“ | As High Commander, I vow to handle all problems with restraint and deliberation; I will strive to understand other life-forms; I will avoid aggression, and make peace with all those who piss me off | „ |
~ Dick reviewing the High Commander's Oath |
Dick Solomon is the main character of the sitcom, 3rd Rock From the Sun. He is the leader of an extraterrestrial group of aliens and acts as the father figure for the Solomon family but he is in reality the youngest of the group and is not anything like a father he is more than often a narcissistic, ungenerous, impatient, flamboyant, brainy, discourteous and aggravating leader who is more intent on his own goals than caring for his own unit. His most heroic trait is his undying love for Mary Albright and dedication to protecting his adopted home.
It's revealed that Dick is the son of his leader, The Big Giant Head, which led Sally to believe that the only reason he became The High Commander.
He is played by John Lithgow.
Early life[]
Not much is known about the early life of Dick Solomon. He is the son of the Big Giant Head and an alien from the Cepheus-Draco border. While Mary was growing up, Dick worked as a color spectrum particle separator at the Assemblage Dome on the Home World ("Youth is Wasted on the Dick"). He is also the High Commander of a military unit consisting of a security officer, Sally Solomon, an information officer, Tommy Solomon, and a transmitter, Harry Solomon. Sally is also his second in command.
Coming To Earth[]
Dick came to Earth and got a job as a physics professor at Pendleton State University, a 3rd rate university. He rented a 3rd rate apartment, and bought a Rambler American, which he quickly developed an emotional connection with. He also fell madly in love with his coworker Mary Albright, professor of anthropology, who in time fell in love with him as well.
Studying Humans[]
After a while, Dick slowly became more familiar with humans, and was able to blend in a little better. His assistant Nina Campbell, for instance, believed he was human, albeit a very immature one, but it was not just Nina, everyone else believed it as well. He learned many things in his time on earth, he learned about love and sensitivity, and even anger and happiness. Dick even had a near death experience which opened his eyes to the world for a short time.
The Big Giant Head Visits[]
In 1999 the Big Giant Head came to Earth to see how the mission was faring. He went with the alias of Stone Philips, and succeeded in making everyone he met despise him. The exception was Vicki Dubcek, daughter of Mrs. Mamie Dubcek, with whom he conceived a child. This caused Dick to worry about being exposed as an alien. The Big Giant Head also reassigned Sally to be the High Commander and Dick to be Harry's assistant. Dick, however, soon changed this by tricking Sally into saying she would rather be the security officer.
Personality[]
Dick is the High Commander of a group of extra-terrestrials who came to earth to study humanity and the father figure of the Solomon family, he takes intense pride in his title normally using it to justify his unfounded superiorty over them or control their lives. However, he is in reality anything but a father, being obnoxious, quirky, and often ungenerous and uncaring. Dick is very narcissistic and enjoys flouting his High Commander status to his team. He demands respect, admiration and total loyalty from his team, although as the series progresses they begin to lose respect for him but they remain faithful. Being a superior being from 3 million galaxies away, Dick is considered exceptionally industrious and brilliant. He is apparently fluent in all Earth languages, although this is a trait the whole team shares. His understanding of physics is more advanced than can be found on Earth. His superior knowledge gives him an arrogant demeanor, as he has openly laughed at Stephen Hawkings' description of vertical particles and has called himself smarter than Einstein.
Also Dick is tactless which often manifests in offensive ways. His ignorance of racism and racial history often results in his appearing grossly insensitive. His innocence in these matters is so complete that others are more likely to perceive his actions as intentionally dismissive, despite being merely gullible. Dick is also mindful of his inconsiderate and hurtful nature. He is also very proud of this and even proclaims "why can't we all just not get along?!"
As pointed out by himself Dick is very much like a child, being excited and impressed by the smallest things, totally lacking in social protocol and experiencing emotions such as anger, jealousy and hate for the first time and being dazzled by them. Dick is easily impressed to put it lightly, becoming amazed at a tissue box and describing Docotor Suess as a "genius" after reading his children book. However needless to say because of his childishness he is quick to make enemies, an example of this would be his neighbour when he entered his house at 1 in the morning and that turned them into enemies, which resulted in Dick punching him square in the face.
Dick has very few friends something which he is comfortable with but will strive to make himself more popular. One occasion he made part with Frankie, one of Mary's old friends who he was envious of but eventually turned out to be gay however he mistook him for being an alien whereas Frankie mistook him for being a homosexual. Once Dick had an epiphany that the reason humans make friends is to lash out their anger on one another, something which he realised after knocking out his neighbour.
He seems to take joy in controlling the lives of his unit, though he cares about them like they were his family he has squandered their dreams to better suit him. Dick was a borderline control freak going out of his way to make sure the unit kept together including pretending to be an intruder in Sally's new house to force her to move back into the Solomon house and tricked Tommy into committing a freshman prank at his new college so he could get him expelled. It is entirely possible that he sees himself as the father of the Solomon and wants their "family" to stay together no matter what and he only hides this with his usual selfish attitude.