Would she really want to live in DS9's version of the 24th century? (as herself)
Questions to Terry Farrell
- Thread starter rhubarbodendron
- Start date
I'd still like to know why she didn't want to be on DS9 for its last season... however, she probably won't answer that and it would be treated like the elephant in the room that people don't acknowledge...
I remember reading that she just wanted her role to be reduced to a recurring character for the 7th season but was only given an "all or nothing" option from producers.
A quick google search turned up this article, but they don't cite their sources.
Very interesting questions I'd never have thought of myself! Thank you all! There's still a day left, so keep them coming 
{{{{{{{Savage Dragon}}}}}}} thanks for the edit!
{{{{{{{Savage Dragon}}}}}}} thanks for the edit!
oooh! I envy you! Would you like me to give her and Max your greetings? I might possibly meet her tonight as traditionally the guest star has supper with the con organizer who coincidentially lives next door.
Very interesting questions I'd never have thought of myself! Thank you all! There's still a day left, so keep them coming
{{{{{{{Savage Dragon}}}}}}} thanks for the edit!
oooh! I envy you! Would you like me to give her and Max your greetings? I might possibly meet her tonight as traditionally the guest star has supper with the con organizer who coincidentially lives next door.
It's ok, I can always email her if I need to.
Preparing for the con I found 2 interviews in which she was asked that very question (which, I believe, moved most fans back then - it certainly moved me). Summing both interview up, she said:I'd still like to know why she didn't want to be on DS9 for its last season... however, she probably won't answer that and it would be treated like the elephant in the room that people don't acknowledge...
Her contract had run out and she could have gotten it extended but at that time she had the impression her life was being eaten up by her work: She felt particularly stressed by all the last minute script changes and would have liked to have her character reduced to just a recurring role so that she'd have more time to herself again. Being very young and inexperienced she just didn't dare to put a little pressure on the bosses and the bosses themselves never thought of the possibility to just cut down her part to recurring.
It seems to me to have been a classical case of a communication failure. Misunderstandings on both sides.
Here are my sources:
Interview 1, part 1 in which she partially answers club's question about the Worf-relationship (but the rest of the question is on my list for tonight!)
Interview 1, part 2 in which she explains how she felt too insecure to ask Berman to be permitted to be a recurring character and how she felt stressed by the situation on set. This interview is the source failed to be cited in the report to which Dragon linked.
In this German interview she explains that there were just as many changes in Becker as there were in DS9, but Becker being a comedy they were just chages to the lines and not changes to the whole mood or even the contents of a full episode.
I'd still like to know why she didn't want to be on DS9 for its last season... however, she probably won't answer that and it would be treated like the elephant in the room that people don't acknowledge...
Farrell talks about the circumstances of her departure from the series quite extensively, although in a way that I think does not resolve all the questions. The gist of her explanation is that she felt tired by the pace of filming, she wanted to do less Trek and more of something else, Berman was a jerk, he gave her a take it or leave it offer, and she left. There is more to her explanation, but she also skirts around several issues.
Well, you must take into consideration that for an actor it's literally vital not to piss off any of the big names and for any actor to stand up publicly agsinst one of the bosses would be professional suicide. Hence they'll always be extremely diplomatic in interviews.
I have no doubts the question will come up again tonight but I am fairly certain we won't get a more straightforward answer than previous interviewers.
ok - I'm off to the con now =) CU on Monday!
I have no doubts the question will come up again tonight but I am fairly certain we won't get a more straightforward answer than previous interviewers.
ok - I'm off to the con now =) CU on Monday!
As others mentioned, it has been answered extensively and often in the past 19 years.I'd still like to know why she didn't want to be on DS9 for its last season... however, she probably won't answer that and it would be treated like the elephant in the room that people don't acknowledge...
The only reason I could see Farrell not wanting to deal with that topic, is because she probably answered those questions a million times by now
Hi, everyone! @rhubarbodendron has just sent me an SMS to let me know she can't get online right now due to a SNAFU at her ISP, but she'll post answers to everyone's questions when she manages to get connected.
I was also at the convention, it was far more packed than we'd expected (anticipated: 30-50 attendees, actual: more like 120), and great fun. Terry first stressed that she knew nothing about the new show (presumably something she got asked about a few times on the recent Star Trek cruise), then went straight into answering questions for just over an hour.
@rhubarbodendron has just sent me an SMS to let me know she can't get online right now due to a SNAFU at her ISP, but she'll post answers to everyone's questions when she manages to get connected.I was also at the convention, it was far more packed than we'd expected (anticipated: 30-50 attendees, actual: more like 120), and great fun.
