I can’t remember the details of the show or … well, much about it. It seems to me that she’s going for her promotion as a result of “Disaster” (season 5) or maybe the Borg. I’m pegging it somewhere during seasons five, six, or seven, but even though I’ve been looking through episode summaries, I can’t seem to find it.
Anybody know which one this is and what else happens? I believe the Troi thing was only a subplot, but I can’t remember to what.
Thine own self (aka Data as Frankenstein), season 7 episode 16
Data finds himself on a planet with amnesia and is accused of spreading a plague amongst the locals. Can’t remember why troi went up for the promotion either.
Still, Troi outranking Data :rolleyes:
Troi’s test was the B-story of “Thine Own Self.”
She was partially inspired to go for promotion by the events of “Disaster”. Also, she found out Dr. Drusher took a bridge shift once in a while for a change of pace and thought she’d do the same.
Her tests involved a simulation wehere she had to send Geordi to his death in order to save the ship. Starfleet holographic tests are just sadistic, really.
She looked sexier in a uniform, too, than she ever did in that silly get up she was usually in. I think Jellico had her start doing that. There are FOUR lights!
Just had to chime in, even tho it was already answered 'cause I’m such a huge Trek geek, don’t you know…
This kind of testing makes about as much sense as the Kobayashi Maru simulation that kicked off the second movie. I find it utterly impossible that the graduates of such a training program wouldn’t pass along the secret to their friends, i.e. “Pssst, if you want to get full Commander, just send the hologram to his death” or “Pssst, there’s no way to rescue the ship, so just try to look brave in the process of losing.”
While I have to admit the Marinna Sirtis looked a hell of a lot better in the uniform than in those stupid catsuits, the idea that you can be a Commander if you know the secret password is a bit disturbing.
Thank you for the replies, everyone. I figured it had to be a B-plot of some episode that I thought I knew well enough not to check.
I don’t know about the send-the-hologram-to-his-death problem, though. With their technology they can have about twenty thousand variations on a scenario, some of which resolve neatly and some which don’t. I don’t read the Trek novels, but who says that every cadet takes the Kobayashi Maru? in the same way? without variation? The movies simply suggest that some people take that particular test: McCoy calls Kirk the only cadet to ever beat the no-win scenario; Spock says he never took it at all.
Yeah, if it were all the same situation, that’d sure suck. If they varied the possible tests, then cadets’d be sending holo-guys off to their holo-deaths willy nilly and fail 'cos they gambled on the wrong scenario. At least in Troi’s case, doesn’t Riker say something that you’re not supposed to take it again (and he’s not supposed to advise her)?
It wasn’t a “secret password,” it was a process. Troi had to learn whether or not she could order someone to their death. It was internal growth, just as Wesley’s original tests to get into the Academy were.
I highly recommend the novel, “The Kobayashi Maru,” that details at least three of the TOS characters taking the test. I only remember Scotty’s, but it was really impressive and creative. The original scenario is cool, every cadet knows its coming and prepares, and every outcome is different.
Just as a slight hi-jack I want to add that the above mentioned episode along with “tapestry” stands out as one of the best ST:TNG episodes imho, ymmv (just not for the Troi plot, the part about Data on the planet, dealing with the blacksmith’s hostility towards strangers and the interaction with the female scientist made it great).
There’s quite a difference between doing that on a holodeck and doing it for real, and all indications are that if you do it on a holodeck, you’re okey-dokey to wear the third pip. As far as I know, modern officer training courses consist of studying and a variety of tests but not psychological puzzles or touchy-feely “personal growth” sessions.
Annoyingly, we never got to actually see Troi order someone to his death. That might’ve been cool. “I sense your pain, and I know it’s going to get a lot worse, 'cause I’m ordering you to get your ass into the plasma stream to make emergency repairs. Try not to scream too loud. It upsets my concentration.”
Wouldn’t this be similar to the “psych test” administered to Wesley in officer testing? He asks some of the other crewmembers what the psych test will be, and they tell him that they don’t know; it’s different for every person, based on the biggest potential weakness the testers see. In fact, when it comes up, he doesn’t even know it’s a test.
Of course, it’d be much more difficult to fool Troi with a holographic projection, since the holograms’ emotions wouldn’t scan right (if at all).
“It’s very simple! You…are an ice man!”
Incidentally, she could never have become a commander. At best, she’s a staff officer, and can’t command any line officers, ever.
The current head of the Navy Medical Corps is a Rear Admiral, and, assuming Starfleet follows the US naval rank structure, there’s nothing to prevent her, as a medical officer from attaining the rank of Commander. While that won’t give her command over line officers, she’ll still have the rank.
I caught the end of Wrath of Khan the other day and I took his saying that as metaphorical, i.e. he never faced a life or death situation until the point when he sacrificed his own life. Does he say in the beginning he never actually took the test?
As far as I can tell, that’s the only mention made of Spock and the infamous test. (But I never read the novels, as I said.)
I never took his statement as metaphor. It seems to me that it would be somewhat out of character for him to speak metaphorically—he is mostly Vulcan, after all. In the same film, Saavik acts surprised that Spock even manages to exaggerate (“no uncoded messages on an open frequency”). Yeah, he does use a human metaphorical expression when he says “sauce for the goose,” but … I dunno, it doesn’t seem as if he’d use a metaphor that says the precise opposite of factual truth.
On the other hand, Troi would have an unfair test advantage if she scans live actors. And what if she later loses her empathic ability (as happened in a different episode)? She should be able to rely on observation, which she can employ on the holograms.
I knew I was going to confuse someone. Commander as a rank in ST seems to be somewhat similar to the designation of Captain in the Navy: its both specfiic rank and a job title.
I didn’t realize that…I thought it was just a rank in ST. So, you have Commander Riker, who’s the XO of a starship, then Commander (later Captain) Sisko, in charge of a space station.
It’s a confusing thing unless you’re famliar with the concept. Note that Data (actually a Luitenant Commander) is also called Commander. Sisko could be called Commander, I think, but he should be a full Admiral in rank at least.
But thats part ofa major error Roddenbery made. It wasn’t a huge problem back in the TOS days, but the command chart for TNG was a huge mistake. Picard should have been a Fleet Admiral, with several other ships around, and Data and Riker and Geordi should have been Captains.
Roddenberry got the idea from an odd book I can’t recall, in which the entire crew was officers. The problem was that in that book, ships had maybe 12-15 crewmen apiece. The Enterprise in TNG had over 1,000. And every one of them were officers, who apparently all went to one training facility. This is possibly the most ridiculous thing ever in ST, even worse than Voyager’s regenerating crewman and shuttlecraft.