Engineering pool table re-used in Starbase 74's uh, control room? Ops? Seems way too small for that. Maybe just a control centre for that particular docking slip.
A new screen was placed on the pool table to show the starbase schematic, larger than the usual one
They don't even have to change the Galaxy-class display as they're monitoring the Enterprise.
Love is still in the air this week on A Star to Steer Her By as we continue to read through our grandmothers’ erotic diaries. Last week was the lovefest that is The Original Series and this week we’re seeing who’s hornier: Jim Kirk or William Riker. It’s going to be a tight race!
That’s right: we’re getting breathlessly close with all our The Next Generation crewmembers, and we notice that the love interests are definitely better distributed across the cast than they were in the show’s predecessor. And we also get way more action between our main characters as well. Maybe that’s just what having more than one woman in the cast does, but it’s definitely a hallmark of any television drama. So serenade your loved one with a touching flute solo as you read on for our curated list of TNG romances and listen to it on this week’s podcast (sashay over to 55:18). When I have plucked the rose…
We learn in the premiere episode, “Encounter at Farpoint,” that Will and Deanna are exlovers. More than that, they are each other’s imzadi, which provides occasional tension and occasional sparks of reignited passion here and there throughout the show. They finally get back together in Insurrection, and get married in Nemesis, but we still wonder: were they each other’s best options? We’re going to see plenty more in this list, so wait with bated breath to be wooed…
Jean-Luc Picard x Beverly Crusher
Another couple with a history is the captain himself and his CMO. There’s something positively palpable between them when they’re space drunk in “The Naked Now,” and the whole of “Attached” explores the “what if” of it all by connecting the two of them at the brain, but we never really get the sense that these two can be more than just friends, even though by Star Trek: Picard, someone decided that wasn’t the case. But that’s for another day.
Data x Tasha Yar
That polywater disease rears its ugly head again in “The Naked Now,” and we can almost forgive it this time because Yar and Data are just so hot together. But it’s the lasting effects of the hookup that prove the most interesting. When Yar dies in “Skin of Evil,” Data is profoundly affected by it. And we even see in “The Measure of a Man” that he has kept mementos of Tasha, it’s way more human that we would have expected from the android. Who knew this metal marvel was capable of such love?
Deanna Troi x Wyatt Miller
Like Spock and T’Pring before, it turns out Troi was involved in a prearranged marriage, as we learn in “Haven.” And Wyatt, her betrothed, actually seems like a sweet enough guy! Too bad his heart belongs to another due to some alien fuckery. If not for his plague-riddled soulmate, he could have been really nice for Deanna because those two were starting to hit it off!
William Riker x Minuet
Okay, hear me out here. When Riker meets Minuet in “11001001,” she’s literally a holoprogram he’s concocted to specifically be thirsty for him. Which is fine; whatever happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. But when Barash creates a version of her in “Future Imperfect” to trick Riker into believing is his wife, you realize that there must’ve been enough of a connection there for the little alien dude to pick her out of countless other women in his memories.
Jean-Luc Picard x Jenice Manheim
We’re still in season 1, guys, and we’re already running into Picard’s ex-girlfriends. In “We’ll Always Have Paris,” we meet Jenice and it turns out it all came down to a choice between her and the captaincy, and we all know what Picard chose. When she reappears, even though she’s married, Jean-Luc starts really rethinking that decision. She’s a babe, so it must’ve been a tough one!
Deanna Troi x Riva
Our resident Betazoid is downright twitterpated by the Deaf mediator Riva in “Loud as a Whisper” and it’s actually quite lovely to watch the two of them connect though they don’t even share a common language. Instead they show their fluency in the language of love in a scene that is dripping with sexual tension. Sadly, Riva doesn’t stick around, but it’s clear these two had some solid chemistry.
Worf x K’Ehleyr
Worf’s old flame K’Ehleyr shows up in “The Emissary” and she is an entire smokeshow. Their feelings for each other are complex and steamy: a Klingon orphan raised by humans and a half-Klingon half-human woman whose unique heritages compliment each other in interesting ways. We maintain that Worf is punching way above his weight since K’Ehleyr is a damn catch while he’s a fuddyduddy stick in the mud, but his conflicted feelings make it all the more heart-wrenching when she’s murdered in “Reunion.”
