What was the plan with Worf and Troi romance?

[tim0122]

The Worf and Troi romance was introduced late in the last season and only a few episodes touch on it, with even less being in anyway major way about it. Then the show ends and it's never mentioned again (well, it's not in the movies. I haven't watched Picard yet. So, maybe it's mentioned there.). Did the writers have a bigger plan for the pairing or were they really only interested in messing around with the idea for, like, four episodes? Do you wish they'd done more with it?

 

[Detached Nacelle]

A last minute pair the spares as the series was winding down? It's very weak though not on the war crime level of Chakotay and Seven.

 

[DonIago]

I dunno,I like how they prefigured it a bit going as far back as "Ethics" and then teasing it in "Parallels". And by that point I was sick unto death of Riker-Troi (TBF later installments helped a bit with that).

 

[TheAdmiralty]

Feels like they might have just liked them together in Parallels and decided to give it a try. They worked well together in that episode but then the chemistry felt forced showing them going on regular "dates" and it just wasn't believable for some reason.

 

[DanCPA]

Feels like they might have just liked them together in Parallels and decided to give it a try. They worked well together in that episode but then the chemistry felt forced showing them going on regular "dates" and it just wasn't believable for some reason.

I think that Dorn and Sirtis had great chemistry (friendship) that they thought they should try it on screen.

But where were Deannas broken bones?

 

[Mojochi]

I suspect it was because they had little else going on for either of them in that last season, so they drummed it up to just give them... Something, which was not uncommon back then, for tv writers, who just gravitated to relationship drama, when they had nothing else, & fell into apathy or creative exhaustion.

Case in point, they also upped the Beverly & Jean-Luc thing too, with Attached & AGT, which they hadn't even hinted at for years. Beverly was resoundingly overlooked in season 7, except for one of the shows most ridiculed episodes. That was all they could churn up. "She gets cozy with Picard again"

Hell, they'd been so apathetic about Geordi, that in AGT when trying to conjure up a future life for him, some genius just said "Hey, who's that women he had a crush on & made it very awkward & creepy, Leah or something?" "Right. Her. He married her & has kids or whatever"

I mean geez, even Riker/Troi ends up working out, after years of stagnancy about it, when it would've made more sense for her to rekindle with Tom Riker (who didn't ghost her like Will) after he'd spent a decade pining for her.

Star Trek never wrote good romance relationships imho. Their hit or miss dabbling in comedy even went over better

 

[Leviathan]

...hope that nobody noticed the huge mistake it was?

 

[Mage]

I haven't watched Picard yet. So, maybe it's mentioned there.

They give a wink/nod moment to it during season 3, but I think that was more as an in joke for the fans.

 

[Guy Gardener]

...hope that nobody noticed the huge mistake it was?

Imzadi II, first line almost, I "read" the audio book 30 years ago...

"Arrrgh! The literal emotional pain I am feeling from Jadzia's death is searing! You know, it's kinda silly that I ever thought that I had strong feelings for Deanna, jesus, what the hell was I thinking?"

 

[Qonundrum]

Seemed like the latest example at the time of how the show was flinging any idea onto the screen to see what stuck, as well as being out of gas, apart from that flat affect-less incidental music that made the teasers even more a tease because those had atmosphere. The fact that DS9 ignored it completely* to focus on Dax was exactly the right move as they finally had something to draw actual dramatic storytelling from instead of something different**, but exactly the wrong one for different reasons***... but I really have no real opinion on this otherwise.

* they ignored lots of things, but made sure to waste farting toadloads of time on explaining why TOS Klingons didn't have ridges (or potato chips)...​

​

** imagine if Mr Rogers got married, he and his wife would have spent several boring episodes in saying "Kids, this is what some of us do when we grow up. Can you say "Cooties"? Or something to that effect.​

​

*** the number of times recurring TNG characters were written into the (then-latest) spinoff to remind and sooth us how this show is also Star Trek despite being in a grayscale universe instead of the shiny happy one TNG used and yet they didn't address what became an idea so sufficient that even TNG's series finale with the alternate future-timeline having time devoted to it (but not the real-timeline DS9)...​

 

[Qonundrum]

I suspect it was because they had little else going on for either of them in that last season, so they drummed it up to just give them... Something, which was not uncommon back then, for tv writers, who just gravitated to relationship drama, when they had nothing else, & fell into apathy or creative exhaustion.

^^this

Case in point, they also upped the Beverly & Jean-Luc thing too, with Attached & AGT, which they hadn't even hinted at for years. Beverly was resoundingly overlooked in season 7, except for one of the shows most ridiculed episodes. That was all they could churn up. "She gets cozy with Picard again"

Not to mention another revenge theme, with the same Bok, which (IMHO, YMMV) was sure as frog gas wasn't nearly as good at character-building that "The Battle" was. The only show with a character named Vigo in it that's even remotely good is "Ghostbusters II", and note that Vigo is not in the top-8000 list of boy names but ranks at a stellar #4058 in the UK, but those are the only two instances where I recall the name Vigo ever being used, and computer just told me "You must be referring to 'Viggo'", which I wasn't... and I digress.

