You’ve heard of the Picard maneuver, now get ready for:
Is there a backstory? Is Riker tall or the chairs overly short? Did they want to avoid chairs moving on screen, or avoid showing his back side? Where the chairs too heavy to move, or are bolted to the floor? Was this to convey he needed more breathable briefs and needed to separate the “boys”? That command was a heavy load? Did this convey a whimsey with his character? Or did he want to accentuate his crotch?
The actor has some serious back problems and that weird way of getting into a chair is one of the ways he avoids triggering a flare up
Slight correction, had back problems. He was in a car accident and had to sit like that until it healed. By the time it was healed everyone just expected him to sit like that.
Wil Wheaton confirmed the furniture-moving story: https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1dx9y7/riker_sits_down_always_with_the_leg_over_the/c9v52pj/?context=2
What makes you say it was a car accident?
Really loved the “Riker stand up” as well.