Terry first stressed that she knew nothing about the new show (presumably something she got asked about a few times on the recent Star Trek cruise), then went straight into answering questions for just over an hour.
Thank you Jim!
Ok, here we go (posting secretly from my office since at home I'm still without connection)
Terry is incredibly slippery when it comes to questions - she'd make a perfect politician. None of the questions asked at the whole con was answered directly but by her replies to these questions and to other questions and by remarks she made in between I could patch together the complete replies. (My appologies for any wrong capitals - my office PC insists in automatically capitalizing anything it believes to be a noun and I don't always manage to find them all)
Q Laura Cynthia Chambers: would she want to live in a DS9 version of the 24th century?
A Terry: Star Trek is so popular because it gives us hope by showing us an alternative and propably ideal way of life: people working together. Regardless of who you are, you always count and there is always an opportunity to grow, both emotionally and ethically. There is always hope that things might improve and this hope is what keeps people going and fans sticking to the series, even after so many years.
[I got the impression that's an enthusiastic yes]
Q Leviathan: What was her favourite idea for a scene or episode that didn't make it into the show?
A Terry: Only once ever did she get to see a script beforehand. She loved the kissing scene between Dax and her former (female) lover in "Rejoined". There was a lot of quarrelling going on as to wether that one would be cut shorter or even left out completely but the director [I believe it was Avery Brooks] used a trick and filmed it all in one single long shot so that it was impossible to shorten it by cutting. Some US states in the bible belt therefore either cut the whole scene away or didn't allow the whole episode to air which really pissed Terry off. She made it very clear that she is convinced love is love, no matter what genders are involved.
This was the only time the bosses ever asked her about a script and showed it to her before the rehersals started. She could have backed out if she hadn't liked it but she loved the idea and went with it.
Q dub: What did she think about the Worf-relationship? Did it work? Did she have any expectations of where the show or her character would go vs what actually happened? Was there a distinct change in direction after Worf came in? Everyone certainly seemed more relaxed and more defined in character.
A Terry: At the very beginning of the show both she and the writers and directors were unsure what to do with Dax. Nobody really knew how to portray a character physically in her 20s but thanks to the symbiont with several centuries of experience. Hence at first they all played it safe and decided that Dax would be holding back a lot and be more watching than acting. The major change came when they changed producers. The new one, Ira Behr, knew her privately and saw to it that Dax was modelled more after herself. He wanted a more rogue-ish Dax and she had gotten more comfortable with the part by then. It all added up to Dax getting a clearer profile.
Personally, she'd have liked Dax to be far more sarcastic. After all, compared to Dax everyone else was just a toddler. Watching all these young people making mistakes she herself had made centuries ago and trying to keep them out of mischief and protect them would give Dax a feeling like being responsible for a kindergarten and she could only cope with that by developing a sense of humour and a good deal of sarcasm.
She and Michael Dorn immediately took to each other and used to hang out a lot together at make up and after rehearsals, talking about the show and their respective characters. This way the Worf/Dax relationship was very strongly influenced by them. They used all the ellbowroom the script would leave them to implement their own ideas and what they played would in turn influence the writers' view on the characters. This way there was a constant feedback between both groups after Michael Dorn joined.
She thought the relationship worked very well on screen but revealed that at times she could have killed Michael for rehearsing a scene with her and then the next day during shooting it in earnest he'd keep asking for altering details, driving her (and apparently a lot of the cast and crew) nuts by Holding everyone up. She much prefers to fix everything in the rehearsal and then to come in and shoot the scene quickly and neatly.
Q Bad Thoughts: How does she feel about the emphasis placed on the symbiont vs the woman? Did she think Jadzia as a person needed more of her own background?
A Terry: Since Dax was introduced into the series as an already joined Trill, neither writers nor actors gave much thought to the host's past. There were so many major and recurring characters in the series that it would not have been possible to go into everyone's backgrounds. Hence she didn't mind that Dax' past wasn't explored in more detail. Compared to other characters, we still learned a lot about Dax in the course of the series, though nothing about Jadzia.
Terry was happy that the writers didn't just write Dax out of the show and "sent her back for 9 months to her Family on Trill" when she got pregnant. [Frankly, that latter bit puzzled me - but judging by the age of her son she must have referred to the character's pregnancy, not her own one].
And a little tidbit: Her favourite Trek character is Spock. She grew up with TOS and loathed TNG.
Her favourite DS9 actor is Armin Shimerman - he's fascinating to watch as he's such an exceptionally good actor [and incredibly nice! If you get a chance to meet him, do by all means] and she learned a lot of him. A pairing between those two characters, Spock and Quark, would have been interesting to watch! [Maybe it inspires some fanfic writer here?]