Hell, they'd been so apathetic about Geordi, that in AGT when trying to conjure up a future life for him, some genius just said "Hey, who's that women he had a crush on & made it very awkward & creepy, Leah or something?" "Right. Her. He married her & has kids or whatever"

Definitely out of left field. The heck happened to her hubby and she decided Geordi was now the perfect specimen to scan sectors with? (Heck, I'm more amazed that Minuet didn't have a third note in AGT as they were digging for treasure in the show's lore as early as season four... multiple times... and still managed to make music from most of those...)

I mean geez, even Riker/Troi ends up working out, after years of stagnancy about it, when it would've made more sense for her to rekindle with Tom Riker (who didn't ghost her like Will) after he'd spent a decade pining for her.

I suspect that would get boring really quickly too, but seeking out strange new Tom would have been a better course to have taken.

Star Trek never wrote good romance relationships imho. Their hit or miss dabbling in comedy even went over better

^^this

 

[The Salt Umpire]

(sigh) Minuet... Would have been nice if she'd been a recurring character.

I was tired of the Worf/Troi thing as soon as it started. Fanwank galore! Yes, I know asking for more Minuet is the same thing.

 

[NigellaDeanna20]

The Worf and Troi romance was introduced late in the last season and only a few episodes touch on it, with even less being in anyway major way about it. Then the show ends and it's never mentioned again (well, it's not in the movies. I haven't watched Picard yet. So, maybe it's mentioned there.). Did the writers have a bigger plan for the pairing or were they really only interested in messing around with the idea for, like, four episodes? Do you wish they'd done more with it?

Not really. It was established in EAF that Troi and Riker had already had a previous relationship so in my view, Troi was Riker's girl so while it was an interesting idea to some, it wasn't for me personally. According to Sirtis it was Dorn's idea apparently so it was what it was.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I always felt like the writers were trying to spice things up a bit with that, given that the show was visibly winding down creatively at that point. Riker always wanted to have his cake and eat it too where commitment to Deanna was concerned. I think it would have been more interesting if the Worf thing turned into a wakeup call and made him genuinely start competing for her. At least he came to his senses by the time of the movies, and Worf leaving the Enterprise for DS-9 was an effective way to kill the relationship.

 

[Qonundrum]

(sigh) Minuet... Would have been nice if she'd been a recurring character.

I was tired of the Worf/Troi thing as soon as it started. Fanwank galore! Yes, I know asking for more Minuet is the same thing.

What they did manage with her was pretty cool, especially the twist in that season 4 episode and exploiting Riker's real tangible memory of what was a simulation.

As a recurring character... might be more akin to Moriarty with limited if not repetitive effect. And risk of overuse, which wouldn't be good!

Or what if she became alive? Some character using her diminutive and asking "Got a Min"? (I'm just going to keep that in the "maybe, for a parody or skit" bin, as that wouldn't fly in the actual TNG TV show at all - it did largely stink at comedy (Lwaxana episodes are the only comedy episodes I can stand as Majel knows how to make it work) and TNG's ability to take itself seriously really was a strength... well, we know the door signs had in small print the theme to Gilligan and other jokes, but even on blu-ray most still can't be seen, but that's the production and set design layer and not the scripts/acting layer. IMHO, of course.

 

[Qonundrum]

Not really. It was established in EAF that Troi and Riker had already had a previous relationship so in my view, Troi was Riker's girl so while it was an interesting idea to some, it wasn't for me personally. According to Sirtis it was Dorn's idea apparently so it was what it was.

Dorn had some great input for Worf, but for whatever reason that idea just went nowhere. They could have had Riker chime in a bit more on it (beyond AGT with a surprisingly weighty good moment)

 

[Guy Gardener]

(sigh) Minuet... Would have been nice if she'd been a recurring character.

I was tired of the Worf/Troi thing as soon as it started. Fanwank galore! Yes, I know asking for more Minuet is the same thing.

What if...

What if it was a surprise to Worf that Betazed gravity was a little heavier than Q'noS gravity, so she was a lot stronger than he was, throwing the poor guy around like a ragdoll?

 

[Harper3.0]

It's been a long time since I've watched TNG in any sort of order, but I do recall this relationship feeling odd. If I'm catching all the relevant episodes, they're all credited to the same writing team of René Echevarria, Brannon Braga, and Naren Shankar.

I think the assessment that we're near the end of the series, and they're just trying to close things out is probably accurate. At this point Braga and Moore probably know they're going to be handling the finale, and Berman probably already knew the studio wanted a movie. I doubt anyone was dwelling on the long-term implications of a previoulsy unhinted at Troi - Worf romance.

 

[TheAdmiralty]

I always felt like the writers were trying to spice things up a bit with that, given that the show was visibly winding down creatively at that point. Riker always wanted to have his cake and eat it too where commitment to Deanna was concerned. I think it would have been more interesting if the Worf thing turned into a wakeup call and made him genuinely start competing for her. At least he came to his senses by the time of the movies, and Worf leaving the Enterprise for DS-9 was an effective way to kill the relationship.

Yeah, having Riker get more jealous and turning it into a real love triangle would have been more interesting. Some people overstate this but it is an example of TNG being too conflict avoidant amongst the main cast.

 

[DonIago]

Riker getting jealous over Worf hooking up with someone who Riker could have been with for years if he'd ever expressed any real interest in doing so strikes me as being pretty damn petty.