An idea popped into my head when I was reading over the "Why is Tasha Yar hated" thread. What if from the beginning of TNG, the ship's Security Chief had been Ro Laren? She had a similar harsh backstory, brought a source of tension to the crew, and would've been a new alien perspective to look at, plus we'd have gotten development of the Bajoan/Cardassian relationship earlier on. Thoughts?
I think it would have been interesting. Some people say that there was too much Klingon stuff happening in TNG, maybe with Ro there we would have had too much Cardassian/Bajoran stuff happening, instead. Ro made some major error and went to the stockade. Would this have happened before Farpoint? Or during TNG's run? Or not at all? One of the characteristics of Ro, for me, seemed to be that she wasn't totally trusted. Would the character still have had that vibe?
I'm actually not a huge fan of Ro. I think she was effective in one or two key episodes, but otherwise, a little goes a long way. In this scenario, does she still die midway through Season One as Tasha did? Or does she supplant Worf throughout the series? Because personally I love most of the TNG Klingon stuff and I'd hate to lose Worf's growth as a character.
I really like Ro, but it would have been a terrible command decision. Ro's history should have made her ineligible for such a position. In DS9's Change of Heart, Commander Worf is dressed down by Sisko for his poor command decision/actions: SISKO: "As your captain, it is my duty to inform you that you made the wrong choice. I don't think Starfleet will file any formal charges -- even a secret court-martial would run the risk of revealing too much about their intelligence operations. But this will go in to your service record... and to be completely honest, you probably won't be offered a command on your own after this." WORF: "I understand." Now he was still actively commanding the Defiant for the rest of DS9 (captain in role rather than title), but the underlying message is that there are some bells you can't unring and some scars on your record are there forever. In TNG's Preemptive Strike, Ro goes rouge a second time, so if she was security chief it would have been a(n even bigger) mess for Picard to answer to. Remember the anger the TNG crew felt when Ro was brought on board originally as a mission specialist? Her position would have been incendiary to the rest of the crew. Riker especially. Ro left the show bringing in the Maquis storyline. I'm very satisfied with this and her eight appearances on TNG as well. I also see her fate as satisfactory... she should be in the Maquis rather than Starfleet. It's an interesting idea, Ro as security chief. Without the backstory incident at Garen II, she would have been a fine choice of security chief. Her character showed real depth, in particular her being witness to her own father's torture and death after being lured as a child with candy by Cardassians.... That's dark stuff. I regret never seeing Kira and Ro together on a mission. Since Kira was Ro rewritten it would have been an interesting relationship.
I would have loved for Ro to be a regular for the whole series but that particular position was clearly not for her. There's really no reason for security and tactical to be the same position, maybe Worf gets security and Ro gets tactical? Or, Ro replaces Wesley and gets helm?
I prefer Ro greatly over Yar. The actress is such a better fit for the type of role, which clearly was their second attempt at the tough female archetype. Having said that, I can't see her in the security post. My personal opinion is that it's overkill having the tough character archetype also be the security chief. Her personal struggles shine better when she's not in a post where it could be dumbed down (Kind of how they did it with Worf). Everyone expecting the security chief to be a hot head or a bad ass is somewhat counterintuitive to good character building, which is why Worf's character growth was not quite as interesting on TNG as it was on DS9, unless it involved Klingon matters & actually they figured it out themselves in the later series. Odo & Tuvok are two different examples of a personality mix that does work dramatically for a security posting
In this instance, Ro's character would be a little different. For example the "incident" on Garen II wouldn't have happened, but she would be a character with a chip on her shoulder (growing up in the Occupation and watching your father murdered in front of your eyes would have that effect on you) and possibly someone who is suspicious of authority figures--which is why Picard taking a chance with her sounds every alarm bell in her head. Over time though, she comes to see that he wanted to give her every opportunity to achieve her potential. I'd hope that she opted to stay with the show for the long-run, so she could be fully fleshed out and developed, whilst also setting up the Cardassians earlier on (rather than the Ferengi as a big bad). She would then have her growing teacher/student relationship with Picard, butt heads with Riker, get in touch with her feelings and deal with her past with Troi, and whatever other interpersonal development she was given by the writers. With her as full-time Security Chief, Worf takes over at the Conn (which always should've been held by a fully trained and qualified officer). Since most of his character development was focused on him being Klingon rather than Security Chief, he still gets much of that but just wearing a red uniform and sitting next to Data. She adds some much needed alien diversity to the series, as well as being a source of conflict, the not-so-shiny vision of the universe and a strong female character in a prominent, usually male-centered role. That's just my thoughts on it anyway.
...Agreed!!! I adore Ro - and Michelle Forbes, even more so. However, Ro is not Kira and was not destined, or appropriate, for the role of Chief of Security. Had Michelle been happy to stay on at TNG, it's mindblowing to think of what might have been done with the character. I suspect she would've been very loved by the crew and it would've been great to see her in the movies. STAR TREK has a tendency to introduce into the mix hot babes who are just using it as a stepping stone. It breaks the heart, but that's how these women are. They want it all ...
I prefer the development he got in TNG. I think in DS9 he was stereotyped a little more. Either he was off being Klingon with other Klingons, or he was being a stoic curmudgeon to Dax. In TNG you got more of a sense of balance between his Klingon side and his human upbringing. So whereas in TNG when he was acting like a stubborn violent idiot because it was the Klingon thing to do he got called on it, whereas in DS9 except in a handful of cases people were much more willing to tolerate violent outbursts and conform to him.
I never liked Ro Laren. She was always too aggressive and had a chip on her shoulder. Granted, she may have been entitled to it. But, you never grow by constantly hating people (or Cardassians).
It's a good thing that racism, sexism and homophobia are all now things of the past then... Her hatred of the Cardies made her one of the most "human" characters on TNG, as she had issues to work through and a past that wasn't all happy and joyful like the rest of them.