New Candid Denise Crosby Interview

[FrontierTrek]

I recently sat down with Denise Crosby for a special interview about her time on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

She was refreshingly candid and open, and reflected on her time on the show as well as recalling strange encounters with Rick Berman, a possible Trekkies 3 and her conspicuous absence from Star Trek: Nemesis.

She was ever so gracious, and I hope you enjoy reading!

http://trekcore.com/interviews/denisecrosby_interview.html

 

[ALF]

Will check this out... can't wait to read about strange encounters with Rick Berman. I'm sure he's somewhere right now, being strange and creepy to someone. Hopefully some Trek fans.

EDIT: Just read it... "we can't see any way that Sela would be around." - Berman. What a fuck nut. Sela in Nemesis would have been genius. Great interview, though!

 

[tomalak301]

Interesting interview, even though while I understand her frustrations about Season 1, what I would love to know (And maybe I missed it in the interview) is what made her change from "I didn't want to be standing there with nothing to do" to "I want to come back and be fully entrenched into the Star Trek Franchise by doing 2 (And possibly 3) documentaries about the fans". It's a question like that which I hope to see in the Season 3 documentary.

Also, interesting tidbit about her being asked about Nemesis. Berman said he couldn't see Sela coming back and here I am thinking, "I can". Man if I had done Nemesis and brought back Nimoy (If he would want to do it), Katsulas, and Denise Crosby as Sela, I think that movie could have been one of the best films in the franchise.

 

[SchwEnt]

I haven't read the interview. But I wanted to comment on the "no Sela in Nemesis" idea.

In-universe, I can believe never seeing Sela again.

She got bested in her involvement in the Klingon Civil War. Not so good for her.

Then she was again thwarted in the Vulcan Invasion operation. Two big failures on her record.

After those two botched operations, I can see Sela getting "disappeared" by the Tal Shiar. Or at least removed from front-line command and placed in a position never to be seen again.

 

[Vanyel]

A rather mean thing to do, pull off the communicator and say you won't be needing this anymore.

 

[ALF]

I haven't read the interview. But I wanted to comment on the "no Sela in Nemesis" idea.

In-universe, I can believe never seeing Sela again.

She got bested in her involvement in the Klingon Civil War. Not so good for her.

Then she was again thwarted in the Vulcan Invasion operation. Two big failures on her record.

After those two botched operations, I can see Sela getting "disappeared" by the Tal Shiar. Or at least removed from front-line command and placed in a position never to be seen again.

Well... regardless of those facts she's Tasha Yar's daughter. That alone makes it worth seeing her again. Especially in a film that was supposedly meant to serve as a wrap up of the series as a whole.

 

[BriGuy]

I noted her absence in the 25th anniversary reunion on the S2 bluray set.

I can understand why she wasn't there, not being part of most of the series and the movies that followed, but she was a main cast member in the first season, and returned both as that character in one of the most highly regarded episodes (Yesterday's Enterprise); as Sela; and was included in the finale.

 

[R. Star]

I dunno, it always seemed to me Crosby got out of Trek as quick as she could and then spent the time since doing her best to get back into it. Her reasoning behind that seemed a bit vague, but mistakes happen.

It was interesting to learn she did inquire about Nemesis. More interesting to say they couldn't find a place for her. You could've subbed in Sela for Donatra and really wouldn't have had to change her lines. Heck a half-human Sela hitting on Shinzon would make a twisted kind of sense.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Heck a half-human Sela hitting on Shinzon would make a twisted kind of sense.

So would brain bleach, which I now need.

 

[R. Star]

Heck a half-human Sela hitting on Shinzon would make a twisted kind of sense.

So would brain bleach, which I now need.

 

[Dream]

I dunno, it always seemed to me Crosby got out of Trek as quick as she could and then spent the time since doing her best to get back into it.

Crosby should have stuck to her guns and stayed off TNG if she thought TNG would never amount to anything.

 

[davejames]

I dunno, it always seemed to me Crosby got out of Trek as quick as she could and then spent the time since doing her best to get back into it. Her reasoning behind that seemed a bit vague, but mistakes happen.

Well to be fair to her, the writing DID improve substantially after the second season. It's not like she was begging to get back onto a subpar show with bad writing.

Like everyone else, she saw that the storytelling improved and she wanted to be a part of it. I don't see anything shameful about that.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Another wasted opportunity was for DS9 during the Dominion War arc.

