Tom Riker VS Miles O'Brien

[Nardpuncher]

OK, I haven't seen the episode ( I think it was called The Defiant) in about 12 years but when Tom Riker meets O'Brien, Tom gives him a mean look and says that he has nothing to say to O'Brien.
What was that about? Was he just trying to get O'Brien out of the way as soon as possible in case he asked too many questions Tom couldn't answer?

 

[Kibbin]

Bingo

 

[Gojirob]

You'd think being married to Keiko, he'd be inoculated against 'You Know What You Did!'

 

[Hofner]

The night before O'Brien laft for DS9, the Enterprise crew threw a going away party for him in Ten Foreward. During the party after Will Riker got up and played his trombone, a drunken O'Brien made the mistake of commenting that he shouldn't give up his day job. Things got pretty ugly after that. Of course Will later ranted about it to Tom.

Robert

 

[sbk1234]

Obviously, it was intended to show that there was something up with this "Riker", and to bring up a few question marks. However, it just didn't work well for the story telling. I think it would have been better if Tom couldn't answer some questions or wasn't familiar with O'Brien at all, then tried to con his way out of it to cover up. Would have been more subtle, and less confusing.

 

[Kai Winn]

tom riker might have developed a transporter-operator phobia after his traumatic experience. miles was simply the only person with this job description in the room.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Was he just trying to get O'Brien out of the way as soon as possible in case he asked too many questions Tom couldn't answer?

There you go.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Thanks for the answers.
I figured I was getting it right, but you'd think they might have had a scene later where Miles says someting to the effect that he though Riker was acting strangely.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There was the risk that O'Brien would get extra suspicious and start digging into matters, but by then it would be too late anyway...

 

[RobertScorpio]

Obviously, it was intended to show that there was something up with this "Riker", and to bring up a few question marks. However, it just didn't work well for the story telling. I think it would have been better if Tom couldn't answer some questions or wasn't familiar with O'Brien at all, then tried to con his way out of it to cover up. Would have been more subtle, and less confusing.

I agree..because there was no known incident between them, and Obrien was aware of Tom's existence, I think it was a bad story idea..however..I think its a very good episode...

Rob

 

[DonIago]

^I'm not really clear on how this would improve the story, versus Tom for obvious reasons wanting to eliminate someone who could easily punch holes in his con game.

I also doubt there's anything that could have been trimmed from the episode to include this.

 

[gastrof]

I've always thought the scene in question was stupid.

Tom Riker essentially says "You KNOW why I'm mad".

Miles, or course, would have NO idea why "Will" was mad at him, and if anything this should have made Miles suspicious, not thrown him off track in any way.

By rights what Tom did should have made things more difficut for him, not less.

 

[RobertScorpio]

It only an hour show..so i guess it works on that level..

Rob

 

[gastrof]

It only an hour show..so i guess it works on that level..

Rob

Not really.

Here we are 99 years later, and we're still scratching our heads over it.

 

[Baconnaise]

I have to agree it seems by the time you see him steal the defiant he just did it to nip some possible threat before it begins.

The whole two riker thing was a horrible tng episode to begin with as it just opens a big can of worms.

 

[Tiberius]

I've always thought the scene in question was stupid.

Tom Riker essentially says "You KNOW why I'm mad".

Miles, or course, would have NO idea why "Will" was mad at him, and if anything this should have made Miles suspicious, not thrown him off track in any way.

By rights what Tom did should have made things more difficut for him, not less.

The last thing O'Brien would do would be to start arguing with a ranking officer, especially when he's on duty. hye probably just thought Riker was in a bad mood.

 

[RobertScorpio]

...or that it was Tom Riker trying to get by as wil riker.

Rob

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, maybe Tom didn't mean to be that bitter. O'Brien was, after all, a transporter chief, and a transporter problem was responsible for Tom's existence in the first place (even if it wasn't O'Brien himself). Maybe Tom just hates transporter chiefs and lashed out in anger?

 

[DevilEyes]

I have to agree it seems by the time you see him steal the defiant he just did it to nip some possible threat before it begins.

The whole two riker thing was a horrible tng episode to begin with as it just opens a big can of worms.

I think it's a great episode - one of my favorites on TNG - because it opens so many interesting questions about personal identity.

Well, maybe Tom didn't mean to be that bitter. O'Brien was, after all, a transporter chief, and a transporter problem was responsible for Tom's existence in the first place (even if it wasn't O'Brien himself). Maybe Tom just hates transporter chiefs and lashed out in anger?

No, actually Tom's parents are responsible for his existence. The transporter accident is only responsible for him having spent 7 years alone on the planet, coming back to see that there's another version of himself with a higher rank and a far more eventful last 7 years, and adopting the nickname "Tom" instead of "Will" to distinguish himself from the other version of himself.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, maybe Tom didn't mean to be that bitter. O'Brien was, after all, a transporter chief, and a transporter problem was responsible for Tom's existence in the first place (even if it wasn't O'Brien himself). Maybe Tom just hates transporter chiefs and lashed out in anger?

No, actually Tom's parents are responsible for his existence. The transporter accident is only responsible for him having spent 7 years alone on the planet, coming back to see that there's another version of himself with a higher rank and a far more eventful last 7 years, and adopting the nickname "Tom" instead of "Will" to distinguish himself from the other version of himself.

But without the transporter problem, Tom would never exist. There would only have been Will. Mr. and Mrs. Riker are not responsible for what happened to Tom, because they only had one son - Will. Tom's entire existence is directly attributed to the transporter mishap - if that had not occurred, there would be no duplication of Will, and therefore, no Tom.