo
I’m pretty sure “Number One” and “First Officer” are call backs to age of sail navies where you had a captain or master and commander in command of the ship and the commissioned officers below him were all lieutenants in descending seniority although holding the same rank (the first, second, third lieutenants and so on).
Spock made the ultimate sacrifice for the ship and its crew, all while dealing with racism. For me, he's the only choice. Like, the only deficiency according to your list would be unanimous support from the crew based on that, but 'there are racists in the crew; is not his failing, but a failure on the side of Starfleet. He's the only choice, IMO.
Starfleet? Spock experienced FAR more racism on Vulcan than he ever did on a SF vessel (especially during that time period). Perhaps you mean "the Federation"?
It wasn't racism. There's no word for the kind of prejudice he dealt with because of course there are no humanoid aliens from Vulcan. Just a technical note but racism refers to the specific (now globally known phenomenon) of prejudice and bigotry in line with the racial caste system created by europens in settler colonies and slaver forts in the past 500ish years. The term was coined by scholars of the African diaspora dealing with said phenomenon and this misconstruing of the term as simply a blanket term for prejudice based on someone's ancestry is a new phenomenon which actually waters down the history and utility of the term. I do wonder what the bigotry against vulcans would be called. Maybe something like vulcan hate because it's very descriptive or just bigotry and prejudice against Vulcans? I could see Vulcans preferring a specific and highly descriptive phrase over the human preference for shortening things into words or even acronyms.
@@malashebad6181 I get you, but sometimes to get a point across in a pithy manner, linguistic shortcuts are called for. Given that Star Trek is stories told with collection of metaphors, we need to peer at what the metaphors point to. I trust my point came across, if at the cost of precision. There are no Vulcans. But we can look to what the significance of the metaphor meant in a U.S. made sci-fi story that dealt with a progressive view on the issues of that day circa the latter half of the 1960s. We can witness a fictional doctor speaking in a Southern drawl calling a man visually different and other than him an inhuman hobgoblin or whatever it was that week. We can infer what this is trying to communicate. Or we can consider the other officer who sees Romulans and is immediately convinced Spock is a traitor, working for them. There are no precise words because we just know us, here, on Earth just as Star Trek is about us here on Earth. All we can do is to look at narrative patterns and try to use words that will communicate the percieved intent of the metaphor most efficatiously.
Una is like that female best friend that come in your room after you had a one night stand with a whatever girl you pick up in a bar then wake you up, see the girl out, cooks you breakfast and urge you to go school/work while beating your head with her hand to wake you fully.
Chakotay is underrated. Anytime he actually has screen time or things to do I really love him. Great screen presence when he is there. That said, it's either Kira or Spock.
Yeah, when he's just following orders he's quite bland but when he's acting on his own he can be quite forceful and charming. When he takes command he suddenly gets this energy and has a notably different command style. Like the way he punches out some of his Maquis guys at the end of season one when they say that's still the way they do things, or the way he brings-in thieves and bribes them for information in that episode when Da Vinci gets kidnapped.
Exception: Chakotay's actions with the Borg partnership. Funny AF him and Seven got in-universe 'shipped' when Chakotay tried to 'airlock' Seven, originally.
It's because that's their ex officio position too. They have to represent the captain to the crew and the crew to the captain at the same time. Combination consigliere and union rep.
You missed an opportunity for one of those bits where you overexplain a turn of phrase. "It was the news Number One was missing that got Pike back in the saddle. Metaphorically. He was riding a horse in that scene. So out of *a* saddle and into *the* saddle. The saddle being the captain's chair." As to your question, I think Kira was the best first officer. She had to juggle more balls than anyone else in the franchise so far. First officer and political liaison to someone outside her own military who was also the Jesus of her religion. While I say Kira was the best first officer, if I were picking a number one it would Saru. After vahar'ai. With this line up we're spoiled for choice, but Saru counters one of my personal weaknesses. I struggle with empathy and Saru is the absolutely the heart of Discovery.
I read in the official guide years ago that Data was the 2nd officer. Maybe I misread that but it makes sense given when Picard and Riker are both off the bridge or away from the ship he is in the captain’s seat.
He definitely was! It’s strange though that some Star Trek series leave the role out. DS9, VOY, Disco, LD don’t seem to have a named 2nd officer. I think 1-2 episodes of the original series stated Scotty was Kirk’s 2nd officer.
I'm a Riker guy, myself. As a first officer, he's a wonderful presence people feel comfortable coming to, to voice concerns or share ideas they may think the Captain should know about, there is that deep trust there even with lower crew members. At least that was how it felt watching the show, that smile melted people and put them at ease. When you wanna have someone you can trust at your side, go for the one who will argue against you like your friends life depends on it, and feel like shit afterwards.
My short list was Riker, Number One, and Kira. Kinda surprised Kira Nerys didn't make your short list, given your love of DS9 - but absolutely can't argue with your reasoning for picking Riker. Then again, I would have been quite happy with any of my short list taking the win.
When Picard's away and Riker has to take over, disasters follow. On one episode, the crew turned into monsters and Picard had to clean up that mess. When Picard got turned into a child and had to hand over command to Riker, Ferengi took over the ship, and Picard had to fix that while stuck in a child's body. Riker refused to become a captain himself for a while, because he knew he wasn't up to it yet, it would have been a fiasco until Riker became a more seasoned officer. Also, Riker was a terrible first officer to Captain Jellico, unprofessional behavior unbecoming to a lieutenant commander. Nobody was a better first officer than the indomitable Spock. When things got so bad that Kirk needed a miracle to prevail, Spock would provide a miracle for him. From Vulcan mind melds to his amazing ability to analyze alien tech that he'd neve seen before, Spock would come up with something.
I would also want Spock as my First Officer, but also remember he was a terrible captain. His tendency to take every comment literally (a human trait) hampered his abilities at critical moments when in command many times (although this improved when he realized logic was only the beginning of wisdom and not the end). Chin-Riley is the only First Officer who has never wavered when put in command. But I'd still choose Spock. 🖖
My short list would be Riker, Kira, and Spock. Giving it to Spock seems too easy, because everyone loves him. Kira, I think is under-estimated by some. I think she fits your description of a great first officer perfectly. I think it’s hard to see how good she is because both she and Sisko are such quiet people- at least professionally. After seeing her on 7 seasons of DS9 though, she’s the one I’d trust with my life the most. That being said, I don’t really disagree with your pick of Riker. He ends up being so loyal to Picard and the crew he ends up hurting his own career by staying on the Enterprise so long. That loyalty is something rare that I think western people quietly admire. He turns down promotions, he becomes Captain and willingly gives it up after the Borg are defeated (apparently?) He’s not a saint, but he seems so loyal to his Captain.
