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Marina Sirtis

Marina Sirtis ( born 29 March 1955 ; age 69) is the English-American actress best known for playing Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation . She later played the role in four Star Trek films , as well as episodes of Star Trek: Voyager , the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise , episodes of Star Trek: Picard , and an episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks .

Along with Colm Meaney ( Miles O'Brien ), Michael Dorn ( Worf ) , and Patrick Stewart ( Jean-Luc Picard ), Sirtis is one of four regular Star Trek cast members to have made multiple appearances as the same character on a different series. She, Jonathan Frakes , and John de Lancie are the only performers to portray the same character on five different Star Trek series.

Sirtis credits both the Star Trek television and movie series for bringing her a following of fans that can never be rivaled. Several costumes worn by Sirtis on Star Trek were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including her evening dress from the episode " Man Of The People " [1] (X) and her flashback costume from the episode " Violations ". [2] (X)

• 1 Personal life
• 2.1 Early film and television career
• 2.2 TNG and the 1990s
• 2.3.1 Television
• 2.3.3 Video Games
• 3.1 Appearances as Deanna Troi
• 4 Star Trek interviews
• 5 External links

Personal life [ ]

Sirtis was born in the London Borough of Hackney to Greek parents, who initially did not want her to pursue a career in acting. She trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company, affiliated with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, to which she had to apply in secret so her parents would not find out. Once she earned a name for herself in the theater, she went on to work on television productions. Having grown up in London, she is an enthusiastic fan of soccer (her brother plays the sport in Greece) and an ardent supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. .

Her father died on 24 October 1981, exactly ten years before Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry passed away. In 1992, Sirtis married rock guitarist Michael Lamper . Her TNG castmates Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn were groomsmen at her wedding.

On December 7, 2019, Sirtis' husband died in his sleep. [3]

Early film and television career [ ]

In the late 1970s, Sirtis appeared in several British television series such as Hazell and Minder . In the 1980s, she worked with director David Carson in an episode of the British crime drama Call Me Mister and in an episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . Carson later directed Sirtis in four episodes of The Next Generation and in Star Trek Generations . Also in the early 1980s, she appeared in a famous Cinzano Bianco commercial with Star Trek: The Original Series guest actress Joan Collins .

Sirtis also participated in several films, the first of which was the 1983 British drama The Wicked Lady with her second film being Space Riders. This was followed shortly thereafter with her first role in an American production, as an unfortunate prostitute in the 1984 thriller Blind Date , which starred Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actress Kirstie Alley . She then appeared in Death Wish 3 (1985, featuring Ed Lauter ).

Just prior to being cast on Star Trek: The Next Generation , Sirtis made a guest appearance on the American action drama Hunter . Her episode was directed by James Darren , who later played Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

TNG and the 1990s [ ]

Sirtis originally auditioned for the part of Macha Hernandez who was later renamed (and recast) in Natasha Yar . She read for this part at her first three auditions before Gene Roddenberry wanted her and Denise Crosby to switch their roles. (" TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning" ) Sirtis started auditioning on 23 March 1987 and was cast on 6 May 1987 on the day when she packed to leave the States. In an interview she noted that the pilot episode " Encounter at Farpoint " was the only time in the first season she wore her own hair. ( TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis"-"Casting" )

During TNG's first three years, Sirtis did not act in any other film or television production. In 1990, during a break between the TNG's third and fourth seasons , Sirtis starred in the British movie One Last Chance for director Gabrielle Beaumont . The following year, she co-starred with Zach Galligan and Jim Metzler in Waxwork II: Lost in Time .

After TNG wrapped in 1994, Sirtis began voicing the major character of Demona in the animated series Gargoyles . Her Next Generation co-star Jonathan Frakes also joined her on that series as the voice of David Xanatos. Two other Next Generation castmates, Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner , had recurring voice-over roles on the show, while LeVar Burton and Colm Meaney each voiced in one episode. Many other Star Trek alumni have lent their voices to this series, including Nichelle Nichols , Kate Mulgrew , Avery Brooks , Paul Winfield , Matt Frewer , Clancy Brown , Salli Elise Richardson , and David Warner . Gargoyles aired from 1994 through 1996, after which Sirtis and Frakes continued their roles in the subsequent series, Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles , from 1996 through 1997. They also voiced the characters in various direct-to-video Gargoyles movies released through 1998.

In 1994, Sirtis made a guest appearance on the short-lived series Heaven Help Us , which starred Ricardo Montalban . In 1997, Sirtis, Leonard Nimoy , and James Doohan all had guest voice-over roles in the "Where No Duckman Has Gone Before" episode of Duckman , which starred the voice of Jason Alexander in the title role. Sirtis then guest-starred on Diagnosis Murder (in an episode written by David Bennett Carren and J. Larry Carroll ) before continuing her connection with science fiction with appearances on The Outer Limits (with Roger R. Cross ) and Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict .

2000 – present [ ]

Marina Sirtis on the set of Star Trek Nemesis

Television [ ]

In 2000, Sirtis appeared on the Sci-Fi Channel 's Stargate SG-1 . In 2003, she guest-starred on the drama series The Closer , on which Raymond Cruz is a regular cast member. In 2006, Sirtis had a recurring role on the UPN series Girlfriends , which starred Star Trek: Enterprise guest actress Golden Brooks . That same year, Sirtis was seen on the CBS series Without a Trace , playing the mother of a missing high school basketball star. Former Enterprise star Connor Trinneer played the basketball coach in the same episode, but he shared no scenes with Sirtis. Enterprise guest star Enrique Murciano was a main cast member on Without a Trace .

Sirtis and Star Trek actor Ben Cross both had supporting roles in the Sci-Fi Channel original movie Grendel , which aired in 2007. Shortly thereafter, Sirtis and her TNG castmates ( Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden , Wil Wheaton , and Denise Crosby ) all voiced themselves in the "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" episode of Seth MacFarlane 's hit animated show, Family Guy . Sirtis previously voiced Counselor Troi for another Family Guy episode ("Peter's Got Woods"), but her segment was cut and replaced by a different TNG segment. Sirtis was also heard in an episode of MacFarlane's The Cleveland Show later in 2009.

Also in 2009, Sirtis guest-starred on the short-lived CBS series Three Rivers , working with Alfre Woodard and Spencer Garrett . She has most recently been seen in the ABC Family series Make It or Break It , along with Brett Cullen .

She guest starred on a 2011 episode of Grey's Anatomy .

Between 2013 and 2016, Sirtis appeared on three episodes of NCIS as Mossad Director Orli Elbaz (whose predecessor, Eli David, was portrayed by Michael Nouri ); other Trek actors who appeared with Sirtis included Alan Dale and Leslie Hope .

In 2019, she appeared as a schoolteacher in the episode "Sanctuary" from The Orville .

Sirtis and Next Generation co-star Michael Dorn worked together in the independent films Lesser of Three Evils (2005, along with Brian Thompson ) and The Deep Below (2007), as well as the unsold sitcom pilot Through the Fire , which Dorn wrote and directed. Sirtis also appeared in such independent films as Terminal Error (2002, with Michael Nouri ), Net Games (2003, with Ed Begley, Jr. ), and Spectres (2004), the latter of which co-starred Enterprise actress Linda Park as well as Tucker Smallwood .

In addition, Sirtis was part of the ensemble cast of Crash , which won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Picture. Fellow Voyager and Enterprise guest star Daniel Dae Kim ) also appeared in this film. The film has since been adapted as a television series on Starz, with a cast that includes Sirtis' Spectres and Enterprise co-star, Linda Park .

Sirtis later starred in InAlienable (2008), written and executive produced by and co-starring Original Series star Walter Koenig . Among the other performers in the film are fellow Star Trek alumni Erick Avari , Gary Graham , Richard Herd , J.G. Hertzler , Andrew Koenig , Judy Levitt , Lisa LoCicero , Courtney Peldon , Alan Ruck , and Patricia Tallman . It is interesting to note that when originally announced in 2003, this film (then known as Illegal Alien ) was set to star Sirtis' TNG co-star John de Lancie and Voyager 's Robert Picardo . [4] (X)

Her later film credits have include Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground (2009) and The Grudge 3 (2009). She also co-starred with John Rhys-Davies in 31 North 62 East (2009) and appeared with Jack Kehler in the independent drama Otis E. She is currently set to reunite with John Rhys-Davies in an independent action thriller called Shadows from the Sky .

Video Games [ ]

In 2007, Sirtis voiced the character of Matriarch Benezia in the hit video game Mass Effect . Armin Shimerman , Raphael Sbarge , and Dwight Schultz also had voice-over roles in this game.

The voice cast of 2017's XCOM 2: War of the Chosen features Sirtis along with Michael Dorn , Jonathan Frakes , Denise Crosby , Dwight Schultz , and John de Lancie .

