My only question is why Picard is the only captain to apparently have done it before or afterward (aside from Janeway in Prodigy, and keeping the kids under control during the secret mission would require special circumstances).
If I’m remembering correctly, Troi’s seat was reserved for subject specialists, so the captain could immediately consult with an expert on whatever it was they were dealing with at that time. An empath and counselor makes sense for Picard as one of Starfleet’s best diplomats, I think. I suspect other Starfleet captains we meet have other priorities (ahem, Janeway on VOY)!
If you want to know the actual reason is that Roddenberry planned for his wife (Marjel Barrett) to be Number 1 in TOS and basically have the ship deeply dependent on her. The Studio canned the idea, and she was relegated to playing nurse Chapel.
So TNG was a chance to revive the idea with Counsellor Troi looking after the whole ship via her job, but this too was downgraded so she was just another character on the show rather than the center of the crew’s lives.
That doesn’t surprise me, but it does surprise me that all future Star Trek people (outside of Prodigy) treated it like it wasn’t standard, and yet no one ever really said anything about it beyond Jellico making her put on a real uniform.
Because the time frame that TNG takes place in. It was a peaceful era and the Galaxy Class ship was designed for prolonged exploration and ambassador missions. Due to the long periods in space the Federation designed the ship to accommodate families of the Starfleet officers. That’s also why the ship could separate, the battle bridge could go into combat while the civilians stayed behind in the saucer section. With these long voyages and family aboard they thought it was important to include mental health being an importance, so important that Troi was a bridge officer.
Voyager was a smaller ship made purely for scientific research and wasn’t supposed to be gone for so long. Also, after the discovery of the Borg, the Federation changed their ship designs to have more combat in mind.
discovery of the Borg, the Federation changed their ship designs
They hired a Klingon consultancy firm which suggested ‘Shoot first, and then have diplomatic conversations with their corpses.’ as the improved Federation policy.
I always find it amusing how supposedly pacifist Starfleet ships could take on their counterparts two to four on one and still come out winning on a routine basis, despite Klingons being both an older race and vastly more violent.
Them and Romulans. And borg. And the species that were kicking the borg’s ass.
Oooh, ooh, I get to use my favorite theory on the internet!
So I don’t think it’s a violence vs pacifism fight, but rather the VERY clear fact that the Federation is technologically superior to all the antagonists they’ve had to deal with.
So much so that they willingly disregarded research into certain military technologies via treaties simply because they didn’t need them, and were very certain they’d be on the top of the heap even without them.
And it’d be why, when the Romulans returned, there was an implied ‘Well fuck!’ when they saw what a warbird looked like now, and that it was on par with the best the Federation was fielding.
So back to the technological superiority bit: Q actually says this before tossing the Enterprise to the Borg. Everyone was smug, because they knew they were superior to the Cardassians and Klingons and to some extent, even the Romulans still.
The Borg was a nasty wakeup call that, no, they’re not some pinnacle of engineering might but still on the bottom of the barrel and just deluded because everyone who happened to be neighbors were worse but that was only a fluke of uh, geography.
And for that theory: Q tossed the Enterprise at the Borg because he’s a fan of humans for some reason, and that was an easy way to force a massive military buildup and thus the only way the Federation had even the slightest chance against the Dominion.
The primary strength of the federation wasn’t that it’s technologically advanced- rather that it was relatively technologically adaptable.
It was that adaptable nature that allowed Janeway et all to defeat the borg (and everybody else.)
I subscribe to the theory that the reason Q screwed around with humanity as much as he did was to push them towards being able to defeat the borg- throwing them at the cube let them see what they were up against and begin preparing before the borg were on the federation’s doorstep.
As for humanity in particular, I suspect it’s because the federation is unique in that, as seven of nine said, a collective of many voices in harmony. (More or less.)
It’s a lot of diverse worlds working together, without there being some controlling force (like the borg’s hive mind, or the Dominion’s founders,) keeping everything from flying apart.
This diversity of thought was its real strength, and it was humanity that laid the foundation for it. (Because off course we did.)
Well, impaths were rare in the federation, and this one could sense things over extreme distances. Why any creature would need to evolve the ability to sense feelings from orbit, I have no idea.
My only question is why Picard is the only captain to apparently have done it before or afterward (aside from Janeway in Prodigy, and keeping the kids under control during the secret mission would require special circumstances).
