Apparently she study psychology at the University of Beatzoid and Starfleet Academy, receiving a degree.
Who said it was non-regulation?
Was Crusher Troi's boss?
- Thread starter MikeS
- Start date
Who said it was non-regulation?
Fair point.
It's not as straightforward as all that. You have to remember that Starfleet isn't EXACTLY the military.
It appears that Starfleet Captains get to set the tone and control just who is on Senior Staff. Picard was Captain of the flagship, and he decided that he wanted a counselor to serve on his senior staff due to the likelihood and importance of diplomatic missions.
Picard was also a very cerebral guy. He was introspective and valued having a grasp on who and what he was; what his strengths and weaknesses were. He therefor elevated the importance of the ship's counselor to senior staff because it was something he, Picard, valued.
Imaginefor a minute you are on a science vessel doing deep space exploration. You might have a senior staff that included BOTh a Chief science officer and ALSO a chief astrometrics (or stellar cartography) officer because you have placed an added emphasis on science roles. That's both your call as captain, as well as the nature of your ship and her mission.
I doubt very much a senior staff has "MUST HAVE" positions. Maybe commonly held ones, but each captain probably can assemble their "team" as they see fit.
Look at Deep Space 9. They mentioned several times that there were several ship's counselors on board. You never saw them, because they weren't on senior staff. When Ezri Dax showed up (shudder), Sisko wanted to keep "Dax" as a team member, and suddenly chief counselor was on senior staff. He made the call as captain that his team would benefit from her.
Troi was practically a civilian. She didn't even wear a uniform until the last season, when suddenly a serious career in Starfleet appealed to her. Until that point, she was much more a mental and spiritual advisor. She didn't report to the CMO. She worked in conjunction with her in matters relating to the crew's mental health. In Beverly needed to pull rank, then yeah, up until the baloney promotion they gave Troi, she could have ordered her (Troi) to do something in a pinch.
Again, Starfleet is not the military. Things worked differently, and in some areas, more loosely.
It appears that Starfleet Captains get to set the tone and control just who is on Senior Staff. Picard was Captain of the flagship, and he decided that he wanted a counselor to serve on his senior staff due to the likelihood and importance of diplomatic missions.
Picard was also a very cerebral guy. He was introspective and valued having a grasp on who and what he was; what his strengths and weaknesses were. He therefor elevated the importance of the ship's counselor to senior staff because it was something he, Picard, valued.
Imaginefor a minute you are on a science vessel doing deep space exploration. You might have a senior staff that included BOTh a Chief science officer and ALSO a chief astrometrics (or stellar cartography) officer because you have placed an added emphasis on science roles. That's both your call as captain, as well as the nature of your ship and her mission.
I doubt very much a senior staff has "MUST HAVE" positions. Maybe commonly held ones, but each captain probably can assemble their "team" as they see fit.
Look at Deep Space 9. They mentioned several times that there were several ship's counselors on board. You never saw them, because they weren't on senior staff. When Ezri Dax showed up (shudder), Sisko wanted to keep "Dax" as a team member, and suddenly chief counselor was on senior staff. He made the call as captain that his team would benefit from her.
Troi was practically a civilian. She didn't even wear a uniform until the last season, when suddenly a serious career in Starfleet appealed to her. Until that point, she was much more a mental and spiritual advisor. She didn't report to the CMO. She worked in conjunction with her in matters relating to the crew's mental health. In Beverly needed to pull rank, then yeah, up until the baloney promotion they gave Troi, she could have ordered her (Troi) to do something in a pinch.
Again, Starfleet is not the military. Things worked differently, and in some areas, more loosely.
Captain Jellico in the 'Chain of Command' two-parter when he told her to wear a uniform on the bridge.
Her jumpsuits gave no true indication of her affiliation with Starfleet, her rank, position, department...nothing. Even Ro Laren was surprised to find out that Troi was a ranking officer in 'Disaster', and she was part of the bridge crew!
I always thought that Ro knew her rank and just wasn't going to acknowledge it given how out of depth she was until O'brien backed Troi.
I doubt she was underqualified, because we saw her helping Picard in some diplomatic missions, like mentioned at the start of the episode Captains Holiday.
It would have been better for the show if she indeed would have been more of an advisor/diplomatic aide than a shrink, though I did not mind the latter either
She definately did seem to do more as a diplomatic/cultural specialist than she ever did as a Counsellor.
Sounds like a Captain's preference than a regulation. He could have told Worf to ditch the baldric, too.
My guess it that it's easier for her patients if she does not wear a uniform.
Pretty much. I think it was to create a sense of informality, particularly in regards to discussions of personal matters.
I'm trying to remember if there is any scene in which Crusher addresses Troi in any way that would identify her as a subordinate in her department. None come to mind.
I always pictured Troi as having a busy schedule while providing psychiatric sessions to the crew as well as having a substantial role in helping Picard do his "homework" prior to any diplomatic engagment.
I always pictured Troi as having a busy schedule while providing psychiatric sessions to the crew as well as having a substantial role in helping Picard do his "homework" prior to any diplomatic engagment.
I don't remember Troi ever calling Crusher or Riker by "Sir".
My opinions on this would be that Crusher would technically outrank Troi. I think the original premise of Troi's posistion was that the Enterprise was one of the first starships to carry civillian family members on board so they wanted a counselor on board to help with any psychological issues that would occur. Picard had her on the bridge in more of an advisor's posistion than anything. It never really made a ton of sense why she was on the bridge so often, but I suppose Picard used her almost like an extra set of senors. She'd sense some kind of emotional disturbance and could report it. In later seasons I think they wanted to give her more of a focus on being an officer with a specialty rather than a civillian on the senior staff.