It might be interesting to ask a retired naval captain or something that likes Star trek who they would pick as their number one. They could look at their own career and experience of having XO's themselves and might pick someone completely different.
If you want to complicate it further, there was a time that the position "Chief Officer" was in-between Captain and First Officer, plus some ships having a Second, Third, Fourth, etc. going down from there.
McCoy may not have been able to relieve Decker of command on the spot, but he should have ordered Decker to report to sickbay immediately so that he could do a full evaluation. He has multiple reasons to question Decker's fitness - the trauma he had just been through, his evident emotional state when they found him just minutes before, and the reckless behavior in trying to attack the probe. From a Doylist view, Riker is such a good 1st officer, he's giving orders even outside the universe. 😁
Spock hands down for me. He’s good enough to deal with both humans and Vulcans. And on top of being logical, he also had a sense of humor. And his vast wealth of experience helps too.
Saru is definitely the Number One of Discovery. Yes, he is also the sometimes captain, but in the same way that Spock was also captain of the Enterprise.
Has to go to Number one. She is literally the voice of the Lacars computer system, which speaks volumes of how highly starfleet valued her at the end of her career.
@@AdeptPaladinYes. But, I love it when 'behind the scenes' gets wrapped into the setting. Gets even weirder when ya find out Roddenberry was 'cheating' on 'er w/ Uhura's actress. 😂
One facet of worf's first officer ship that Steve doesn't bring up that I think should count is him being first officer to Martok. While the responsibilities he has towards Martok are different than the ones he has towards Cisco he still performs them to the best of his abilities even willing to die or be killed for the sake of his captain.
I'd pick Saru. The guy is the first of his species to be admitted to Starfleet, having navigated the curiously complex issues of being from a civilization that had not yet achieved warp travel. Then he manages to form a curiously chaste, yet intimate relationship with T'Rina, the President of Ni'Var and leader of the reunited Vulcan and Romulan cultures. Some might have thought she'd be out of his league, but nope.
Would you consider doing a video discussing the potential merits for Number One becoming captain of the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds between Pike and Kirk?
It depends on the Captain. If you think about, "How well would this first officer compliment *other* captains," things look very different. My money would be on Una, because we've seen her do the full range. We've seen her be a hardass (what Pike needs), a reserved and consummate professional (what Kirk needs), warm and approachable for the crew (what Picard needs), versatile (what Janeway's episode writer of the day needs), fully autonomous and basically a captain in her own right (what Sisko needs), ready to stand up to her captain (what the various Discovery captains need)... never watched Enterprise, couldn't speak to that... Even when I imagine other captains we haven't seen, I can't imagine her as being anything but excellent. I'd definitely put her at #1, for that reason. And even with that she still feels like a real, believable person. Well done, Strange New Worlds writers!
Riker and Spock: tie Riker defeated The Borg and rescued Captain Picard like a boss. And Spock…do I really need to list all the reasons? It’s Spock! (and they're were both played by actors turned terrific directors!)
Its Spock. Without Leonard Nimoy playing Spock, the OG show would've been cancelled sooner and ultimately forgotten. He made the show adored more than just interesting. Thus, Spock made the show and every other Number One possible.
It's still hot weather. Sun's coming up. Have to do outside chores soon, before it's impossible. So, only got to beginning of Ryker, so far. I just want you to know, again, how much i appreciate your clever script writing. Also, out of all the very clever people i watch on youtube, you're the only one i've heard properly use the word critereon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 💯🖖🏾
Not the conclusion I expected Steve to come to, but it’s a well-reasoned and entertaining argument. I half expected it to be Spock and for that to be bluntly announced 30 seconds into the video with the rest explaining why he’s the best and who is the runner up.
Chakotay is misspelled in the timestamps as Scabkotay -- either that or there's some writer's strike stuff that Beltran's involved in I'm about to find out from this vid ed: it's apparently the latter.
"It's a horse race". I'm glad you eventually decided on someone, but that statement really says it all. Every first officer has their merits, and seems to work well with their captains. In that sense, EVERY first officer is ideal.
Yes, but only to remind me of that time Riker was disappointed in young Jake Potts for playing that mean prank on his little brother Willy that led to Willy getting infected by parasites in "Brothers" -- remember that?
For me it's a dead tie between Spock and Riker. (I'd probably include Number One but I've not had the chance to see the SNW series yet because Paramount decided to stop letting my streaming service get new Trek, thanks for that Paramount!) I feel that on a personal level Spock and I would have a better working relationship, but I would be able to have a more meaningful working *friendship* with Riker. Also one of my plans for when my facial hair gets thick enough is a Riker beard. Man knows style.
Spock over everyone....Faster, Stronger, Much more Intelligent, Unequaled by any in Sciencing his way out of a problem, Equal to any in Tactics, and More Experience than any other two combined. Only drawback is he's slightly rigid, but later Spock loosens up and it's no longer a problem. Spock is Trek God, with only Data coming close as most capable officer ever. Any problem can be basically fixed by sending either one alone, they will work it out.
"Biden is pro union...usually." 🤣🤣 I was waiting for that. If you just said he was pro union I would have been sad. I love you so much Steve. You and I seem to always agree. We were both raised mostly by Star Trek and it shows.
Spock to me is the number one Number One, THEN Riker. Spock influenced many of the Federation's events in its history. Certainly, Riker had a hand in the Borg storyline in saving the Federation, but overall, Spock's influence was over a longer period of time than Riker's... 😏
the first Officer title along with the second officer is from an old naval tradition the Lieutenants hold their power as a substitute for the captain acting in Lieu of (derived from the French Au Lieu di- which means in place of) a captain running day to day business of the ship and the 1st Officer is the 1st Lieutenant and the most senior of them the word the 2nd so on and so forth the word Lieutenant as well as being a rank is actually a NOUN meaning a deputy or substitute acting for a superior: i.e. "one of the Prime Minister's most trusted lieutenants" The idea of there being multiple Officer ranks below captain is a relatively modern concept in the Hornblower books William Bush is the First Lieutenant i.e. the highest ranking officer after the captain. If you look at the age of sail rank structures ranks like Lt Commander or Commander did not exist and you had multiple Lieutenants with a strict hierarchy among them based on experience. Whilst you were doing your officer training you were a midshipman/ensign then you would take your lieutenant exam when ready and then in time after gaining more experience if you did well you would become a captain.
