Which is your favorite love interest for Troi?

[The Old Mixer]

I was referring to Minuet as a concept rather than the attractiveness of the woman who played her. If the actress doesn't work for you, the actress doesn't work for you.

Concept-wise, it was a memorably intriguing episode at the time...exploring the blurry area where virtual reality becomes so real that it might be considered reality...before many of us even had PCs in our homes, and before Trek came to treat self-aware holograms so much more casually.

And the concept works better if you can imagine a similar situation with a virtual person and setting that would work for you. That was Riker's specific fantasy. I can buy into the idea that the woman is so well-crafted to be his ideal woman that he can't help but fall for her.

Imagine that your computer was not only capable of creating a tangible, 3D version of the person of your dreams, but could read you so well that said virtual person pushed buttons that you didn't even know you had....

 

[Orphalesion]

Yeah I know I wrote that above ;-). I wish the writers would have continued portraying the holodeck realistic like that (like the NPCs in Hollow Pursuit) instead of the "magic people maker" it had become by Voyager.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Will.

No contest. Plenty of nuanced on screen stuff, despite protests to the contrary, and Imzadi (the novel) is so close to canon that they based a chunk of the series finale on it. (its future segment is practically a prequel.)

One of the great things I will forever love about the episode "SECOND CHANCES" was it dismantled, crumpled, and literally made THAT novel irrelevant. After that episode, IMZADI was officially FAN-FICTION and not CANON.

 

[Orphalesion]

^ I didn't like Imzadi very much, it together with "Battle for Bettazed" pretty much turned me off Star Trek novels.

The writers imho simply fail to make Betazed a interesting culture. They were very stingy with descriptions and where they used them they weren't very evoking.
Especially the Betazoid wedding as described there "Most beautiful ceremony in the universe"...my arse! It was almost like fanfiction really.

 

[borgboy]

Trek episodes contradict each other too. I have no interest in debating canon, as I feel that should largely be a personal decision.
I love Imzadi the novel, have read it several times and it counts as being "real" to me even if it is contradicted in places by an episode. Feel free to have your own opinion and please respect the rights of others to disagree with you.
I do agree that Betazoid culture isn't very well developed. I can understand maybe why PAD didn't do that since there was a good chance anything he developed could be contradicted.
I wasn't a huge fan of Battle for Betazed either, but there are lots of other great novels. Orphalesion I recommend maybe giving the DS9 relaunch series a chance starting with Avatar, that series, especially the early novels, is really great and it helps that they have the freedom to move the characters and story forward.

 

[Orphalesion]

^ I might do that. Thanks for the recommendation borgboy.
And, yes, you are of course right that the author of Imzadi didn't have as much freedom to develop the culture as someone who writes an original work. It must be quite difficult to do licensed writing.

 

[borgboy]

This link is for an omnibus that has the first four DS9 relaunch books and a connecting novella, you can get it used for less than $2.

http://www.amazon.com/Twist-Faith-S...id=1426184863&sr=1-7&keywords=deep+space+nine

 

[Sidewinder]

I went with Will...there was a lot more there, and the actors often sold it in very subtle ways, like meaningful looks on the bridge when they didn't have dialogue.

I thought this was going to be about Troi's guest romances of the week, which were generally horrid.

Devinoni Ral.

Like that one....

Agreed, I said that more in jest. Maybe Barclay would have been better.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Concept-wise, it was a memorably intriguing episode at the time...exploring the blurry area where virtual reality becomes so real that it might be considered reality...before many of us even had PCs in our homes, and before Trek came to treat self-aware holograms so much more casually.

And the concept works better if you can imagine a similar situation with a virtual person and setting that would work for you. That was Riker's specific fantasy. I can buy into the idea that the woman is so well-crafted to be his ideal woman that he can't help but fall for her.

Imagine that your computer was not only capable of creating a tangible, 3D version of the person of your dreams, but could read you so well that said virtual person pushed buttons that you didn't even know you had....

Yes, Riker does make it a point of mentioning it not only to Picard, but to Minuet, herself, that she's something special and could mean so much more to him. Unfortunately, the way it plays out, I'm not really sure I buy it. For example, there is sexual chemistry with lots of people, but they don't all go for it. And they haven't lost the love of a lifetime, necessarily, for not having gone for it.

In much the same way, having a similar response to a hologram, which in the back of your mind you KNOW is artificial, isn't anymore likely to make you feel anything or act in a contrary manner to yourself. It's not much different, probably, than a Call Girl. Yes, she's acting like she likes the guy and takes an interest in whatever he's on about, but you could never confuse that with love. And here, Riker has. Riker, the Man who bedded Mistress Beata - Queen of the Universe, put a notch on his belt and left her world in shambles is going to fall for what amounts to an illusion? It's not impossible, but ... with Minuet it's too easy, there's no challenge in it. No bragging rights. No risk of any kind. And without gain, Minuet's nothing more than a diversion, I don't care how intuitive "she" is.

 

[Leviathan]

Worf had children with her in an alternate reality. This is more than could be said of anybody else.

I think the little glowing ball of light from season 2 would disagree.

That's the obvious choice for best love interest.

 

[maneth]

Will Riker. And they got there in the end, in Nemesis.