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She's the ship's counselor, a Betazoid empath, and a lover of all things chocolate. Dive deep into the story of Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation with these 10 fascinating facts, including a surprising casting swap you won't believe!
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00:00Hey folks, before we start, just want to say a really quick thank you to Squarespace who
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00:05She's everyone's favourite Betazoid and she's actually just a little bit deadly.
00:10She's Deanna Troi and today we're going to go through all these cool little tidbits about
00:13her.
00:14But, before we watch this video make sure that you check out the original article by
00:18the wonderful Jack Kiley.
00:20Yous are stunning, yous are wonderful.
00:22I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture and here are 10 things you didn't know about Deanna
00:27Troi.
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01:57Number 10.
01:58The role first went to Denise Crosby.
02:01Before filming began on Star Trek The Next Generation, the producers were set on casting
02:04Denise Crosby in the role of Deanna Troi, and at the same time Marina Sirtis was reading
02:09for the part of Masha Hernandez, who later became Natasha Yar.
02:12Crosby admitted that she had difficulties with her fit for the role, not quite grasping,
02:16as she once stated, the gobbledygook and weird concept of a Betazoid.
02:20It was Gene Roddenberry who eventually swapped the roles.
02:22It was decided that Cirtis was a better fit for the part of the empathic Troi.
02:25In Crosby's words, citing Roddenberry however, she, the actress, was just this kind of American
02:31golden girl compared to the more exotic otherworldly element that was wanted for Troi.
02:35In any case, the switch happened not a moment too soon.
02:37When Cirtis got the call confirming she'd got the part, her US visa was due to expire
02:41that very day.
02:43The actress was packing her bags, a little dejected, for a return to her hometown of London.
02:47Thankfully, the rest is history.
02:48Had Roddenberry not changed things, perhaps Troi, and not Yar, would have met her end
02:52at the hands, gloopy pseudo appendages, of the grumpy old prank mate Armas.
02:58Number 9.
02:58Character Constructs Not a Total Recall
03:01What you may not know is that the character Troi first took reference from prior Trek,
03:05and Ilea in particular from the motion picture.
03:07Think Deltans and Betazoids and their mental capabilities.
03:12The latter was already a carryover from the abandoned project Star Trek Phase 2.
03:16Ilea's relationship with Will Decker was then the model to build that between Troi and Riker.
03:21Both Marina Cirtis and Denise Crosby also originally considered Troi to be Spock-like.
03:25The character description for Troi in the TNGC's Bible does make passing reference to
03:30Spock, but this is merely to flesh out the counsellor's telepathic abilities.
03:33Troi was ultimately meant to be her own person, her role nonetheless second in importance only to the
03:39Captain and First Officer, according to the series Bible once more.
03:42There seems to be some confusion surrounding the original intent for the character, however.
03:46Between conflicting descriptions of Roddenberry calling Troi both the brain on the show and
03:50sexy and not very bright, it is difficult to know what to think.
03:53Apparently Roddenberry initially wanted Troi to have three, or even four depending on the source,
03:58breasts, before DC Fontana thankfully convinced him otherwise.
04:02Cirtis would later note that, with the costume changes of Season 1,
04:05when Troi got cleavage she lost her brain matter, then only really gained some back when she regained the uniform.
04:12Number 8. She nearly didn't make it past Season 1 of TNG.
04:16Given the pandemonium behind the scenes, it is a wonder anyone made it past the first season of TNG.
04:21We all know what happened to Natasha Yard, Denise Crosby and Dr Crusher Gates McFadden.
04:25What you probably didn't know, however, is that it was Troi who was originally on the chopping block.
04:29Several fairly significant changes had already been made to the character between the pilot and the rest of the season.
04:34The extent of Troi's powers was reduced with regards to her telepathic capabilities, as she also changed outfit and hairstyle.
04:40No longer was she dressed in that god-awful cosmic cheerleader uniform, with the ugliest go-go boots ever designed,
04:46as Marina Cirtis herself famously described it.
04:49The writers struggled with the character and empathic abilities.
04:51According to Cirtis, she was often simply written out of scenes where Troi's presence could have been problematic for the
04:56plot.
04:57As Captain Jimmie once said, what I wouldn't give for a Betazoid right now.
05:00This led the writers to consider nixing the character before the end of the first season.
05:04It was only with the departure of Crosby and McFadden from the show that Troi was given leave to remain.
05:09Cirtis found this out straight from the horse's mouth at Jonathan Frakes' wedding during the break between seasons,
05:14when Gene Roddenberry approached her to announce that the first episode of Season 2 would focus on Troi.
05:19Number 7 Marina Cirtis hated all that chocolate
05:23In TNG at least, Troi seemed to accumulate a lot of serious and dark scenes, some of which we've already
05:29discussed.