I really liked the depth of the TPol character as well as the relationship with Archer as FO. Great character development generally there. It's just hard, as with everything ST, not to choose Kira/DS9. It's just the best-written series and Kira is a STELLAR character acted by a STELLAR actor. I have come to love Number One too, and the writing on SNW is pretty good. But it's Kira for me. Maybe Spock second with Riker a close third. But I can't argue with Riker as number one Number One. He gets laid the most, I'm pretty sure, for a non-captain character. Plus there's the Riker Maneuver. Not the spaceship one, the legover to a sitting position on a backward chair, that Riker Maneuver.
I have always had the idea that Riker passed up on his own commands repeatedly because of how much he enjoyed his job versus what Picard's job looked like to him.
Riker wants to captain the Enterprise. No other ship is good enough for him to command. If it were a Klingon ship, Riker would have murdered Picard at Far-Point Station!
@@jeffmckinnon5842haha, probably! Good point :)
He wanted the Enterprise. Also, he'd been advised to stay in the Captains chair as long as he could. Because from that chair, he can do the most good. So, maybe he made a decision to cool his career track a bit at some point? He also had a family and lost a child, all of that takes time from the job. Just a lot of things in his life that make him different from Picard despite Picard certainly being his primary mentor in all things. That's actually pretty neat to think about. Heh.
I agree, but I also he did it for pragmatic reasons as well. Being First Officer of the Federation's flagship, and knowing that when Picard was eventually promoted, that he would be given the Captaincy. Or at least, I believe that was his plan.
He was studying Picard, taking notes!
My chaos vote is for Damar.
Now I'm hungry for root beer and chili dogs even though it'll make me shit my whole ass.
I beg you please...
Use your power only for good. 😅
Lt. Cmdr Hobson obviously....
Hahaha.
I haven't felt this presence since...
I really like Riker's interpretation of his own duties, because it actually makes sense (why the hell is the captain leading away teams?), but Kira and Sisko are my favorite pairing because they have an excellent dynamic. She literally worships him, but also has huge reason to stand up to him, and does so frequently. She is a tough-as-nails soldier that finds herself acting as a sort-of diplomat, and grows into both. However, as a DS9 character, she does have an unfair advantage in good writing.
Can't wait to see you talk about the magicians known as the "Chief Engineers". Their feats would be hard to compare.
1000% this!
They say they can turn rocks into replicators
Trip's got that in the bag. I'm surprised he doesn't sleep next to his warp core.
#jaysus
Please please this video pretty please!
Riker and Leforge also have a real moment in Insurrection. When they're being pursued in the Briar patch and Riker tells Geordie to eject the core, which he already did. Riker gets a look of pure satisfaction knowing he's leading a team who are moving like a team. It's a real moment of leadership and humility.
Also I like how Sisko has essentially 3 first officers: I throw Dax in there because she’s his right hand in a way
Ransom managing to beat the shit out of someone while simultaneously affirming their sovereignty and rights is some pretty strong diplomacy, I don’t think Picard’s done that since his academy days.
So ethical
Don't forget Riker put the beat down on a klingon while serving as first officer on one of their ships, now thats badass
When it comes to questions like this or questions like "Who is Star Trek's most important character?" You just need to go and always add: "Besides Spock"
Spock is not my favorite character (unless we're restricting it to the original series). That said, most important character? Yes, Spock. I doubt Star Trek would have continued as long as it had, or had the movies, the first animated series, or Next Gen without Spock.
Agreed.........it was Spock. Although I think Kirk and Picard were equally important. 🤔
I am interested why they made Dr. McCoy kind of a MacLeod, the most long living human in Federation.
@@commanderbracey7501William Shattner wrote a trilogy. Captain's Peril, Captain's Blood, and Captain's Glory.
All the main characters are there. Kirk, Spock, Picard, and even Janeway.
And a very interesting story. I think you'll like it.
@@Mighty-Man How old was that admiral that took the "youth serum"?
In any case, I thought McCoy still being alive was (aside from TNG paying homage/fan service to TOS) just an example that in the 24th century with all the advances in medicine and technology, the human life span was greater. McCoy may have been on the far end of it, but still not the most rare, like someone today living to 100 and still able to do things like go on vacation to someplace like Europe with their family and walk around Paris or Rome or wherever for a bit with them. It's a great achievement to be sure, but not something completely unheard of.
One reason that Spock was often Kirk's advisor, while Riker was often just another voice among the staff, is that Spock (unlike riker) was the chief Science officer as well as being first officer. Riker is an skilled scientist, engineer, and tactician, but he didn't specialize in any of them. This gives him the knowledge necessary to come up with a solution to a wide variety of situations... but his role as first officer makes it more important to know who would have a better answer than to come up with one himself.
@danieltilson4053
Also, Spock is probably at least 65 years older than Kirk.
Kira had to run a station full of non-Starfleet/Bajoran people constantly coming and going, tense interactions with a race who very recently occupied her homeworld, a war with the Dominion, internal political and religious strife, and she had to do it all in a very tight jumpsuit. It's Kira all the way.
I think the jumpsuit is the reason why she's sometimes so testy. I'd be annoyed too if I had to undress down to my ankles just to be able to pee.
I googled out of curiousity. Her commission in season seven in Star Fleet was considered temporary. I'm not sure if she'd qualify as a traditional First Officer and DS-9 is very different than a traditional ship type situation. She put the interests of Bajore ahead of Star Fleet and when asked by Sisko about her loyalties early in the series she made this crystal clear. That's not a knock, I like Kira. Just a very different conversation than a conversation about Spock.
About the jumpsuit, Trek of that era did have tight uniforms (in the first season of TNT that contributed to back pain for actors). And Trek is notorious for doing that to actresses.
Preach
Absolutely agreed. I honestly think her only real competition is Spock (I love riker, but he’s very overshadowed) and Spock to me is a bit of a cheat as he’s also the science officer and I’d say that’s the role he contributes most to the story as.
and deal with klingons and romulans trying to set up military bases on bajoran moons.
