Star Trek’s Most Hated Relationship Started As A Joke

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 30 seconds ago

The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Parallels” is controversial for many reasons, including the fact that it basically brought the concept of the multiverse to this long-running sci-fi franchise. Arguably, though, the most controversial thing about this episode is that it introduced the idea of a romance between Worf and Deanna Troi, and they entered into a relationship that lasted the rest of the series. This angered many fans, and they’ll probably get even angrier at this particular revelation: the Worf/Troi relationship started as a literal joke among the show’s writers.

In case you needed any more reasons to embrace physical media, the Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-rays are full of special features with plenty of surprising insights into the show, including what the writers thought about various character romances. For example, the Season 7 set includes a commentary track for “Parallels” in which veteran show writer Brannon Braga revealed that the very idea of making Worf and Troi a couple began as a joke in the writer’s room. 

The Joke That Nobody Laughed At

He didn’t elaborate on how the joke started, but it presumably had to do with the wild differences between these two characters. After all, she’s a warm and gentle Betazoid therapist who can read emotions, and he’s a gruff and angry Klingon security chief who solves all his problems with violence!

Incidentally, the joke started much earlier than you might think. Even though the Worf/Troi romance (Troirf? Tough to give these two a celebrity couple name!) didn’t start until Season 7, Braga (as quoted in Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) claimed that the writers started dropping hints that these two might get together as early as Season 5.  This is most clear in the episode “Ethics,” where Worf asked Troi (someone that he had been relying on for parenting advice) to become the guardian of his son, Alexander, in the event of Worf’s death.

Putting Together The Clues (Or Not)

If you didn’t clock those early clues about a Worf and Troi romance, don’t be too hard on yourself. Branna Braga claimed that “most people didn’t pick up on the relationship we were trying to evolve,” something he thought “was good.” He liked that most fans missed these clues because one alternate universe in “Parallels” showed these characters as man and wife, and he wanted “that surprise when we find out they’re married” to be as explosive as possible.

It may have started as a joke, but when did the Star Trek: The Next Generation writers start taking the idea of a Worf/Troi romance more seriously? According to Braga, it began when the writers and production crew were reviewing the dailies (the raw, unedited footage of scenes shot throughout the day) for various episodes. They began to notice that actors Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis had a surprising amount of chemistry in their shared scenes, and they began a long-term plan to transform Worf and Troi into the show’s most surprising couple.

Romance? Set Your Phasers To Stunning!

While this was an undoubtedly bold move, it didn’t make everyone happy. For example, executive producer Jeri Taylor (also quoted in Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) said that the “Worf-Troi thing” was “kinda fun, but it infuriates some people.” According to her, the angriest fans were the ones who were “so upset that we didn’t put Riker and Troi together and just get it over with,” and their collective response to the show’s creative team boiled down to “how dare we introduce this!”

Ironically enough, Riker actor Jonathan Frakes also disliked the relationship, because (as quoted in Star Trek: Communicator, issue 105) the very idea “is just absurd!” He noted that “it makes for great material at conventions, but for real character development, I think it’s ridiculous. Later, he got to rectify this storytelling mistake in a bold way: in Frakes’ Star Trek: Insurrection, he rekindled the romance between Riker and Troi, and the two ultimately got married in Star Trek: Nemesis.

Brannon Braga may have been tickled by the idea of hooking Worf and Troi up, but it wasn’t meant to be: not only did Troi go on to marry Riker, but Worf ended up marrying Jadzia Dax, a character who tragically died at the hands of Gul Dukat. To this day, Star Trek fans are still scratching their heads, asking questions like, “What did Worf and Troi even talk about on dates?” Of course, after Discovery seemingly confirmed that Klingons have two penises, fans had more questions (and quite a few more fanfics) about this controversial couple than ever before!