If I’m remembering correctly, Troi’s seat was reserved for subject specialists, so the captain could immediately consult with an expert on whatever it was they were dealing with at that time. An empath and counselor makes sense for Picard as one of Starfleet’s best diplomats, I think. I suspect other Starfleet captains we meet have other priorities (ahem, Janeway on VOY)!
That does make sense.
Before she became First Officer and switched seats, Commander Shelby sat in that seat.
Aren’t you forgetting someone?
That crew is as stuffed with mental issues as a Thanksgiving turkey is stuffed with stuffing.
You are correct. I did forget him.
If you want to know the actual reason is that Roddenberry planned for his wife (Marjel Barrett) to be Number 1 in TOS and basically have the ship deeply dependent on her. The Studio canned the idea, and she was relegated to playing nurse Chapel.
So TNG was a chance to revive the idea with Counsellor Troi looking after the whole ship via her job, but this too was downgraded so she was just another character on the show rather than the center of the crew’s lives.
That doesn’t surprise me, but it does surprise me that all future Star Trek people (outside of Prodigy) treated it like it wasn’t standard, and yet no one ever really said anything about it beyond Jellico making her put on a real uniform.
Because the time frame that TNG takes place in. It was a peaceful era and the Galaxy Class ship was designed for prolonged exploration and ambassador missions. Due to the long periods in space the Federation designed the ship to accommodate families of the Starfleet officers. That’s also why the ship could separate, the battle bridge could go into combat while the civilians stayed behind in the saucer section. With these long voyages and family aboard they thought it was important to include mental health being an importance, so important that Troi was a bridge officer.
Voyager was a smaller ship made purely for scientific research and wasn’t supposed to be gone for so long. Also, after the discovery of the Borg, the Federation changed their ship designs to have more combat in mind.
They hired a Klingon consultancy firm which suggested ‘Shoot first, and then have diplomatic conversations with their corpses.’ as the improved Federation policy.
So really, don’t need an empathic counselor.
I always find it amusing how supposedly pacifist Starfleet ships could take on their counterparts two to four on one and still come out winning on a routine basis, despite Klingons being both an older race and vastly more violent.
Them and Romulans. And borg. And the species that were kicking the borg’s ass.
Oooh, ooh, I get to use my favorite theory on the internet!
So I don’t think it’s a violence vs pacifism fight, but rather the VERY clear fact that the Federation is technologically superior to all the antagonists they’ve had to deal with.
So much so that they willingly disregarded research into certain military technologies via treaties simply because they didn’t need them, and were very certain they’d be on the top of the heap even without them.
And it’d be why, when the Romulans returned, there was an implied ‘Well fuck!’ when they saw what a warbird looked like now, and that it was on par with the best the Federation was fielding.
So back to the technological superiority bit: Q actually says this before tossing the Enterprise to the Borg. Everyone was smug, because they knew they were superior to the Cardassians and Klingons and to some extent, even the Romulans still.
The Borg was a nasty wakeup call that, no, they’re not some pinnacle of engineering might but still on the bottom of the barrel and just deluded because everyone who happened to be neighbors were worse but that was only a fluke of uh, geography.
And for that theory: Q tossed the Enterprise at the Borg because he’s a fan of humans for some reason, and that was an easy way to force a massive military buildup and thus the only way the Federation had even the slightest chance against the Dominion.
The primary strength of the federation wasn’t that it’s technologically advanced- rather that it was relatively technologically adaptable.
It was that adaptable nature that allowed Janeway et all to defeat the borg (and everybody else.)
I subscribe to the theory that the reason Q screwed around with humanity as much as he did was to push them towards being able to defeat the borg- throwing them at the cube let them see what they were up against and begin preparing before the borg were on the federation’s doorstep.
As for humanity in particular, I suspect it’s because the federation is unique in that, as seven of nine said, a collective of many voices in harmony. (More or less.)
It’s a lot of diverse worlds working together, without there being some controlling force (like the borg’s hive mind, or the Dominion’s founders,) keeping everything from flying apart.
This diversity of thought was its real strength, and it was humanity that laid the foundation for it. (Because off course we did.)
Well, impaths were rare in the federation, and this one could sense things over extreme distances. Why any creature would need to evolve the ability to sense feelings from orbit, I have no idea.
TNG tried a lot of things. remember the outright hostility towards wesley crusher? not doing that again lol
also they brought up the question “what if your lover was trill and got a new host body of a different gender,” which DS9 answered beautifully