Geordi La Forge x Leah Brahms hologram
La Forge really gets done dirty by the show’s representations of his relationships, and it all starts in “Booby Trap.” Notice how this pairing isn’t with Leah Brahms but with the hologram since the real Brahms in “Galaxy’s Child” isn’t at all interested in this cringefest. The relationship with the hologram version is almost sweet, until you realize he practically programmed her to be into him since the original version the computer whipped up was more of a cold fish. It’s just so uncomfortable.
Deanna Troi x Devinoni Ral
We’re not going to include most of the Troi relationships that are just plain predatory (which is way too many if you ask me) because that’s not in the spirit of this topic, so the ickiest one we’ll touch upon is with this wormhole entrepreneur in “The Price.” Ral is mostly a creep, using his Betazoid powers to manipulate everyone in the negotiations, including Troi who seems unnaturally into him because he’s such a player. Gross.
William Riker x Yuta
We are also skipping just a ton of Riker flirtations because we’d be here all day otherwise, but worth a mention is Yuta from “The Vengeance Factor.” Sure, she ends up being an assassin who’s extended her lifespan specifically to off members of an opposing clan, but there’s enough of a spark between her and Riker and the commander hesitates to stop her before she can get to her next target. But even having a romantic dinner together isn’t enough for Riker to do his job in the end.
Jean-Luc Picard x Vash
It’s hard NOT to hook up with someone when you’re vacationing on Risa, just ask Captain Picard during “Captain’s Holiday.” Vash seems like the perfect one-night stand for the usually uppity Jean-Luc: she’s into archaeology, she’s a spitfire, and she’s down to clown. Even Q picks up on their attraction in “Qpid,” but after their Sherwood Forest adventure, Vash proves her true love is skullduggery after all!
William Riker x Lanel
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the incredibly thirsty Lanel from “First Contact” whose list of turn-ons definitely includes some alien strange. When she learns that Riker isn’t from her planet, she is immediately ready to go where no Malcorian has gone before. And who better than William Riker to bring her there?
Beverly Crusher x Odan
Dr. Crusher doesn’t get nearly as much action as your average crewmember in The Next Generation, and you really get the impression that her relationship with Odan in “The Host” is really significant to her. She doesn’t seem to have ever really gotten close to anyone since Jack’s death, so it’s a big step for her to make such headway with this heartthrob… and then it gets weird, as tends to happen whenever the Trill are involved.
Data x Jenna D’Sora
Our resident android hasn’t seen significant action since Yar in season one when, out of the blue, Jenna D’Sora is on the hunt and decides she’d like to see what it’s like to date-a Data in “In Theory.” And it’s like the writers have forgotten he’s ever talked to a woman before because he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing and the whole episode is nothing but romcom gags that don’t land. Data would be a better boyfriend than this, guys.
Deanna Troi x Aaron Conor
Here’s a cute one. When we meet a eugenics-based community in “The Masterpiece Society,” their leader, Aaron Conor, is fully ready to rethink their comfortable and structured lifestyle when he meets the worldly and cultured Betazoid who opens his eyes to the rest of the galaxy. It’s refreshing to see Troi not just getting creeped on by monsters all the time, and Conor and she are perfectly sweet together.
William Riker x Soren
Riker continues to have romantic encounters that end in tragedy when he gets involved with Soren in “The Outcast.” The J’naii turn out to be a strict race that prohibits Soren’s expression of gender, and Riker fights on her behalf both as a person who should have her own rights and as a romantic partner whom he has feelings for. I’m not sure who we’re supposed to feel worse for in the end when Soren is forcibly reacclimated: her or Will.
