Riker: Why would he leave? He pretty much figured that Picard would get promoted out of the big chair eventually and he'd slip into it right on schedule. Then of ocurse there was Counselor Troi, who was pretty much the love of his life, and she didn't seem to be going anywhere either. Actually, they pretty thoroughly covered the whole business of "should I stay or should I go?" during the course of the series. The character evolved and at the end he and Troi finally transferred to the Titan, which I could see since it was also clear at that point that Picard would accept a promotion to Admiral and off the Enterprise when hell froze over.
You know what's funny...most people just accept that Spock was happy being the XO on the NCC-1701 and never questioned it. But with Riker...
As for Thomas Riker, I couldn't see him sticking around the Enterprise, and as for sticking around Star Fleet, he didn't seem like he would fit in and that was pretty quickly proven out (he was a throw away character and was treated as such). Let's be honest, a brash 20-something comes across much better than a brash 30-something. Even Kirk had to settle down.
As for Sulu, remember the line, "he made the time", meaning he had a family unlike the others. That perhaps took him off the fast track promotion wise, though it is sort of amusing to see on the bridge of that Klingon ship they "commandeered" before "The Voyage Home" no fewer than an admiral, two captains (depending upon how you interpret Scotty's rank), and three full commanders. By the time the next movie had ended, Kirk was a captain again, but the Enterprise-A was still *way* too top heavy in ranks, I'll grant you.
You know what's funny...most people just accept that Spock was happy being the XO on the NCC-1701 and never questioned it. But with Riker...
As for Thomas Riker, I couldn't see him sticking around the Enterprise, and as for sticking around Star Fleet, he didn't seem like he would fit in and that was pretty quickly proven out (he was a throw away character and was treated as such). Let's be honest, a brash 20-something comes across much better than a brash 30-something. Even Kirk had to settle down.
As for Sulu, remember the line, "he made the time", meaning he had a family unlike the others. That perhaps took him off the fast track promotion wise, though it is sort of amusing to see on the bridge of that Klingon ship they "commandeered" before "The Voyage Home" no fewer than an admiral, two captains (depending upon how you interpret Scotty's rank), and three full commanders. By the time the next movie had ended, Kirk was a captain again, but the Enterprise-A was still *way* too top heavy in ranks, I'll grant you.