Did the accent Marina Sirtis used as Troi...

[Therin of Andor]

I recall reading somewhere that the character was sidelined for awhile so the writers could figure out what to so with her. Though my memories of the show doesn't seem to back that up.

You are correct. Troi/Sirtis is missing for several Season One episodes, although contractually she was paid for them. The producers were close to writing her out, but the departure of Denise Crosby - and then Gates McFadden - saved her. They didn't want to start Season Two with all three female cast members missing.

So they decided to build Troi an office set, so she could counsel patients away from the bridge, and also decided on a bar set (Ten Forward), where counseling also might happen. However, Whoopi Goldberg's several requests to join the show were suddenly believed by those on high - and, as progress had already been made on a bar set, Guinan became the character who did the counseling from that set.

Sadly for Marina Sirtis, every time Whoopi indicated she was free to film a new episode, it was usually a strong Troi scene that was hastily rewritten for Guinan. And they didn't really get around to building the long-promised office set for quite some time.

 

[WillsBabe]

Sadly for Marina Sirtis, every time Whoopi indicated she was free to film a new episode, it was usually a strong Troi scene that was hastily rewritten for Guinan.

It was a shame for Marina and the Troi character that that happened. I think we would have seen her in a different light if all those scenes that went to Guinan went to Troi. She would have seemed much stronger, being in a position to observe Picard's moments of weakness, for example.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Picard is from France but he speaks like an Englishman.

Yup. With the ubiquity of transporters and shuttlecraft, the brothers Picard (since Robert has a British accent too) could've easily commuted from their home in France to school in England.

In high school, I knew a girl who was from Baltimore but had been raised by an English nanny, so she had a gorgeous English accent. Maybe the Picards had an English nanny.

As I've said other times, in continental Europe they usually teach British English, not American English, complete with Received Pronunciation. I have a strong Italian "accent" due to having learnt English as a foreign language, but if I concentrate on my pronunciation, I end up sounding more or less "British". So if an European is fluent enough in English to reign in his "national" accent without much effort (which sounds like a reasonable assumption concerning the cosmopolitan captain Picard), bets are that he will sound pretty much like a native Brit. Retconning for sure, but it works for me.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I prefer my theory that Britain took back the Continental lands they lost in the 100 Years War. The UK is the United Kingdom Great Britain and France.

 

[Doug Otte]

Sadly for Marina Sirtis, every time Whoopi indicated she was free to film a new episode, it was usually a strong Troi scene that was hastily rewritten for Guinan.

It was a shame for Marina and the Troi character that that happened. I think we would have seen her in a different light if all those scenes that went to Guinan went to Troi. She would have seemed much stronger, being in a position to observe Picard's moments of weakness, for example.

Indeed. Troi was much more assertive w/ Picard up through We'll Always Have Paris, but from the 2nd season onward, those confrontational dialogues were usually given to Guinan.

Doug

 

[22 Stars]

Continuing off topic, I think giving Guinan and her people a mysterious power and backstory, along with her personal history with Picard gave her the license to talk to Picard that way. Or at least license for fans to accept it in a way they didn't quite buy coming from a new acquaintance in the first season, no matter what her position on the ship.

If they had thought of how it would sound while writing the first scripts, they would have been well served by giving her some Guinan like backstory and making her character on face value a bit more dynamic.

 

[Therin of Andor]

If they had thought of how it would sound while writing the first scripts, they would have been well served by giving her some Guinan like backstory and making her character on face value a bit more dynamic.

If you recall, the Troi backstory was shared with Riker. Just as Ilia would have been able to speak to Will Decker that way, in "Phase II", Troi would have done so for Riker in TNG.

The casting of Patrick Stewart changed all that. He was a such strong actor - a powerful presence - changing early plans to put the main focus on Riker/Decker as leading man, ie. the person insisting that the captain stay aboard the ship while he handled the action scenes down on planets.

 

[eepruls]

My question is why Sirtis abruptly dropped the accent she used for 7 years on the show when the movies started? I figure that after 7 years, that accent defines the character. Why did they decide to change it and allow Sirtis to use her natural English accent for the films?

 

[Therin of Andor]

My question is why Sirtis abruptly dropped the accent she used for 7 years on the show when the movies started? I figure that after 7 years, that accent defines the character. Why did they decide to change it and allow Sirtis to use her natural English accent for the films?

It's certainly not her "natural" English accent. Her natural accent is so thick it's hard to understand what she's saying.

I've seen Ms Sirtis perform at conventions. IIRC, it was a combination of gradually letting the Betazoid accent slip and the passage of time causing her to "forget" how to find it for a scene.

Also, IIRC, her drunk scene was the most pronounced change, and she kinda kept the accent different after that, for INS, NEM and VOY.

I know several people whose accents have changed over the years. One woman used to do a lot of amateur theatre - and she still uses a faux American accent to pronounce most words. I mentioned my twin cousins earlier, only one of whom chose to retain the strong English accent acquired when on an extended working holiday.

 

[GemHaters]

They told Marina she had to fake a new accent (when TNG started) because she is British IRL and they didn't want two Brit accents on the bridge. So they told her to make one up. Apparently it took her awhile to get the right fake accent....

As for her acting ability? Even the best fake accent can't mask bad acting, and the worst fake one wouldn't hurt good acting. So I guess it's either way with her.

I'm mostly responding to this so that I can tell you that I loathe the Yankees...

But I however disagree...There are far worse actresses out there than Marina Sirtis. No, I'm not a fan, but having to deal with Denise Crosby (as Tasha Yar) and Gates McFadden (The worst excuse for a Star Trek Doctor in the entire Star Trek Universe) I honestly don't understand how anyone could complain about Marina Sirtis' accent...

 

[Anji]

As far as Maria's accent, they could've just left it alone. Afterall, Picard was from France and nobody told Stewart he had to change his accent to a French one. Heck, they could've explained her accent by saying she spent some time studying at Oxford or something like that...

And, you know what? If they really wanted to they could've made her the bartender too and eliminated the Guinan character altogether. They could've done a whole episode on how she thought she could do better psychatric work in 10-Forward than she could ever do in an office.

The reality is: you'll tell your bartender more than you'll ever tell your doctor or mate.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Pretty sure Sirtis' accent isn't the one you get from attending Oxford.

 

[Therin of Andor]

If they really wanted to they could've made her the bartender too and eliminated the Guinan character altogether.

The original intention of Ten-Forward was to give Troi a place to counsel crewmembers that wasn't the bridge or her office. But the production was hardly going to turn down Whoopi Goldberg's offer to play a semi-regular character.