# Hatin' on Deanna Troi **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082 "2007-11-12T02:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/141 "2014-06-02T15:52:56Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > I thought she was just disgusting because IMHO, she was not at all very attractive or hot or sexy. Yet many of the crew members behaved as if she was. It just rang FALSE! It just rang FAKE! FAKE! FAKE! 😕 Is it really news to you that people can have different tastes compared to yours? ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/142 "2014-06-02T17:41:26Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I saw her whole purpose to be the offerer of wise advice…which no one would ever take. (Which is just as well, because about half the time, her advice was terrible!) > > The show was full of very frustrated characters. Troi’s advice was rarely listened to; Worf never got to beat anybody to a pulp; Dr. Crusher rarely was able to treat anyone’s ailments; La Forge rarely got to do much of anything at all; Data spent half the time looking quizzically aside, then shrugging and accepting the he didn’t get the joke; and Wesley Crusher was patronized and ignored and became vigorously hated by the fans. > > Only Picard and Riker got any kind of gratification from their jobs. Picard’s satisfaction usually came in the form of overruling his officers, and Riker’s joy was in being the cheerful, mindless, robotic “Yes Man” to Picard. “Will, go and talk to the alien diplomats; don’t rile them but don’t flatter them; don’t give an inch, but don’t start a war. Have you got that?” And Riker, with a big shit-eating grin, says, “Yes, sir!” and negotiates a treaty, which Picard then vetoes. > > The possibilities in the ensemble were wonderful, but the tepid writing negated so much of it. > > Just once in a while, please, let Worf punch somebody’s face in! I jsut watched a ST documentary on netflix by Roddenberry’s son. The TNG writers were complaining Gene wanted them to stick to his vision of a future where there was no conflict, handicapping the writers somewhat. Roddenberrys successor after he died stuck with the theme. Oh and Wesley was designed as a surrogate son of Roddenberry or his younger self, with Riker and Picard also being versions of Rodenberry at different ages. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/143 "2014-06-02T18:19:36Z")
I did think it a bit odd that Deanna and her mother had such different accents. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/144 "2014-06-02T19:14:22Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I did think it a bit odd that Deanna and her mother had such different accents. After all this time, what a great catch! By the way, for anyone who forgot, the title of this thread is “ **Hating on Deanna Troi.** ” But, I just can’t resist saying, “What an incredibly dopey show!” And, yes! It had many dopey characters - especially Troi, her mother, the doctor, the monster (Woof), the Commander, the Lt. Commander and the Computer. BTW … what did Rikker ever command? Looking back on this show, he was pretty much a totally disposable character! And did you realize the Computer was actually listed in the IMDB Listing? It appeared in 104 episodes - following only the Captain and the Doctor. An incredibly awful show! And, did you realize that many of these actors went on to play some very dopey characters in other productions? For example, Brent Spiner, played an extremly dopey scientist in Will Smith’s vehicle, “Independence Day”. Oh … I’m sorry, but I just can’t go on! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/145 "2014-06-02T19:21:41Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > 😕 > > Is it really news to you that people can have different tastes compared to yours? Perhaps you forgot the name of this thread? It is, **“Hating on Deanna Troi”** Maybe you want to start another thread for Troi lovers? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/146 "2014-06-02T19:36:14Z")
My friend Todd called her “Wanda Melnick, psychic to the stars.” We always called her Wanda after that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/147 "2014-06-02T19:46:35Z")
I liked the character all right, although too often in early seasons she just stated the obvious. She had some nice quiet moments with Picard, and her relationships with Riker, Worf and then Riger again were occasionally interesting. I liked the episode where she went undercover as a Romulan security agent. My favorite Troi moment, though, was in “Hollow Pursuits” when she was pissed off at Barclay for incorporating her into his Holodeck fantasies as the “goddess of empathy” (bonus detail: Wesley dressed as the Blue Boy, eating pie with his hands). ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/148 "2014-06-02T21:21:08Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Perhaps you forgot the name of this thread? > > It is, **“Hating on Deanna Troi”** > > Maybe you want to start another thread for Troi lovers? Ah, thanks for reminding us as I too had forgotten the name of this thread. So I’ll save my hate-on for other dopey characters of the show like her mother, the doctor, the monster (Woof), the Commander, the Lt. Commander and the Computer for another thread. But man I especially hated the monster. ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/149 "2014-06-03T01:14:47Z")
I watched Voyager on Netflix not all that long ago. Deanna Troi’s appearance on that show was, IMO, rather like the previous poster said. Far more tolerable; a genuinely empathetic and interesting character… albeit, relative to the rest of that cast. But I watched TNG as it aired. I was in college at the time, a psych major. I was not interested in clinical psych, and rather was looking forward to a career as a research scientist. However, there were at least a few freshmen and sophomore classmates who were drunk with what they thought was the power that clinical psych would give them. Maybe my college was particularly fucked up, but I never seemed to hear from any future therapists who had high-minded ideals about helping people. They were far more interested in getting into people’s heads and fucking around. Deanna Troi reminded me of these unrepentant assholes more than anything else. Her opinions were based on nothing - they were either entirely obvious (“He seems angry” as the Klingons fire upon the Enterprise), or completely pulled out of her ass. Her pronouncements about someone’s mental health were never based on anything more valid than her judgmental opinion - what she wished to express about that person on a very petty level. And yet, the show treated these pronouncements as if they were on par with Dr. Crusher’s medical opinion. All of this, and yet her character was almost completely superfluous. Nothing she ever said advanced the plot in most episodes. Guinan was a far better counselor, and what she said had far more relevance, as a rule. So, on the one hand, I realize that my hatred of that character was a reflection