Star Trek appearances [ ]

Appearances as Deanna Troi [ ]

• " Encounter at Farpoint "
• " The Naked Now "
• " Code of Honor "
• " The Last Outpost "
• " Where No One Has Gone Before "
• " Lonely Among Us "
• " Justice "
• " The Battle "
• " The Big Goodbye "
• " Angel One "
• " Too Short A Season "
• " When The Bough Breaks "
• " Home Soil "
• " Coming of Age "
• " The Arsenal of Freedom "
• " Symbiosis "
• " Skin Of Evil "
• " We'll Always Have Paris "
• " Conspiracy "
• " The Neutral Zone "
• " The Child "
• " Where Silence Has Lease "
• " Elementary, Dear Data "
• " The Outrageous Okona "
• " Loud As A Whisper "
• " The Schizoid Man "
• " Unnatural Selection "
• " The Measure Of A Man "
• " The Dauphin "
• " Contagion "
• " The Royale "
• " Time Squared "
• " The Icarus Factor "
• " Pen Pals "
• " Samaritan Snare "
• " Up The Long Ladder "
• " Manhunt "
• " The Emissary "
• " Peak Performance "
• " Shades of Gray "
• " Evolution "
• " The Ensigns of Command "
• " The Survivors "
• " Who Watches The Watchers "
• " The Bonding "
• " Booby Trap "
• " The Enemy "
• " The Price "
• " The Vengeance Factor "
• " The Defector "
• " The Hunted "
• " The High Ground "
• " A Matter of Perspective "
• " Yesterday's Enterprise "
• " The Offspring "
• " Sins of The Father "
• " Allegiance "
• " Captain's Holiday "
• " Tin Man "
• " Hollow Pursuits "
• " The Most Toys "
• " Ménage à Troi "
• " Transfigurations "
• " The Best of Both Worlds "
• " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II "
• " Brothers "
• " Suddenly Human "
• " Remember Me "
• " Reunion "
• " Future Imperfect "
• " Final Mission "
• " The Loss "
• " Data's Day "
• " The Wounded "
• " Devil's Due "
• " First Contact "
• " Galaxy's Child "
• " Night Terrors "
• " The Nth Degree "
• " The Drumhead "
• " Half a Life "
• " The Host "
• " The Mind's Eye "
• " In Theory "
• " Redemption "
• " Redemption II "
• " Ensign Ro "
• " Silicon Avatar "
• " Disaster "
• " The Game "
• " Unification I "
• " Unification II "
• " A Matter Of Time "
• " New Ground "
• " Hero Worship "
• " Violations "
• " The Masterpiece Society "
• " Conundrum "
• " Power Play "
• " The Outcast "
• " Cause And Effect "
• " The First Duty "
• " Cost Of Living "
• " Imaginary Friend "
• " The Next Phase "
• " Time's Arrow "
• " Time's Arrow, Part II "
• " Realm Of Fear "
• " Man Of The People "
• " Schisms "
• " Rascals "
• " A Fistful of Datas "
• " The Quality of Life "
• " Chain Of Command, Part I "
• " Chain Of Command, Part II "
• " Ship In A Bottle "
• " Face Of The Enemy "
• " Tapestry "
• " Birthright, Part I "
• " Starship Mine "
• " Lessons "
• " The Chase "
• " Frame of Mind "
• " Suspicions "
• " Second Chances "
• " Timescape "
• " Descent "
• " Descent, Part II "
• " Liaisons "
• " Interface "
• " Gambit, Part I "
• " Gambit, Part II "
• " Phantasms "
• " Dark Page "
• " Attached "
• " Force of Nature "
• " Inheritance "
• " Parallels "
• " The Pegasus "
• " Homeward "
• " Sub Rosa "
• " Lower Decks "
• " Thine Own Self "
• " Eye of the Beholder "
• " Genesis "
• " Journey's End "
• " Firstborn "
• " Bloodlines "
• " Emergence "
• " Preemptive Strike "
• " All Good Things... "
• Star Trek Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek Nemesis
• " Pathfinder "
• " Life Line "
• " Inside Man "
• ENT : " These Are the Voyages... "
• " Nepenthe "
• " Seventeen Seconds "
• " No Win Scenario "
• " The Bounty "
• " Surrender "
• " The Last Generation "
• LD : " No Small Parts "

Star Trek interviews [ ]

• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis" ("Casting", "Character Notes", "Camaraderie")
• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Two" (" Ten Forward "), interviewed on 20 September 1988
• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Two", interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Three" (" The Offspring "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Three" ("Crew Profile: Riker and Troi "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions" (" Who Watches The Watchers "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four", interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis" ("Crew Profile: Counselor Troi ", "Profile: Vash "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions Year Five" (" The Game ", " Power Play "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry " ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator", "Gene's Final Voyage"), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Bold New Directions Year Six", interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Six" ("Acting with Spiner "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Seven" ("The Final Episode"), interviewed on 30 March 1994
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Seven" ("Creating Stronger Women"), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven", interviewed on 23 August 1991
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "The Making of "All Good Things..." Year Seven" ("Familiar Faces"), interviewed on 30 March 1994
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Special Profiles Year Seven" (" Lwaxana Troi "), interviewed on 1 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Dressing The Future Year Seven" ("The Process"), interviewed on 20 March 1994
• "Marina Sirtis – Counselor Deanna Troi", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 1 , p. 24, interviewed by Marc Shapiro
• "Marina Sirtis – Counselor Deanna Troi", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 3 , pp. 50-54, interviewed by Edward Gross
• "Counselor's Profile: Rob Bowman ", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 7 , p. 5, interviewed by David McDonnell
• "The Stars, Mon Amour", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 11 , p. 14
• "Marina Sirtis – Counselor Deanna Troi", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 12 , pp. 13-16, interviewed by Christina Mavroudis
• "Marina Sirtis – Counselor Deanna Troi", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 17 , pp. 49-50, interviewed by Kamy Cunningham
• All Good Things Blu-ray special feature The Unknown Possibilities of Existence: Making "All Good Things" ( 2014 )

External links [ ]

• Marina Sirtis at Wikipedia
• MarinaSirtis.tv – official site
• Marina Sirtis at the Internet Movie Database
• Marina Sirtis at X (formerly Twitter)
• Marina Sirtis at TriviaTribute.com
• 1 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 3 Daniels (Crewman)

Creating Counselor Troi

The character of Deanna Troi, and her relationship with the ship’s first officer, Will Riker, was modeled on Lieutenant Ilia. The bald Deltan had been intended as a permanent addition to the Enterprise crew in Star Trek: Phase II but appeared only once, when that series was turned into The Motion Picture . (See Creating Lieutenant Ilia .)

Like Ilia, Troi is an empath. Like the Deltan, she hails from an alien world with liberal attitudes to sexual relations.

The last part came later. Denise Crosby, who ended up playing security chief Natasha Yar, told Entertainment Weekly in 2007 that, originally, “Troi was this cool, Icelandic blonde. Almost Spock-like.” Marina Sirtis was reading for the role. Crosby was auditioning for Troi.

Somewhere, about the second or third audition, Gene Roddenberry had this idea: Let’s just switch them and see what happens.

Tasha, who was written as a Latina, became Caucasian. Troi became first quarter- and later half-Betazoid.

Makeup and accent

There was a suggestion to give Troi three breasts, but Dorothy C. Fontana, a veteran of the original Star Trek series and once again the only female writer on the show, objected:

I felt women have enough trouble with two. And how are you going to line them up? Vertically, horizontally, or what? I was like, please, don’t go there. And they didn’t, fortunately.

To make the Betazoid Troi exotic, Sirtis wore black contact lenses and a hairpiece. She also spoke with an accent.

Sirtis, who was born in England to Greek parents, is quoted in James Van Hise’s Trek: The Next Generation as saying,

I didn’t want anyone to pin down my accent to any particular country.

In a commentary for the 2002 DVD release of Season 1, she elaborated:

It was an Eastern European accent, which kind of started with the Tasha Yar auditions, ’cause she was supposed to be from Eastern Europe. Then, when they told me to make an accent up, from Betazed, I kind of just modified that Eastern Europe accent a bit. I based it on a friend of mine, who’s actually Isreali.

The accent would wane over time to the point where Troi sounded American in the movies.

Troi wore a “skant” (unisex skirt) in the pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint”. It would be years before she appeared in uniform again.

Sirtis told Starlog in 1988 that, after the first episode,

the producers decided that the look didn’t suit the character the way she was originally envisioned. They wanted something a bit more elegant and contained.

The actress was given various dresses to wear, a new one every season.

The downside, Sirtis lamented, was that the more cleavage her costumes revealed, the less cerebral her character seemed to become.

When Captain Jellico (Ronny Cox) told Troi to put on a uniform in Season 6’s “Chain of Command”, Sirtis was thrilled, telling the BBC :

First of all, it covered up my cleavage and, consequently, I got all my brains back, because when you have a cleavage you can’t have brains in Hollywood. So I got all my brains back and I was allowed to do things that I hadn’t been allowed to do for five or six years. I went on away teams, I was in charge of staff, I had my pips back, I had phasers, I had all the equipment again, and it was fabulous.

Sirtis’ Season 7 publicity photo is the only one in which she appears in Starfleet uniform.

Non-threatening

In her 1988 interview with Starlog , Sirtis said the women of The Next Generation were getting a “pretty fair crack”.

The chief of security is a woman, the captain takes my advice very seriously and Dr Beverly Crusher is the only one who can declare the captain unfit.

Four seasons in, she was more critical, telling Cinefantastique in 1991:

The women on this show are very non-threatening. I don’t think it’s realistic. It’s not realistic for the twentieth century, so it’s definitively not realistic for the twenty-fourth century. Ever since Denise [Crosby] left the show, the two women that are left are both doctors in the caring professions. You don’t see women in power positions.

Jeri Taylor, who joined The Next Generation at the beginning of Season 4 and remained the only woman on its writing staff (Fontana had left at the end of Season 1), agreed, telling Cinefantastique in 1993:

They had been put in caretaker roles. It’s hard to find stories that break them out of that mold.

