If Seska had survived...

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Voyager' started by RoJoHen, Nov 22, 2015.

  1. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I've been rewatching the early years of Voyager lately, and I forgot how much I enjoyed Martha Hackett's performance as Seska.

    I finished "Basics," where Seska dies next to her baby, and I thought to myself...what if she survived? What if Cullah died instead, and Seska and her son remained alive on Voyager?

    Would it have even been possible, or would Janeway get rid of her?
     
  2. stardream

    stardream Commodore Commodore

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    I wouldn't mind it if Seska had stayed around a little bit longer but I'm not a fan of children in the shows.

    However if they had used him sparingly as they did Naomi it might have not been so bad.
     
  3. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    At first, Seska would have been confined to quarters, just like Suder was. But Seska would have tried to escape, and thus Janeway would indeed have had to get rid of her.
     
  4. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It would have been a great cat-and-mouse game between Seska :cardie: and Janeway/Tuvok :vulcan:. With a big showdown. :techman:
     
  5. hux

    hux Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    She'd try to escape (and would probably succeed) which would be fine because then we could have had her as an ongoing enemy all the way through the seven seasons. Have her pop up occasionally to be a thorn in Voyager's side (and maybe once in a while, come to Voyager's aid).

    The only way I can see her staying on board is if she's either made a high ranking officer and agrees to play nice (possible but unlikely) or if she's kept in the brig as a kind of Hannibal Lector type character who the captain occasionally visits for advice whenever there's a psycho character she needs insight on.

    Maybe this could eventually turn into a counselor role for her. Also unlikely but I definitely would have liked to have seen more of her.
     
  6. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I was kind of thinking something like this, too.

    If they had decided to keep her around, I'd imagine they would have also decided to make the baby Chakotay's instead of changing it at the last minute. That would have at least given Chakotay something to do in the back half of the series.

    I never quite realized it until rewatching it these last few weeks, but Chakotay really was a much more interesting character when Seska was still around.
     
  7. Janeway’s Girl

    Janeway’s Girl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm glad I read through your entire post before I posted. Naomi was a little angel, with horns:)
     
  8. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    He and Naomi could have been BFFs.
     
  9. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    And they could have always used the excuse that the kid would age more rapidly because of his alien parent (just like with Naomi).

    Another thing I just thought of is, if Seska was alive, the Kazon might have come looking for her. Assuming Culluh was the one who died, the other Kazon might have thought Seska was of some strategic value to them. So keeping Seska around would be a risk, not only because of her inevitable escape attempt, but risk of further Kazon attack.
     
  10. Terok Nor

    Terok Nor Commodore Commodore

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    I don't mind saying I preferred Seska to pretty much the entire regular cast of Voyager. That said, with the nature of Voyager's journey through the Delta Quadrant Seska would either have had to stay onboard as a prisoner (a waste of the character) or follow Voyager through all the wormholes and space anomalies they used to leapfrog across the galaxy. I'd have found that incredibly contrived. The other option would have been to allow her back into the fold and I can't imagine Janeway sanctioning that nor any of the rest of the crew. Sadly Seska had to die in order for the show to move on. We were lucky we got 2 post death episodes. A shame she couldn't have found her way back to the Alpha Quadrant and recurred on DS9. Seeing Seska in scenes with Garak and Dukat would've been interesting.
     
  11. Bry_Sinclair

    Bry_Sinclair Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I wish Seska had remained aboard after her true identity was revealed, would've really ramped up the tension--though that is if the show had been done right.
     
  12. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Seska was retroactively added to all the previous (unfilmed) episodes after the producers were given the script for State of Flux. So in effect Berman was an impatient minutemen who did blow his load instantly.

    Up until she gave the Kazon technology, there was nothing illegal that she'd done since Cardassia and the Federation were at peace. Fricking allies even. Not only would the alliance have forced Janeway to protect Seska, but she would have gotten a bump in rank to reflect her Cardassian rank if she had chosen to stay on board and pretend to be amicable.

