Sela

[Trekker4747]

I know some write this off and groan at this plot contrivance as Crosby trying to shoe-horn her way back into the franchise over regret in leaving during the first season to go on and do... pretty much nothing at all. And I mostly agree with this, but my gripes mostly with Crosby are in her outside of the series "work" on Trek including documentaries and such.

Anyway, I love the way Sela's character is introduced in the Redemption episodes it's just the ultimate mind-fuck in the twist in time-line logic that made the whole thing "possible." It's a shame, however, that "Tasha" didn't survive so that she could meet the "real" Picard and fill him more in on what had occured. But never-the-matter it's a fun little logical twist that I just enjoy to no end.

 

[jjustin602]

I READ WIKIPEDIA!!!

 

[T'Girl]

SELA

Sistema Económico Latino Americano (SELA), is an organization founded in 1975 to promote econoomic cooperation and social development between Latin American countries, its representatives consisted of members from 27 countries. SELA hopes to restructure international commerce in basic commodities in order to raise developing states' export values, improve trade conditions, stimulate industrial development, control foreign-based transnational corporations, create Latin American multinational companies which will use to better advantage the human, technological, and financial resources of the area, sponsor organizations to process and market raw materials, improve the negotiating power of the member states, and plan joint economic strategies.

 

[Praxius]

Yeah, anyways, back on topic a bit.... it certainly threw my wife for a loop when we watched those episodes a couple of days ago.... but to be honest, I can't say I really cared for her acting in TNG, either as Yar or Sela..... it just didn't feel all there when she played the characters.

I liked her acting/performance on "Yesterday's Enterprise" and I can't really blame her for the acting as Yar in Season 1 since I felt Season 1 was kinda crappy in every aspect, including just about everybody's acting..... but when she came back as Sela, while I liked the concept and the time shifting screwup thing..... the character just seemed kinda static. She was good in the Klingon Civil War, but with Reunification, it was like they just slapped her into the story line just for the sake of having Crosby in one more episode.

If they tossed her into a few more episodes after Reunification, then I think the character would have been able to evolve and give a better overall feel to the character, but they stopped with her after that episode and one is kinda left to wonder.... "Did data Vulcan Pinch her too hard and killed her?"

Facinating

 

[sbk1234]

I never liked the idea of Sela. It just seemed so contrived to me. If Crosby wanted to return, they could have just buried her in Romulan makeup, and had her do basically the same stuff. Being a half-Romulan from a different timeline really added nothing to the story, IMHO. Not a knock against the actor, it just wasn't necessary, and I think the episode suffered for this.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I think the idea of Sela was good, just not quite executed properly. With her appearances in Redemption and Unification, she seemed to be being set up as a recurring Romulan adversary and then she was just... dropped. With what we've got, there was nothing specific to her involvement that made the connection to Tasha necessary.

However, I think there was some potential for some stories when she interacted with Picard, specifically her demand that he NEVER forget that she is ROMULAN. She only met the man five minutes ago and is telling him her life story and is making this demand that he look at his enemy and see his enemy, when he has, throughout his career, managed to do just that. There is clearly something in Sela that wants to connect to her human half and she is resisting it, and playing with that story would have been interesting.

 

[Trekker4747]

Agreed, if TNG was more "arced" it would've been interesting to see Sela reconnect with her human side and even defect back into the Federation, and even brought us back an older Tasha. (Yes, Sela says Tasha died but she's Romulan so who knows if she was telling the truth.)

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I didn't care much for Sela in Unification (though her "I hate Vulcans" bit WAS hilarious), I thought her "humans have a way of popping up when least expected" line was fantastic. It set up SO much, it meant so much, it was just... BAM! Ya know?

Well, maybe not, but I thought it was great. It wasn't followed up on as well as it could have been. But I thought it was such a great line.