It didn’t help that some of the male writers didn’t see much use for a counselor at all.

Brannon Braga is quoted in The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years as saying,

A therapist on a ship full of characters that supposedly had gone beyond human foibles and no longer succumbed to petty jealousy and anger?

Tracy Tormé, who also served as story editor during the first season, argued the character was too “soft” and “touchy-feely”. But then, Tormé, who wrote the episode “Conspiracy”, thought The Next Generation was too “timid” altogether and he left after two seasons.

Writing Troi

In the beginning, Sirtis struggled with how much emotion to show, telling Star Trek: The Magazine years later:

I didn’t understand what I was doing. I had the impression that Troi was an open sore of emotions, but I wasn’t aware that you didn’t have to show emotion to get the message across.

The writers weren’t sure either.

In “Encounter at Farpoint”, Troi communicates with Riker telepathically, a skill she would later use only with her mother. Sirtis told Starlog the producers decided too much ability would be “too limiting” to the character.

So they changed the level of Troi’s powers. Now, when I experience something, it’s a very strong emotion and that frees my character up to have more substance and scope.

But it was seldom exploited. Sirtis told SFX for a special Star Trek edition released in 2013 that Troi was written out of several Season 1 episodes because her ability to sense feelings would have killed the drama. She feared she might even lose her job, but then Crosby quit and Gates McFadden was fired, leaving Sirtis the only woman of the first season to make it into the second.

Sirtis told Star Trek Monthly in 1997 that it wasn’t until the third season that Troi became more grounded. “She became less decorative and more interesting.” But there was still some way to go.

Michael Piller, who joined as a writer by then, confessed in a 1990 interview with Cinefantastique that he struggled with writing Troi:

The trouble with Troi is that because she’s an empath, you think she walks into a room and says, “I feel pain.”

He knew that was a cliché:

She is a total woman who has feelings of her own with a job to do on the Enterprise . She’s the captain’s most trusted confidant, valuable in dealing with strategic issues.

But his colleague Ronald D. Moore also had a hard time finding things for Troi to do:

It is difficult, because you run into a double trap of how much does she know and when. Especially when dealing with powerful aliens. It’s unfortunate, because the things she’s had, she’s been wonderful in.

Sirtis herself had no desire to get involved in writing, telling Cinefantastique ,

My basic theory of acting is you learn your lines and try not to bump into the furniture.

She would meet the writers for lunch once or twice per season to talk through Troi’s development.

Taylor made a conscious effort to inject more life into the character, telling Cinefantastique in 1992:

She was underutilized, somewhat one-dimensional. She did one thing: she sensed things. The actress is just too good not to let her stretch herself. I tried to broaden her role.

In an attempt to strengthen Troi’s character in Season 4, the writers chose to develop an often-pitched story in which she loses her empathetic powers. This became “The Loss”.

“This basic idea has been pitched to us every season,” Piller told Cinefantastique in 1991.

Finally, because we needed a Troi show, we said, let’s do it here.

Author Sara Century writes for the official Star Trek website that the episode showed a tremendous amount of growth “by targeting and suspending the thing that Deanna relies on for everything — her intuition.”

By inhibiting her ability to empathize, the threat of the week showed us how the generally brave and calm Deanna deals without her own supreme inner harmony. The answer is, not great, but isn’t that more relatable?

“Man of the People” gave Sirtis another opportunity to act out of character. Troi becomes a receptacle for the negative emotions of a peace envoy and undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis.

“Face of the Enemy” (which was also directed by a woman, Gabrielle Beaumont) put her in a position where her empathic abilities weren’t relevant at all. Troi wakes up looking like a Romulan and discovers she must safely transport a defector to the Federation.

The writers had finally figured out Troi could do more than probe the intentions of the alien of the week. Toward the end of the series, Piller told Cinefantastique :

Marina is one of the great talents and nobody really knew it when this whole thing started. The more we give her to do, the more she seems capable of doing.

Troi’s brief and late-series romance with Worf confused and even upset some fans, but Century believes it was the better parts of both of their character arcs. Troi and Worf might appear to have little in common, but their relationship put an emphasis on their “substantial emotional common ground.”

Both are incredibly loyal, prideful and easily angered, but both are also deeply gentle spirits that struggle with violence on a profound and often unspoken level. Though he isn’t always forthcoming, Worf is easily one of the most emotional people on the crew. Troi’s light pushing of Worf to be more open, honest and communicative about his many feelings helped Worf. Meanwhile, his passion and sense of honor gave Troi the stable foundation she needed to express her interest in him.

The romance was short-lived, but Century argues it allowed viewers see the characters through a new lens.

Of course, the more permanent love interest in Troi’s life was Riker. After a few close encounters early on, the two settled into a friendship where they would often seek out each others’ counsel, notably when Riker was attracted to a member of an androgynous race who identified as female in “The Outcast”.

Sirtis told fans on the 1991 SeaTrek cruise that they should not expect the romance the blossom:

Forget about it! It’s not going to happen! Jonathan and I play a lot of stuff that ends up on the cutting room floor. We would like to see the characters have a relationship, but the producers want him to be “stud of the galaxy” to boff the “bimbo of the week”.

Taylor put it more diplomatically:

It’s not anything we have any interest in developing, because it leads you into constricting traps. We acknowledge that there was a relationship between Riker and Troi. They have a profound friendship. I don’t think you should close any avenue off in a series that may go on for many more years. We draw on that relationship for subtext.

It wasn’t until Star Trek: Insurrection that the characters were drawn back together by the rejuvenating influence of the Ba’ku planet. In early drafts, they merely flirted and kissed. It was at the studio’s suggestion that Piller, who wrote the script , developed the relationship more seriously.

In the next and final movie of The Next Generation , Nemesis , the couple got married.

Radical empathy

Looking back on her role in a 1995 interview with Star Trek: Communicator , Sirtis said Troi was always the “nicest person aboard the Enterprise ” for her, “because, instead of being wacky and zany, she was always understanding and sympathetic toward people.”

Century argues this “radical empathy” was Troi’s strength. In a lot of fiction, she points out, women’s emotions devour and destroy them. Female empaths and telepaths are frequently portrayed as unstable and prone to losing control. “That’s never the case with Troi.” She “shows that people who are guided by their hearts actually have a bit of an edge in life.”

We live in a society that views compassion as a weakness, particularly feminine compassion. The message that to care is to give up your strength is instilled through media, culture, even in the mechanics of our very language. Allowing yourself to feel the world with one or two degrees less of a protective layer around your heart takes courage, and courage takes power. Like many highly sensitive people, Deanna Troi is regularly underestimated and her importance reduced. Through her patience and understanding, Troi insists that forcing yourself to view the world with empathy makes you a stronger person, not a weaker one.

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She Played ‘Deanna Troi’ on Star Trek. See Marina Sirtis Now At 69.

July 16, 2023 by Mariska Lee Leave a Comment

For fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Marina Sirtis will forever be known as Counselor Deanna Troi, the compassionate Betazoid advisor aboard the USS Enterprise-D. As one of the iconic sci-fi series’ principal cast members, Sirtis became a staple at Trek conventions and developed a dedicated fanbase from 1987 to 1994.

Nearly 25 years after TNG signed off, we take a look at the projects that have kept this fan favorite performer busy over the past two decades.

Background Information

Born in London, England on March 29, 1955, Marina Sirtis is the daughter of Greek parents John and Despina Sirtis.

While she wanted to become an actress from a young age, her parents preferred she pursue a different line of work. So Marina decided to follow her dream in secret!

As a result, she applied for and was accepted to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she graduated in 1976.

Ten years later, she would move to the United States in order to pursue her acting career in Hollywood.

Early Career

Prior to her migration to LA, Sirtis’ early acting days revolved around British theater and television.

Her first credited acting performance was in the TV show “Raffles” in 1977 where she played the character Faustina.

From 1977-1987, Sirtis would test the acting waters with one-off parts in sitcoms and drama series as well as roles in bigger budget features like The Wicked Lady (1983) with Faye Dunaway and Death Wish 3 (1985) starring Charles Bronson.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Sirtis most notable role is as Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which she appeared in 176 episodes.

In the show, Deanna Troi was a hybrid Betazoid and human, and she served as counselor on the USS-Enterprise-D and -E.

She appeared in every season and all of the films associated with the series.

Originally, creator Gene Rodenberry wanted Deanna Troi to be known primarily for her looks and sex-appeal.

Sirtis was relieved, however, when the series ultimately took her in a new direction , offering depth and emotion to a character who was already an empath herself.

Following the success of her character in The Next Generation, Sirtis went on to reprise Deanna Troi in four feature films including Star Trek: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis.

The counselor showed up again in several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Thanks to the initial lack of creative vision for the character, fans were torn about Counselor Troi’s presence in the crew.

However, all of that changed when Troi was officially welcomed as a member of Starfleet.

As such, she is consistently featured in fan- and media-created rankings in online and print publications, highlighting the character’s likeability.

Her ability to sense the emotions of others, as portrayed through Sirtis’ powerful performances, truly connects with audiences.

Sirtis’ time on the show and in the Star Trek universe has made her one of the most beloved female cast members, alongside Gates McFadden , Jeri Ryan , Jolene Blalock , Kate Mulgrew and Nana Visitor .

What did she do after Star Trek?

After her initial run on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in between her various appearances in other Star Trek titles, Sirtis continued acting.

Some of her notable television credits include parts in The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1, Without a Trace, NCIS, Scandal, The Orville, and Grey’s Anatomy.