I LOST it when you said "he doesn't let the fact he's up for it literally anytime with literally anyone interfere with his professional responsibilities"
I think Kira is ultimately the winner here, but I'm gonna stan for Ransom a bit more. Yes he's always portrayed as a musclehead, but he also has the grace to admit when he's wrong, shows empathy to even ensigns that are going through hard times, knows the crew well enough to send people to those ensigns when they're the right person for the job, survives having his personality flaws aired out in front of the entire crew on more than one occasion, and still subtly promotes and encourages model officer behaviour. Plus, his lat's are perfect.
Season 4 Ransom is much better than Season 1 Ransom in a way that's, if not more drastic than with other XOs, definitely more _deliberate_ (where "Is Riker a good XO?" was more of a question of who was writing for him that day, more than anything else).
Sisko is not unlike a WWII Bomber Squadron Commander: he has both a Ground and an Air XO.
Thats a good catch actually, interesting.
I think Spock has gotta be the guy. Every time Spock was left in charge of the ship, Spock makes great decisions and he knows exactly what he's doing.
I love how he handled the doomsday machine. Spock did everything exactly right.
I would suggest Major/Colonel Kira.
She has the most to get through and has arguably the most character development of all the candidates.
I would argue that because she has the most on her shoulders, notably coming through a Nazi style occupation as a resistance fighter and having to transition to peacetime operations in an at-times diplomatic role with her people's sworn enemy and broadly keeping her calm and poise make her absolutely superb.
Yeah, she's my pick as well. Even in season 1, she's got obvious talents that make her a good choice, but to see how she grew into the role over the course of 7 years on solidifies that pick.
She's got a history that's fundamentally different from Starfleet to provide a unique perspective, she's picked up a number of skills that are also unique and helpful in a pinch, and she's now been on both sides of authority and, as such, is a good "canary in the coalmine" in terms of when things are going too far.
Kira would be my pick as well, followed by Riker, though he makes a fantastic argument for number one.
Any of them would be the best first officer a captain could ask for for sure
My absolute favorite Kira episode is “Duet”.
I wish I could find a way to make it through even one episode of DS9 without falling asleep or giving up. For thirty years now, I've just not been able to figure out what so many other fans love about it. There are a few episodes and relationships which I think were really well acted and written, but, gosh. Then again, I liked Enterprise and Discovery and still count them as among my favorites.
@@ethelryan257I feel like I'm the only one who thinks Avery Brooks was the wrong actor to play Siko. His acting felt so wooden, sometimes over the top to me. As if he was on a Shakespearean stage and not on the set of a TV series. I do like the series, though.
as a devout follower kira looks up to sisko, the emissary, almost as much as riker looks up to picard.
underrated line.. how did you keep a straight face lmao
Yeah. That cracked me up.
You ever notice Kira only refers to Sisko as Benjamin once in the entire series? (Not counting calling him Bennie in Far Beyond the Stars.) In any case, Kira would be my choice for my first officer.
Wait, What moment is that?
@@ryanperez5457 S5E10 Rapture. When she goes to Sisko in the holosuite trying to work out the puzzle of B'Hala, she finds him in a nonresponsive trance. She gets scared and calls out to him by his first name.
Well played!
kira was kind of intresting because in later seasons she more or less was equal rank to sisko and was less a first officer as such but the senior bajor military officer assigned to ds9. a good example was the fact that she was able to litterally blockade the romulans during the domination war, she was independent enough in authority that shevcould resprent not just ds9 but the bajoran government.
She is Bajoran. Sisko Benjamin is his name to her. She is rarely referred to as 'Nerys'
Shout out to Data for making Worf the best XO he could be on the Defiant back when he schooled Worf in how to be a first officer in TNG.
One of my favorite scenes
@@DPLaVay One of the rare times in "TV and Movies" that a genuine life lesson can be learned.
For me its Major Kira, summarised best by her exchange with Sisko in Way of the Warrior in s4. "I wish I was going with you." "I know, but I need you." She also has a more unique role being an XO on a space station, not a starship. Tenure and experiences differ vastly. And despite early antagonism and conflict between Bajor and Starfleet, her way of doing things and adjusting to post-occupation life, as an outsider she comes to embrace the Federation and its values which help her over time and others to improve at their position and use it as strength to benefit what they do.
Some of my favorites are Riker and Kira, but... my personal #1 is Spock, an easy decision considering he's my favorite Trek character of all time.
If I were a Starfleet captain, I'd want Spock as my XO, Phlox as CMO, Data at Ops, O'Brien as chief engineer, Paris at the helm, Reed at tactical, Worf covering security, Nog as an all-purpose junior officer and I'd keep Garak on hand to handle the shady stuff that needs to get done.
"clever little scab" got me 😂
It will always be Riker. He's got the beard and the perfect captain morgan stance. Also forgot hes the only 1st officer that i know of that has his own maneuver The Riker Maneuver from Insurrection.
Not to forget the Riker maneuver we can see throughout a lot of episodes when he climbs over the back of a chair to sit on it 😅
Plus, what does his Captain literally name him?
In real life, Riker having some 15-plus years without a promotion would be held against him.
@billkerns9258 In universe, I like to think the Pegasus incident, which was stated as a black mark on his record, kept him from being given his own command for a further 9 years.
@@billkerns9258 in real life the staff would also rotate out every couple of years at the least.
This is exactly what my list-starved soul needs after my shift. Thank you soooo much, please give this for all the bridge crew!
Edit/Addition: Was hoping for more with Saru, my tall tall beloved
Nimoy's Spock is still my favorite. He seemed like the kind of exec who knew how to give the Captain the information he needed and the logic to keep him on the right path to finishing his missions. The conversations Kirk and Spock had were as memorable as the arguments Spock and McCoy had.
I suspect the traditional of "first officer" comes from the Royal Navy rank structure in Napoleonic times where commissioned officers who were not in command held the rank of lieutenant. So the second in command was the first lieutenant, next came the second lieutenant etc.
Correct. Typically the executive officer handles most of the day-to-day paperwork as well.