    Even giving away Federation technology isn't even really espionage since the Federation usually gives their shit away to anyone who will take it so long as the Prime Directive doesn't crawl up their ass.

    Meanwhile since Seska was acting in her nature, and following the basic skeevy principles of her people to divide and conquer, the Prime Directive should have protected her right to appropriate Federation Technology...

    Hell. There's no way Seska gave those people hardware, rather than Blueprints, otherwise she would have got caught way earlier. This whole espionage thing could have been side stepped entirely if she was currying Kazon favour with the Federations observations and assumptions and actual knowledge about Cardassian technology (from picking through Deep Space Nine), and therefore giving the Kazon's only Cardassian tech which she must be totally allowed to do under Federation law.

    Is it possible that Seska outranked Chakotay, like how T'Pol outranked Tucker?
     
  13. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    I think it would've been a lot more interesting if Seska had remained on board as a regular crew member. She was an interesting character played by a great actor, and the series could've used more tension and drama after they failed to do much with the Maquis/Starfleet conflict.
     
  14. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    They couldn't have bought Martha on more than they did, without firing the most underperforming regular character they'd had in season one.

    Who dat?
     
  15. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Uh...no.

    Seska only got a provisional Starfleet commission (like all the Maquis did), and even then, she was only an Ensign.

    Chakotay was a LCDR; not only that, he was a real Starfleet officer before he ever joined the Maquis (unlike most of the rest of them).
     
  16. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Seska the Bajoran terrorist scum got the rank of Ensign, and was bloody grateful for it, because she was a disposable idiot thinking that she could fight trillions of spoonheads to a standstill until they surrendered and let her farm space carrots in peace.

    Seska the Elite Obsidian Order undercover operative might have held a Cardassian rank in the Cardassian military, or a political rank in the Obsidian Order comparable to Janeway or Chakotay's Federation ranks, since she'd also probably been in the military/Obsidian Order for nearly 2 decades.

    Look at Seska's entitled actions to reshape the quadrant and building herself a throne to rule the Kazon's from first, and then... THE UNIVERSE! That's not the behavior you'd expect to see from some #### up 34 year old ensign (Martha was 34 in 1995.). Seska the Cardassian was pretending to be a fuck up because she is a racist with no respect for Bajorans (probably?) and needed to act like a fuck up that would be recruited by a cult to be an interchangeable suicide bomber, to keep her legend intact and avoid being sniffed out as a spy by Tuvok.
     
  17. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    No, she would not. On Cardassia, the Obsidian Order is expressly non-military. They don't get on well with Central Command at all. There's no way any Order agent would have a military rank.
     
  18. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Why wouldn't the Order recruit operatives from the Military?

    To spy on their own military, of course half of the Obsidian Order would have to be in the military surely?

    I also mentioned political rank, which is different but comparable to military rank in some situations, since there's no evidence whether she's Obsidian Order or standard Military Intelligence, or both or neither. Maybe Seska is just a nutjob from a fringe militia with no connection to the Order or Military Intelligence?

    This girl is wearing a lot of hats.
     
  19. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Seska was a member of the Obsidian Order, that was established. And the Order has never been shown to have "political ranks". The only thing they are ever called is 'agent'.
     
  20. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Maybe in a novel she was in the Obsidian order?

    (Google approves of the above statement, but I'd like it if you could challenge that, because It's sad that her origin is not hammered down so tight.)

    She was a Cardassian Spy, but they didn't explain who in Cardassia she was working for.

    Political ranks are real.

    If something in Star Trek chooses not employ an element from reality, so far as we know from canon, that's hardly my fault.

    Besides, less so than Section 32, the Obsidian Order also does not exist, unless you are in a world of shit, so it's unlikely that if they did have a system of ranks, that they wouldn't be talked about, and clerks wouldn't be tasked with figuring out pecking order protocols for cross-missions between the order and other organizations/departments.