Horror aficionados should check out Sirtis taking on entertaining roles in movies like Little Dead Rotting Hood and The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time.

Longtime fans of Sirtis will recognize her voice-over work in dozens of cartoons including Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, Adventure Time, and more.

Most prominently, she provided the voice of Demona in twenty-six episodes of the children’s cartoon series Gargoyles.

What is Marina Sirtis doing now?

Recently, Sirtis reprised her iconic Troi character in Star Trek: Picard from 2020-2023, allowing her to revisit the beloved sci-fi franchise.

Some other major credits in the past 5 years include starring in the 2022 TV movie Love’s Greek to Me and landing recurring voice roles on animated shows like OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes and Young Justice. Sirtis has also made guest appearances on series such as The Orville and Titans.

Additionally, she has acted in several independent films like 2021’s The Bezonians and 2019’s Crossing. Sirtis has also done video game voice work, voicing Matriarch Benezia in the Mass Effect remaster. Now in her late 60s, she continues acting while engaging with fans on the sci-fi convention circuit. Though past her leading lady days, Sirtis remains a working actor with loyal niche appeal.

She sometimes shows up at fan conventions and has even interacted with fans at the Star Trek: The Cruise .

Sirtis has been open about her past struggles with eating disorders related to childhood trauma. In the 1990s, she began undergoing therapy to address these challenges and was able to move forward.

Her husband was a huge support system during this time. Sirtis was married to Michael Lamper, a musician and fellow actor, for twenty-seven years.

They even met on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which Lamper played an Acamarian gatherer.

Unfortunately, Lamper passed away in his sleep in 2019, prompting Sirtis to move back to London. From there, Sirtis resumed her film and television career.

For the die-hard Trekkie and fans of her work in general, requests for personalized video content from the star can be made through her Cameo profile.

Marina Sirtis worked her way into the hearts of millions of fans around the world thanks to her iconic portrayal of Deanna Troi!

Anything she decides to do next is sure to delight and entertain the next generation as well.

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Published Nov 30, 2011

Marina Sirtis, Part 2: From Convention Queen To Evil Queen

Today, in part two of our exclusive interview with Marina Sirtis , the beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation actress talks more about her Trek experiences, spanning from TNG and the TNG films to guest shots on Voyager and Enterprise . She also shares her enthusiasm for her latest project, co-starring with Neil Patrick Harris in a theater production of A Snow White Christmas , which is a panto-style take on Snow White . Don't worry, Sirtis explains what a panto is.

You mentioned that you and LeVar Burton saw footage from the upcoming TNG Blu-ray. What was it like to see yourself… from 25 years ago? Sirtis: I have a picture on my wall of all of us. It’s the actual photo that Entertainment Weekly had on their cover, and it’s on the wall in my living room. It reminds me of my best friends. And, you know what? I think we all look exactly the same. All the boys have less hair. Michael Dorn is much thinner now than he ever was before. Patrick (Stewart) , I think, looks the same. And people always come up to me and said, “You haven’t changed a bit.” They’re lying through their teeth, of course, because 25 years later, that’s not possible. But I think we all still look pretty good. So it’s not too disheartening to watch myself in the early episodes. We know that you wanted to keep going with the series. So, in what ways did the TNG films fill the void for you? Sirtis: Oh, I’ve never gotten over the end of the show. To this day, if I go to Paramount for a meeting or an audition, I always have to walk past our stages. And I get sad. I was on the lot earlier this year and NCIS: Los Angeles are on our old stages now. I took a peek in, and it is kind of weird. The show was such a big part of our lives for so long. From the beginning of the show to the end of the movies was 15 years. That’s a long time. I miss seeing my friends every day. I miss knowing where I’m going to be 10 months out of the year. To me, that was one of the greatest things as an actor, to know I’d be working 10 months out of the year. So when people say to me, “What is your dream job?” I always say, “Another series.” I love television. Brent Spiner and I always say that when we’re not on TV, we’re watching TV. TV is the dream job and Star Trek was the pinnacle of my dream job, and another series would be equally wonderful. What did you think of the four TNG films? Sirtis: I liked them all, but I liked a couple better than the others. I think if you ask any of the cast, they’ll all say that First Contact was their favorite movie. The last one, it was a shame that we went out not as happily as we had wanted to, but it was situations beyond our control as actors. It didn’t hurt us as friends or as a group, but it was just sad that we didn’t go out as laughing as much as we had before. You were on Voyager a few times… Sirtis: And that was like going home again because they inherited our crew. It was like, “Hi, everybody. How are you?” I was happy to see them and they were happy to see me. I got to work with Dwight (Schultz) again, after working with him so many times on TNG. I got to work with Bob Picardo , who I see a lot at the conventions. And he’s great. We were just at a convention a couple of weeks ago. I love him, love his wife, love his kids. So it was fun to do Voyager . The only bad thing is, of course, you have to make sure your spacesuit still fits. I was determined that they weren’t going to have to make me a new one, that I’d fit into the old one. So there was a little dieting involved. Other than that, it was all good. You turned up as Deanna in the Enterprise finale. Just the mention of that episode gets some people riled up. Your thoughts on the episode, the reaction to it? Sirtis: I don’t know what the reaction to the episode was because I didn’t see the episode. I don’t watch myself, generally. I watch soccer and reruns of Law & Order and English shows on PBS and a few other things. But, at the time we did Enterprise , Jonathan Frakes and I realized that some of the cast were a little miffed that we were there, which I understand. It kind of wasn’t an Enterprise episode. They were holograms and Johnny and I were real. So it was like a TNG episode they were in. And I totally got that they were miffed that it wasn’t a two-hour episode. Giving them their due, the cast were great to us. We knew a lot of them. We were friends with a lot of them. They never let their displeasure get in the way. They welcomed us. The irony, to me, is that the very last scene shot was Jonathan and I walking off the holodeck. Jonathan and I were in the very first scene of TNG when we started shooting and then, however many years later, we were in the very final scene shot of Enterprise . So, in that way, for us, it was kind of a fitting finale. You and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry were very close. Did you get a chance to say goodbye before she passed away? Sirtis: You know what? I saw her not long before she passed. It was really hard for me because I’d lost my own mother a couple of years before Majel passed. I remember having a cup of coffee with Majel and saying to her, “You know, you’ve got to last a little longer because you’re the only mom I’ve got left now.” Unfortunately, she didn’t last too much longer than my own mother. So it was devastating. I really miss Majel. She was just a force of nature. She really was, and the world is a smaller place without her. There’s a push by some fans to have you assume the voice of the ship’s computer in the next Star Trek movie… Sirtis: A couple of my fans made that suggestion to me and I’ve kind of taken it up because I think it’s such a good idea. One of them said, “Now that Majel has passed away, you should be the voice of the computer and keep it in the family.” I thought, “What a brilliant idea that is.” First of all, the fans would be beside themselves happy. It would be so huge for them. Star Trek is not just about the next new movie, it’s about the history. And I think it would just be fab if we could talk J.J. (Abrams) into letting me do that. I think the fans would be happy. I would be deliriously honored to take her place. We’ll just see how it goes. I’ve put it out there. That’s all I can do. It’s up to the powers that be now. You’re currently acting in A Snow White Christmas at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, which is running now through December 18. How are you enjoying adding some playful menace to the show as The Evil Queen, and also doing the show as a panto? Sirtis: You know what? I am SO thrilled. Pantos don’t exist in America. Chris Lythgoe, who is Nigel Lythgoe’s son, is producing it and he wrote it, too. And, of course, they’re English. It’s something that is so part of our DNA in England, Christmastime pantos. When I’m in England at Christmas, I go and see them, and I’m no kid. Lots of grown-ups go to see them because they’re just so much fun. The last time I did a panto was 30 years ago, and I was Snow White. I’m the Evil Queen now, so it’s come full circle. I’m just waiting to do Hamlet again, because that was my first professional job. Obviously I’m too old to play Ophelia now, so I’m hoping that someone will offer me Gertrude and I can do the same thing with Hamlet , which is my favorite Shakespeare. Actually, for the Americans reading this who have no idea what a panto is, how would you explain the differences between a panto and a typical stage play? Sirtis: First of all, they’re usually based on a fairy story, pantos, something like Snow White or Cinderella or Babes in the Woods or Jack and the Beanstalk . It’s always a very, very, very well-known story. And they’re re-written every year because they include topical jokes. I’m sure we’re going to have some Kardashian jokes in there. I’m playing Queen Sue Sylvester. It’s all very topical to what’s happening at the moment. The songs are usually modern pop to which they’ve re-written the words in order to make them funny or make them fit the story. And there’s also a lot of audience participation, which is something that we’re going to have to teach the Americans how to do, because Americans don’t usually do that. You’re usually told to be quiet in a theater. So it’s, “Where’s Snow White, kids?” and everyone yells, “She’s behind you!” “Oh, no, she isn’t.” “Oh, yes, she is!” It’s a lot of fun, and one of the main things that the actors try to do is to make the other actors laugh on stage. Aside from A Snow White Christmas , what else have you been working on lately? Sirtis: I haven’t done any films or shows in the past few months. It was a really quiet summer. I had to find a new place to live, and that took up most of my summer. And then my brother came over with his family for a few weeks, so I had them. So I really haven’t been able to do much. But now everyone is gone and Michael and I are moved into our new place and I can start thinking about work again. So I’m waiting to see what might be coming up, really, and I’m ready to starting going after it.To learn more about Marina Sirtis, visit her official site by clicking HERE . For details about A Snow White Christmas , in which she co-stars with Neil Patrick Harris, click HERE . And to read part one of our interview with Sirtis, click HERE .

