Terry Farrell and DS9 Season 7

[JD5000]

I wonder what would happen if, as a 'professional' cook I required my employer to give me a cooking coach to help me do my job correctly?

I think they would tell me that I'm just a bad cook, and give my job to whatever Ezri's culinary counterpart is.

 

[STEPhon IT]

LOL! It's good to know you don't have a clue about the Hollywood profession.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

LOL! It's good to know you don't have a clue about the Hollywood profession.

I don't get it. Why exactly is it good to know? What's so good about it?

 

[JD5000]

Good thing I didn't shoot for it. Apparently Terry Farrell doesn't have a clue either, because as a former model and actress, she is putting the frosting on the cake of her career as a (former?) spokesperson for Sprint in cable commercials.

Excuse me, married the guy who is a former spokesperson for Sprint in cable commercials. I'm sure they are very proud of their accomplishments.

 

[Iamnotspock]

Go. Listen. Farrell does not outrightly say she is a bad actress. However, she admits that (1) she was incapable of playing a person of stature, and leaned on Brooks for support; (2) other (unnamed) members of the cast made her feel that she lacked sufficient talent; (3) she often held up production, causing exasperation among the cast; (4) she should have been actively assigned an acting coach as part of her contract.

That's not what she says. She says they did assign her an acting coach because she had trouble with the dialogue ... which is pretty unsurprising when you look at the way Dax was written in the beginning. Very stilted, lots of unnatural phrasing, lots of technobabble.

Keep listening: don't stop at the first five minutes.. She explicitly states near the end of the interview that an acting coach should have been included in her contract.

She says she was assigned an acting coach at beginning, but said coach said to her, "You don't need an acting coach, you need someone to help you learn these lines!" She later suggested to the producers that her next contract should include a dialogue coach.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Well, Star Trek dialogue is complicated, and I'm not surprised any actor would ask for one when they're performing a series' seasons which are around 22 to 24 episodes.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Well, Star Trek dialogue is complicated, and I'm not surprised any actor would ask for one when they're performing a series' seasons which are around 22 to 24 episodes.

I don't see why she would need an acting coach, either. This isn't Shakespeare for goodness sake!

 

[JD5000]

I don't see why she would need an acting coach, either. This isn't Shakespeare for goodness sake!

The only professions I know of that require coaches are professional sports.

Incompetence!

The more DS9 I watch after reading all this, the more I cringe at TF's performances, and the more I respect the cast that supports her.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Terry Farrell, starting from 20:15:

I didn't sign on for season seven. I was really tired. ... You know what, hindsight 20/20, I should have just hired, or just told them in my next contract, you've got add a dialogue coach for me, who just comes in, every day, every week, to run lines with me ...

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Well, Star Trek dialogue is complicated, and I'm not surprised any actor would ask for one when they're performing a series' seasons which are around 22 to 24 episodes.

There is a reason why the luxury of a coach is reserved for the lead: they carry the series, usually including the bulk of the dialogue, and are involved in most scenes. Brooks carried the smallest percentage of his series dialogue, when compared to all Trek leads, but he was still the character the spoke the most and appeared in the most scenes. Giving them a coach allows them to extend their abilities with what limited time they have to themselves while actively filming. Farrell did not suffer from that problem.

 

[Orphalesion]

That might be a fine critique, except that those shifts in characterization were not a reflection of the uncertainty of the writers. They reflected the efforts both of writers and producers to find a character that Terry Farrell could adequately play. Listen to the Delta Quadrant podcast interview. She admits that her skills were not up to par and numerous accommodations had to be made for her.

I see that makes sense..
Still I would think a vaguely defined, inconsistent character like that would make make the job for an actress who is already struggling only harder.
And, I don't know how accurate Memory Alpha is, but I have checked since, it seems the writers also had no clue what to do with Jadzia and how to write her.
Tasha, Troi, Kes, Jadzia...what is it with Star Trek and its tendency be clueless what to do with its female characters?

 

[tafkats]

I don't see why she would need an acting coach, either. This isn't Shakespeare for goodness sake!

The only professions I know of that require coaches are professional sports.

Incompetence!

Your employer doesn't provide any ongoing professional development?

 

[JD5000]

Your employer doesn't provide any ongoing professional development?

No, I actually improve at my job because I want to and am motivated to do so. I learn from those around me that are better than me at my job, Terry Farrell certainly had the same opportunity considering most of the actors on DS9 were much better than her.

 

[bolak]

Your employer doesn't provide any ongoing professional development?

