I can't understand why some one shot guest characters exist only to leave Starfleet/Federation, etc for good upon meeting somebody. Marla McGivers, Will Decker, Amanda Rogers etc...
New hands abandon ship (and Starfleet, come to think of it)
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
It's like you'd think there'd be a little more thought involved. You meet the person and there's nearly no emotional tug of war. A decision like that usually is a long time coming.
I guess it's lack of backstory and build up that doesn't help.
I guess it's lack of backstory and build up that doesn't help.
Apropos of nothing, but I've been meaning to tell you that your sig, as performed by the Statler Brothers, is my favorite Christian song.
As to the question at hand, I think it's because it's the best they've generally been able to do without writing off a series regular, given the extremely episodic format of the various series. Maybe Discovery will actually get a chance to build up recurring characters and give things like this more weight?
As to the question at hand, I think it's because it's the best they've generally been able to do without writing off a series regular, given the extremely episodic format of the various series. Maybe Discovery will actually get a chance to build up recurring characters and give things like this more weight?
This is just standard episodic TV guest star stuff...nothing unique to Trek.
What's odder is when a TV show goes out of its way to establish a new character in town for one episode, then we never see them again.
What's odder is when a TV show goes out of its way to establish a new character in town for one episode, then we never see them again.
Like Lt. George Primmin in DS9's first season who essentially has a whole subplot in The Passenger setting himself up as the head of the Starfleet contingent of the station's security staff and even has a brief appearance in Move Along Home further establishing tension between him and Odo. Then he disappears and it seems Odo is in charge of all the station's security personnel for the rest of the season and during season 2, regardless if they're Bajoran or Starfleet. Then they introduce Eddington in the third season to take over as head of Starfleet security on the station, since Starfleet doesn't trust Odo.
Speaking of which, I guess Starfleet got over their distrust of Odo after Eddington defected to the Maquis and Odo was once again placed in charge of all security officers regardless which uniform they wore?
It would be more satisfying to think that there always was a Primmin there to take care of Starfleet security needs - he just didn't have the authority to do (Bajoran) law enforcement and step on Odo's gooey toes, whereas Odo had no qualms about operating in and across Starfleet fields of jurisdiction and authority. Eddington was a rare attempt to stop Odo from meddling, after which the Starfleet yellowshirts reverted to commanding the anti-boarding forces and handling Starfleet discipline issues.
A decision to leave takes a long time to ferment? I think we saw plenty of this in "Space Seed": it was clear McGivers had been itching to go for months if not years already. Decker's reasons for leaving were more impromptu, all contained (and nicely provided!) within the movie, but he clearly didn't have time to prevaricate. I can't find fault in the dramatic handling of these cases.
It's far less satisfactory to see our longtime heroes struggle with a decision to leave, when we know Kirk never will get around to it anyway - much less when McCoy would have every reason but the writers won't let him.
Timo Saloniemi
A decision to leave takes a long time to ferment? I think we saw plenty of this in "Space Seed": it was clear McGivers had been itching to go for months if not years already. Decker's reasons for leaving were more impromptu, all contained (and nicely provided!) within the movie, but he clearly didn't have time to prevaricate. I can't find fault in the dramatic handling of these cases.
It's far less satisfactory to see our longtime heroes struggle with a decision to leave, when we know Kirk never will get around to it anyway - much less when McCoy would have every reason but the writers won't let him.
Timo Saloniemi
I chose it because of the universe references.
Yeah, but a one-time collaboration between two law enforcement agencies on a case is one thing. A supposedly long-term re-assignment that lasts all of three days or somebody who exists for the sole purpose of saying goodbye is quite another.
I guess that has more to do with an actor's ability to commit. Either re-cast or explain that they were re-assigned, or heck, even kill them off or give them a life crisis that makes them re-evaluate everything and go somewhere else. Don't just make them disappear and never be spoken of again.
Someone like Amanda I can understand, she never really had a choice and it was clear in the end of Q's training that she was enjoying her powers.
Examples of characters that they truly wasted were Lal and K'Ehleyr. They could have been very interesting characters to explore and been of great benefit to the crew. That "1 hour Reset" mentality they had for a lot of TNG really hamstrung some of their better scripts.
Examples of characters that they truly wasted were Lal and K'Ehleyr. They could have been very interesting characters to explore and been of great benefit to the crew. That "1 hour Reset" mentality they had for a lot of TNG really hamstrung some of their better scripts.
I'm kind of answering my own question here, but ...You got to remember that to keep using a character like that would mean paying the originator in perpetuity. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Nicholas_Locarno for instance.
I'm not averse to him being a cousin of Paris's.
I likes Dr. Selar but I think we only saw her once in a show, the rest of the time she was either mentioned or we heard her being pages on the intercom.
K'Ehleyr would have made a great edition to the cast but she was so good the existing cast would be upstaged.
K'Ehleyr would have made a great edition to the cast but she was so good the existing cast would be upstaged.
In the case of Marla . . . one gets the impression that she never really fit in on the Enterprise even before Khan shows up. Kirk can barely remember her name at the beginning of the ep, and she acts surprised and even annoyed to be called away from her private studies and hobbies to join the boarding party. And if she has any close friends or confidants among the crew . . . well, we don't see them in the episode.
I think Marla was always something of a lost soul who didn't quite know what she wanted or where she truly belonged . . . .
(Which is how I wrote her in one of my books.)
I think Marla was always something of a lost soul who didn't quite know what she wanted or where she truly belonged . . . .
(Which is how I wrote her in one of my books.)
Checked out the Memory Beta page for her - I guess she realized her career was over. What did she do prior to that episode?
This seems like a case of attributing false exceptionalism to Trek. It's standard episodic TV storytelling to have characters pop up for exactly one story and never be seen again, whether they're new in town or are implied to have always been there.
Personally, I was always annoyed that there wasn't a security chief on the Enterprise in TOS. I think we saw one twice, if I recall correctly. Now, obviously, he can be presumed that we don't have to see them to guess that they are there. It just seems rather odd to me.
To get to be chief requires surviving your first away mission....not common
Maybe the Security Chief in TOS was like the Chief Engineer in early-TNG, there were loads of them but none lasted very long as they kept getting killed off.
FWIW, there was a person known as Security Chief in TOS: he gets an onscreen mention (but not an onscreen appearance) in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and an onscreen appearance (as per credit mention but not onscreen mention) in "Assignment: Earth".
That there is no character to go with this known-to-exist person is the TOS thing, just like there was a time in TNG preproduction when there wasn't going to be a character to go with the still supposedly existing position/person of Chief Engineer.
We did get Security people in prominent, "Chiefly" roles every now and then. Giotto even got lines. (Garrovick got more than that, but his backstory and junior rank might mean he sat lower down on the hierarchy ladder. Kirk might have grounded a Security team leader, but not his Chief of Security, not without appointing a replacement at least!)
Timo Saloniemi
That there is no character to go with this known-to-exist person is the TOS thing, just like there was a time in TNG preproduction when there wasn't going to be a character to go with the still supposedly existing position/person of Chief Engineer.
We did get Security people in prominent, "Chiefly" roles every now and then. Giotto even got lines. (Garrovick got more than that, but his backstory and junior rank might mean he sat lower down on the hierarchy ladder. Kirk might have grounded a Security team leader, but not his Chief of Security, not without appointing a replacement at least!)
Timo Saloniemi
The needs of the story outweigh the needs of the one.
That's true, but if it improves the quality of the work I'm all for it.
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