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Star Trek’s Jonathan Frakes Has a Major Regret About the Enterprise Finale

Even Star Trek legend Jonathan Frakes admits the Enterprise finale was a mistake.

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Ever since Jonathan Frakes played the first officer of the USS Enterprise-D Will Riker, Frakes has gone on to appear in almost every Star Trek series since, albeit as transporter accident-spawned clone Thomas Riker in Deep Space Nine . Usually, fans love to see the adventurous Riker swing into a guest appearance on another series. But that wasn’t the case when Riker and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) showed up in the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise .

“It was sold as, ‘Oh, come on and do the episode, it will be a Valentine to the fans,’” Frakes told Variety when recalling his appearance in that show’s series finale. As the last episode in a continuous run of Star Trek series that began with Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, the Enterprise finale “These Are the Voyages…” sought to connect the end to the beginning. And so the episode follows not Scott Bakula’s Captain Archer and his crew, but Riker, who visits the NX-01 in a holodeck program.

Enterprise has always been the least popular of the four ’90s Trek series, stumbling for its first few seasons, as did every entry in that franchise era. But by season four, Enterprise had really found its footing. The Xindi Incident storyline connected the show to the audience’s post-9/11 malaise and gave the series a tighter, more exciting storyline. Yet, where all other series of the era ran for seven seasons, Enterprise was cut off at four, kneecapping it just as it started to get good. Focusing the finale on Riker instead of Archer and the rest of his crew, and unceremoniously killing off fan favorite Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), “These Are the Voyages…” showed no respect to those who stuck with the series.

“[I]t wasn’t a Valentine to the fans,” Frakes now admits. “The fans didn’t want to see us.” Even though he feels that “These Are the Voyages…” was “a good episode” and that he “had a blast doing it in many ways,” Frakes acknowledges that fans felt betrayed by the bait and switch. “The more I think about it, the more I hear from fans about it in particular, it may not have been the best choice we’ve made on Star Trek .”

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Fortunately, fans have quickly forgiven Frakes and continue to thrill at his return. When he and Sirtis lent their voices to a multi-episode arc on Lower Decks , fans were thrilled to see Riker as the adventure-loving Captain of his own ship, the USS Titan. Even better was his reunion with Jean-Luc Picard in the excellent third season of Picard .

But what of the NX-01 characters? Thus far, no one in that cast has reprised their roles for a modern Trek series, although Trinneer and Malcolm Reed actor Dominic Keating do host the Enterprise rewatch podcast The Shuttlepod Show . But the NX-01 and her crew have not been forgotten by characters in the world, whether it be Scotty admitting that he almost killed Archer’s dog Porthos in the 2009 Star Trek movie or, more recently, the crew of the NCC-1701 geeking out about their predecessors in the Strange New Worlds standout “ Those Old Scientists .”

Enterprise may have had a long road getting to a place of respect, but between Frakes’s admission and the name drops in “Those Old Scientists,” it seems that its time is finally here.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!

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Interview: Michael Dorn And Marina Sirtis On Wanting Laughs For Troi And To Explore Worf Being A Bad Dad

| February 22, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 38 comments so far

Among those honored this year at the Saturn Awards were Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis, who picked up lifetime achievement awards as part of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation . TrekMovie had a chance to talk to them about their returns in Star Trek: Picard , what they think could be next for their characters, and how their journeys fit with Gene Roddenberry’s original vision.

Jonathan Frakes said he felt he did his best work in season 3 of Star Trek: Picard . Do you feel you did your best work?

Marina Sirtis: I think Jonathan said that because he got to do stuff that he’d never done before. It was outside the box for him. I don’t that it was my best work. I don’t think I was in it enough for it to be my best work. But it was fun. It was definitely fun.

Terry [Matalas] designed the season to be what he called a “proper send-off” but others, including Patrick [Stewart], seem invigorated by it with a desire to do more. Is that also the case with you guys?

Michael Dorn: I don’t think that people have a clue what’s going to happen. I really don’t. I think that they look at something and they may have thought of a thought of it as a send-off for us and then something happens and they go, “You know what, maybe we should continue.” But, you [Marina] don’t believe so…

Marina Sirtis: I don’t believe it’s going to continue.

Michael Dorn: I don’t know either. I have no idea. I wouldn’t say oh, we are going to do it or we’re not going to do it. I just don’t know.

Marina Sirtis: I think if we were going to continue, they would have ridden on the success of Picard . Do you know what I mean? And then come on the back of that, and they didn’t. So I’m not sure that it’s going to continue.

Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi in “Vox” (Paramount+)

Michael, Terry recently talked to you about the possibilities of continuing, like exploring the Klingon Empire in the 25 th century and Worf’s relationship with Alexander. So have you put thought into what you’d you would like to see for Worf, if it did continue?

Michael Dorn: Yeah, I think that I think that Alexander—his son—is a good story, because Worf has been a terrible father. I think it brings a sort of realism to it. But once again, his ideas are great. And I think it’s a good idea. But you got to go to the higher-ups and see what they say.

Marina, you said you didn’t get to do a lot, because they mostly brought you in for the second half of season 3. So are there certain kinds of things you would like to do to stretch into with Troi?

Marina Sirtis: Well, being that I am very dramatic, generally, I’d love to do more comedy, actually. Because, in real life, I’m funny, right? Ask my friends. And I never get to be funny. So I would like to do—like in First Contact I got to be funny. But, I’m not complaining. I’m an actress.

Dorn got all the good comedy lines, and Frakes too, in season 3…

Marina Sirtis: He always got the good lines.

Michael Dorn: Hey, he’s a straight man. That’s his thing. He says something and ever everybody reacts and they think he’s funny, but he’s looking around going, “Why is everyone laughing at me?”

Michelle Hurd, who would be part of Legacy , said she feels it is “ necessary ” for Worf and Raffi to be paired up again…

Marina Sirtis: I agree, yeah.

Michael Dorn: I think it was one of the pairings that they thought, “Oh, this is a decent idea.” But they didn’t count on the chemistry and they didn’t count on the sort of stuff that we’re doing back and forth with each other.

Marina Sirtis: That relationship really worked.

Michael Dorn: Yeah, there was talk, there’s always talk, but I would say they’re missing the opportunity if they don’t pair us up.

Marina Sirtis: I think there’s a series there, actually… If they were really smart, that would be the way to go.

Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker and Michael Dorn as Worf in “The Bounty” (Paramount+)

Michael, what do you think Gene Roddenberry would think about how your character evolved through TNG, DS9, the movies, and into Picard ?

Michael Dorn: The interesting thing is, Gene hired us. He was the guy for the first two years of the show and was very clear that he wanted me to make the character my own. And the great thing about writers and good writers and good directors is that once you give them something—like I gave them Worf’s stoicism and his anger and his nationalism and his egotistical nature—and they ran with it. And the writers are the ones that really created it and made him who he was. So I think he’d be happy about it, because it definitely is his creation, and he was an incredibly smart guy. He was incredibly smart about television. And he was smart enough to give me the freedom to say, “Just do it yourself,” because he knew that if an actor created something, it’s more personal to the actor, and he’s more invested.

How do you think he would feel about some of the darker elements of DS9 and Picard ?

Michael Dorn: Gene’s vision is The Next Generation . That’s the vision. It was always hope. It was always on a ship going out in the out into space. And so I think [what came after] probably isn’t his vision, but the thing is that we had to have somebody take over. And I think their vision fits into Star Trek. And I always believe there’s room for all kinds of Star Trek.

And Marina, same question about how you think Gene would feel about Troi’s journey?

Well, Gene always thought that mental health would be as important as physical health by the 24th century. And as is the case in very, very, very many cases, he was ahead of his time, because mental health is important already in the 21st century, where we’re already dealing with that, or trying to deal with that. He was a visionary. And people pooh-poohed him and didn’t take him seriously, but he knew what he was doing.

More from the Saturn Awards

Check out our other Saturn Awards interviews:

• Doug Jones on Discovery
• Tawny Newsome on Lower Decks and Starfleet Academy
• Terry Matalas on Picard season 3 and hopes for Legacy
• Jeri Ryan on Seven’s arc from Voyager to Legacy
• Michelle Hurd and Todd Stashwick on  Picard  memes and  Legacy  dreams
• Brent Spiner on Data’s evolution
• Paul Wesley on Strange New Worlds season 3 and beyond
• Wil Wheaton on playing Wesley in Lower Decks , and Ready Room update
• Nicolas Cage’s desire to be in Star Trek
• Danai Gurira’s almost casting for Star Trek 4
• Zach Galligan on appearing in  Voyager and auditioning for Trip in Enterprise

You can hear audio from these interviews and more in the latest All Access Star Trek podcast .

Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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What a lovely article. It’s really refreshing to read something that’s longer than a sound bite. I appreciate the detailed comments from the actors.

…was just about to say the same. This was a treat to read.

Dorn has been looking gaunt. It seems like today would be a good day to dine. (How many steakhòuses could he have opened with that line?)

Dorn doesn’t need people commenting on his physical appearance.

Pretty sure that was a stab at dry humor. Might have worked better on Wednesdays…..

He’s slimmed out some. He’s in his 70’s. It happens, not that its any of our business.

Dorn was truly amazing in Picard. One of the best things about the season.

Absolutely loved the work he did that season. Talk about character development, it was fantastic. I’d watch him in the role again in a second.