It is also important to note that.. whoever has command of a ship, is the captain even if they are of a lower rank. So when LCmdr Data takes command of the Sutherland, he is referred to as captain when crew are responding to his orders. It's also interesting that technically that Picard, as commander of that operation - should have been referred to as "Commodore", as that is the position of a naval officer who commands a flotilla of ships, regardless of his captain rank. It would signify his senior position as overall commander of the operation - otherwise, Picard had no authority over Data's actions aboard an entirely separate vessel.
Deep Space 9 is my favorite Star trek series and a big reason for this was Major Kira. Having a first office not in Star Fleet was very compelling to me.
DS9 is also my favourite ST series. Everything about it is just so good.
While I'd be honored to have any of these as my first officer (except Ransom, I think we'd get along but I'm not sure I'd want him there in a crisis), I'd personally go with Spock. Good to have that much brainpower standing by you.
I thought about Spock but. I’m more of a Spock/Picard type of leader so I needed a Riker/Kira type to balance me out I think.
Ransom has his moments. He might be on a California Class Starship, but he is still Star Fleet.
@@gamesandstuff127 True on that, but that's just me personally. I think he and I would be good workout buddies and could gush about previous crews together, so best to keep some professional distance.
Kira has a lot of agency in DS9, especially when the Federation is trying to woo Bajor into joining. Not being in Starfleet she can openly disobey orders or counter without reprimand affecting her status. She DOES have to keep the Kai's happy, and represent the desires of the Bajoran militia though so she has a balancing act to maintain.
My age may be showing but my order is 1. Spock, 2 tie. Riker & T'Pol. 3. The original #1's recreation. Worf comes in as someone I would want as a friend and he would make an amazing 'first to enter 'AKA Marine. But although good at diplomacy It is 4th or 5th in order of priorities which takes him down a notch for a second in command in my opinion.
There is the thing with Voyager and Chakotay, without him as 1st officer there would have been a mutiny and the two opposing crews would not function with each other. This is something no other 1st officer had to deal with.
Honestly, the fact that Riker had his pick of commands by like, Season 3. At any time, if he wanted to take his road solo and just be his own captain - Star Fleet would bend over backwards to give him that command in a heartbeat. That alone shows that while he may have been a great first officer and friend to Picard, he was truly considered one of the best officers in the entire fleet.
Ooh I gotta say you did Saru pretty dirty there. He’s pretty solidly defined by his role as first officer, first to Lorca and then to Pike and later to Michael. He specifically laments never getting the opportunity to be Georgiou’s XO, and he even gives up the captaincy to go back to being a first officer. That’s even worse than Riker turning down all those captains chairs to stay on the Enterprise- you just cannot promote this guy! Also he’s pretty Spock-y as a brilliant but rule-abiding outsider type which serves him well in the role, balancing out brasher captains with Sage counsel. Not saying he’s better than Riker per se but he did deserve his own section I think!
As someone who grew up on TNG-era Trek, Riker is definitely who I think of when I think of a ships XO.
I wholeheartedly agree. Although Voyager's first officer was pretty good, the combination Federation/Maquee crew make it hard to consider but they come pretty lose. I vote Riker by a few beard hairs and screen time...lol
There's a really great scene when Data is in command of the Enterprise and Worf is his first officer... I really like his evolution of shoot-first TNG security officer to seasoned leader on DS9.
Just found your channel and I’m really loving your Star Trek videos!
It's hard to untangle my like for the character for sure, but I still think I'd have to go with Spock. He seems qualified for every duty that Riker has to take on, but I think offers a prospective and blunt evaluation of the circumstances that I would fine extremely valuable in a leadership position.
Perspective, not prospective
@@pike100 "a perspective evaluation" doesn't make sense, but a prospective one (aka one focused on the prospects) does make sense
An important wrinkle to Major Kira is that she is sometimes seen as Air Traffic Controller and Customs Inspector. Giving her some responsibility as a naval coordinator.
I agree that Major Kira is difficult to compare!
But it’s not a ship right?
r i g h t ?????
Imagining Kira and _Babylon 5's_ Ivanova getting together for drinks once a week.
@@GSBarlevYes... 'drinks'
(I'm so glad I wasn't teenager in those Shows' heydays 😅)
44 minutes of well-considered entertainment; just to get it wrong at the end.
Thanks for your hard work!
You have to start counting at zero. Like a programmer. The Captain is the 0th Officer
I figured it's from the Captain's perspective. The captain looks and says, "That person is my first officer. That person is my second officer." And so on.
💯
The Captain is the 'origin point'. TNG (first) went over the fact that Starfleet Captains have a lot of leeway and privledge, in picking and choosing officers.
It’s Chakotay.
He’s the one who had the option to keep the sides apart, but he understood that the ship needed a United crew.
And he wasn’t afraid of providing discipline when needed.
This was shortly after the Voyager crew had suffered many crew fatalities and morale was low.
Not an easy decision, but one showing a very capable XO’s abilities.
I quite liked Chakotay. I always wished they had done more with his character. :)
The First Officer is the first officer under the captain, harkens back to naval tradition
It goes all the way back to the days of sail, when the only commissioned ranks below admiral were "captain" and "lieutenant". Every officer in a ship below the captain was a lieutenant, and they were numbered in order of seniority from the first lieutenant down, and customarily assigned responsibilities according to their position. "First Lieutenant" got to be the term for the officer with a particular set of responsibilities, executive officer to the C.O. even when the C.O. ranked as a lieutenant. Then as ships got bigger and more technical navies had to adopt more complex command structures and were forced to create more officer ranks, which led to commanders and lieutenant-commanders doing the traditional "first lieutenant" duties.
Troi: He's singing. Captain Picard is singing.
Riker: He's been replaced by a matter duplicate.
Troi: How do you know?
Riker: The real Picard doesn't sing and when he does it's not this good.
Troi: But...
Riker: Didn't you see the beginning of Star Trek: Insurrection?
Okay. I have to admit that I laughed way harder at your Abbott Costello gag than I should have.
"I am and always shall be yours. I have no ego to bruise" = spock
I mean...it's very hard for any of the others to compete with Mr. Fucking Iconic Spock.
I think “first officer” refers to the captain’s first officer rather than the ship’s first officer.
The term “first mate” is a bit clearer in that a captain is a distinct rank from that of a mate.
It would have made more sense if the person in charge was called the commander and the second in command was called the flight lieutenant as those are the ranks NASA uses, however Paramount felt the audience would be more familiar with naval ranks.
The first USS Enterprise was a ship under sail, so... Let's say NASA forgot how the ranking system for ships worked. Lol.