 

[Praxius]

I didn't care much for Sela in Unification (though her "I hate Vulcans" bit WAS hilarious), I thought her "humans have a way of popping up when least expected" line was fantastic. It set up SO much, it meant so much, it was just... BAM! Ya know?

Well, maybe not, but I thought it was great. It wasn't followed up on as well as it could have been. But I thought it was such a great line.

Agreed, I enjoyed those lines as well and the timing of her popping out of the shadows and commenting on humans popping up when you least expect them was a bit on the ironic side of things.

But right after that and into the next episode, everything regarding the character went a tad stale.

If they made her a bit more ruthless rather then methodical, it could have been interesting..... like perhaps giving her background that being half Romulan and half Human would bring out the worst of both species, where she'd be pretty intelligent, yet almost klingon with her anger and punishing of those who cross her...... then I'd feel she'd stand out more from your typical Romulan plotting in the shadows.

 

[TheKeeper]

I also was disappointed at not seeing Sela after "Unification". I've come to wonder if Nemesis might have been better if they'd just used her character in place of the not very convincing or comprehensible Shinzon.

 

[Praxius]

I also was disappointed at not seeing Sela after "Unification". I've come to wonder if Nemesis might have been better if they'd just used her character in place of the not very convincing or comprehensible Shinzon.

As a wise man once said, "I'd buy that for a dollar!"

I could see it working.... but I still don't mind Nemesis as it stands.... for me it's second to First Contact.

 

[Subcommander R.]

I also was disappointed at not seeing Sela after "Unification". I've come to wonder if Nemesis might have been better if they'd just used her character in place of the not very convincing or comprehensible Shinzon.

That would constitute a great improvement, though in my opinion a LOT of things would.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Bringing Sela back for Nemesis would also have managed to help be a bit of a bookend - this cast was all here for the first episode, they're all here for the final movie. They had Wil Wheaton cameo, they couldn't have thrown Sela into the mix as well and let Denise Crosby make an appearance?

I actually remember I attended a convention a few months prior to Nemesis where I actually asked if, since the Romulans were the antagonists of the movie if Sela would be involved. I don't remember quite what variation of no I got (I think it was something like 'can't talk about it/I'm not sure, that's not my department'), but I do remember hearing a sort of agreeing mumbling among the audience of 'good question.'

 

[Kegg]

I guess my biggest argument against Sela is the following:

How cool would Unification and Redemption have been if it was Tomalak instead? You lose the noted mindfuck aspect (which was mostly only worth it for the sudden cliffhanger ending and none of the later payoff), and you get Andreas Katsulas with what I'd argue was TNG's most under-utilized recurring character. Win-win in my book.

 

[TheKeeper]

Bringing Sela back for Nemesis would also have managed to help be a bit of a bookend - this cast was all here for the first episode, they're all here for the final movie. They had Wil Wheaton cameo, they couldn't have thrown Sela into the mix as well and let Denise Crosby make an appearance?
...

Clearly I'm not the first or only one to have thought of this. Having Sela in charge of a Romulan coup, then acting on her already established hatred of humans, the Federation and Picard -- the Nemesis script practically rewrites itself. For the movie audiences new to the character, her backstory would have required less explanation than the whole Shinzon/Picard clone/Reman thing. And it would have given Picard's story that old TWOK resonance they were looking for (dealing with the consequences of past decisions.)

I guess my biggest argument against Sela is the following:

How cool would Unification and Redemption have been if it was Tomalak instead? You lose the noted mindfuck aspect (which was mostly only worth it for the sudden cliffhanger ending and none of the later payoff), and you get Andreas Katsulas with what I'd argue was TNG's most under-utilized recurring character. Win-win in my book.

Tomalak had the advantage of being established, and Katsulas was the better actor (although Denise Crosby made a better villain than crewmember), but I see a problem with making Tomalak the generic go-to guy for all Romulan villainy. This afflicted even his few appearances in the series -- was he Picard's counterpart as the Commander of the flagship Bird of Prey, and if so why was he running Riker's interrogation in "Future Imperfect"? I suppose he could have fit into "Redemption", but not so much into "Unification".