So would I!

Totally agree Tiger 2. His parting scenes with Rafi had me in tears when it was revealed what he had done for her.

Totally agree. While Data was my favorite of the season, I absolutely loved Worf as well. (Also, Riker, Seven, Shaw, and Sydney).

Great interview! Dorn is right. Worf was a GREAT straight man. What a character he created, and it’s really nice that he credited the writers and directors as well in the Worf character’s creation.

Marina Sirtis is delightful as always.

TNG, like TOS, just had such a great cast. It took Michael Pillar to be onboard for the writing part to take off (although TNG season 2 was certainly much much better than season 1), but the pieces were all in place as far as characters and the ship.

Oh, and seeing as Terry Matsalas is nominated for a writing award, why in the world has his ST: Legacy idea not be greenlighted?

I just think the Academy thing is being pushed through because its a Kurtzmann or a higher up idea. Someone higher up the food chain in the ST department is pushing it.

IMO, it’s very foolish for them not to go with Mr. Matsalas’ show.

Agreed. Most fans don’t even sound like they want the Starfleet show but many want Legacy.

Terry Matalas is the best thing to come for Star Trek since Manny Coto.

I think there may be Kurtzman’s ego at work here. He probably doesn’t want Matalas to overshadow him and his control of the franchise. I mean in terms of the success and accolades Picard season 3 is getting even vulcan logic would dictate there needs be some kind of a continuation, but then when feelings and egos are involved logic rarely takes the front seat.

I agree. It’s an ego thing for Kurtzman and Goldsman, they don’t like the attention that Matalas is getting. There is that one interview with Kurtzman when he something along the lines of the third season could not have happened without the set-ups in the first two seasons, basically saying that his and Goldsman’s work was just as important as Matalas’.

Berman did the same thing, taking more credit and trying to tamp down the criticism he got for the stupid decisions he made with TNG and how he pretty much messed up with 3 out of 4 of the TNG films. And then there’s the criticism with Enterprise. Over and over it showed that 1. Berman had no real appreciation or sense of the importance or what was so great about TOS and 2. He didn’t have a good sense of story and 3. He was lousy at being a movie producer. So many of the reasons why GEN, INS, and NEM didn’t work are attributable to Berman and Paramount.

Oh, yeah, and Berman and Braga also get credit for VOY not fully reaching its potential. It was, ultimately, TNG v2. I enjoyed it, mostly, but it could have and should have been much better and had more of its own identity.

Say what you want about Discovery being woke and the like, but I have really dug its serialized story telling and action. I don’t love this cast as much as TOS, TNG, and DS9’s, but the rest of it is just great.

Berman needed to understand that he was never gonna be a movie producers and let someone else produce the TNG movies. But at the same time he did get guys like Brannon Braga, Ron Moore, Naren Shankar, Ira Steven Behr into the business so that’s gotta count for something. Berman himself admitted that he was never a fan of TOS so I can see why we would get a movie like Generations under his tenure.

Actually ‘Insurrection’ and ‘Nemesis’ may have gone awry because of Stewart and later Spiner having a bit too much say in how those films were developed.

As well a bad choice for director of Nem.

That’s what I’m thinking too. I mean, they ran with Strange New Worlds after introducing Pike and Spock in Discovery Season 2. People loved the characters so Strange New Worlds was a logical result. So what the heck is going on with Legacy? Why are they sticking with the Academy idea when Season 3 of Picard got such huge accolades?

The only explanation that I can see is its what you said, ego, money, studio politics and that’s vry lame. It doesn’t seem like it’s good for business and its not good for the fans either.

Legacy just seems like a slam-dunk idea whereas Academy, has what, Tilly in it? I’ve read enough message boards to know 1. A lot of fans really really don’t like Discovery and 2. I don’t think Tilly, as a character is a big draw, like, I dunno, Daryl Dixon of the Walking Dead Franchise or, even better, Jean-Luc Picard in Picard.

Really simple. Give the fans what they want.

Just put it to a vote. Do that. See what the results are.

Critically and commercially, Picard season 3 was a hit. Let’s be honest, SNW season 1 was a success, but beyond that…..

Starfleet Academy and S31 are going to bomb I think.

I don’t understand the logic in Paramount’s thinking for SFA at all. Young people don’t watch Star Trek and probably don’t know P+ even exists. I work with teens and young adults and I haven’t found any trekkies among them, yet….I came close once….he watched Orville.

I’m in for the S31 film all because Michelle Yeoh’s Empress Georgiou was my favorite character on Discovery (well, next to Pike and Spock). She was great fun. The S31 film is certainly not going to be a conventional ST film, since all the prior ones were about the crew of the Enterprise (original, A, D, E, and Kelvin Timeline). But I’ll watch it.

This academy thing, though, I have no interest in it at all. I doubt I’ll watch it. Tilly is no draw to me and I’m not interested in a show set at school. I don’t feel obligated to watch every ST show. I pretty much gave up on Enterprise, since it just looked to me like ST v3 when I expected or wanted something more unique or at least, harkening back more to TOS (it didn’t help that the NX-01 was pretty much shoved into existing continuity). Lower Decks just seems to totally rely on cameos and poking fun at continuity. I’m just not interested. I saw the first few episodes of prodigy and that was pretty good. I’ll watch it if I don’t have to stream it.

Ent improved massively under Cotto by s3, 4.

This was indeed a great interview. Michael Dorn is such a gentleman and classy guy. I had the pleasure meeting him a few times.

I really hope if the Legacy show happens he will appear on it.

Worf was totally amazing in Picard. He’s one of the characters they should’ve brought out In season one. Slicing up Romulans is one of his favorite hobbies. 😂

NOW GIVE US THE LEGACY SHOW PARAMOUNT!!!

S3 was fantastic; Dorn, along with Frakes and McFadden, really shined. Of the TNG cast, those three owned that season.And Worf and Raffi … I’m so glad they didn’t try to link them romantically .. like basically just two bad ass heroes saving the day. If anything happens as far as the Legacy series goes, it would at least be nice to get a guest spot for Dorn so Worf and Raffi can do combat together again.

Exactly! That’s why so many people loved this season because we didn’t just get all these characters back after 20 years but they were all amazing, Worf, Riker and Beverly especially. I loved them being badasses but I just loved all the conversations and great one liners they had. None of it felt forced, they all had great chemistry together.

That’s why this season feels so different and special because we got to see the family together again and saw how great they all came together.

As for Raffe, she was my least favorite character on this show after season 2. But after season 3 I’m truly excited to see her in Legacy. Because Matalas is actually a great writer and really honed in on her positives.

Maybe if he was writing for MU Georgiou I could feel the same way about her too… maybe lol.

Like Spiner, they downplay the chances of Legacy, and that’s a good thing. They’re happy to work again under the right circumstances, but at the end of the day, it’s not a show that’s actually in development. It’s an idea by Matalas that has taken on a click bait life of its own. I feel like we’ve crossed the line into stringing fans along.

Reading between the lines, the powers that be are not really interested in continuing the 25th century without Patrick Stewart headlining it.

I disagree with this. Everyone seems to understand it’s not a show in development and may not ever be. But you could literally say the same thing about SNW. Again people want to have revisionist history over that but the reality is that show was never in development until fans started pushing for it. In fact it didn’t get announced until after Discovery season 2 has finished over a year later.

Now that was a different time, granted. That was when everyone was spending like crazy and they were trying to have Trek shows on a year. But ALSO remember Section 31 DIDN’T happen because they could still afford to only put so many shows on and that show was not only in development they had already written the first few episodes and had a starting date. I was in fact one of the people saying that SNW was NOT going to happen because Section 31 was already a thing… until it wasn’t.

My only point is we don’t know what will happen in the long term and fans do in fact influence these decisions. Maybe it will never happen, but if people don’t push for it then it won’t happen. Which is why it’s so bizarre to tell Star Trek fans to stop pushing for something even if it’s a long shot.

This is what we do lol.

Sorry when they were trying to have 5 Trek shows a year.

I think they knew a TNG reunion would catch a lot of eyeballs for their Picard finale but they couldn’t take it much farther than that. A Seven Spin off would be cool, but Jeri Ryan is more “Star Trek famous” while Stewart, like Yeoh, has crossover appeal.

The Academy show will create some new, younger characters the franchise needs. It’s probably a lot more affordable, basically moving into Discovery’s old work space. I’m looking forward to it. A Starfleet Academy show has been on my wishlist for decades.

I don’t believe in throwing anything away, and I don’t want to tell anybody what they should or shouldn’t be excited about. Things change and something might come up later. But right now everyone is telling us Legacy is not a thing, and I’m ready to live in the now. I don’t want to develop “Legacy tunnel vision”. I’m just pragmatic like that.

Ok fair enough. As long as people aren’t chaining themselves to the Paramount’s gates or putting themselves on fire to demand the Legacy show I don’t see any harm writing about on a message board.

Of course at some point if a few years go by and still nothing then it’s probably time to hang it up. I mean people were still pushing for the Tarantino movie even after the guy himself said he wasn’t interested. Not once did I ever tell anyone to move on because people just want what they want and the Internet is the place to push for things.

Worf is still the one Trek character who appeared the most in the franchise and you gotta appreciate how the character was developed over the years starting from the first season of TNG. Lots of props to Dorn’s work here and the writers/producers. It goes to show that if you create a really good character, no matter if it is an alien or a human, that character will go on forever.