Jean-Luc Picard x Kamala
Another prearranged marriage, another really uncomfortable relationship. In “The Perfect Mate,” Kamala is meant for another man but accidentally imprints on Jean-Luc first, and if she had literally any agency in her life, it might be a nice little tryst. And Famke Janssen is absolutely gorgeous, of course. But instead it’s pretty disgusting because her compatibility with mates is something controlled by her weird biology, so how much can you argue that there’s anything real there? Heckin’ yikes.
Kamin x Eline
Another Jean-Luc relationship that isn’t technically real comes in “The Inner Light,” but this one is anything but gross. Even if Picard is more or less just playing the role of Kamin in this touching reenactment of Kataan life, you still get the impression that the love between Kamin and Eline really does have truth and purity to it. And more than that, you actually see the lingering effects in future episodes of Picard having experienced love, as we’ll see in a moment.
Geordi La Forge x Aquiel Uhnari
Oh look, more squicky La Forge action in “Aquiel” with the titular guest character. It’s one thing for him to have developed a little crush on her from investigating her presumed death, but when Aquiel turns up alive after all, having La Forge act on his romantic feelings is hella inappropriate! Dude, she’s the lead suspect in a murder case you’re investigating! Keep it in your pants!
Worf x Ba’el
The pairing that might have the least chemistry from those that made this list is that between Worf and Ba’el in “Birthright.” The whole plot isn’t terribly interesting, with or without the romance angle, and the conflict that arises when Ba’el is revealed to be half-Romulan—Worf’s most hated race!—it just makes him look more racist than usual. He might come around a little bit, but you can tell it’s just never going to work out between them.
Jean-Luc Picard x Nella Daren
Remember when I said Picard’s experiences in “The Inner Light” would come back up? Well here it is! Without that little bit of loosening up, Picard probably wouldn’t have allowed himself to get close to Lt. Daren in “Lessons.” We enjoy that it’s a relationship based on respect, that the two of them are actually age appropriate, and that their foreplay seems to be playing music at each other, but it’s also a bit of a problem that Picard is her commanding officer… So there’s that.
Deanna Troi x Tom Riker
The on-again-off-again relationship between Deanna and Will is one thing, but things actually seem like they could work out in “Second Chances” between her and this accidental transporter clone who eventually starts going by Tom. He, however, has been stranded on Nervala IV for eight years, and it’s only his love for Troi that has kept him going. This version of Riker is somehow even more romantic than the one we’re accustomed to and it’s a big decision for Troi to decide if she wants to stay with him or not (she totally should have!).
Deanna Troi x Worf
Speaking of Troi getting together with other main characters, the obvious attraction between them in “Parallels” must’ve given Worf an idea. By “Eye of the Beholder” and “All Good Things…” they’re an item and they really really work. Worf’s intense emotions are really balanced out by Troi’s ability to sense intense emotions, as we joke sometimes. But really, these two compliment each other in ways that make some sense but just seem to vanish by Generations and when Worf joins Deep Space Nine.
Beverly Crusher x Ronin
One of the most infamous relationships in TNG if not all of Trek is that between Dr. Crusher and Ronin in the nearly universally loathed “Sub Rosa.” Ronin has been manipulating all the women in Bev’s family for generations, and their inability to consent to his mental control over them just makes it nauseating. Oh, and he’s an anaphasic lifeform, not a ghost, even though all the ghost-love memes are very funny.
Jean-Luc Picard x Anij
Finally, we reach the movies and the generally ho-hum Insurrection. The googoo-eyed interactions between Jean-Luc and Anij are a highlight though, as we really get the impression that our captain is feeling the revitalizing effects of being on the fountain of youth planet. Anij herself has some interesting development as well, as she’s old enough that having this kind of new experience with Jean-Luc hints to us that this is something to be savored.
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It’s time to snuff this mood-setting candle for now even though there were plenty more instances of characters smooching that won’t fit in this post. Mostly with Riker, but who’s surprised? But we’ve got to keep moving forward as next week we’re in the tunnel of love with our Deep Space Nine beaus, so make sure you stick around for that! You can also keep up with the rest of our Discovery watchalong on SoundCloud or wherever you listen, send us some love on Facebook and Bluesky, and shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
