Riker's 5 Best Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes, Ranked

When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was revealed, complete with an entirely new crew from the original ensemble, longtime fans were skeptical. And the show's rocky Season 1 — which we put at the bottom of our ranking of every "Star Trek" first season — certainly didn't help things. But it didn't take long before "The Next Generation" won Trekkies over, many of whom now consider it the best "Star Trek" series of all time. Likewise, the crew of "TNG" have also become individual fan favorites, including the show's first officer, Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Whereas "The Original Series" featured the suave, smirking Kirk (William Shatner) as captain and the more stoic and logical Spock (Leonard Nimoy) as his right hand, that dynamic was reversed in "TNG." Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) was more about following the rules and trying to avoid emotions clouding his judgment, while Riker served as his Kirk-like counterbalance. And just as Spock was equally important as Kirk and got some of his era's best episodes and storylines, Riker was frequently the MVP of "TNG." These are the five episodes that best illustrate that fact.

Among the Starfleet decisions that changed "Star Trek" forever was the alliance struck with longtime nemeses the Klingons. "The Next Generation" made sure to illustrate that change front and center, having a Klingon named Worf (Michael Dorn) serving as an integral member of the ship's crew as its head of security. Likewise, the Season 2 "TNG" episode "A Matter of Honor" gave Trekkies one of the deepest dives that had ever been seen about the inner workings of the crew of a Klingon vessel.

The Enterprise is enlisted to be part of an officer exchange program with the vessel, and Riker is chosen to be the Enterprise's representative aboard the Klingon ship. The episode is meant to give a reverse POV to how Worf likely feels being part of a crew of mostly humans, with Riker being his stand-in on the Klingon ship. It also becomes a great showcase for Riker as a character, proving how adaptable he is and how he can not only get along with a ship full of Klingons but even get them to genuinely like him. He also averts a potential crisis by pulling a very Kobayashi Maru-esque maneuver that further demonstrates his status as the Kirk of "TNG." 

In Season 7's "The Pegasus," we learn a bit about Riker's first assignment on the titular starship. He served under Captain Pressman (Terry O'Quinn), who is now a Starfleet admiral. It is revealed that Riker has been forced to keep secret the details of the dangerous experiment that Pressman attempted on the Pegasus, a command he has held to for 12 years — but he decides to break rank and tell Picard what he and Pressman had done.

What makes a character great isn't just the things he does right. It's also the mistakes he makes, and how he deals with the aftermath of those mistakes. "The Pegasus" does exactly that, showing that Riker has done things he isn't proud of, but will do whatever it takes to try to redeem himself. Even if it means breaking rules and potentially getting reprimanded by Starfleet in the process. So pivotal was the episode to Riker's lore that it resulted in one of the times that "Star Trek" revisited an old episode – with the series finale of "Enterprise" directly referencing the events of "The Pegasus."  

There are a number of reasons why Riker should have been promoted to captain long before he finally made that leap at the end of "Star Trek: Nemesis." But he was content being the Scottie Pippen to Picard's Michael Jordan, knowing he would shine equally bright on his own but remaining committed to his captain and the formidable duo they were together. And in the first episode of the epic "The Next Generation" two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds," Riker proved just how capable he was at commanding the Enterprise when Picard was taken out of commission.

Ultimately, "The Best of Both Worlds" is all about Picard being assimilated by the Borg. And "Part II" is very much the Locutus show. But what is sometimes forgotten when looking back at the landmark event is how important of a role Riker plays in "Part I," and how well he handles not only having to serve as captain of the Enterprise in Picard's stead but doing so under extremely difficult circumstances — circumstances that would've broke an experienced captain, let alone a second-in-command.

Once "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry passed away in 1991, some of the hardline rules he had about how "Star Trek" stories can be written and structured started to fall away. A pivotal example of this was "First Contact," the Season 4 episode which saw Riker pretend to be a member of the Malcorian race in order to learn more about them and determine if they were ready to be officially approached by Starfleet. 

The reason the episode was seen as a step away from Roddenberry's decrees is that it was the first major "Star Trek" storyline not specifically told from the point of view of a Starfleet member. Indeed, the episode is told as if the Malcorians are the main characters, with Riker being positioned almost like a guest star. Getting to see Riker from a different perspective really broadens our understanding of him in a different way than we see in stories where he is the star. "First Contact" is also one of the most underrated episodes of "The Next Generation" period, and deserves more credit than it usually receives.

At some point or another, every major "Star Trek" character gets a storyline that involves some alternate universe version of themselves, or a version of themselves from the past or future. Riker got his in the "The Next Generation" Season 4 episode "Future Imperfect," where he suddenly finds that 16 years have passed that he has no memory of — including having had a son.

Of course, this being "Star Trek," not all is what it seems. In an example of a "Star Trek" episodes that predicted the future – in this case, artificial intelligence deliberately inventing facts in order to tell a user what he wants to hear — Riker discovers that he didn't actually fast forward to the future but is instead part of an elaborate Romulan scheme. But in the process, we come to learn some of Riker's unspoken desires, as well as some of his deep-seated insecurities. It's one of the first times we see Riker as a fully-formed human being, and not just a first officer.