@@BigHenFor NASA didn't forget anything, they just chose to have a different and less hierarchical structure because it wasn't a large military. You're not commanding a ship of thousands, you're in charge of a mission of 3-12 people.
Spock was doing double duty on the original series. After "To go where no man's gone before" Spock, who was Science Officer, became XO.
No one wants to be called "number 2". The audience may not take them seriously. Can you imagine Picard or Kirk saying, "Number 2 lead the away team or Number 2 take the helm?"
Number One is so named because he's the Captain's Number One Officer. Not the highest ranking officer.
@@Bloodflowers29-- Hmmm... yeah, but I think you missed the point of the original comment. It was humorous. Pretty funny, actually.
😂 Yes probably better to be 💦 than 💩
💩 "We're number 2, we're number 2!"
-2017, Patrick Stewart 💩
Riker is great but his behavior towards captain Jellico was questionable and he stayed in his role as first officer until the end of Nemesis. That's 12(!) years after Picard asked him bluntly "What are you still doing here?" during best of both worlds. This can be excused as a writing/production related issue but it's still detremental to his overall character
Idk. I don’t like how it’s seen as a downside to be content where one is. The ultimate capitalistic drive to be at the top of the hierarchy is overrated imho. I appreciate that Riker appreciates where he is as number one and doesn’t feel the need to be captain just for the sake of it.
I get it, but like you said, it's just down to having to keep the crew together. They couldn't promote Riker and then split the series between two captains or just drop him after said promotion. What is egregious is that he's still a Commander... in Picard! Wth, man?? That's like 30 years or whatever of being stuck at Commander even if he did take a break!
@@threeofeight197that actually was a episode where people asked Riker why he stayed under Picard for so long.
Honestly it could make for a better crew cohesion during conflict and less "I don't understand your command".
So I definitely see your point and Beckett touched on it as well when she met her cadet mates and they asked her why didn't she "rank up" as she was still just a ensgin willing
@@Vulcanerd Riker was captain in Picard. He was captain since the end of Nemesis when he took command of the Titan and appeared in that capacity in Lower Decks.
@@threeofeight197 Good point. There is nothing wrong technically with being happy where you are and Starfleet obviously allowed him to do that but it still comes across as weird or at least unusual in an organization where climbing the career ladder is the norm.
The episodic nature of TNG didn’t allow him to move on without writing him or Picard off the show and that’s ok for the seven years or so the show portrays. Even for Generations it’s fine but by first contact most of the characters, especially Riker should have moved on. Imo
I’m pretty sure “Number One” and “First Officer” are call backs to age of sail navies where you had a captain or master and commander in command of the ship and the commissioned officers below him were all lieutenants in descending seniority although holding the same rank (the first, second, third lieutenants and so on).
Spock made the ultimate sacrifice for the ship and its crew, all while dealing with racism. For me, he's the only choice. Like, the only deficiency according to your list would be unanimous support from the crew based on that, but 'there are racists in the crew; is not his failing, but a failure on the side of Starfleet. He's the only choice, IMO.
Starfleet?
Spock experienced FAR more racism on Vulcan than he ever did on a SF vessel (especially during that time period).
Perhaps you mean "the Federation"?
It wasn't racism. There's no word for the kind of prejudice he dealt with because of course there are no humanoid aliens from Vulcan. Just a technical note but racism refers to the specific (now globally known phenomenon) of prejudice and bigotry in line with the racial caste system created by europens in settler colonies and slaver forts in the past 500ish years. The term was coined by scholars of the African diaspora dealing with said phenomenon and this misconstruing of the term as simply a blanket term for prejudice based on someone's ancestry is a new phenomenon which actually waters down the history and utility of the term. I do wonder what the bigotry against vulcans would be called. Maybe something like vulcan hate because it's very descriptive or just bigotry and prejudice against Vulcans? I could see Vulcans preferring a specific and highly descriptive phrase over the human preference for shortening things into words or even acronyms.
@@malashebad6181 I get you, but sometimes to get a point across in a pithy manner, linguistic shortcuts are called for. Given that Star Trek is stories told with collection of metaphors, we need to peer at what the metaphors point to. I trust my point came across, if at the cost of precision. There are no Vulcans. But we can look to what the significance of the metaphor meant in a U.S. made sci-fi story that dealt with a progressive view on the issues of that day circa the latter half of the 1960s. We can witness a fictional doctor speaking in a Southern drawl calling a man visually different and other than him an inhuman hobgoblin or whatever it was that week. We can infer what this is trying to communicate. Or we can consider the other officer who sees Romulans and is immediately convinced Spock is a traitor, working for them. There are no precise words because we just know us, here, on Earth just as Star Trek is about us here on Earth. All we can do is to look at narrative patterns and try to use words that will communicate the percieved intent of the metaphor most efficatiously.
@@Rensune Starfleet is in charge of disciplining their own officers. Why on earth would I have meant 'the Federation'?
Ransom is a pretty fun first officer tbh. He's a bit of an arse at times, but he's shown to genuinely care about his crew when push comes to shove.
Una is like that female best friend that come in your room after you had a one night stand with a whatever girl you pick up in a bar then wake you up, see the girl out, cooks you breakfast and urge you to go school/work while beating your head with her hand to wake you fully.
Chakotay is underrated. Anytime he actually has screen time or things to do I really love him. Great screen presence when he is there. That said, it's either Kira or Spock.
I agree that not enough people appreciate Chakotay. For the 'best' vote though, I'd have to give it to Spock.
Yeah, when he's just following orders he's quite bland but when he's acting on his own he can be quite forceful and charming. When he takes command he suddenly gets this energy and has a notably different command style. Like the way he punches out some of his Maquis guys at the end of season one when they say that's still the way they do things, or the way he brings-in thieves and bribes them for information in that episode when Da Vinci gets kidnapped.
@@kaitlyn__L You're right. When he's given the chance to take independent action, he generally does well. :)
Exception: Chakotay's actions with the Borg partnership.
Funny AF him and Seven got in-universe 'shipped' when Chakotay tried to 'airlock' Seven, originally.
Spock! Look at the way he handled those witches in Catspaw - cool as a cucumber!
I would love to see one of these done over the doctors from each series as well.
'... But with less blood on her hands...'
That's a bold statement.
