Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country gets this right, at least:
Stranger
Well, sure, but that’s no different than being unable to see a concert or play, because you have to work, in real life.
According to Memory Alpha, the Enterprise carried a crew complement of 1,000 to 6,000, plus their families - figure 4,000 to 10,000 people aboard. At any one time, one-third of them will be in their “daytime” (on watch, at work, in school, whatever), one-third will be asleep and one-third will be in their “evening” cycle. That’s enough people to socialize with or put together events.
Oh? I didn’t know that. But that seems pointless.
The disruption served a purpose, precisely because this guy was known to be a short-term captain of the ship. He knew they were likely going to be in a fight soon, and he couldn’t risk the crew taking time to look to Riker to see if this order is a “real” order that they should follow, or just a pointless “order” that Captain Picard will reverse as soon as he gets back.
The crew needed to know, in no uncertain terms, that the new guy was the Captain, and that his orders needed to be followed - because sometimes even a few seconds hesitation could mean the destruction of the ship. The new guy didn’t have the luxury of a few months, or even weeks, of “getting to know each other” time. So he went hard-assed, which had the benefit of getting his point across to those smug Enterprise bastards who weren’t professional enough to understand what he was doing.
One thing I’ve noticed is the various Star Trek shows pay lip-service to how mind-mindbogglingly huge space is, but this is very rarely ever depicted. You’ll hear there’s a distress call on some planet, then Data says it’ll take three days to reach the planet at maximum warp, then the next scene is the Enterprise arriving. During those three days, it’s watch rotation and business as usual.
Some episodes are worse than others, especially when you consider characters taking multi-day shuttle rides or a scene cut that elides a week of travel where nothing gets resolved during the off-screen time. In their defense, there’s no good way around this. Either you have something like a realistic (and reminiscent of Earth’s oceans) travel time between ports or you have JJ Abrams “3 minutes of warp between Earth and Vulcan” nonsense.
Well, you know what they say, “The needs of the drama outweigh the needs of the facts.”
Or the fun.
And starships (one word, no hyphen), like turbolifts, travel at the speed of plot.
I agree that Capt. Jellico was in the right in his little battle of wills (heh) with Riker & Co., but he could have been a bit more tactful about it.
C’mon, now. He’s offered command of other ships, not ordered to take command of them. And it’s specifically mentioned that he’s running the risk of career stagnation if he does it too often. Starfleet clearly doesn’t have the up-or-out mentality of the current U.S. military; Roddenberry thought that personal fulfillment and self-realization were more worthy goals in Picard’s day.
And I don’t think it had anything to do with the size or power of the ship. Riker obviously loved serving with, and learning from, Picard, so that’s what he did for longer than we might think appropriate. But until ordered to do something else, that was his call. And as it happens, the USS Titan, the command of which he eventually accepted, was smaller than the Galaxy-class Enterprise.
It could be that is how it works in Starfleet. I was thinking of how e.g. Capt. Aubrey’s promotion+orders were formulated:
Yeah, but if you’re judging Starfleet by the standards of an 19th century wet navy, a more salient complaint would the lack of 13 year-olds holding officer rank, or the way they just let all these women on the ships like they belong there. Hell, did Picard actually pay anyone for his officer’s commission, or did they just give it to him?
Ideas about how to properly run a military force have changes a lot over the years, and are no doubt going to keep changing in the future. Presenting a world where “up or out” is no longer considered the best way to run a navy isn’t a plot hole.
I could accept that during normal times, but not just after the fleet was devastated by the Borg. Riker hanging around the Enterprise as first officer would be like a Commander in the US Navy just after Pearl Harbor saying, “Nah, I don’t feel like commanding that new cruiser”.
In The Best of Both Worlds there’s a scene between Commander Shelby and Commander Riker where she points out that having him stick around as XO for years is denying other worthy Starfleet officers the chance to learn what he’s learned, and I think that’s a good point. Navy shipboard tours generally last 3-5 years, with officer tours tending to be shorter than enlisted. Riker’s “personal fulfillment” be damned, Picard could have trained a dozen senior officers during his extended tour as Captain, who would have gone on to captain their own ships and train even more officers the Picard way.
One thing that IS realistic is after Picard retires there’s almost nobody in Starfleet who gives a shit about him because outside his small inner circle not many people served under or with him. Maybe if Riker and the gang had gotten out of the way Picard would have had an easier time getting Starfleet support for the Romulan evacuation and his other late-career projects.
Let me introduce you to Wesley Crusher. 
Come on, some of these things have to be conceded to the realities of serial television. Such as Riker refusing promotions. Or the senior staff always being on duty whenever anything interesting happens.
That’s the boring Doylist explanation. We’re looking for Watsonian explanations here.
In Star Trek VI, Ensign Slater wakes Captain Sulu up in the middle of the night to relay a message from the Enterprise.
I’ll always be a Doylist because Watson is fictional.
Well, so you say but according to this documentary it is actually Holmes that is a fictional creation of the real Dr. Watson (“The Crime Doctor!”).
Stranger
In defense of the Royal Navy, while patronage and nepotism certainly helped, the purchasing of commissions was strictly an army affair. And in theory, even the most well-connected of young gentlemen would have to at least pass an examination for Lieutenant before choice assignments and ensuing promotion opportunities could be worked strictly through influence campaigns. Although how difficult such an examination might be could vary (if memory serves, Horatio Nelson had an uncle or similar relation on his board, but then again his uncle is supposed to have insisted he did not tell any of his fellow board members beforehand. Honest—anyway Nelson turned out alright in the end).
I’ll always have a soft spot for the short story from Midshipman Hornblower depicting one such factionalized account. Reminds me of the boards I had to go through for OOD/SWO on my first ship (the command climate was toxic as hell, and sometimes they really did try us in batches like the French tribunals).
If anything, it’s the idea that significant ship losses could be made up for inside of a decade or more that should be seen as unrealistic. In this day and age, the unplanned loss of so many ships would likely greatly reduce the opportunities for operational command, not increase it.
Hm. Maybe Riker’s lying about turning down an offer of command, and Starfleet gave the command of the fewer available ships to other officers.
And anyway, Picard is French, not English! … usually … sometimes …