Is Seska Based on Hedda Gabler?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Voyager' started by NrobbieC, Oct 8, 2012.

  1. NrobbieC

    NrobbieC Commander Red Shirt

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    It's one of the plays I'm reading on my theatre course, it struck me there's a lot of similarities between Hedda Gabler and our dear Seska.

    They're both complete bitches who lack any redeeming virtues, they manipulate their partners and previous admirers. And they both die quite suddenly.

    Maybe this is just a coincidence and uni is making me over-analytical.
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    There are plenty of manipulative characters like that in fiction. And I'm sure Seska's death wasn't planned at the start. So I'd say no, there's no reason to think there's any connection. For any character type you find anywhere in fiction, there will be countless precedents. There are only so many different ways that people behave.
     
  3. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Seska was a very interesting character, though quite a death knell for Chak's manliness. Did they have her planned out from the beginning to not be Bajoran?
     
  4. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    No.

    Maybe?

    Doubt it.

    Interviews with Martha assert that she was surprised by the development.
     
  5. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I enjoyed Seska as a villain. Too bad for her she had to throw her lot in with the Pakled/Klingon hybrids of the Delta Quadrant.
     
  6. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    They had lots of big ships, thought she was hot and were easily manipulated. No point waiting around for something better to come along.
     
  7. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Seska was great, especially when she morphed back to her Cardassian roots. I remember first time I saw VOY, and her death scene arrived, it was a real 'wtf??? are you kidding me?' moment. I thought the writers were lazy and just had her die like a punk. As for Hedda, never made that link.
     
  8. chrinFinity

    chrinFinity Captain Captain

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    Seska could have been used to much greater potential had any combination of the following occurred.

    1. If she had kept her cover for much longer

    2. If she had survived Basics, left the Kazon, acquired her own ship, and kept up with Voyager to menace them repeatedly (possibly keeping up with the ship by gaining advanced technology in ways that violated the Prime Directive, further developing the theme that Voyager adhering to Starfleet principles may be holding them back in their journey)

    3. In combination with #1, if she had been a sleeper agent, like Illiana Ghemor, and some external influence from the DQ (or merely the passage of time) caused her true Cardassian memories to return to her more gradually.

    4. If she had "come out" to the crew as a Cardassian operative, but maintained good guy status ("We're all stuck out here together, Captain. It makes more sense for me to cooperate, remain a member of Voyager's crew. Admit it, Captain, Voyager needs the skills I learned in the Obsidian Order.") Of course then she would betray them later in the series and it would sting more.

    5. No obsession with Chakotay. That was pointless and gross. Even Chakotay seemed more embarassed about it than offended.

    6. Somehow she should have been returned to her "true" fully-Cardassian appearance. Perhaps the Doctor could have surgically altered her in any hypothetical scenario where she had been outed as Cardassian, but remained in Voyager's good graces. I would think that would only make sense... Her Cardassian appearance may offend some on the ship, however probably less than if the continued to wear the face of the Bajoran Seska (who was probably a real person at some point, most likely murdered by the Obsidian Order).
     
  9. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Basically, MORE SESKA!

    I can totally get down with that. As long as they didn't turn her into a goody goody like all the rest of the Maquis of course.
     
  10. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I can see why Seska tried to get her end around in Shattered, but why on earth was Seven so amenable when if a future existed where Janeway ran free, it could't mean the best for the Borg.
     
  11. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Love makes you betray your own kind.
     
  12. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Clueless Season One Janeway or fat Season 6 Chuckles?
     
  13. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    7 betrays the Borg for Janeway. Constantly.
     
  14. chrinFinity

    chrinFinity Captain Captain

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    It was Scorpion 7 of 9... From a time where the Borg had agreed to cooperate with Voyager and not assimilate them in exchange for helping against 8472.

    From Seven's perspective, she wants to help the temporally displaced Voyager crew resolve the "Shattered" problem so she can get back and help the Collective with their little problem in the Northwest Passage, which means saving Voyager as opposed to assimilating them.
     