05:29She loses her empathic powers, is rapidly aged by a malicious alien ambassador, has her body taken over by a
05:34criminal imposter,
05:35is transformed into an amphibian, must do the acting job of her life aboard a Romulan starship, and that's not
05:40to mention having to negotiate the difficult relationship she has with her mother.
05:43Of course, her role as counsellor requires her to be more earnest than most, but there are lighter moments for
05:48Troi.
05:49One now famous example is her adoration and borderline addiction to chocolate.
05:53Well, it is a galaxy-class starship. Sorry.
05:56In the episode, The Game, Riker finds Troi tucking into a bowl of chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate.
06:02She proceeds to explain to him, in the minutest of detail, the fine art of the confectionary's consumption.
06:07Remember, it's the whole experience.
06:09What you may not know, however, is far from never having met a chocolate she didn't like, was that Marina
06:14Cirtis hated having to eat it.
06:16Contrary to the popular belief, the actress does like chocolate, but eating that much take after take would be too
06:21much for anybody.
06:22Apparently, she would ask the crew to use a type of chocolate she didn't like, and then she would spit
06:26out what she ate into a bucket.
06:28Number 6. Her changing accent has an origin story.
06:31The original casting call for Troi, not without a few uncomfortable of-the-time aftertastes and clichés and all its
06:37pan-European vagueness, states that Diana is probably foreign, anywhere from Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, Icelandic, etc. with looks and
06:45accent to match.
06:46Marina Cirtis, who was born in London, east and then moved north, to Greek parents, is fluent in Greek, is
06:51skilled at accents, and was tasked at creating a Betazoid one for Troi.
06:55She opted for a mixture of Eastern European and what she drew from the accent of an Israeli friend.
07:01The problem with this is that when we met Troi's Betazoid mother, Lwaxana, she sounded, for want of a more
07:06precise description, American.
07:08Cirtis was then told that Diana got her accent from her father, but when we meet him, he also sounds
07:13generic American, the actor hails from Texas, so that didn't fit either.
07:17Understandably a bit frustrated, Cirtis eventually just switched to something more mid-Atlantic as the series and films progressed, at
07:23times closer to her native north London, and at other times more American.
07:27The actress stated that if she could change one thing about her time on TNG, I wouldn't give Diana a
07:32foreign accent, even though her mother is a Betazoid.
07:34Number 5. She might have married Riker in Season 7 of TNG.
07:39All good things must come to an end, naked on Betazet, or it could very well have turned out this
07:44way before the series finale.
07:45In the actual Season 7, we got to see a relationship between Troi and Worf, but it was all a
07:50bit weird and never really went anywhere as Worf was transferred to Deep Space Nine.
07:53The two were married with kids in a parallel universe that Prime Worf stumbles into, and Troi even killed Worf
07:59in an empathic hallucination that mirrored events which took place when the Enterprise D was under construction.
08:03In an interview, Marina Cirtis shared her views on the relationship.
08:06I didn't like the fact that he totally became un-Klingon like when he was with Troi.
08:10I liked better the relationship he had with Dax over on Deep Space Nine.
08:13Furthermore, she felt that Troi Riker made a much better couple, and I think we can all agree with that.
08:18In fact, the idea of the pair tying the knot in TNG's final season was popular among the writers until
08:23producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller phased with the suggestion down in flames.
08:26Perhaps Riker wasn't emotionally ready enough to be parted with his beard at that stage.
08:31To paraphrase the Beatles, all you need is metaphasic radiation.
08:35Number 4. Marina Cirtis was directed by Jonathan Frakes in an episode of The Orville.
08:39Seth MacFarlane's The Orville is a great piece of science fiction in its own right.
08:43Season 4, anyone please?
08:44MacFarlane makes no secret of his love for Star Trek as a source of inspiration.
08:47He even appeared in Enterprise, and there was that hilarious episode of Family Guy when the Next Generation cast.
08:52These aren't Star Trek questions, what the hell?
08:54Many veteran Star Trek writers and producers such as Bran and Braga, Joe Minoski and David A. Goodman have worked
08:59on The Orville,
09:00and Jonathan Frakes has called his show Star Trek with Comedy.
09:03Marina Cirtis appeared in the Orville's second season episode Sanctuary in the role of a shipboard school teacher directed by
09:09Jonathan Frakes.
09:10It was hard not to see a bit of TNG reunion for the pair, or even for the quasi-return
09:15of Troi in a different guise.
09:16Cirtis said of the experience, just being on The Orville, everything looks like The Next Generation.
09:21It was almost like stepping back in time with Jonathan directing.
09:23Frakes has also likened the directing style on The Orville to that of the TNG.
09:27In this standout episode of the programme, the parallels are evident, and Cirtis, as school teacher,
09:32plays a counselling role to the young Moklan Topa and parents Bortus and Clyden.
09:37Number 3, we don't know much about Picard Season 3, but Troi will be in it a lot.
09:42Now, warning, these are very possible spoilers ahead.
