How come Picard was Captain of the Stargazer for 20 years before Starfleet promoted him to Captain the Enterprise D, but Starfleet was pressuring Riker to become Captain after just 3 years of being First Officer of the Enterprise D?

A lot of answers but I don't feel anyone's gotten it quite right. Picard was captain of the stargazer for a while, but there's also a gap between his time on the stargazer and his time on the Enterprise. It isn't clear if he went directly from the gazer to the D. Regardless, he was clearly an officer of great esteem to get that position.

Riker's situation is totally different. For one, he wasn't being offered a "flagship level" position as captain. He was being offered some random ships that no one even cares about. Iirc Picard says something like "it won't be glamorous, but it will be your ship." It makes total sense that the first officer of tje flagship, highly recommends by its prestigious captain, would get promoted in that way rather quickly.

/r/DaystromInstitute Thread