She could have played Sela as the stubborn Romulan stationed aboard DS9.

Could have lasted all the way up into the finale. Would have been interesting.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Like everyone else, she saw that the storytelling improved and she wanted to be a part of it. I don't see anything shameful about that.

Nor I. In the first season she had a great speech in the premiere, a goofy episode involving closeups of her posterior and trying to have sex with Data, and another goofy episode where she fought a misogynist culture. All of that happened in the first four episodes, and her involvement in the rest of the season was mostly security officer stuff with an occasional memorable scene peppered in (I fondly remember her "penalty box" speech), but nothing that really focused on her. Heck, even "Skin of Evil" wasn't really about her either. Harry Kim had more to do than she did in his first year.

I'm sure she understood that this was an ensemble show, but even that level of involvement would make her justifiably worry about what she'd be doing in the second season onwards. Her character had some pretty tragic origins, something that the writers may even have wanted to steer clear on (really, who wants to write about "rape gangs"?).

Really though, her departure strengthened the show - one less character to juggle. I would have liked to see more Tasha, since what we got was good and well delivered. But Crosby gambled on moving on, as actors often do. IMO she lost (yay, "The Eliminators"!) but hey - that's the biz.

Mark

 

[bbailey861]

Also, interesting tidbit about her being asked about Nemesis. Berman said he couldn't see Sela coming back and here I am thinking, "I can". Man if I had done Nemesis and brought back Nimoy (If he would want to do it), Katsulas, and Denise Crosby as Sela, I think that movie could have been one of the best films in the franchise.

There are dozens of ways they could have brought Sela back, but I especially like this. I think this crew would have made for an amazing story and would have been wildly successful.

 

[Dream]

Really though, her departure strengthened the show - one less character to juggle.

I was surprised that Tasha was never replaced by another actress like how Kes and Jadzia were. Maybe they realized that the cast was way too big?

It's funny how Beverly and Wesley were never killed off when those actors left the show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I never did like Sela. She always was way too smug, even for a Romulan. It's like she couldn't even understand why Tasha would have tried to escape Romulus...

 

[davejames]

Yeah, as much as I liked Crosby as Yar, she didn't exactly make for the most convincing villain (and her scenes opposite Nimoy in Unification almost make me wanna cringe).

I will admit though it was pretty cool seeing Sela appear on the viewscreen that first time.

 

[BriGuy]

Based mostly on some things I've only recently heard, namely the circumstances of Dorn's casting and his late arrival to the cast, I would tend to think Worf was more the extraneous character the writers (and the actor) didn't know what to do with, at least at the start.

It might have stayed that way if Crosby and Yar and stayed on the show.

I think it was interesting that the Yar character wasn't given the happy, utopian life that seemingly most of the rest of the crew enjoyed. She had a very troubled background, and I think the writers would have delved into that a lot had Yar stayed around. I think there could have been a lot to explore there.

It seems it was only with Yar removed that Worf got more development and play. Worf (and my extension the Klingons) may not have become the character he did if Yar had been there.

 

[Jimi_James]

Also, interesting tidbit about her being asked about Nemesis. Berman said he couldn't see Sela coming back and here I am thinking, "I can". Man if I had done Nemesis and brought back Nimoy (If he would want to do it), Katsulas, and Denise Crosby as Sela, I think that movie could have been one of the best films in the franchise.

I agree completely. It was just one huge missed opportunity to not involve any of the Romulan characters established in TNG, or Spock for that matter. It would be like if First Contact made no mention of Picard's previous dealings with the Borg or Khan's character had been replaced with some new creation with all the same background and motives. It's as if Nemesis exists in its own separate universe where the TNG crew have had no dealings with the Romulans before.

If anything, this just goes to highlight the creative fatigue of those in charge of trek during that time. Abrams version of Star Trek may not be perfect or ideal, but I at least find it more fun and entertaining than the final years of the Berman and Braga train wreck.

On the other hand, I don't think taking the combadge was as much of an insult as she seems to think it is. What's important to remember is that she chose to leave so its not like he was kicking her out and rubbing it in. She decided she didn't want to be there and for the rest of them that chose to stay, it was a way to acknowledge that she was no longer part of the group.

I can't believe I'm defending Berman against anything...but I didn't see it as insulting. Perhaps in poor taste or simply a bad joke, but not insulting.