Ok, here we go (posting secretly from my office since at home I'm still without connection)
Terry is incredibly slippery when it comes to questions - she'd make a perfect politician. None of the questions asked at the whole con was answered directly but by her replies to these questions and to other questions and by remarks she made in between I could patch together the complete replies. (My appologies for any wrong capitals - my office PC insists in automatically capitalizing anything it believes to be a noun and I don't always manage to find them all)
Q Laura Cynthia Chambers: would she want to live in a DS9 version of the 24th century?
A Terry: Star Trek is so popular because it gives us hope by showing us an alternative and propably ideal way of life: people working together. Regardless of who you are, you always count and there is always an opportunity to grow, both emotionally and ethically. There is always hope that things might improve and this hope is what keeps people going and fans sticking to the series, even after so many years.
[I got the impression that's an enthusiastic yes]
Q Leviathan: What was her favourite idea for a scene or episode that didn't make it into the show?
A Terry: Only once ever did she get to see a script beforehand. She loved the kissing scene between Dax and her former (female) lover in "Rejoined". There was a lot of quarrelling going on as to wether that one would be cut shorter or even left out completely but the director [I believe it was Avery Brooks] used a trick and filmed it all in one single long shot so that it was impossible to shorten it by cutting. Some US states in the bible belt therefore either cut the whole scene away or didn't allow the whole episode to air which really pissed Terry off. She made it very clear that she is convinced love is love, no matter what genders are involved.
This was the only time the bosses ever asked her about a script and showed it to her before the rehersals started. She could have backed out if she hadn't liked it but she loved the idea and went with it.
Q dub: What did she think about the Worf-relationship? Did it work? Did she have any expectations of where the show or her character would go vs what actually happened? Was there a distinct change in direction after Worf came in? Everyone certainly seemed more relaxed and more defined in character.
A Terry: At the very beginning of the show both she and the writers and directors were unsure what to do with Dax. Nobody really knew how to portray a character physically in her 20s but thanks to the symbiont with several centuries of experience. Hence at first they all played it safe and decided that Dax would be holding back a lot and be more watching than acting. The major change came when they changed producers. The new one, Ira Behr, knew her privately and saw to it that Dax was modelled more after herself. He wanted a more rogue-ish Dax and she had gotten more comfortable with the part by then. It all added up to Dax getting a clearer profile.
Personally, she'd have liked Dax to be far more sarcastic. After all, compared to Dax everyone else was just a toddler. Watching all these young people making mistakes she herself had made centuries ago and trying to keep them out of mischief and protect them would give Dax a feeling like being responsible for a kindergarten and she could only cope with that by developing a sense of humour and a good deal of sarcasm.
She and Michael Dorn immediately took to each other and used to hang out a lot together at make up and after rehearsals, talking about the show and their respective characters. This way the Worf/Dax relationship was very strongly influenced by them. They used all the ellbowroom the script would leave them to implement their own ideas and what they played would in turn influence the writers' view on the characters. This way there was a constant feedback between both groups after Michael Dorn joined.
She thought the relationship worked very well on screen but revealed that at times she could have killed Michael for rehearsing a scene with her and then the next day during shooting it in earnest he'd keep asking for altering details, driving her (and apparently a lot of the cast and crew) nuts by Holding everyone up. She much prefers to fix everything in the rehearsal and then to come in and shoot the scene quickly and neatly.
Q Bad Thoughts: How does she feel about the emphasis placed on the symbiont vs the woman? Did she think Jadzia as a person needed more of her own background?
A Terry: Since Dax was introduced into the series as an already joined Trill, neither writers nor actors gave much thought to the host's past. There were so many major and recurring characters in the series that it would not have been possible to go into everyone's backgrounds. Hence she didn't mind that Dax' past wasn't explored in more detail. Compared to other characters, we still learned a lot about Dax in the course of the series, though nothing about Jadzia.
Terry was happy that the writers didn't just write Dax out of the show and "sent her back for 9 months to her Family on Trill" when she got pregnant. [Frankly, that latter bit puzzled me - but judging by the age of her son she must have referred to the character's pregnancy, not her own one].
And a little tidbit: Her favourite Trek character is Spock. She grew up with TOS and loathed TNG.
Her favourite DS9 actor is Armin Shimerman - he's fascinating to watch as he's such an exceptionally good actor [and incredibly nice! If you get a chance to meet him, do by all means] and she learned a lot of him. A pairing between those two characters, Spock and Quark, would have been interesting to watch! [Maybe it inspires some fanfic writer here?]
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Thank you for asking my question. It's an earnest answer, although I had hoped that she might have revealed that there had been some discussion or speculation about Jadzia that never manifested itself on the screen.