My previous employer declined to provide assistance towards training courses as it would, apparently, enable staff to use their new qualifications to seek other jobs...

Of course employees were quite welcome to attend courses on their own dime and work late to make up the time.

Not uncommon in big IT companies.

 

[MacLeod]

That might be a fine critique, except that those shifts in characterization were not a reflection of the uncertainty of the writers. They reflected the efforts both of writers and producers to find a character that Terry Farrell could adequately play. Listen to the Delta Quadrant podcast interview. She admits that her skills were not up to par and numerous accommodations had to be made for her.

I see that makes sense..
Still I would think a vaguely defined, inconsistent character like that would make make the job for an actress who is already struggling only harder.
And, I don't know how accurate Memory Alpha is, but I have checked since, it seems the writers also had no clue what to do with Jadzia and how to write her.
Tasha, Troi, Kes, Jadzia...what is it with Star Trek and its tendency be clueless what to do with its female characters?

I could go with the cliche of most writers are male, but that might just be one aspect. But it could be that the character was ill defined before hand, and then they weren't sure how to write for that character hence some inconsistancies as they struggled to find a voice for that character. Or they were writing about things they had limited understanding off i.e Pyschology.

I don't see why she would need an acting coach, either. This isn't Shakespeare for goodness sake!

The only professions I know of that require coaches are professional sports.

Incompetence!

Your employer doesn't provide any ongoing professional development?

I suppose it all depends on the field you work in, sure I go on training courses with my employer but most of those realte to new polices. And yes I've even been a Trainer when our company took over another and our systems went in I went on a secondment to train those systems out.

 

[TheSubCommander]

As for the actresses themselves, I think Farrell kind of showed her true colors on that one, which was green for greed. Granted no acting job is a prison sentence, and if an actor or actress wants out, they should be allowed to go. Also, there is nothing wrong with asking for a raise if you are worth it OR if you think you might get it even if you aren't worth it. But, I am also not upset when actors/actresses who think too highly of themselves get the boot, when the only thing that stands in their way of completing the final season of their show is their own greed. I don't buy the "I don't want to be typecast excuse, because she was ALREADY typecast for having been on for 6 years, anyway.

It's kind of ironic that she was, in a sense, the most replaceable cast member, the one whose character had an in-built recasting gimmick. If it had been, say, Nana Visitor who hadn't wanted to continue for the final year it might have been a bigger blow. When your character is set up at the beginning to have the ability to reincarnate, which would be an intriguing idea to explore some day, it might not be a good idea to cause too much of a fuss.

Ha, yeah in that way, Farrell was pretty stupid! As an actress, she was pretty wooden and not very inspiring, so it wasn't like she had much to negotiate with anyway. In fact, I can't remember ANY episodes where I can honestly say I remember Jadzia as the break out character of the episode....well other than the Risa episodes where she was in a bathing suit. Quite simply, Jadzia was eye candy. I think even Marina Sirtis was a better actress than Farrel, and I would have noticed her leaving TNG more than I did Farrell's exit. And speaking of TNG, I think I missed Beverly Crusher far more than Jadzia. So when Farrell left the show, I am sure almost everyone, including her co-actors, were probably like "don't let the door hit you on your ass!" I know I felt that way.

Exactly. I mean, once you've set up the whole Trill thing, how do you not pull that trigger eventually? It's like Chekov's Symbiote. And with Farrell wanting to leave anyway? That's a gift from the storytelling gods.

Heck, I would've been tempted to kill off Jadzia well before then, just so you could finally play the Trill card and show us how the rest of the cast reacts to a new Dax. The whole idea of replacing Jadzia was practically built into the show's DNA from Day One.

I'm glad they got a chance to milk that idea before the show wrapped up.

(And, yes, I liked Ezri better, too.)

Very good point. In fact, I am surprised that they didn't changes actors more than once. But I am so glad that when they did, the used someone like Nicole De Boer. She was definitely NOT-Jadzia, in almost every way. And I did like the idea that she wasn't even a Trill who had wanted to be joined, nor expected to join with the likes of Dax. I thought that if they were going to replace Jadzia, they couldn't have done a better job than that.

I still think they should have changed Dax's gender. That would have been much more of a shock to the crew. Imagine Worf's embarrassment alone.

Priceless!

