Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers (view source)
Revision as of 22:13, 7 March 2014
, 10 years ago→Troi's Captain Obvious-tendencies when using her empathic abilities being exaggerated
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** I partially agree. There are certainly enough times when she makes "Captain, he's hiding something" observations when a six-year-old could discern the same, especially in early seasons. I think this is fandom's reaction to the fact that Troi's powers were rarely used consistently or intelligently. Sometimes, she correctly discerns a situation of danger but is ignored by the crew for no good reason ("Samaritan Snare"). Other times, she can't produce anything meaningful on a character who is lying through his teeth ("A Matter of Time"). Sometimes, she is just conspicuously silent or absent when a deceptive character comes on board ("Data's Day"). Worse, Troi's powers too often place her in the passive position of being targeted by, occupied by or sometimes symbolically raped by alien forces ("The Child," "The Survivors," "Clues," "Man of the People," "Eye of the Beholder," Star Trek: Nemesis -- I'm leaving out episodes like "Violations" and "Power Play" in which the same treatment is given to non-empathic characters too, but it all adds up to some pretty misogynistic stuff). In other words, her powers are more often depicted as a liability and an outright security risk than a useful skill. As if throwing up their hands in frustration, the writers in later seasons just tend to ignore her empathic powers altogether.
*** Another thing, I guess, is that most of the crew has very valuable skills which they had to develop, and all Troi's got is a somewhat rare sixth sense. If I were partnered up with a group of deaf people which included a brain surgeon, a mathematician who could do complex calculations in his head faster than a computer, a world-class martial artist, an incredibly talented stunt pilot, someone who could read over 200 languages, and the inventor of a FTL spacecraft, and all I brought to the table was the ability to let them know whenever there was a loud noise, I'd be feeling pretty humble and would prefer not to have a lot of attention called to me.
** It's also partially a bit of myopia. When she says "He's hiding something", some in the audience snort and go "Well no duh!" Obviously the guy is hiding something or there wouldn't be much of a plot to the episode... these viewers take it for granted that it's as obvious to Picard as it is to them. Also it's a [[Hate Dumb]] thing that Troi would say something like "I sense anger" and then just stare blankly at the others as if that was her only contribution. It was usually something more like "I sense anger, a sort of lingering resentment, and it's directed at Mr. Worf" which is a good deal more specific and useful and would usually have Picard turn to Worf and ask what was up.
== Spacecraft are a dime a dozen. ==
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