Troi!

[Loyalkat]

I can't say that I really like the character Troi! I don't think I would like to be around her and have her sense me and know how I feel. That can be good and bad!

I know I didn't like her Mother's character! She embarrassed poor Picard! I know I would not like for her to read my mind and know what I was thinking and know things that are private. It would be an intrusion in my private matters!

Loyalkat

 

[Lance]

Deanna's really just an extension of 24th century humanity's "we air everything and we're all emotionally stable" mentality. She's there to give people the opportunity not to bottle their emotions.

In regards to Betazoids generally, I tend to agree with the position that there's something a little.... I dunno, about them. Their telepathic powers (full blooded, like Lwaxana, at least) would seem to be quite powerful, and I don't know how that tallies up with the Federation and their peacefulness. Heck, we see half-blood Deanna use her powers to help blow the shit out of the Scimitar in Nemesis, just imagine a whole planet of those people being tapped for their potential as spies and saboteurs....

 

[Seven of Five]

I never used to hate Troi, but on my latest rewatch I can see why other people do. Just finished season five and I think the only time she has had something worth mentioning, it's been as a part of someone else's story. Whenever she gets her own material, she is useless or annoying.

I think she has better things to do in seasons six and seven, with Face of the Enemy being my favourite. However, it's mostly things that don't involve being a counselor.

EDIT: To be fair to the character, I do enjoy the little Riker/Troi moments they have throughout the series, which eventually lead up to their reunion in the films.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I can't stand Lwaxana Troi and some of that has to do with the actress playing her. Majel was married to the show's creator/executive producer, surely she could've been given a character worthy of the franchise. Instead, this mutton is dressed as lamb, much of the time, perpetually in mid-life crisis and embarrassing herself by chasing after young(er) men who would only touch her to help her cross the street, like any other granny. I love how Majel supported her husband Gene, as a good wife should. In the case of playing Lwaxana, however, perhaps it wouldn't have been inappropriate putting her foot down and having asked for a more dignified role.

Deanna Troi, on the other hand, was quite lovable and I do not see anyone's problem(s) with her. I never had any kind of a crush on her, despite her tight outfits, with just a hint of cleave. In fact, as Will Riker's "Imzadi," I always just saw her as Number One's obligatory piece of fluff on the side, and at other times, an extension of the Riker character, himself. She was there, mostly, to help define his narrative and support his importance to the show. In this capacity, I feel she did a fine job, because even when their relationship (seemingly) ended, their mutual status as Imzadi continues to underscore Riker's significance to the TNG saga.

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

I hated Lwaxana on TNG but I found her easier to stomach on DS9. Deanna was hit or miss with me depending on the episode. Sometimes she was a great character and other times she was downright irritating. If I never have to hear her ice cream ritual speech again it will be too soon. For the sake of privacy I wouldn't care to have her around reading my thoughts but I can see how a Betazoid would be useful to a captain. Even though she was seldom as useful as you'd think a mind-reader could be she still provided some good info from time to time. I guess it wouldn't be very good television if she just automatically knew every evil plot the second they met a bad guy, so her "feelings" would steer them in the right direction without making her too much of a secret weapon.

 

[Terok Nor]

I love Deanna Troi. Also love Lwaxana. Both are criminally underrated characters.

 

[DonIago]

I liked them both, but I think how you feel about Lwaxana has much to do with how you feel about "Auntie Mame"-style characters in general. Personally I find them entertaining.

Anyway, I would be upset by the notion of losing "Half a Life", which I consider a rather good episode, and Lwaxana's rapport with Odo let us see sides of both characters that weren't evident in their dealings with others.

 

[hux]

Picture a man walking down the street. People are moving away from him in utter disgust. Women are horrified and on the verge of tears. Some people are even throwing up.

We're on Betazed. That man is me.

I wonder if thought crime exists on Betazed?

 

[Kilana2]

Picture a man walking down the street. People are moving away from him in utter disgust. Women are horrified and on the verge of tears. Some people are even throwing up.

We're on Betazed. That man is me.

I wonder if thought crime exists on Betazed?

A meeting between hux and Lwaxana would be most entertaining to watch.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I wish they had left the counselor character as originally envisioned - more like a political officer that was there to keep the ship in obedience to Starfleet rules and protocols. I think Sirtis's best episode was "Face of the Enemy", and other roles she has played in the meantime (On Stargate SG1 and NCIS, for example) also lead me to believe that she would have been much better in that sort of role. And, it would have given earlier seasons of TNG some much needed internal conflict for the crew.

