Betazoids

[Fugazi Grrl]

I have a question about Betazoid characters. And since we play a CODA game I thought asking it in here might be the best place to find the proverbial "final answer".

How far back in Trek / Federation history can one go, setting a series, and still have Betazoid PCs ?

I've asked around a lot and found several references on-line. And the answer ranges pretty broadly. From sometime in the 22nd century to only 3-5 years before TNG !

It's pretty easy to find a set-in-stone canonical timeline for other races, like Bajorans.

But when would be the earliest time to see a Betazoid officer in a Starfleet uniform ? Were there Betazoids in Starfleet during the TOS or Movie era ?

And what about Betazoid hybrids ?

When we create characters we tend to focus on a celebrity - a singer or actor - as a sort of basis for the characters' looks. And we also have a little rule - if you want a TOS era character, use an actor who could have realistically acted on TOS (thus our TOS XO is Paul Newman), likewise for movie-era (our Captain is Richard Chamberlain), and so forth.

And we tend to get a lot of characters who "look Betazoid" - basically human with dark eyes. And we are getting more and more TOS era characters with Betazoid background.

So, to the point -

When would be the earliest time to see a Betazoid Starfleet officer ? Or a Betazoid/Human hybrid in a Starfleet uniform ? And what about civilians ? A half-Betazoid, half-Human freighter crewman, in TOS, for example ?

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Here's the canon answer. Which seems to be 'no data.' It's up to you.

The Betazoids were a replacement for Deltans, though, so personally I'd make them a 24th-century induction into the Federation for appearances' sake.

[Fugazi Grrl]

Thanks, King

I've actually printed out the Memory Alpha page.

According to Aliens, the Betazoids were invited to join the Federation in the TOS era, but since they were intended to replace Deltans, we do try to keep them out of Starfleet until the TNG era. Ergo our TOS-era security officer who looks like Natalie Wood went from being half-Betazoid to being from an Earth colony and of heavy Russian background (an homage to Wood, who's real name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko).

We use both Deltans and Betazoids pretty extensively. Although finding good pics of bald women to use to make photo-manips of Deltan counselors is not the easiest task in the world.

(we did find a few of Cameron Diaz, oddly enough)

Right now our only TOS-era Betazoid is a half-Betazoid man who serves on a freighter ship. There was a full-Betazoid female and another hybrid male but they have since become Elaysian and Centauran respectively.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Try alt-modeling sites for more bald girls?

[TFVanguard]

Here's the canon answer. Which seems to be 'no data.' It's up to you.

The Betazoids were a replacement for Deltans, though, so personally I'd make them a 24th-century induction into the Federation for appearances' sake.

We know that Betazed is pretty close to the 'core' of the Federation and has some importance. By TNG it's obviously been a full member for some time, with references going back forty years or so. (Based on ship assignments, the ambassadorial posts, etc, mentioned in dialog.)

Personally I have Betazed approached within the TOS time-frame (2260s), with full membership coming some time in the 'movie' or 'lost' eras (2270-2300). There's really nothing to conflate that, but it's also unlikely that we'll get a 'canon' answer at any time in the near future since Trek has reset anyway.

[Nuclear Fridge]

2310s or 2320s -- based purely on Deanna Troi's family history & how old Deanna was in TNG. We know that her father was a human Starfleet officer. I have to assume that there had been a period where the Betazoids were known to the Federation before he married Lwaxana & they had Deanna and her late sister (as per Dark Page).

Of course, I could be completely off-target about all this, but I steer away from using Betazoids if I can. For some reason I just can't shake the early impressions I took away from TNG... which Marina Sirtis herself noted. Deanna's initial job seemed to be to state the blindingly obvious. Right up there with Galaxy Quest's Tawny Madison, who repeated everything the @*%$ computer said...

[Fugazi Grrl]

Try alt-modeling sites for more bald girls?

Thanks, I'll pass that on to Bess (our digital artist in the group)

Although really our main, or "starring" Deltan counselor, Ditani, has her pic (thanks to Cameron Diaz).