  15. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    What floors me a bit is that most of Seska's friends in the Maquis didn't even notice that she has a Cardassian name (as evidenced by a character named "Seskal" on DS9 - apparently it's a popular Cardassian name).
     
  16. Unicron

    Unicron Boss Monster Mod Moderator

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    Agreed. I've never really been fond of Seska, and I honestly think she was written poorly more often than well. She was a victim of how alien races tended to get the one-note treatment in later seasons - Klingons were always warriors, Ferengi were always greedy and silly, and Cardassians were always overtly militaristic or sneaky bastards who'd stab you in the back when it was convenient.

    I think the third and fourth options here would have been a lot more interesting. I think Martha Hackett is a decent actress too, she just could have been given a more in-depth character to work with.
     
  17. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I thought she was an in depth narcissist. She makes decisions based on a need for power that don't make much sense for self preservation.
     
  18. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    There's a reason Jews deustched up their names when the deathsquads started knocking down doors, or later when Germans, or those of German decent radically anglicized their names after and during either of the World Wars... Emmet VON brown comes to mind, but if you watch a movie 400 times, it's always on your mind.

    Which just again proves that Janeway was the Scorpion and that the Borg would have kept their side of the deal if she hadn't screwed them over first... Even though Seven said back in Scorpion that she was waiting for the deceitful Humans to stab her in the back at the first opportunity... But that's not how voyager writes their stories. The Borg are evil and the ends justify the means which can never be evil if they are Janeways means.

    Remind me, did Borg Seven enquire as to her health, and the state of the collective in the future?

    She needed to think more fourth dimensionally.

    Chakotay too.

    In every time zone he arrived in before Basics, he should have removed Seska from play by some means immediately.

    Temporal Prime Directive my ass.

    The temporal prime Directive is a document that does not exist in the 24th century, we discovered this in Relativity, however Janeway just decided to adopt what she imagined it might say as wrote, after seeing how well it worked for the 29th century, in a pre-emptive move to keep those assholes out of her life.

    Much the same as that has happened in my country, for emergency services you dial "111". After years of yank telly, drunk idiots became confused about what number they should dial for emergency services, and further became confounded that dialling "911" just got a "does not exist" dial tone, so the government decided to be useful by placing a recorded message at the end of every "911" call that said "This is not the emergency services number, please hang up and dial "111"" ...Which would have been all alright if people weren't dying in raging infernos or children weren't starving down wells filling up with rainwater, so the government finally coughed up the 20 bucks to redirect all 911 calls to the 111 service... Thus admitting that America is right even when it's wrong and is a busy body alien interloper who has no business interfering in our day to day business.

    (I know this happened in England too. Anywhere else?)

    And sometimes also, Bajoans during the Occupation would give their children sturdy Cardassian names to lessen the bigotry and oppression a notch from their three spined overlord masters... Oh.

    I seem to have an intense sensation of Deja vu.

    How odd.
     
  19. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    :: dials 911 ::

    "The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try your call again. Thank you."
     
  20. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Janeway got lucky.

    Consider if she had been on Equinox instead?

    Ignoring the Captain and making alliances in secret to guarantee her safety and by extension the ships saftey.

    Equinox could have done with that.

    They weren't lucky.

    Okies.

    Imagine this.

    If Seska hadn't been discovered.

    What's her alliance with the kazon worth?

    A kazon fleet in front of them secretly clearing the way and paying off officials.

    Kazon allies bending over and presenting their rumps for the taking at every port of call.

    Elves.

    Janeway would have had Elves.

    Her ignorance would have saved lives.

    Oh yes, and the kazon wouldn't have been trying to destroy Voyager if they had Seska in their pocket constantly feeding them technology.

    That arrangement could have gone on for years, and Cullah might have been so grateful that he allowed Voyager just to bugger off once it was about to leave his sphere of influence.

    Afterwhich Seska would have picked new Elves to prop up her dimwitted arogant Captain.