But why did Troi have a Greek accent? (Until the movies, when it suddenly went Brit).
The purpose of Deanna Troi
- Thread starter CobraCommander
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Its been my impression that it was Picard's decision to have Troi on the bridge, and of course, the decision makes perfect sense. Whether the writing capitalized on it is another matter.
For that I can give a serious answer. It wasn't quite Greek, but close. I remember an interview with her late in TNG's run. I was almost shocked by her heavy cockney accent. The subject of the origins of her Troi accent was touched on and she said that Gene had asked her to come up with something. This is what Wiki had to say about it.
Wikipedia said:
And here's the link to the rest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Sirtis
Marina is the actress, not the counselor. Marina is the antecedent, not Greek. It wasn't said the counselor couldn't be Greek or Anglo-Greek.
I answered you matter-of-factly, because I generally don't use sarcasm or roll-eye emoticons; it's common knowledge Marina has Greek heritage.
I'm still interested to know if it was ever said what her father's heritage was, even if it is in the apochrypha of Memory Beta somewhere. I checked Memory Alpha, and they don't mention it.
You seemed to reject the notion and thats why I asked. And if as you said Troi is a derived from the Greek word Troy and if Troi was Ian's last name, then him having Greek ancestry seems possible. Also, if as you said, Ian was born in London, then an Anglo-Greek background is possible. So his daughter Deanna would be part Greek or Anglo-Greek.
You have to remember that there was no Turkey or Turkish people in Anatolia when Troy was in existance. The Turks are relative newcomers to that area having been preceded by various Anatolian groups, the Hittites, the Greeks, the Romans and the Greco-Roman Byzantines. Ethnic Greeks lived there until the 1920s when they were forced out in a population exchange following the Greco-Turkish War. Given the hostile relationship between Turkey and Greece I doubt the Greeks would refer to a Turk from Truva as a "troi". From what I can tell Truva is recent city built around the tourist trade generated by the ruins of Troy.
Since Ian was pretty much ignored in TNG, I think speculation is about all we have.
My point was the name doesn't have to be Greek. According to this, the name could be Norman.
"The name Troy originates from the surname deriving from the location name “Troyes” in Aube, Normandy. It was bestowed as a name meaning “descendant of the foot soldier” given to Troyes, French migrants to England following the Norman conquest in 1066..."
Although a surname doesn't necessarily indicate ethnicity, which is why I was cutting straight to whether anybody in Trek lit or somewhere else had taken this up.
I was just following your lead about Ian being Greek and pointing out that Turkish might be a bit out there because of the history involved and that ethnic Greeks once lived in what is now Turkey.
And you are right about names and ethnic background. LaForge would appear to be a French name. Does Geordi have any French blood? Possibly or his family might be from an area where French was once the dominate language/culture. And yes some names have multiple origins. Troy is also thought be Gaelic, from the word Troightheach.
Since Canon and Lit have little or nothing to say about it, making him an Anglo-Greek would be a nice nod to Sirtis' own background. We've enough Frenchmen and Celts in Star Trek anyway.
And you are right about names and ethnic background. LaForge would appear to be a French name. Does Geordi have any French blood? Possibly or his family might be from an area where French was once the dominate language/culture. And yes some names have multiple origins. Troy is also thought be Gaelic, from the word Troightheach.
Since Canon and Lit have little or nothing to say about it, making him an Anglo-Greek would be a nice nod to Sirtis' own background. We've enough Frenchmen and Celts in Star Trek anyway.
Seems a bit biased to me to be able to pick and choose the species you want for particular jobs. A little lacking in equal opportunities.
To quote someone in Enterprise, "she has a nice bum".
Sorry to bring the the discussion back down to this level. To sum up my feelings, I liked the character once it developed although as has been said she was often poorly written. There were some good storylines though. The one involving her mother and the child who drowned always makes me cry.
But back to the b-m
Sorry to bring the the discussion back down to this level. To sum up my feelings, I liked the character once it developed although as has been said she was often poorly written. There were some good storylines though. The one involving her mother and the child who drowned always makes me cry.
But back to the b-m
Well they've been doing it since the 23rd century, Kirk even said in TMP, "I'd still like a Vulcan there" (in reference to the Science Station), I guess certain species have their own strengths, sometimes they might do something different, I mean not all Vulcans have been Science Officers (Tuvok, Vorik and Taurik) and not all Betazeds have been Councellors (Lon Suder)
I guess certain species just play to their strengths, A Klingon would make a terrible councellor in normal circumstances, however they make superior tacticians and security officers, therefore, they choose to play to their strengths, likewise a Vulcan would make a terrible councellors (since they supress their emotions, therefore they cannot relate to their clients) but they make superior logicians and scientists
I guess in the 23rd/24th centuries, people aren't too driven by equal rights and simply accept what they can and can't do and therefore do the best they can in whatever position
I know. That was in my mind when I made my post. I agree that certain species have their strengths but it seems a bit limiting to me for the individuals though.
But it would bring a tremendous advantage to negotiations etc. I'd certainly want a telepath telling me whether that Romulan is going to stand down or open fire.
And I still think they should have made her a psychiatrist to give her a more complex role than just a therapist. She could thus act as a counselor, adviser, and as a supplement to the medical office. I'd think a ship with that many people who keep experiencing both traumatic and mind-altering events could use the expertise of a psychiatrist or neurologist, not just a non-specialist as I believe Dr. Crusher was.
This has bugged me since i started to watch tng again, thinking why would they need a counselor on the bridge its not like all fed ships have a betazoid counselor to help them figure out what aliens are thinking ,and if she is for the familes and crew then she should be in her office dealing with there needs.A captain does not need to know his crew is nervous or scared they are trained starfleet officers and all he can ask is they perform to there best.
It is, of course, entirely possible that the Betazoid custom is for the husband to take the wife's name, and Ian decided to go with that. Since the wife in question has a somewhat.... forceful personality. Deanna, once she finally married Will, chose to stick to human custom.
As for why Picard didn't want a full Betazoid in the post, possibly full telepathy is a disadvantage compared to empathy in terms of detecting the truth... a person could, with training, keep up a "shell" of false thoughts or memories, but they would find it considerably more difficult to actually "feel" false emotions. There's also "The Drumhead", where all Satie's Betazoid advisor could sense from Tarses is that he was lying, whereas Troi might be able to detect indignation that he was suspected of sabotage.
I think they did make her a psychiatrist in a few episodes. I do recall in one episode where she sitting in a chair and someone was telling her their problems. Actually, I now remember Troi actually snapping back at one of them and telling her she was pathetic.
*** I found it...
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