Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Will Riker

Of his many accolades and achievements, one thing Captain Picard will always be remembered for is The Picard Manoeuvre, a technique of jumping to warp for a split second to create a duplicate after-image of your ship and disorient the enemy during battle. Much like his Captain, Commander Riker had his own manoeuvre, one which has delighted and baffled fans for years.

‘The Riker Manoeuvre’, as it has been affectionately titled, refers to Riker’s curious habit of mounting chairs as if they were a wandering steed. Placing his hand upon the back and vaulting one leg over and swinging the other round to follow, nobody on the Enterprise appeared to bat an eyelid at this frankly bizarre way to approach the mundane task of sitting.

Although no in-Universe reason was given for this peculiar idiosyncracy, the manoeuvre itself stems from a back injury sustained by Frakes during a previous career moving furniture. This injury also accounts for Riker’s tendency to sit forward in his chair on the bridge, or stand with an arm or leg propped up on nearby pieces of set. Posted on Reddit and confirmed by Wil Wheaton, the move has become somewhat of a running gag within Trek and, now that you know, you will never not see it.