Minuet was a character created in the holodeck on board the USS Enterprise-D, by Commander William Riker in 2364. Minuet existed within the confines of a program of the Bourbon Street Bar, a New Orleans jazz club set in the year 1958. (TNG: "11001001")
Origins
Wishing to play some music, Riker specified the location and requested an audience for the program. Initially the system created a full crowd, but Riker reduced the audience to one, a woman. The system created the character first as a blond but changed Minuet to a brunette after Riker advised that "jazz and blondes seldom go together". The character was further revised at his request that she appear "sultry" until her final configuration was set. (TNG: "11001001")
Something different
Prior to the program's initiation, the holodeck had been upgraded by the Bynars and it was immediately clear that Minuet was different from any other holodeck character. Riker found her unbelievably realistic and intuitive, a view shared by Captain Picard. Minuet was able to adapt to subtle visual and audio cues given off by the people in the holodeck. She spoke French to Captain Picard after hearing his name, despite not being programmed to do so, and made other slight adjustments to her personality and actions in order to provide the most realistic companion possible. The result was that Riker found Minuet to be fascinating, almost "too real", and realized that he could fall in love with her just as with a real woman. However, she seemed to be aware of her status as a computer program; for example, when Picard marveled that she responded in French merely upon hearing his name, she responded that she accessed the French language database from the ship's computer. (TNG: "11001001")
- In this respect she was similar to Vic Fontaine and The Doctor, who also recognized his own status as a holographic program.
Impressions
However, it transpired that Minuet was programmed by the Bynars to distract Riker while they took control of the Enterprise in an effort to save the main computer of their homeworld. When Picard and Riker tried to leave the holodeck, Minuet tried to stop them before ultimately revealing the details of the situation. The Bynars provided her program with information that allowed Riker and Picard to help them save their world if their own attempts failed. After the Enterprise had been safely returned to Starbase 74, Riker returned to the holodeck, only to find that the enhanced Minuet character had disappeared. His attempts to recreate her ended in failure. (TNG: "11001001")
Three years later, when Riker was stranded on a planet with a lonely alien known as Barash, the alien created a version of the future for Riker, unknown to him, where Barash took on the role of his son. In that reality, 'Minuet' was his wife, Min Riker, something that alerted Riker to the fact that the reality he was experiencing wasn't real. This mistake apparently occurred due to Barash having read Riker's mind to create the reality, and mistaking his still-strong feelings for Minuet as feelings for a real woman. (TNG: "Future Imperfect")
- Minuet was played by Carolyn McCormick. The other three Minuets were played by unknown actresses.
Memorable quotes
"What's your name, and tell me you love jazz."
"My name is Minuet. I love all jazz except Dixieland."
"Why not Dixieland?"
"You can't dance to it."
"My girl."
- - Riker and Minuet, upon meeting each other
"What's a knockout like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?"
- - Riker to Minuet
"Au fond c'est vrai, nous sommes tous Parisiens." (Deep down, it is true: we are all Parisians)
- - Minuet, to Captain Picard