How does Seska rate?
- Thread starter Abi Smith
- Start date
Well, compared to DS9’s Cardassians not so well.
She’s a good villain in that she is inherently tricksy and calculating. What doesn’t make much sense for her was thinking the Kazon were a good choice to defect to.
She’s a good villain in that she is inherently tricksy and calculating. What doesn’t make much sense for her was thinking the Kazon were a good choice to defect to.
I'm guessing she thought she could control them because she was upgrading their technology, but not so primitive that their tech was useless.
M
marlboro
Guest
I wish she had staid on the show longer. I think it would have been interesting to see her making her own solo journey back to the AQ doing things the Cardassian way.
I didn't like the Kazons, disgusting inferior beings. I did not like Seska, somewhat because of the actress, but the character sucked too. I didn't like Dukat. But I did like Dukat's assisitant.
Potentially she could have rated well with them but the foolishy killed her and Suder off to soon. They could have provided that internal conflict they would go get the next season with Seven. They really aimed hard in season 3 to be a TNG clone which is why it is one of worst seasons in all of Trek. Jason
Seska was more in line with the Dumar, Korinas, Garak's goofy father Cardassian, the fomulaic twirling mustache bad guy; act one way and to the end think one way.
I agree with that, but on the other hand, which other party could she have defected to at the time she was forced to leave the ship (and still keep appearing on the show as an traitor, that is)? The Vidiians? They would perhaps have used her but afterwards would simply have taken her organs as well. So I really don't think this is a fault with the Seska character but more of the writers having failed to set up a suitable enemy by then.
At first glance I read this as "stayed in the shower" and was wondering if she smelt bad....
I completely disagree with much of this. First of all, every one of these 4 series had what I called "non-denominational" episodes. These are episodes that could have been written for any of the series and worked fine. Episodes like "Displaced" or "Distant Origin" would have worked on TNG or DS9. But each series had episodes that would have been harder to adapt to another series because they centered around the personality of a specific character or situation, such as "Darkling", "Fair Trade", "Before and After" or "Worse Case Scenario"
I reject the claim that they were trying to be a TNG clone. What does this even mean? Stories about a crew aboard a starship? I also disagree that this season was the "worst" of anything.
"The Chute"
"Remember"
"Macrocosm"
"Future's End"
"Fair Trade"
"Darkling"
"Distant Origin"
"Scorpion"
Are all top notch Star Trek and science fiction episodes, and at least as many episodes from season three are good stories. I didn't care for "Sacred Ground" or "Warlord" (especially Warlord) but others do, so what was bad about the season? What exactly seemed like they were trying to be a clone of TNG, except the obvious things that the two series have in common?
Last edited:
She could, good writing permitted, have flipped on Cullah and sided with the more advanced and clearly crafty Trabe.
(Gee Alliances was a missed opportunity on so many levels.)
OK, that's an interesting idea. Could work too, since the Trabe were looking for a new homeworld - so had no fixed territory (anymore) and therefore could have kept troubling Voyager for a long(er) time. However I wonder now what Seska ultimately wanted to achieve. Power in the DQ? Or simply get home faster than Janeway by whatever means possible?
She probably figured the odds of getting home in her lifetime were virtually zero, so she decided on making her own empire. Her capturing Voyager would have assured it.
Enabran Tain...goofy?!
I thought he was a far more interesting character in "The Wire" than what he became in "The Die is Cast". His actions in the episode was so un-Cardassian like I knew it was a turning point for the Cardassian characteristic. I thought Tain was foolish and acted that way... which is what the definition means for goofy.
This doesn't follow. Her actions were irrational, her defecting is a simple plot device that disintegrates if you look at it too closely.
1) Voyager is not indestructible. Other Kazon sects would have undoubtedly organized, to either take Voyager for themselves, or destroy it to eliminate the threat of being conquered. Voyager wouldn't be able to defend itself against an armada of Kazon ships.
2) Other species would still be after the technology. And unlike Voyager's crew, Seska would have to defend Voyager with a crew of intellectually inferior Kazon.
3) They would have been unable to defend themselves against the Borg, who would have simply taken the ship. The only thing that protected the Kazon from assimilation is their technical and intellectual inferiority. Seska and a bunch of Kazon wouldn't be able to defend themselves against the Borg like Janeway and a Starfleet crew.
So, Seska would have been better off taking her chances with the Voyager crew. Cardassians aren't stupid.
Seska and the traitor were simple plot devices, and thankfully, they were eliminated from the show when the plot thread had run it's course. I did not like the character or the Kazon or the plot thread, and was glad when they were gone.
I did like the story of Tom wanting off the ship to bring everything to a head though. He was giving Chakotay a real hard time.
How so? She had worn out her welcome on Voyager, and friends willing to take her in, where she was also granted a place of power. She explains everything to Chakotay and Janeway just before she leaves Voyager, and they are totally rational.
SESKA: "I did it for you. I did it for this crew. We are alone here, at the mercy of any number of hostile aliens, because of the incomprehensible decision of a Federation Captain. A Federation Captain who destroyed our only chance to get home. Federation rules. Federation nobility. Federation compassion? Do you understand, if this had been a Cardassian ship, we would be home now. We must begin to forge alliances. To survive, we must have powerful friends. The Kazon-Nistrim were willing to be our protectors in return for some minor technology."
JANEWAY: "Minor technology that could change the balance of power in this quadrant."
SESKA: "Change it in our favour! That is all that matters at this point. Building a base of power in this quadrant. You are a fool, Captain, and you're a fool to follow her. I can't imagine how I ever loved you. Computer, command XJL."
(Seska beams out.)
Risk and Reward. With Voyager, the Kazon Nistrom would be all the more powerful. When one nation tried to develop a superior weapon to other nation, so that they can gain supremacy over them, they don't say "this is illogical. Let's just forget it, because if we have this weapon, our enemies will want it."
They wouldn't encounter the Borg, as the Borg had no presence in the region. Otherwise, why didn't the Borg try to assimilate the Ocampa, the Vidiians, the Sikari, the Haarkonians, the Pralor, the Mokra, et al, or even Voyager itself?
In the Brig? She's very dangerous. They wouldn't know what to do with her. They'd probably maroon her somewhere. She's not a Federation citizen.
I don't think Seska was stupid, but there's no rule that Cardassians can't be stupid, and we've certainly seen a few that were.
I'd say that Jonas might not make as much sense, but Seska must have had something on him, or threatened him, or knew he would be susceptible to her manipulations.