of my feelings towards a handful of smarmy assholes clumsily attempting to act superior whilst simultaneously being immune to any feedback that they were just pissing people off because of what hugely obvious assholes they were being. On the other hand, the character had nothing whatsoever to offer that ran counter to my personal issues with such horrid cretins. On balance, the character sucked hard, and not in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/150 "2014-06-03T01:45:16Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > IMHO, she was not at all very attractive or hot or sexy. Yet many of the crew members behaved as if she was. It just rang FALSE! It just rang FAKE! FAKE! FAKE! I agree with many of the complaints about how the character was written, but I was a hormone-crazed teenager when the show started and boy did I think Marina Sirtis was _hot_! This was before the days of porn-at-your-fingertips-on-the-internet, and I had many, MANY wank sessions with Deanna Troi in mind. (and no, my real name is not Wil Wheaton 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/151 "2014-06-03T02:29:47Z")
I thought she was attractive in the later seasons, but I didn’t think she was hot until the movies. The first season or two though? Blugh. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/152 "2014-06-03T02:35:12Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Ah, thanks for reminding us as I too had forgotten the name of this thread. > > So I’ll save my hate-on for other dopey characters of the show like her mother, the doctor, the monster (Woof), the Commander, the Lt. Commander and the Computer for another thread. > > But man I especially hated the monster. I am very happy that you would choose to use some of the names I used - like “the monster” and Woof. That hardly ever happens to me and it just makes me very happy. So I thank you a bunch. I hope to make some intelligent posts in either this thread or the other one that Don Draper started. I’m just too tired right now. But I really despised this show because the other Star Trek programs gave me much happiness and I always considered this one to be a smack in the face to people who loved Star Trek. I will try to explain that tomorrow. Thanks again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/153 "2014-06-03T02:37:51Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I agree with many of the complaints about how the character was written, but I was a hormone-crazed teenager when the show started and boy did I think Marina Sirtis was _hot_! This was before the days of porn-at-your-fingertips-on-the-internet, and I had many, MANY wank sessions with Deanna Troi in mind. (and no, my real name is not Wil Wheaton 🙂 ) I tried to have some wank sessions as well. But around that time, it used to take my PC almost an hour to load one decent naked photo of a lady. So, I was mostly SOL with the computer ladies for a while. But, I’m very happy to finally understand what a wanker is and how it came about. You have made me very happy and I thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/154 "2014-06-03T02:41:02Z")
> [@Hung\_Mung](#): > > Let’s be honest. Q was the only reason to watch that show. I’m thinking you might be on the right track. Because … Q was only one once in a blue moon and … There was only one good episode of this show once every blue moon. So, whether you are right or wrong, your timing is very accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/155 "2014-06-03T02:55:59Z")
I always thought Lieutenant Robin Lefler was the hottest female character to appear on the show, and she only appeared in, I think, two episodes. Her being played by Ashley Judd probably helped. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/156 "2014-06-03T03:49:49Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I always thought Lieutenant Robin Lefler was the hottest female character to appear on the show, and she only appeared in, I think, two episodes. > > Her being played by Ashley Judd probably helped. I always really liked Ashley Judd. She is a beautiful lady. Did you ever see her in that silly movie, “Double Jeopardy”. Actually, the move was not so bad. The premise was very silly but it turned out reasonably good. Of course, it had Ashley in it and so it had one big leg up. And it was a very beautiful leg at that. Because it was Ashley’s leg. Yummy! I sure would have liked to have met Ashley. She is just a real peach! Yum! Yum! Yum! A real Honey Bun! Oh yes! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/157 "2014-06-03T09:43:55Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Ah, thanks for reminding us as I too had forgotten the name of this thread. > > So I’ll save my hate-on for other dopey characters of the show like her mother, the doctor, the monster (Woof), the Commander, the Lt. Commander and the Computer for another thread. > > But man I especially hated the monster. Thank you so much. I was surprised to receive your thanks. I was expecting someone to pick a quarrel with me because they liked Marina Sirtis. I have several times in the past posted that I strongly disliked some female actor. I took some real nasty heat after I said that I thought Martha (from The Americans) was “ugly”. I think it was use of that one word that set some people off. They strongly objected to my calling her that name. But, what the Heck! That is must my opinion and she is a public figure and so it is permitted to say your opinion providing you do it within acceptable guidelines. My criticism of Deanna Troi is a fair bit softer because I’m not faulting her personally so much as I am the showrunners and writers who set her up in this ridiculous premise with her mother. I wonder if it is reasonable to ever say that you think a female actor is “ugly”. Maybe one should always find a softer way to express that opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/158 "2014-06-03T12:14:02Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I did think it a bit odd that Deanna and her mother had such different accents. > [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > After all this time, what a great catch! Oops, and I see I made the same observation [seven years ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9172419&postcount=96) ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/159 "2014-06-03T14:02:03Z")
Marina Sirtis worked on that accent; it’s not her real one. She wanted to “sound” alien. Majel came in and said blew all that out of the water. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082/160 "2014-06-03T21:33:29Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Marina Sirtis worked on that accent; it’s not her real one. She wanted to “sound” alien. > > Majel came in and said blew all that out of the water. Of course, according to Majel and Gene’s son (I saw him and Majel in an interview a few years back), Lwaxana was basically Majel being herself: “Lwaxana _is_ my mom.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-deanna-troi/426082.md?page=9)