History YMMV / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E22SecondChances

** The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Thomas taking over as operations officer; Website/SFDebris argued that instead, they could have simply had Will finally take a captaincy and allow Thomas to take his place. This would have opened up a whole host of new plot and cast dynamics to play with in season seven, which is often criticized for having [[SeasonalRot run out of ideas]]. It would allow the show to stop belaboring Will's decision to freeze his career by remaining XO and would open up new opportunities for romance between Thomas and Troi or Data's new promotion.

** The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Thomas taking over as operations officer; [[Website/SFDebris]] argued that instead, they could have simply had Will finally take a captaincy and allow Thomas to take his place. This would have opened up a whole host of new plot and cast dynamics to play with in season seven, which is often criticized for having [[SeasonalRot run out of ideas]]. It would allow the show to stop belaboring Will's decision to freeze his career by remaining XO and would open up new opportunities for romance between Thomas and Troi or Data's new promotion.

** The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Thomas taking over as operations officer. They also could have simply had Riker finally take a captaincy and allow Thomas to take his place. This would have opened up a whole host of new plot and cast dynamics to play with in season seven, which is often criticized for having [[SeasonalRot run out of ideas]]. It would allow the show to stop belaboring Riker's decision to freeze his career by remaining XO and would open up new opportunities for romance between Riker and Troi or Data's new promotion.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Thomas taking over as operations officer. They also could have simply had Riker finally take a captaincy and allow Thomas to take his place. This would have opened up a whole host of new plot and cast dynamics to play with in season seven, which is often criticized for having [[SeasonalRot run out of ideas]]. It would allow the show to stop belaboring Riker's decision to freeze his career by remaining XO and would open up new opportunities for romance between Riker and Troi or Data's new promotion.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Thomas taking over as operations officer. They also could have simply had Riker finally take a captaincy and allow Thomas to take his place. This would have opened up a whole host of new plot and cast dynamics to play with in season seven, which is often criticized for having [[SeasonalRot run out of ideas]]. It would allow the show to stop belaboring Riker's decision to freeze his career by remaining XO and would open up new opportunities for romance between Riker and Troi. It would also offer more storylines with Data's new promotion.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. This would have opened up a whole host of new plot and cast dynamics to play with in season seven, which is often criticized for having [[SeasonalRot run out of ideas]]. It would allow the show to stop belaboring Riker's decision to freeze his career by remaining XO and would open up new opportunities for romance between him and Troi. It would also offer more storylines with Data's new promotion.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival, realizes just how complacent he's become and how badly he's been stalling his career. So, he finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas, not to mention many Trekkies were unhappy with ending ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse or non-ending]]) of Tom's arc on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival, realizes just how complacent he's become and how badly he's been stalling his career. So, he finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas, not to mention many Trekkies were unhappy with ending ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse or non-ending]]) of his arc on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will is spurred by Thomas' arrival, realizes just how complacent he's become and how badly he's been stalling his career, and so finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas, not to mention many Trekkies were unhappy with ending ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse or non-ending]]) of his arc on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas, not to mention many Trekkies were unhappy with ending ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse or non-ending]]) of his arc on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas, not to mention many Trekkies were unhappy with Thomas's CharacterDerailment and ending ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse or non-ending]]) of his arc on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas, not to mention many Trekkies were unsatisfied by the ending ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse or lack thereof]]) of Thomas' arc with ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship]]. This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship.]] This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best Of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris argued that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship.]] This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best Of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris agreed that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and the subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship.]] This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best Of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast, resulting in Data being promoted to XO and Tom taking over as operations officer. Website/SFDebris agreed that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship.]] This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best Of Both Worlds'', the group dynamic would be shaken-up both by Data's promotion and the presence of a Riker different from the one the cast and audience were familiar with, and the writers would be allowed to play with Tom and Troi's relationship in far greater depth. In short, this route could have provided just the revitalization the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris agreed that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will Riker off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will, spurred by Thomas' arrival and subsequent realization of just how complacent he's become/how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship.]] This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best Of Both Worlds'', result in Data being promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as operations officer, and allow the writers to toy greater with Tom and Troi's relationship. In short, this route could have provided just the shake-up the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris agreed that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill Will off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which he, spurred by Thomas' arrival and subsequent realization of just how badly he's been stalling his career, finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship.]] This would cap off Will's character arc with the conclusion it had been building towards since at least ''The Best Of Both Worlds'', result in Data being promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as operations officer, and allow the writers to toy greater with Tom and Troi's relationship. In short, this route could have provided just the shake-up the show needed at exactly the right time, given Season 7 is generally considered an example of SeasonalRot, owing to the writers admittedly having run out of ideas.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris agreed that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill him off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship, allowing Data to be promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as operations officer, and also caps off Will's character arc]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris pointed out that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill him off, [[TakeAThirdOption there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship, allowing Data to be promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as operations officer, and also caps off Will's character arc]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris pointed out that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill him off, there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship, allowing Data to be promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as operations officer, and also caps off Will's character arc.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris pointed out that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill him off, there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship, allowing Data to be promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as operations officer, and thus caps off Will's character arc.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The creative staff briefly toyed with the idea of killing Will Riker and having Thomas join the cast. Website/SFDebris pointed out that while it definitely would have been a mistake to permanently kill him off, there was the potential for a two-parter in which Will finally accepts the captain's chair and leaves the ship, allowing Data to be promoted to XO and thus let Tom take over as conn officer, and thus caps off Will's character arc.