[quote]We know that Betazed is pretty close to the 'core' of the Federation and has some importance. By TNG it's obviously been a full member for some time, with references going back forty years or so. (Based on ship assignments, the ambassadorial posts, etc, mentioned in dialog.)[quote]

In Larry Nemecek's TNG companion, it says a Betazoid headed the Academy when Riker was there. That would have been c. 2353-2357.

Of course, I could be completely off-target about all this, but I steer away from using Betazoids if I can.

We tend to have a lot of Betazoids, because some of our top "star" characters have Betazoid backgrounds. And their families tend to turn up. But, no one wins any state-the-obvious contests. I think that was more a flaw on the part of the writers, not knowing what to do with Troi as a character.

2310s or 2320s -- based purely on Deanna Troi's family history & how old Deanna was in TNG.

A friend of mine cited Devinoni Ral as an example. Since he was 1/4 Betazoid. That would mean the full-blooded Betazoid in his background would likely be a grandparent. Since Memory Alpha has Ral born in 2325 the math works out to c.2285 if you count 20 years as a generation.

This is for Ral's human grandparent to meet his Betazoid grandparent. More so than when Betazoids might be in Starfleet. Our Betazoid-hybrid civilians go back to 2270-2274. That's kind of late TOS / early Movie era.

By then Starfleet officers are wearing the gray pajamas from the first movie !

Here's our rationale - if TOS had run 7 years like TNG, DS9, and Voyager, it would have ended in 1973. So, when we pick celebs for characters if they had established their careers by 1973 they can "act" on our TOS series.

And, of course, if we really had to pay Paul Newman to play the USS Expedition's XO in our series, that would cost us a pretty penny - he made $750,000 for Butch Cassidy. So, he probably would get a cool million for a season of TV !

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Here's our rationale - if TOS had run 7 years like TNG, DS9, and Voyager, it would have ended in 1973. So, when we pick celebs for characters if they had established their careers by 1973 they can "act" on our TOS series.

Heh, that's a neat idea.

[Sea Tyger]

The answer can be found on page 217 of the CODA Player's Guide.

[K.G. Carlson]

Regardless of when Betazed joins the Federation, I would imagine that individual Betazoids (even before the homeworld is on the Council) could enter into Starfleet with a little extra effort.

[Pericles]

I'm not sure how much weight you wish to give to the FASA TNG Officer's Manual, one of the their last Official products released with Paramount's blessings, but in the entry for Betazoids, it says they were encountered 'nearly a century ago'. Since the Officer's Manual covers only season one of TNG, that would mean Betazoids were first encountered during the late TMP period and probably joined the Federation around 2275 to 2280 or so.

[Fugazi Grrl]

The answer can be found on page 217 of the CODA Player's Guide.

Thanks, Davy, for the CODA reference. I should have been able to find that considering how much I pour over those books. And this is a CODA game we're talking about so, good to have an official take on it from them.

[Fugazi Grrl]

Regardless of when Betazed joins the Federation, I would imagine that individual Betazoids (even before the homeworld is on the Council) could enter into Starfleet with a little extra effort.

Bajorans, and the odd Klingon (well, Worf's not too odd ) set a precedent there.

[Fugazi Grrl]

I'm not sure how much weight you wish to give to the FASA TNG Officer's Manual...

A grain of salt - since FASA never got to publish anything later. And I never really cared for their take on Deltans or Betazoids. But then, to each his own. The rolls Deltans usually end up in in our series requires more of CODAs description of their culture.

[Nuclear Fridge]

Um... At risk of sounding like the ghost at the banquet, I don't use Deltans, either.
The concept ties into the 'obsession with sex' that some people have noted which cropped up in the first season of TNG.

Now, after re-reading the novelisation of The Motion Picture, and the Oath of Celibacy, and the effects that Ilia was having on the bridge crew... I wonder if Barry White albums started to be broadcast on a subliminal level on their way to intercept V'Ger.

I'm not going to get up on a soap-box; this is just an observation. I have some embarrassing "culture clash" plans in mind for my planned TOS campaign involving an Andorian navigator, the heroic first officer, and the cute communications chief (hint: the Icon Among The Clans book).