Troi/Riker Telepathy In-Universe Explanations

[Mojochi]

So in the TNG pilot, Troi is shown transmitting thoughts to Riker, and while she is continually shown doing so with her mother thereafter, they backed off on that with Riker. In reality, they just didn't want to feature that on the show, but if we take it as canon, what would be some good reasons why she might have stopped?

Things I can think of...
They weren't as close as before, & it stopped working
She'd begun thinking it was inappropriate for them now that they were apart
ditto, but it was more about them being officers, & her being his subordinate
He may have asked her to, for reasons, maybe including the above
Was Riker ever able to reciprocate? Maybe he felt it was demeaning to always be on the receiving end

 

[JesterFace]

I'm not a telepath and I wouldn't want anyone reading my thoughts.
Maybe Riker asked her to stop getting into his head.

 

[Mojochi]

I'm not a telepath and I wouldn't want anyone reading my thoughts.
Maybe Riker asked her to stop getting into his head.

He must've been ok with it at some point

 

[Sakonna]

Was Riker ever able to reciprocate? Maybe he felt it was demeaning to always be on the receiving end

That is a great pitch for some fanfic!

Though, it is weird, now that you mention it. I never thought about it that deeply, but my in-universe assumption was that it just dropped away without them really talking about it, because as they started to spend time working together on the ship it just felt inappropriate.

 

[Mojochi]

That is a great pitch for some fanfic!

Though, it is weird, now that you mention it. I never thought about it that deeply, but my in-universe assumption was that it just dropped away without them really talking about it, because as they started to spend time working together on the ship it just felt inappropriate.

Right, because as long as they aren't together as a couple... it kind of IS inappropriate in an officerial working environment imho. It kind of makes me wonder how telepaths, that can do this casually, are viewed on board similar ships. There's got to be plenty of fully telepathic Betazoids in Starfleet (Unlike Troi's half-human empathy thing)

 

[GNDN18]

The telepathy works only when she thinks of him as “Bill”.

 

[Nyotarules]

Once they both started sleeping with other people on a regular basis, the ability stopped.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Probably it's something intimate and it became awkward to have intimacy between them.

I don't remember whether it came up in Menage a Troi where it would have been useful.

 

[matthunter]

He must've been ok with it at some point

Ask Julian Assange how well that argument works as a defence.

 

[matthunter]

In all likelihood, though, it was to avoid the obvious Decker/Ilia comparisons (since they are essentially the same characters from TMP and Phase II retooled for TNG)

 

[USS Triumphant]

Maybe it was a combination of the Imzadi thing and the distance between them. An absence-makes-the-mind-connection-stronger sort of thing. Once they were back together, it faded because they weren't missing each other so desperately anymore?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In a world where telepaths are relatively commonplace expectations of privacy might have changed.

 

[Mojochi]

In a world where telepaths are relatively commonplace expectations of privacy might have changed.

I agree that's very possible. It just never seemed to me to be presented that way. It could be as simple as it just never came up, but the perspectives expressed by everyone in The Loss, how unusual it seemed for Picard to meld with Sarek, the way Lwaxana would lie about what Picard was thinking, to puff up her own ego. There's just so many examples of how reading someone's mind isn't commonplace for most folks

 

[maneth]

Since Riker isn't a natural telepath and Troi is only half Betazoid, my theory is that it stopped working because they were neither physically nor emotionally intimate. Besides, I get the feeling that Deanna was never all that comfortable with her abilities, she didn't want to use it with her mother, for example.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Once they both started sleeping with other people on a regular basis, the ability stopped.

I got the impression from episodes like "Violations" that they were casually banging on a semi-regular basis throughout the series.

 

[Mojochi]

I got the impression from episodes like "Violations" that they were casually banging on a semi-regular basis throughout the series.

I never saw it that way. #1, it's a flashback that's being altered. #2, it's a memory that suggests a single moment's indiscretion, where he may have mentioned still having feelings for her, that she responded to by saying they can't while serving on the same ship, etc... I don't think they necessarily did anything even then.

It's hard to think she'd be into much casual play with him. The man had 3 separate trysts in that season alone, & despite the admission that they didn't know any better, that one in Conundrum seemed to get under her skin a little at the end, because I don't think they got around to it then either. lol

I actually lean toward thinking they abstained until the Briar Patch stirred up things again

 

[Nyotarules]

In a world where telepaths are relatively commonplace expectations of privacy might have changed.

True being upset about mental privacy would make as such sense as being upset that people with the power of speech and ears, can hear you talking.

 

[Nyotarules]

the way Lwaxana would lie about what Picard was thinking, to puff up her own ego

Or Lwaxana was telling the truth and Picard was in denial or she wanted to mess with his head and it worked! lol
Based on his attitude he was never offended when much younger women found him attractive but when its a woman closer to his age, he gets all riled up!

 

[Nakita Akita]

Or Lwaxana was telling the truth and Picard was in denial or she wanted to mess with his head and it worked! lol
Based on his attitude he was never offended when much younger women found him attractive but when its a woman closer to his age, he gets all riled up!

I got the feeling that he didn't like people reading his mind.
He got miffed at the beautiful Kamala. ( the totally younger beautiful girl that was in the bubble thing in the cargo hold who was a metamorph and had to marry the short bald ugly man" Alrik I'm for you")
He was interested in the lady that played the piano and in Vash from the Risa Vacation. They were his age. He also kept up letting himself be strung along by Beverly.

 

[Nyotarules]

I got the feeling that he didn't like people reading his mind.
He got miffed at the beautiful Kamala. ( the totally younger beautiful girl that was in the bubble thing in the cargo hold who was a metamorph and had to marry the short bald ugly man" Alrik I'm for you")
He was interested in the lady that played the piano and in Vash from the Risa Vacation. They were his age. He also kept up letting himself be strung along by Beverly.

Kamala - he was attracted to her, she bonded herself to him, based on the things he liked which disturbed him, but the attraction was still there
Vash - maybe cos Patrick Steward had an old face during the TNG period but she looked much younger than him
Beverly - she is also much younger than him by 19 years, and they strung each other along. He was too chicken to express his interest, and so was she
Piano lady - what episode was that?

 

[Timo]

"Lessons".

I could easily see nothing changing here, as regards the subject matter. Quite possibly Troi keeps sending those one-way telepathic messages into Riker's head, and we simply stop hearing them because they offer very little information content or dramatic value.

No, even "Menage a Troi" doesn't feature a situation where it would be useful for Troi to send a silent message to Riker across a short distance. I don't think we ever really run into a situation where the writers would wish for the characters to communicate silently, because dialogue is so much more exciting.

Timo Saloniemi