 

[Kor]

I wish they had left the counselor character as originally envisioned - more like a political officer that was there to keep the ship in obedience to Starfleet rules and protocols.

Sounds like something from the Soviet Union...

Kor

 

[Nyotarules]

I enjoyed the Troi character once she ditched the catsuits. Mrs Troi was good comedy.

Meeting a race of telepaths must be as strange as an alien race who uses their hands to communicate, meeting a planet of sentient beings that communicate verbally.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Sounds like something from the Soviet Union...

Let's not get too real-world political - but do a search for the word "embedded" on this page.

(For clarity, my point with that is that more than the USSR has found it wise to include civilian advisers and observers with their military units - not to draw spurious comparisons between specific American administrations and the USSR.)

 

[DonIago]

My god, it's hideous!!!

 

[Leviathan]

The empathic bit - meh...mildly amusing. The real problem was her stating the blindingly obvious. For example....

I can't say that I really like the character Troi! I don't think I would like to be around her and have her sense me and know how I feel. That can be good and bad!

I know I didn't like her Mother's character! She embarrassed poor Picard! I know I would not like for her to read my mind and know what I was thinking and know things that are private. It would be an intrusion in my private matters!

Loyalkat

If i might observe soemthing about your post....I'm sensing mild to advanced dislike to 2 characters and a desperate need to express it anonmously on some sort of posting forum. Correct?

See? totally aggravating.

 

[Shat Happens]

Both characters were exactly everything in TNG: terrible in seasons 1 and 2, very good in the seasons that followed.

(Except for Marina Sirtis' appeareance: I liked her better in 80s style boots, short skirt and hair)

Man how in the galaxy TNG managed to not be cancelled?

 

[Lance]

Man how in the galaxy TNG managed to not be cancelled?

There is a school of thought that if it hadn't been 'Star Trek', and hadn't gotten the significant backing of several top level people at Paramount (who shovelled a lot of money into TNG's first season as a make-or-break proposition), then it might well have been. Luckily for us, TNG enjoyed a lot of internal support with the studio, and it was direct-to-syndication rather than shown on a network, so they were given several chances that other TV shows might not have been.

 

[Pauln6]

Betazoids are a poorly realised, one-note species. If Troi had been a Deltan, there would have been a lot of alien stuff that could have been mined. Or if the telepathy had been written more like Miranda Jones or Talia Winter, or even Cally from Blakes 7, I could see a ton of story potential. Instead she was most often an inconvenient plot contrivance. How could she even detect emotions through a viewscreen? LAME.

As a character, I prefer her season 1 role as Picard's cultural attache and season 5 onwards, where at least they started to stretch her a bit but as a counselor she would have been just as well to be a recurring guest star. Even in season one the advice she offers is quite often weak so that Picard retains agency and gets to make the final decision and usually a different decision, to keep the audience guessing, which makes her look a bit incompetent.

Marina Sirtis though I absolutely adore. I wish they'd given her more input into Troi. She would have been way more appealing.

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

I enjoyed watching her get hammered with Cochrane.

 

[Tomalak]

I wish they had left the counselor character as originally envisioned - more like a political officer that was there to keep the ship in obedience to Starfleet rules and protocols. I think Sirtis's best episode was "Face of the Enemy", and other roles she has played in the meantime (On Stargate SG1 and NCIS, for example) also lead me to believe that she would have been much better in that sort of role. And, it would have given earlier seasons of TNG some much needed internal conflict for the crew.

I don't know about "political officer", but I do agree she should have had a job other than therapist. The writers hated the character, because she had little use unless another character had emotional issues in the course of a story, and her powers were felt to be anti-dramatic. "Captain, alien of the week is lying". So they neutered her my making her unable to actually read someone when it would have helped.

I think in retrospect she should have been made Federation Ambassador-at-large, or chief diplomatic officer. Someone with authority to mediate and sign treaties on behalf of the Federation. Having a nominated "First Contact Officer" would make a lot of sense for a ship like the Enterprise.

She did basically fill this role, along with that of HR manager for the ship, but I think the writers would have found it easier to get a handle on the character if she'd been defined more from the outset. Mind you, that was a trait common to early TNG, with neither Geordi or Worf really having jobs.