09:45Troi was often sidelined in The Next Generation as the Captain-there-hiding-something character.
09:49Worse, in the films, Cirtis was relegated to an almost bit-part role.
09:53The actress has admitted that she was often decorative and was ultimately fine with that,
09:57wishing nonetheless that she had suggested more storylines, particularly between other women, for Troi to the writers.
10:02In an interview for the Blu-ray release of the films, Cirtis also laments that she tried and failed to
10:07make Troi funny
10:08during TNG's run to the point where she even asked her agent only to find her dramatic roles after the
10:14series end.
10:15Fortunately, she was delighted with the now legendary drunk scene in First Contact and changed her mind about doing comedy.
10:20What can we say?
10:21The limited amount of information that we have is that Troi will be a big part to play in the
10:25third and final season of Star Trek Picard.
10:27In the words of Cirtis herself during a red carpet news interview, we are in it, we are in it,
10:31a lot.
10:32The actress has also stated that, having felt discarded by Nemesis, the cast was cherished on Picard.
10:37And, whilst executive producer Terry Metallus has ominously warned us that the safety of the characters is not guaranteed in
10:43Season 3,
10:44Cirtis said she would gladly return to the role in another spin-off.
10:47Death of a character is certainly no hindrance in any case, especially with the multiple time periods of the shows.
10:51And… Temporal Investigations has just arrived.
10:552. Marina Cirtis had a few mishaps on set
10:58The character of Deanna Troi was accustomed to witnessing disaster, destruction and injury.
11:02After all, she did, under orders, fly the Enterprise-E at full impulse into the Scimitar.
11:06She also unexpectedly found herself in command in an episode quite literally called Disaster.
11:11The woman behind the role, Marina Cirtis, equally had a couple of noteworthy accidents on set which you might not
11:16be aware of.
11:17One on-set mishap befell Cirtis during the filming of Generations.
11:20During the battle scene with the Klingons, consoles were blowing up left and right.
11:23When Troi goes to replace an injured officer at the con, Cirtis actually sat on a piece of degree from
11:28the explosions and burnt her bottom.
11:29Thankfully, she wasn't badly hurt.
11:31Another such incident occurred during the filming of the Next Generation episode Power Play in a scene on the surface
11:35of the planet.
11:36O'Brien, Riker, Data and Troi are thrown violently backwards by an EM discharge just before they can be beamed
11:42back onto the ship.
11:43Whilst the other three actors had stunt doubles perform this for them, Cirtis wanted to do the stunt herself, with
11:48the encouragement of the director.
11:49She committed to it so much that, when she landed on her back, she damaged her coccyx and was in
11:52pain for months.
11:53Fair play to her. A couple of rounds of Frere Jacques won't make you forget that.
11:56Number 1. She has appeared in 5 series, 4 films and on a stamp.
12:01One of the most prolific characters of the franchise, Marina Cirtis starred as Troi in the Next Generation and has
12:06appeared in Voyager, Lower Decks, Picard and Enterprise.
12:09Whatever your thoughts on that last one, it still counts.
12:12She is beaten only by Jonathan Frakes as Riker in that regard, who also appeared in the episode Defiant of
12:18DS9.
12:19Cirtis is the only woman to appear as the same character in as many series.
12:22However, she is among great company as one of only six actors to appear in two series finales.
12:28We'll let you figure that one out for yourselves.
12:30Troi was, of course, in each of the TNG movies.
12:34A recent highlight, aside from Picard, are her appearances in Lower Decks, where she is often the foil for the
12:40bombastic Riker.
12:41What you may also not know, unless you are already a fabulously Fidelius fellatist, is that Deanna Troi is one
12:47of the 18 characters,
12:49including the likes of Janeway, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Archer, Spock, Reed, Burnham,
12:54to have been commemorated on a set of UK first-class postage stamps in November 2020 as a celebration of
13:01Star Trek.
13:01You'd be mad to post them, of course, but it would make for some epic snail mail.
13:05That's everything for our list today, folks. If there's anything else that we missed, let us know in the comments
13:08below.
13:09And again, thanks so much to Squarespace for sponsoring this video.
13:12Don't forget to head to www.squarespace.com forward slash TrekCulture for a free trial and 10% off your
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13:20Thank you so much for watching. And of course, don't forget to check out Jack's original article over on whatculture
13:26.com.
13:27You can catch us on Twitter at TrekCulture.
13:29You can catch us on Instagram at TrekCultureYT.
13:30You can catch myself at Sean Ferrick on Twitter, at Sean.Ferrick88 on Instagram, and at Sean Ferrick on Hive.
13:38Look after yourselves that I'm talking to you again.
13:40Make sure that you live long and prosper. Have a wonderful big few days. Make it so.
13:44I'm going to have a good one.
13:44Bye-bye.
13:44Bye-bye.
13:44Bye-bye.