Much appreciated their comments about Gene Roddenberry and his vision, because I really, really miss it.

I have been watching TNG since its inception in 87. I love the show, plot characters and the NCC-1701-D is by far the best looking ship in the entire starfleet. I love this show so much in fact I just bought the complete series in blu ray, I bought Picard the complete series and I just purchased the 5 movies with TNG characters. If the cast is healthy enough and willing to do it let them continue to bring that joy I once had as a child watching TNG. By far the best of the genre. It was awesome watching Geordi command the enterprise and even more so watching Dr. Crusher manually operate the weapons in Picard. You can tell the cast are like family and enjoyed doing these movies and shows. Please bring legacy to fruition!!!

Why Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek: Enterprise Return Made Scott Bakula 'Pissed'

The "Star Trek: Enterprise" finale is a polarizing topic among fans of the franchise, with the general criticism being that it's essentially an unwarranted episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The outing sees Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) return to relive the past, paving the way for some callbacks to the pair's peak "Star Trek" years. Despite being intended as a tribute to the history of "Star Trek," however, the finale apparently angered "Enterprise" mainstay Scott Bakula.

In an interview for the book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek," "Enterprise" co-creator Brannon Braga said Bakula was always a sweetheart to work with, but this episode made him voice his frustrations. "He was p***ed that we were doing an episode that really wasn't an Enterprise episode, but was a Next Gen episode. Everyone, including the fans of the show, felt the same way."

Interestingly, Bakula wasn't the only person who was upset about the spotlight being stolen from the "Enterprise" crew. Frakes has also admitted that it was a bad idea from the get-go, echoing the view of many others.

Jonathan Frakes understands Scott Bakula's frustrations

Jonathan Frakes has shared his true feelings about "Star Trek: Enterprise's" controversial finale before, noting that the show's fans weren't interested in reliving other series' pasts. However, as he explained in the aforementioned oral history book, he also felt bad about taking the shine away from the series' main stars. In fact, the situation made him uncomfortable, and he also empathized with Scott Bakula's concerns.

"He was notably generous and civil and thoughtful, and I thought inside he's got to be thinking, "What the f**k are you guys doing? My show's already been canceled, and you guys are coming here to try to close it out?" I would have been so insulted. I didn't think that was our finest hour."

As Frakes mentioned, "Enterprise" was canceled after four seasons, whereas every prior "Star Trek" series received seven installments. As such, the show's cast probably wanted to say goodbye on their own terms. In retrospect, even co-creator Brannan Braga has admitted the final episode's story was a mistake. "It was sweet, and it had a nice little ending with the ships from Star Trek, and our heart was in the right place, but we should have just done a great Enterprise finale and called it a day."

Marina Sirtis

• Born March 29 , 1955 · London, England, UK
• Height 5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
• Marina Sirtis was born in London, England, to Greek parents, Despina (Yianniri), a tailor's assistant, and John Sirtis. Her parents did not want her to become an actress. As soon as Marina completed high school, she secretly applied to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After her graduation, she worked in musical theater, repertory and television. In 1986, she moved to Los Angeles, California to boost her career. For six months, she auditioned for roles but was unsuccessful. Just before she planned to go back home, she got the role of Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) . After the series ended, she reprised her role for a string of successful Star Trek films: Star Trek: Generations (1994) , Star Trek: First Contact (1996) , Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) , and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) . In 1992, Sirtis married rock guitarist Michael Lamper. She occasionally attends Star Trek conventions so that her loving fans can meet her, and she can meet the fans. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Patrick Ceuppens
• Spouse Michael Lamper (June 21, 1992 - December 8, 2019) (his death)
• Parents Despina Sirtis (Yianniri) John Sirtis
• Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
• The voice of Demona on Gargoyles (1994)
• Seductive deep voice
• Natural brunette hair
• Fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) cast members Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn were groomsmen at her wedding. Ann Turkel was maid of honor at her wedding.
• Speaks Greek fluently.
• When Marina came to the United States to pursue a career as an actress and got the role on Star Trek, Marina's mother did not believe her and thought that she was making this up as an excuse to stay in the States. This was not until season four of Star Trek that her mother really started to believe her. She saw a Deanna Troi trading card from Star Trek.
• Wore black-colored contact lenses during the seven-year run of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and the subsequent films because her character had black eyes. Marina's eyes are light brown.
• After her audition for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) , Marina felt her audition was unsuccessful and was just about to jump on a flight home to London. Only minutes before she did so, they called back and told her she had gotten the role of Counselor Deanna Troi.
• I was originally cast to be the brains of the Enterprise. Somehow, I became The Chick. There's a little ugly girl inside of me going "Yay! I'm a sex symbol!".
• On her character Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) : We knew that she ate chocolates and that she worked out, but that was really boring. I wanted to know what she did when she went on the holodeck. We basically never saw her off-duty or going on holiday. We knew she was a psychologist -- and a pretty good one -- but that was all we knew about her.
• On being typecast after Star Trek: I've been getting a lot of science fiction scripts which contained variations on my Star Trek character and I've been turning them down. I strongly feel that the next role I do, I should not be wearing spandex.
• On the Star Trek uniforms: We hate our uniforms. We've said it a gazillion times. It's like a chant that we have to say every day. They're hot, they're uncomfortable, and we can't wait to get out of them. But even when we get to wear something else, it's usually something hot. So I'm in a nice leather jacket in the mountains, on a day when the temperature turns out to be ninety degrees! (1998)
• On her scene in Star Trek: Generations (1994) where she's piloting the Enterprise: It was a fascinating sequence. What was funny was that my chair caught fire and burned my bottom. When we did the next take, I stopped in the middle of all the confusion and made sure there was nothing burning on my seat before I sat on it again. I think they had to cut that take out of the movie. (1994)

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I saw star trek: nemesis in 2002 & had no idea i was witnessing the birth of a star.

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Captain Picard’s 4 Star Trek Movie Villains Ranked Worst To Best

I’m so glad this star trek: voyager season 4 episode made a risky story decision, 34 years later, star trek's most disappointing tng character exit still hurts.

When I watched Star Trek: Nemesis n 2002, I really had no idea I was witnessing the birth of a star in Tom Hardy. Directed by Stuart Baird from a screenplay by John Logan, Star Trek: Nemesis was the final movie starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation . The lowest grossing of Star Trek 's 13 theatrical feature films, Star Trek: Nemesis was also a bomb with critics and audiences, although the blame for its failure doesn't fall on the shoulders of Tom Hardy , who played the main villain, Shinzon.

Shinzon was the malevolent clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: Nemesis. Seeking revenge on the Romulans who created and enslaved him, and on the United Federation of Planets, Shinzon mounts a convoluted plot to install himself as the Romulan Praetor before attacking the Federation. But Shinzon has special enmity for Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-E. Ultimately, Captain Picard defeated Shinzon and saved the galaxy, with his clone perishing in the destruction caused by Shinzon's own Thelaron weapon.

Star Trek: Nemesis Was Tom Hardy's First Major Movie Role

Playing shinzon was hardy's big break.

Tom Hardy had roles in Black Hawk Down and Band of Brothers in 2001 before he was cast as Shinzon, and Star Trek: Nemesis was Hardy's big break. When he was cast as Captain Picard's evil clone , Hardy had the benefit of joining the established and popular Star Trek movie franchise and working with Sir Patrick Stewart, John Logan, who wrote Gladiator , Stuart Baird, who directed U.S. Marshals, and Ron Perlman, who played Shinzon's Viceroy. Shinzon, the main villain of Star Trek: Nemesis , was meant to be a showcase role for Hardy.

Tom Hardy emerged with his career unblemished by Star Trek: Nemesis.

Unfortunately, Star Trek: Nemesis was a disappointment that failed to find a wider audience or appeal to the core Star Trek fanbase. Star Trek: Nemesis bombing ended the Star Trek: The Next Generation movie franchise, and there were no more Star Trek movies for 7 years before J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek successfully with Chris Pine leading a new Starship Enterprise cast. However, I'm not surprised Tom Hardy emerged with his career unblemished by Star Trek: Nemesis .

Watching Star Trek: Nemesis, Hardy's Star Potential Wasn't Immediately Obvious

Star trek: nemesis wasn't tom hardy's best performance.

The great performances to come and recognition that would await Tom Hardy weren't immediately obvious from Star Trek: Nemesis. Since Shinzon was Picard's clone, Hardy needed to physically resemble Patrick Stewart's Enterprise Captain, which resulted in Shinzon being bald and wearing a prosthetic nose. Shinzon was meant to be as brilliant as Captain Picard and a formidable leader, yet Hardy's clone was ill-defined and lacked the intended menace. To me, Shinzon comes off as petulant and incompetent as the leader of the Remans bent on destroying the Federation. Star Trek: Nemesis' subplot where Shinzon psychically violated Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) also did Tom Hardy no favors.

Captain Picard's Enterprise faced a series of major league villains in Star Trek: The Next Generation's movies, but who's the baddest of them all?

In his memoir, Making It So , Patrick Stewart called Tom Hardy "odd and solitary" on set, but he acknowledged Tom's acting talent . Watching Hardy perform as Shinzon, he doesn't come off as Picard's equal, although Tom does capably hold his own in his scenes with Stewart. But Tom Hardy's volatility, unpredictability, and edge are bubbling underneath the surface, albeit hamstrung by Shinzon needing to be a fractured mirror reflection of Captain Picard.

Tom Hardy's Career Is Probably The Best Thing To Come Out Of Star Trek: Nemesis

Hardy is a major hollywood star today.