Sela's dramatic potential was underserved by her being in stories that were otherwise too big in other respects to attend to it. The Nemesis story seemed tailor-made for her, but for whatever reason they went with some 'Picard clone leads Remans in a war on Earth' brain-breaker.

 

[MikeH92467]

I didn't care much for Sela in Unification (though her "I hate Vulcans" bit WAS hilarious), I thought her "humans have a way of popping up when least expected" line was fantastic. It set up SO much, it meant so much, it was just... BAM! Ya know?

Well, maybe not, but I thought it was great. It wasn't followed up on as well as it could have been. But I thought it was such a great line.

That line was flat out stolen from "The Bridge on the River Kwai". (Movie buffs will no doubt get the reference.)

I think it was the powers that be overreaching with their stunt casting. They already had the bombshell of Spock and Sarek, but they couldn't stop themselves from adding just one more stunt. For Andreas Katsulas to step out of the shadows in the final reveal would have satisfied real Trek fans just as much, if not more, than Sela.

 

[TheKeeper]

I didn't care much for Sela in Unification (though her "I hate Vulcans" bit WAS hilarious), I thought her "humans have a way of popping up when least expected" line was fantastic. It set up SO much, it meant so much, it was just... BAM! Ya know?

Well, maybe not, but I thought it was great. It wasn't followed up on as well as it could have been. But I thought it was such a great line.

That line was flat out stolen from "The Bridge on the River Kwai". (Movie buffs will no doubt get the reference.)

I think it was the powers that be overreaching with their stunt casting. They already had the bombshell of Spock and Sarek, but they couldn't stop themselves from adding just one more stunt. For Andreas Katsulas to step out of the shadows in the final reveal would have satisfied real Trek fans just as much, if not more, than Sela.

I think we're mixing up Sela's two appearances here. The big cliffhanger introduction of Sela was in "Redemption", the "Unification" cliffhanger was Spock's appearance.

 

[MikeH92467]

I didn't care much for Sela in Unification (though her "I hate Vulcans" bit WAS hilarious), I thought her "humans have a way of popping up when least expected" line was fantastic. It set up SO much, it meant so much, it was just... BAM! Ya know?

Well, maybe not, but I thought it was great. It wasn't followed up on as well as it could have been. But I thought it was such a great line.

That line was flat out stolen from "The Bridge on the River Kwai". (Movie buffs will no doubt get the reference.)

I think it was the powers that be overreaching with their stunt casting. They already had the bombshell of Spock and Sarek, but they couldn't stop themselves from adding just one more stunt. For Andreas Katsulas to step out of the shadows in the final reveal would have satisfied real Trek fans just as much, if not more, than Sela.

I think we're mixing up Sela's two appearances here. The big cliffhanger introduction of Sela was in "Redemption", the "Unification" cliffhanger was Spock's appearance.

Yep, I should have just said that revealing Tomalok as the Romulan puppet master instead of Sela would have been just as good.

 

[Alrik]

The Nemesis story seemed tailor-made for her, but for whatever reason they went with some 'Picard clone leads Remans in a war on Earth' brain-breaker.

Sela in place of Shinzon in Nemesis might have actually salvaged that movie.

 

[Kegg]

Tomalak had the advantage of being established, and Katsulas was the better actor (although Denise Crosby made a better villain than crewmember), but I see a problem with making Tomalak the generic go-to guy for all Romulan villainy.

Thing is, where you see a problem, I see Andreas Katsulas. Promote Tomalak a notch or two and put him in charge of 'nefarious Romulan schemes unit'; and he'd fit in nicely with Sela's role. Yeah it's a cheat having a major Romulan player like that, but the Klingon Empire benefited from having Gowron and the Cardassians would benefit similarly in DS9 with Dukat. It makes the world smaller but it makes the drama more, well, interesting.