I never noticed how often the shows use the first officer from two worlds idea, thanks for pointing that out. Great video as always
It's because that's their ex officio position too.
They have to represent the captain to the crew and the crew to the captain at the same time.
Combination consigliere and union rep.
"Only with less blood on her hands." Given she was a resistance fighter that's a DEEP cut sir. Well done. Lol
You missed an opportunity for one of those bits where you overexplain a turn of phrase.
"It was the news Number One was missing that got Pike back in the saddle. Metaphorically. He was riding a horse in that scene. So out of *a* saddle and into *the* saddle. The saddle being the captain's chair."
As to your question, I think Kira was the best first officer. She had to juggle more balls than anyone else in the franchise so far. First officer and political liaison to someone outside her own military who was also the Jesus of her religion. While I say Kira was the best first officer, if I were picking a number one it would Saru. After vahar'ai. With this line up we're spoiled for choice, but Saru counters one of my personal weaknesses. I struggle with empathy and Saru is the absolutely the heart of Discovery.
I loved how in the Voyager finale Admiral Janeway visits Chakotay’s grave to in essence say, “I’ve come to ignore your advice one last time.”
I read in the official guide years ago that Data was the 2nd officer. Maybe I misread that but it makes sense given when Picard and Riker are both off the bridge or away from the ship he is in the captain’s seat.
He definitely was! It’s strange though that some Star Trek series leave the role out. DS9, VOY, Disco, LD don’t seem to have a named 2nd officer.
I think 1-2 episodes of the original series stated Scotty was Kirk’s 2nd officer.
@@CKN215 Tuvok was Voyager's 2nd officer. Dax sometimes took the role before Worf showed up. Can't say I can name any others though.
@@kaitlyn__L Chekov was Kirk's 2nd Officer, and Tucker was the 2nd for Archer
@@AdeptPaladin In TOS Chekov was an Ensign, so definitely not Kirk's 2nd Officer. That was Scotty.
I'm a Riker guy, myself. As a first officer, he's a wonderful presence people feel comfortable coming to, to voice concerns or share ideas they may think the Captain should know about, there is that deep trust there even with lower crew members. At least that was how it felt watching the show, that smile melted people and put them at ease.
When you wanna have someone you can trust at your side, go for the one who will argue against you like your friends life depends on it, and feel like shit afterwards.
My short list was Riker, Number One, and Kira. Kinda surprised Kira Nerys didn't make your short list, given your love of DS9 - but absolutely can't argue with your reasoning for picking Riker. Then again, I would have been quite happy with any of my short list taking the win.
I sense just a little bit of animosity towards Majel Barrett 😂
When Picard's away and Riker has to take over, disasters follow. On one episode, the crew turned into monsters and Picard had to clean up that mess. When Picard got turned into a child and had to hand over command to Riker, Ferengi took over the ship, and Picard had to fix that while stuck in a child's body. Riker refused to become a captain himself for a while, because he knew he wasn't up to it yet, it would have been a fiasco until Riker became a more seasoned officer. Also, Riker was a terrible first officer to Captain Jellico, unprofessional behavior unbecoming to a lieutenant commander.
Nobody was a better first officer than the indomitable Spock. When things got so bad that Kirk needed a miracle to prevail, Spock would provide a miracle for him. From Vulcan mind melds to his amazing ability to analyze alien tech that he'd neve seen before, Spock would come up with something.
100% agree. 🖖
I would also want Spock as my First Officer, but also remember he was a terrible captain. His tendency to take every comment literally (a human trait) hampered his abilities at critical moments when in command many times (although this improved when he realized logic was only the beginning of wisdom and not the end).
Chin-Riley is the only First Officer who has never wavered when put in command.
But I'd still choose Spock. 🖖
40:20 - I love that you used that outtake shot of Frakes before he runs away and chases the extra.
1:58 - It is always validating to see another who was born into this world as a 50-year old kid.🖖
Great video! I'm curious... Did you ever consider including Will Decker in your list of first officers?
My short list would be Riker, Kira, and Spock. Giving it to Spock seems too easy, because everyone loves him. Kira, I think is under-estimated by some. I think she fits your description of a great first officer perfectly. I think it’s hard to see how good she is because both she and Sisko are such quiet people- at least professionally. After seeing her on 7 seasons of DS9 though, she’s the one I’d trust with my life the most.
That being said, I don’t really disagree with your pick of Riker. He ends up being so loyal to Picard and the crew he ends up hurting his own career by staying on the Enterprise so long. That loyalty is something rare that I think western people quietly admire. He turns down promotions, he becomes Captain and willingly gives it up after the Borg are defeated (apparently?) He’s not a saint, but he seems so loyal to his Captain.
Thank you! For pointing out that Pike's first officer is literally named number One. I was starting to think I was the only one who noticed.
It might be interesting to ask a retired naval captain or something that likes Star trek who they would pick as their number one.
They could look at their own career and experience of having XO's themselves and might pick someone completely different.
If you want to complicate it further, there was a time that the position "Chief Officer" was in-between Captain and First Officer, plus some ships having a Second, Third, Fourth, etc. going down from there.
McCoy may not have been able to relieve Decker of command on the spot, but he should have ordered Decker to report to sickbay immediately so that he could do a full evaluation. He has multiple reasons to question Decker's fitness - the trauma he had just been through, his evident emotional state when they found him just minutes before, and the reckless behavior in trying to attack the probe.
From a Doylist view, Riker is such a good 1st officer, he's giving orders even outside the universe. 😁
Spock hands down for me. He’s good enough to deal with both humans and Vulcans. And on top of being logical, he also had a sense of humor.
And his vast wealth of experience helps too.
Saru is definitely the Number One of Discovery. Yes, he is also the sometimes captain, but in the same way that Spock was also captain of the Enterprise.
Has to go to Number one. She is literally the voice of the Lacars computer system, which speaks volumes of how highly starfleet valued her at the end of her career.
Wasn't that Majel Barrett, aka the original Nurse Christine Chapel, Lwaxana Troi and the voice of the ship's computer, and Roddenberry's wife?
@@AdeptPaladinYes.
But, I love it when 'behind the scenes' gets wrapped into the setting.
Gets even weirder when ya find out Roddenberry was 'cheating' on 'er w/ Uhura's actress. 😂
One facet of worf's first officer ship that Steve doesn't bring up that I think should count is him being first officer to Martok. While the responsibilities he has towards Martok are different than the ones he has towards Cisco he still performs them to the best of his abilities even willing to die or be killed for the sake of his captain.