Was Farrell pregnant during DS9? Not that I know of. She tends to throw in many tangents when she speaks and to use lots of informal phrases. Perhaps she was speculating about how they might have dealt with her season 7 absence differently than killing off the character?
I'm not surprised. I'm sure that she gets asked the same, difficult questions all the time: establishing the character and her reasons for leaving the show. I also get the sense that she was more or less isolated on the set. She only counted Dorn and Brooks as "allies," and only a few crewmen bothered to honor her on her last day. Going out on the conference circuit, doing interviews, and being more involved in remembering the franchise (perhaps enhanced due to her relationship with Adam Nimoy) may have forced her to be more diplomatic. It does seem like her interactions with her costars are more relaxed, especially with Nana Visitor.
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She really used the word "loathed" for TNG? That seems a little extreme.
Wow, an item with the son of the actor who played a character you idolized... that's kind of weird but if it works for them. Hollywood seems like a very small town sometimes.
Edit: And thanks for asking the questions and transcribing the answers!
Wow, an item with the son of the actor who played a character you idolized... that's kind of weird but if it works for them. Hollywood seems like a very small town sometimes.
Edit: And thanks for asking the questions and transcribing the answers!
You're welcome It wasn't that much work really. The worst part was to decypher the notes I had taken without my reading glasses. Imagine a centipede that fell into the ink and then waltzed across the paper - the result would look pretty much like my notes 
I am not perfectly sure whether she actually used the word "loathed" but she made it unmistakably clear that she absolutely disliked the show. I believe she did use the word "hated". She explains that fact with growing up with TOS and therefore TOS always being *the* Trek for her.
(edited to add: she outed herself as a Star Wars fan which caused quite a stir )
The prob is that she talks incredibly fast and hops from one topic to the other like a flea on caffeine
That makes it very hard to take notes. The whole con was filmed and will supposedly be published later as a DVD as did the last cons. The sound quality on these DVDs is not always perfect, though, because there are only 2 microphones.
She bonded not only with Ira Behr and Michael Dorn but also liked Armin Shimerman very much and said she learned a lot from him and his wife and that both are very nice people. She seemed fond of Avery Brooks, too, but didn't mention any other cast members.
She's now moving back to LA as her son will go to school there and his father would like to have him visiting every second weekend. Maybe (but that's only my speculation) she'll use the opportunity to meet the other cast members there again. The VOY cast has regular meetings - perhaps the Niners could do the same?
I think she referred to Dax' pregnancy, not to her own one as that came far later.
It wasn't that much work really. The worst part was to decypher the notes I had taken without my reading glasses. Imagine a centipede that fell into the ink and then waltzed across the paper - the result would look pretty much like my notes I am not perfectly sure whether she actually used the word "loathed" but she made it unmistakably clear that she absolutely disliked the show. I believe she did use the word "hated". She explains that fact with growing up with TOS and therefore TOS always being *the* Trek for her.
(edited to add: she outed herself as a Star Wars fan which caused quite a stir
)The prob is that she talks incredibly fast and hops from one topic to the other like a flea on caffeine
That makes it very hard to take notes. The whole con was filmed and will supposedly be published later as a DVD as did the last cons. The sound quality on these DVDs is not always perfect, though, because there are only 2 microphones.She bonded not only with Ira Behr and Michael Dorn but also liked Armin Shimerman very much and said she learned a lot from him and his wife and that both are very nice people. She seemed fond of Avery Brooks, too, but didn't mention any other cast members.
She's now moving back to LA as her son will go to school there and his father would like to have him visiting every second weekend. Maybe (but that's only my speculation) she'll use the opportunity to meet the other cast members there again. The VOY cast has regular meetings - perhaps the Niners could do the same?
I think she referred to Dax' pregnancy, not to her own one as that came far later.
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Seemed kind of stock answer-ish to me. I was hoping for something more along the lines of, "yes, it would be awesome to use the (24th c. tech thing) and eat (Trek food)".
Now you mention it, there was indeed a short discussion of Trek food in connection with another question. If memory serves me right she was asked about her favourite food at Quarks and the reply was: Gagh. However, she might have referred to her character there, not given a personal opinion.
Maybe she enjoyed the way it looked/thought it was fun to pretend to like worms.
Based on things that Terry Farrell and Ira Behr have said over the last couple of years both in interviews and at conventions, Terry wanted to come back for season 7 but not have to appear in all 26 episodes. She's said that she was exhausted and she felt the character had been underused in season 6 and she was getting tired of the long days around set. Berman basically assumed she was bluffing and said it's all 26 episodes or no deal, so Farrell walked.
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