Yeah, it might have been interesting, but Dax had previously been male. They explored the "Dax being a female now" thing to death with "Old Man" Jadzia. Especially the Klingon episodes, we were beat over the head how Jadzia might be a girl now, but Dax is still badass, and really the only thing Jadzia is probably known best for is the episode Rejoined, and her lesbian kiss (again, reducing the Jadzia character to nothing but eye candy). The whole character of Jadzia was 6 seasons of dealing with gender-swap. So, if they made Dax a man again, it would have been redundant, and I think with Ezri, we got enough of the adjustment to another body trope we needed. Besides Worf probably would have just challenged Man-Dax to a duel to the death and killed him for insulting his honor or something.

She wasn't bad at all. There was never a sign she was lacking in chemistry or performances; I thought Farrell and Brooks had great chemistry. I wish he and her fell in love in the series.

The mirror universe episode where they make out was disgusting and had they been paired up for real, it would have made no sense for either character. Curzon Dax was Sisko's mentor, almost to the point of being a father figure, as well as drinking buddy and friend. It would have been incestuous, and would have made no sense for either character to fall in love. I could not be MORE HAPPY they NEVER paired those two up. It would have topped Seven\Chakotay as the WORST TREK PAIRING EVER! By Far!

 

[Worf'sParmach]

It's kind of ironic that she was, in a sense, the most replaceable cast member, the one whose character had an in-built recasting gimmick. If it had been, say, Nana Visitor who hadn't wanted to continue for the final year it might have been a bigger blow. When your character is set up at the beginning to have the ability to reincarnate, which would be an intriguing idea to explore some day, it might not be a good idea to cause too much of a fuss.

Totally agree. I'm not a Jadzia hater (she gets my approval by proxy since I'm a Worf fan) but of all the characters, hers was just too easy to replace. If I had been a producer, as soon as she started going back and forth about money I would have just said, "Forget it. We'll just get a new Dax." I think she totally over-estimated her worth on the show. Anyone else would have had leverage. But the character who has zero unique story line, admitedly needs a coach and has a built in reset button? Yeah, um, no.

Now, the circumstances of said death, I think we all agree were pretty bad. Placing Change of Heart near the end of the season and letting her die there would have been much better.

Go. Listen. Farrell does not outrightly say she is a bad actress. However, she admits that (1) she was incapable of playing a person of stature, and leaned on Brooks for support; (2) other (unnamed) members of the cast made her feel that she lacked sufficient talent; (3) she often held up production, causing exasperation among the cast; (4) she should have been actively assigned an acting coach as part of her contract. She makes other arguments in order to say that the part was too difficult for her--arguments that I think make little sense. Actors are often required to imitate people who are bigger than them. Science fiction actors are required to display uncommon combinations of qualities. She claims that she was a Trekkie since childhood: she should have known what to expect.

This just blows my mind. All these years I'd never heard this. I can't imagine going to my boss, telling her the job is too difficult for me, yet at the same time asking for more money and support and expecting anything other than to be replaced.

Patrick Stewart mentioned Star Trek dialogue and lingo is very hard to memorize and perform. This doesn't mean she was a bad actress but being the science officer, learning Klingon because the writers grounded her in the Klingon culture and dealing with Worf, and later the pilot of star ships can be difficult.

This makes me LOL because most of us around here can recite Star Trek lingo with no problem.

I wonder what would happen if, as a 'professional' cook I required my employer to give me a cooking coach to help me do my job correctly?

I think they would tell me that I'm just a bad cook, and give my job to whatever Ezri's culinary counterpart is.

Exactly.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

...

Now, the circumstances of said death, I think we all agree were pretty bad. Placing Change of Heart near the end of the season and letting her die there would have been much better.
...

Or maybe during the raid of Blood Oath.

 

[UssGlenn]

...

Now, the circumstances of said death, I think we all agree were pretty bad. Placing Change of Heart near the end of the season and letting her die there would have been much better.
...

The only problem I have with that is what it does to Worf's character. Could the audience really forgive him for leaving Jadzia to die? I suppose they could still have him come back for her and have her die at the end of the episode, but then he's still at fault for not turning back soon enough.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

...

Now, the circumstances of said death, I think we all agree were pretty bad. Placing Change of Heart near the end of the season and letting her die there would have been much better.
...

The only problem I have with that is what it does to Worf's character. Could the audience really forgive him for leaving Jadzia to die? I suppose they could still have him come back for her and have her die at the end of the episode, but then he's still at fault for not turning back soon enough.

The episode is designed to make Worf look romantic, ready to sacrifice for love, and not another Starfleet robot who eschews personal commitment for the mission. Maybe it would have been better to show it earlier in the season, but it contributed to DS9' s attention to relationships.