Word was the first officer of the Defiant. But occasionally Kira would also occasionally.
With Ryker'S picture on the wall behind you. I knew i could expect an impartial analysis of the best No 1. ;-)
In the USN the first officer is executive office(XO).
I'd pick Saru. The guy is the first of his species to be admitted to Starfleet, having navigated the curiously complex issues of being from a civilization that had not yet achieved warp travel. Then he manages to form a curiously chaste, yet intimate relationship with T'Rina, the President of Ni'Var and leader of the reunited Vulcan and Romulan cultures.
Some might have thought she'd be out of his league, but nope.
Would you consider doing a video discussing the potential merits for Number One becoming captain of the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds between Pike and Kirk?
If it is like how it actually works in the real world, she would most likely be given command of another ship . . . .
It depends on the Captain. If you think about, "How well would this first officer compliment *other* captains," things look very different. My money would be on Una, because we've seen her do the full range. We've seen her be a hardass (what Pike needs), a reserved and consummate professional (what Kirk needs), warm and approachable for the crew (what Picard needs), versatile (what Janeway's episode writer of the day needs), fully autonomous and basically a captain in her own right (what Sisko needs), ready to stand up to her captain (what the various Discovery captains need)... never watched Enterprise, couldn't speak to that... Even when I imagine other captains we haven't seen, I can't imagine her as being anything but excellent. I'd definitely put her at #1, for that reason. And even with that she still feels like a real, believable person. Well done, Strange New Worlds writers!
Riker and Spock: tie
Riker defeated The Borg and rescued Captain Picard like a boss.
And Spock…do I really need to list all the reasons? It’s Spock!
(and they're were both played by actors turned terrific directors!)
Its Spock. Without Leonard Nimoy playing Spock, the OG show would've been cancelled sooner and ultimately forgotten.
He made the show adored more than just interesting. Thus, Spock made the show and every other Number One possible.
It's still hot weather. Sun's coming up. Have to do outside chores soon, before it's impossible.
So, only got to beginning of Ryker, so far.
I just want you to know, again, how much i appreciate your clever script writing. Also, out of all the very clever people i watch on youtube, you're the only one i've heard properly use the word critereon.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 💯🖖🏾
Criterion*
Not the conclusion I expected Steve to come to, but it’s a well-reasoned and entertaining argument. I half expected it to be Spock and for that to be bluntly announced 30 seconds into the video with the rest explaining why he’s the best and who is the runner up.
Chakotay is misspelled in the timestamps as Scabkotay -- either that or there's some writer's strike stuff that Beltran's involved in I'm about to find out from this vid
ed: it's apparently the latter.
"It's a horse race". I'm glad you eventually decided on someone, but that statement really says it all. Every first officer has their merits, and seems to work well with their captains. In that sense, EVERY first officer is ideal.
Let's be honest, is there anyone who didn't come to this video already sure that it's Spock?
Commander Ransom is disappointed Steve.
Yes, but only to remind me of that time Riker was disappointed in young Jake Potts for playing that mean prank on his little brother Willy that led to Willy getting infected by parasites in "Brothers" -- remember that?
@@SteveShives *glares at you while doing my arm workout*
For me it's a dead tie between Spock and Riker. (I'd probably include Number One but I've not had the chance to see the SNW series yet because Paramount decided to stop letting my streaming service get new Trek, thanks for that Paramount!) I feel that on a personal level Spock and I would have a better working relationship, but I would be able to have a more meaningful working *friendship* with Riker.
Also one of my plans for when my facial hair gets thick enough is a Riker beard. Man knows style.
Spock over everyone....Faster, Stronger, Much more Intelligent, Unequaled by any in Sciencing his way out of a problem, Equal to any in Tactics, and More Experience than any other two combined. Only drawback is he's slightly rigid, but later Spock loosens up and it's no longer a problem.
Spock is Trek God, with only Data coming close as most capable officer ever. Any problem can be basically fixed by sending either one alone, they will work it out.
"Biden is pro union...usually." 🤣🤣 I was waiting for that. If you just said he was pro union I would have been sad.
I love you so much Steve. You and I seem to always agree. We were both raised mostly by Star Trek and it shows.
Spock to me is the number one Number One, THEN Riker. Spock influenced many of the Federation's events in its history. Certainly, Riker had a hand in the Borg storyline in saving the Federation, but overall, Spock's influence was over a longer period of time than Riker's... 😏
the first Officer title along with the second officer is from an old naval tradition the Lieutenants hold their power as a substitute for the captain acting in Lieu of (derived from the French Au Lieu di- which means in place of) a captain running day to day business of the ship and the 1st Officer is the 1st Lieutenant and the most senior of them the word the 2nd so on and so forth the word Lieutenant as well as being a rank is actually a NOUN meaning a deputy or substitute acting for a superior: i.e. "one of the Prime Minister's most trusted lieutenants" The idea of there being multiple Officer ranks below captain is a relatively modern concept in the Hornblower books William Bush is the First Lieutenant i.e. the highest ranking officer after the captain. If you look at the age of sail rank structures ranks like Lt Commander or Commander did not exist and you had multiple Lieutenants with a strict hierarchy among them based on experience. Whilst you were doing your officer training you were a midshipman/ensign then you would take your lieutenant exam when ready and then in time after gaining more experience if you did well you would become a captain.
Spock laid the groundwork and set the standard.
No other surpassed him.
No contest.
I gave you a courtesy laugh for that last pun. Nice set up and delivery.
I really liked the depth of the TPol character as well as the relationship with Archer as FO. Great character development generally there. It's just hard, as with everything ST, not to choose Kira/DS9. It's just the best-written series and Kira is a STELLAR character acted by a STELLAR actor. I have come to love Number One too, and the writing on SNW is pretty good. But it's Kira for me. Maybe Spock second with Riker a close third. But I can't argue with Riker as number one Number One. He gets laid the most, I'm pretty sure, for a non-captain character. Plus there's the Riker Maneuver. Not the spaceship one, the legover to a sitting position on a backward chair, that Riker Maneuver.
her actions may very well also reflect on Vulcan Military Academy teachings
Honestly, Gwyndala from Prodigy fits the XO bill pretty well, right down to the “trapped between two worlds” thing