Tom Hardy rose to greater heights after Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002, and he quickly put Shinzon behind him. Certainly, working with director Christopher Nolan elevated Tom Hardy's career to another leve l. Hardy stole scenes as Eames in Inception before Nolan cast him as Bane, the villain of The Dark Knight Rises. Becoming the burly Bane meant Hardy had the unenviable task of following the late Heath Ledger's Academy Award-winning performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight , but Tom wowed audiences with his powerful Batman villain. Hardy worked with Nolan once more in Dunkirk as his career continued its hot streak.

Tom Hardy's brilliant performance in The Revenant earned him an Academy Award nomination of his own. Now a respected Hollywood A-lister , Hardy balances his choices between interesting and eclectic film and TV projects that showcase his talents like Locke, Peaky Blinders, and The Bikeriders with major Hollywood franchises, such as playing the titular characters in Mad Max: Fury Road and Marvel's Venom trilogy. Tom Hardy's roles tend to skew toward the villainous, and playing Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis did kickstart him toward his destiny as an actor and movie star.

Star Trek: Nemesis

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The 5 Worst Episodes Of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ranked

In the eyes of Trekkies,  "Star Trek: The Next Generation" may be the greatest TV series of all time . No other show — not "The Sopranos," not "M*A*S*H," not "Manimal" — has come close to the high quality and rich premise of the adventures of the Enterprise-D in the 24th century. Famously, creator Gene Roddenberry took core concepts from his 1966 "Star Trek" series and enhanced them for "The Next Generation," creating an even more aggressively utopian world that was even more forthright about its anticapitalist, anticolonialist intentions. He even instigated a rule among the show's writers that no two characters were allowed to bicker, and no stories could stem from interpersonal conflicts. In Roddenberry's vision, everyone got along at all times.

Writers, naturally hated this idea, as they felt conflict is the best way to create drama. For the first two seasons, Roddenberry, writers, and lawyers all butted heads over the series. It's no wonder that most of the show's worst episodes come from those first two seasons.

Of course, "The Next Generation" had its fair share of stinkers, producing some horribly written, contrived, sexist, racist, or just plain obnoxious episodes. The bad episodes, especially after season 2, are few and far between, but they are certainly not absent. In many cases, one can practically picture the show's writers banging their heads against the wall, trying to come up with something filmable under a deadline.

And we Trekkies always noticed when it was crunch time. As much as we love "Star Trek," we also tend to be its harshest critics, happy to point out plot errors, canonical inconsistencies, or bad character choices to anyone willing to listen. In that spirit, here are the five worst episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," ranked from least-worst to, er, most-worst.

5. Sub Rosa

In "Sub Rosa" (January 31, 1994), Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) goes to the planet Caldos IV to attend her grandmother's funeral. Her grandmother, Felisa (Ellen Albertini Dow), lived in a quaint Irish cabin with, Crusher is shocked to learn, a 34-year-old live-in lover named Ronin (Duncan Regehr). Ronin, however, is said to be a ghost (!) who can only appear to corporeal beings if someone lights an ancient candle. Dr. Crusher, acting under Ronin's ghostly influence, lights the candle and a man from the cover of a Harlequin romance novel appears. He says he's in love with Dr. Crusher and implores that she leave the Enterprise.

There are multiple scenes in "Sub Rosa" wherein McFadden, possessed by a green ghostly cloud, writhes around in sexual ecstasy. There is also a scene later in the episode wherein Geordi (LeVar Burton) and Data (Brent Spiner) exhume Felisa's corpse, only to witness her springing back to life and attacking them with green lightning. The idea of haunted candles, sex ghosts, and lighting-imbued gramma corpses would have been fine elements to include in a Full Moon horror movie from 1986, but in "Star Trek," it feels absurd and odd The episode then tries to use sci-fi to explain all the weird haunting crap by stating that Ronin was an anaphasic alien and that the candle was his energy recepticle. Um ... okay.

"Sub Rosa" is also bad because the ordinarily stalwart Dr. Crusher is so easily manipulated by a man in a leather vest. Dr. Crusher can pursue whatever sex life she wants, but one would hope she'd be wiser than to boink a creepy candle ghost.

4. Angel One

Also known as "the sexist one," the episode "Angel One" (January 25, 1988) takes place mostly on the titular planet, which, it is explained, is a matriarchal society. The women occupy the seats of power, whereas men — physically smaller and weaker in this species — tend to serve in servant positions. The leader of Angel One is Beata (Karen Montgomery), who is stingy with the Enterprise-D's requests to search her planet for a crashed ship. Beata eventually agrees to some investigations. However, she demands to canoodle with Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in exchange.

The idea of "Angel One," I think, was to depict a society in which women were in charge, and reveal that it was better run than any ol' patriarchy we might have here on Earth. Or perhaps it was meant as a topsy-turvy metaphor for the mistreatment of women by flipping the script on traditional gender oppression. The problem is that Beata is depicted as horny and unwise, while Angel One's matriarchy is intolerant of traditional marriages and men's rights. It feels gross, self-pitying, and ultimately, yes, sexist.

"Angel One" also reeks of Gene Roddenberry's tendency to create male porno scenarios in space . A planet of sexually assertive women who want to pluck and devour the men of their choice? One can grasp how Roddenberry might see that as self-insert fiction.

There is also a subplot about a rampant virus on board the Enterprise, but who cares? I forgot that subplot was part of "Angel One" and I've seen the episode multiple times.

3. Cost of Living

Also known as the "Auntie Mame" episode, "Cost of Living" (April 20, 1992) looks away from the show's main characters to focus on the relationship between Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana (Majel Barrett) and Worf's son Alexander (Brian Bonsall). Lwaxana is there to marry a stuffed-shirt diplomat she doesn't care about, and keeps eschewing her own wedding prep to spend time with an eight-year-old boy. She takes him into the holodeck where they watch jugglers and bathe in mud (which looks unsettlingly like pudding). The multicolored head in a bubble is played by Dustin Diamond.

Alexander loves spending time with Lwaxana, as she encourages him to break rules and live for the moment. This is horrible advice, given that Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) has been working very hard with Worf (Michael Dorn) and Alexander to develop a mutual respect, discipline, and a healthy father/son regard. Lwaxana's advice, for however fun it might sound, is undoing all that.

Lwaxana may be a force of nature in "Star Trek," but here, she's more annoying than anything. One can see her not listening to or giving practical advice, and brushing off her own daughter in favor of ludicrous Cirque du Soleil shows. The episode meanders through a miasma of bad parenting and ultimately says that it's okay to loosen up sometimes, parenting be damned. Then there are the multiple scenes of Lwaxana in a mud bath with Alexander, which are simply unpleasant. In the future, it seems, the ultimate luxury is to sit around in a vat of oobleck.

2. Code of Honor

Also known as "the racist one,"  the episode "Code of Honor" (October 12, 1987) was misguided from the start. In the episode, the Enterprise visits the planet of Ligon II looking for a vaccine, only to encounter a culture devoted to, well, a strict code of honor. They respect physical strength and fighting prowess, and have complex customs devoted to exchanging respect. In early versions of the script, the "Star Trek" writers envisioned the Ligonians as reptilian beings that abide by the rules of feudal Japan. When the episode was finally shot, the Ligonians were all played by Black actors and dressed in a sci-fi version of 1940s tribal African garb.

The visuals and ideas were a throwback to dated Hollywood tropes, and even some of the showrunners hated how it was turning out. The episode's original director was fired partway through production, perhaps because of his decision to make the Ligonians into dated caricatures. "Star Trek," as mentioned, frequently aspires to be anticolonialist, but the old-fashioned costumes force audiences to think of painful depictions of "darkest Africa" in colonialism-forward Hollywood movies from generations ago. Congratulations, "Star Trek," you did the opposite of what you should have been doing.

Additionally, the titular code of honor is based on old notions of sexism, while the plot featured the kidnapping of Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) because she's pretty. Yar and a Ligonian name Yareena (Karole Selmon) eventually have to fight to the death in a risible cage match that had been seen in multiple episodes of the original "Star Trek." In addition to everything else, "Code of Honor" is a snore.

1. Shades of Gray

"Shades of Gray" (July 17, 1989) served as the "Next Generation" season 2 finale, by which point the show had run out of money. A writers' strike had shortened production on the season , forcing it to top off at 22 episodes instead of the usual 26. Because of this, a lot of the season's scripts suffered and the finale had to find a way to cut some corners.

The solution was that most insulting of endeavors: a clip show. I understand that in the days before streaming, reruns were catch-as-catch-can, and many viewers may not have seen every single episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Nevertheless, trying to pad out an episode with clips from previous episodes still felt cheap. What's more, when scenes were presented out of context like in "Shades of Gray," they wouldn't make sense to the casual viewer anyway. It was misguided and desperate.

The premise of the episode is fine enough: Riker is scratched by an alien planet that gives him a strange virus. He falls into a coma, so Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) has to stimulate his cerebral activity to keep the virus from reaching his brain. She inserts needles into Riker's skull, causing him to have flashbacks to earlier scenes from the series.

"Shades of Gray" is notorious for its cheapness and it frequently tops lists of the worst "Next Generation" episodes. Having rewatched it recently, it doesn't emerge any better than it did in 1989. It's still just a clip show. What's more, the acting is terrible, with every character playing up every scene to the extreme, forcing the episode into a melodramatic territory that almost feels like parody. This is nobody's favorite episode for one basic reason: it sucks.