Star Trek: 10 Best Episodes Showcasing Female Empowerment

8. Deanna And Ro On The Bridge

Disaster was a bottle episode that broke the crew of the Enterprise-D into small units who were cut-off from each other. While Picard sang Frére Jacques with several schoolchildren in a turboshaft, command of the ship fell to Lieutenant Commander Deanna Troi. 

Troi's rank was not a focus in The Next Generation's early years. As the ship's counsellor, she was usually on hand to support the senior staff, or lend her empathic abilities to whatever crisis the Enterprise faced that week. It would take almost five years to explore her Starfleet expertise, which they did once the ship hit that quantum filament. 

Troi's exchanges with Ro have been subject to dissection through the years. On the one hand, it is a clear case of pitting female characters against each other. Though the scenes are great for Troi's growth and highlight the strength that she possesses, they're less kind to Ro. Michael Piller commented, in Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, that Ro's apology at the end made her look foolish. He would have preferred that she asserted Troi could still easily have killed them all with her decisions.

Though not perfect, Disaster was one of the few examples of Troi's command presence and power in The Next Generation, which would eventually lead to her promotion in Thine Own Self.