Index of pages on various cultural and media topics
By Richard Bruce BA, MA, and PhC in Economics

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Deanna Troi of Star Trek has Much in Common with Wonder Woman

Deanna Troi of Star Trek the Next Generation is half human, half Betazoid. This gives her psionic ability to sense emotions. She frequently reads the aliens that the Enterprise encounters to determine if they are lying. Wonder Woman has a magic golden lasso. When this is wrapped around anyone they are forced to tell the truth. So Deanna Troi and Wonder Woman have similar powers. They can both learn to some degree what people are thinking even when that person wishes to conceal it.

It should be noted that in personality they are quite different. Wonder Woman is a warrior. Deanna Troi is notably the least military major officer in the show. She wears a different and more feminine uniform than the other female officers.

Wonder Woman is a princess of the Amazon race or tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology. There are many Greek elements in Star Trek's Deanna Troi. This is a little odd as she is half alien. First, her last name is Troi, which is pronounced the same as Troy. The Amazons fought on the side of Troy in the Trojan War.

Her first name is Deanna, which is pronounced the same as the Roman goddess Dianna. The Romans eventually decided that Dianna was the same as the Greek goddess Artemis. Wonder Woman goes by the name Dianna Prince in the human world. So both characters effectively share the same first name.

Deanna Troi is half Betazoid. Beta is the second letter in the Greek alphabet.

The actress who played Deanna Troi, Marina Sirtis, is British, but her ethnicity is Greek. She shares the long black hair of Wonder Woman.

On the other hand as mentioned above Deanna Troi has a radically different personality, a lover not a fighter and very feminine.

Of course Star Trek used names from Greek and Romans for other races, the Vulcans and the Romulans so it could be reasonably argued that the Greek elements of Counselor Deanna Troi are not surprising.

The TV show Wonder Woman was on the air for three years, ending 1979, Star Trek, The Next Generation began eight years later.

So it seems possible that Wonder Woman influenced several elements in the Character of Deanna Troi, but of course it could easily have been coincidence.

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Created November 22, 2016

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