Betazoids - Alien race featured on the sci-fi series STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/SYN/1987-94. British actress Marina Sirtis played Deanna Troi, a Betazoid Starfleet counselor working onboard the newly commissioned USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Her empathetic abilities to sense the feelings of others (hostility, fear, suspicion etc.) were of great help to the Captain and crew when confronted with unusual/stressful situations.

Born March 29, 2336, at Lake El-Nar, on the planet Betazed, Deanna was the offspring of Andrew Troi, a human  father (a Starfleet officer) and a Lwaxana, a Betazoid. An offspring of a mixed race marriage, Troi did not possess the full telepathic powers normal to her kind but she could communicate mind-to-mind with most Betazoids. .

Deanna's mother, Lwaxana (Majel Barrett) was a Federation Ambassador to Betazed, (Daughter of the Fifth House of Betazed, holder of the sacred chalice of Riix). She occasionally visited her "little one" onboard the Enterprise. One of her visits coincided with Lwaxana's desire to find a new husband.

When a Betazoid is on the "hunt" for a new mate their sexual powers ("juices") quadruple often focusing all of their energies on one male. The reluctant recipient of her attentions was Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), the Captain of the Enterprise.

Using her telepathic abilities to embarrass, the Captain, she announced in front of his crew members that he was a "naughty boy" for alleged sexual thoughts. Of course, the reserved, dignified Captain was not amused.

When Lwaxana did find someone to love, it happened to be an alien (David Ogden Stiers) whose culture dictated that he kill himself in a ritual suicide (the "Resolution") when he reached sixty years of age.

Another Betazoid character who appeared on the series was a Federation emissary Tam Elbrun (Harry Groener) whose empathetic/telepathic powers were so acute that he was often in pain when around crowds of people because all of their thoughts were echoing throughout his mind. His mission was to investigate a space entity known as "Tin Man". Eventually, he merged with the huge space being and left with it to travel the universe.

On a January 1991, episode Deanna Troi temporarily lost her telepathic abilities forcing her to confront her fears about living without them.

Deanna Troi was very fond of Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), a Starfleet officer known as Number One who served with her onboard her starship. See also-NICKNAMES: "Imzadi"

• Star Trek: The Next Generation (IMDb)
• Star Trek Official Site