They really could have done themselves a favor by adding some clear limitations to her abilities.
Proximity required: No sensing through the view screen.
Surface impressions only: Disciplined minds can fool her
Background noise: The more people are around, the harder it is to get a clear read on someone.
The more alien a mind is, the more difficult or painful it is to interact with.
There you go, she can still use her abilities to help the crew, and sometimes to solve problems, but you can also get stuff past her without making her seem oblivious. Then all they have to do is consistently write her as an intelligent and competent member of the crew, and we’re good.
Early on they established she can’t read Ferengi minds. Which actually made her just that much MORE worthless. “We want money! We’re an entire civilization of late stage capitalists. Acquisition!” “I can’t sense anything.”
Her and Riker were the ones chosen to be there for their attractiveness. It was a showbiz rule that at least one female character has to be fuckable and in this case we got a male character too. Too bad the writers created such weak episodes for her, like S2 E1 “Child”. I agree that they didn’t think through her plot spoiling abilities properly. She even senses “a unifying consciousness” from Moriarty, a holodeck character made of literal photons of light… I wonder how much cocaine those writers were doing in the 80s…
Riker, Troy, and Data all came from characters that were supposed to be in ToS: Phase 2.
Riker was originally the character that would learn from and replace Kirk. Troys original character was an alien that had to repress her sex drive. And Data was a Vulcan.
Those characters were first repurposed for the movies, and then repurposed again for NG.
I agree with most of your analysis except for her outfits. Every other woman on the ship wears a standard uniform, no other woman on the ship is vaguely sexualized. We have plenty of opportunity to see that women aren’t just ditzy accessories for men but equals.
It feels weirdly regressive that there can’t be a woman with cleavage on the show else it’s sexist and reductive. Obviously women aren’t just there to be sexualized by men, but some women enjoy it and that’s okay too. Basically you’re slut shaming Deanna.
I like the approach SNW is taking with long lived races. Where Guinan was all calm and wise, Pelia is a quirky ball of energy. Maybe it’s because Guinan is much younger and Pelia knows that there is something significantly worse than death. Boredom.
Q showed up on voyager because he knew that Janeway would happily oblige on account of her being a bloodthirsty war criminal, chomping at the bit to extinguish more life in her eternal quest for caffeine
Saying the obvious actually is very useful. Yes, it might seem obvious that they’re angry, hiding something etc., but what if they weren’t and are just really good liars and actors? Troi is there to confirm if they’re honest or not.
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They really could have done themselves a favor by adding some clear limitations to her abilities.
There you go, she can still use her abilities to help the crew, and sometimes to solve problems, but you can also get stuff past her without making her seem oblivious. Then all they have to do is consistently write her as an intelligent and competent member of the crew, and we’re good.
Early on they established she can’t read Ferengi minds. Which actually made her just that much MORE worthless. “We want money! We’re an entire civilization of late stage capitalists. Acquisition!” “I can’t sense anything.”
Her and Riker were the ones chosen to be there for their attractiveness. It was a showbiz rule that at least one female character has to be fuckable and in this case we got a male character too. Too bad the writers created such weak episodes for her, like S2 E1 “Child”. I agree that they didn’t think through her plot spoiling abilities properly. She even senses “a unifying consciousness” from Moriarty, a holodeck character made of literal photons of light… I wonder how much cocaine those writers were doing in the 80s…
Riker, Troy, and Data all came from characters that were supposed to be in ToS: Phase 2.
Riker was originally the character that would learn from and replace Kirk. Troys original character was an alien that had to repress her sex drive. And Data was a Vulcan.
Those characters were first repurposed for the movies, and then repurposed again for NG.
I saw an interview with Marina where she said she was only ever given intelligent sounding lines in the episodes where her cleavage was covered up.
Well at least they justified her existence when Barclay showed up. That guy needed an entire therapist all to himself.
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Is there a /bestof in Lemmy? This comment deserves to be framed for reframing Troi.
I agree with most of your analysis except for her outfits. Every other woman on the ship wears a standard uniform, no other woman on the ship is vaguely sexualized. We have plenty of opportunity to see that women aren’t just ditzy accessories for men but equals.
It feels weirdly regressive that there can’t be a woman with cleavage on the show else it’s sexist and reductive. Obviously women aren’t just there to be sexualized by men, but some women enjoy it and that’s okay too. Basically you’re slut shaming Deanna.
This is why I hate how everyone is so afraid of “objectification” these days
It doesn’t feel like a victory for gender equality, it feels like a defeat for sex positivity.
I say this as a woman
And yet people shout about Seven of Nine’s catsuits.
I like the approach SNW is taking with long lived races. Where Guinan was all calm and wise, Pelia is a quirky ball of energy. Maybe it’s because Guinan is much younger and Pelia knows that there is something significantly worse than death. Boredom.
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Q showed up on voyager because he knew that Janeway would happily oblige on account of her being a bloodthirsty war criminal, chomping at the bit to extinguish more life in her eternal quest for caffeine
Other Q really just had to make himself look like Tuvix and Janeway would’ve killed him instantly
I came here for blood and coffee, and I’m just about out of coffee.
And further supported by the Q Continuum being shown to be full of bored Q who have already seen and done everything.
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They’re max level with BiS gear. Time to start alts!
Q’s final scene was Picard’s Season 2 only redeeming quality. Then Season 3 retconned that too.
The real reason she wasn’t a telepath was because of fans screaming that psychic powers was “validiating psuedoscience!”
ESP was a thing in the original series but back then mainstream science took such things more seriously. Didn’t have skeptics yet.
Saying the obvious actually is very useful. Yes, it might seem obvious that they’re angry, hiding something etc., but what if they weren’t and are just really good liars and actors? Troi is there to confirm if they’re honest or not.