Ro's exit

[tim0122]

It's surprising to watch TNG in order and see how they handled certain ongoing plot threads.

After being the title of an episode and being made such a big deal early on, Ensign Ro disappears with no explanation in TNG's six season and only reappears a year-and-a-half later in the shows penultimate story.

From what I understand, this had to do with Forbes turning down DS9, but surely they could've transitioned her out of the show instead of forgetting her and treating her like she never existed for over a year.

Do you think her absence should've had an explanation?

 

[Farscape One]

She did appear once in season 6... "Rascals". (An abysmal episode, though.)

And her absence was given an explanation in "Preemptive Strike"... she went to advanced tactical training. (Which also explains her two rank bump from ensign to full lieutenant.)


Scheduling conflicts could very well have been at play for her lack of appearing between those two episodes, too.

 

[Tosk]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure back in the day I didn't even notice she'd gone until she came back.

In my defense she was only in seven episodes before disappearing, so it's not like she was a regular.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

They did not need to explain anything. When Preemptive Strike aired, neither I nor my friends felt we missed the character or that the stories since Rascals lacked depth without her. The explanation for her absence in Premptive Strike was perfectly plausible. There was only one episode with a Bajoran character, IIRC, during season , being Ensign Sito. None of us thought something was missing without Ro. No one said Ro should also have been in "Lower Decks."

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Ro was also in Disaster S5E5 & The Next Phase S5E24.

 

[AntonyF]

Scheduling conflicts could very well have been at play for her lack of appearing between those two episodes, too.

I always took it at that, she was just busy. She was a guest star that turned up as her time allowed the story warranted it. Then at the very end I think they wanted to tie up something for her character and made it happen and made a little excuse.

It's a shame we never saw Ro again, I would have liked to know what happened to her. (Yes you heard me.)

Guinan's absence from season seven is similar. I don't think of Guinan as gone, just that we've not seen her on screen.

 

[CoveTom]

I believe Michelle Forbes said that she became rather uninterested in the role when it started being just the part of the helmsman with no particular stories that were developing the character. For example, look at Ro's appearance in "Cause and Effect." You could have swapped her out for any other helmsman and it not made any difference to the story.

That would explain why she did choose to come back for "Rascals" and "Preemptive Strike," both of which did have some focus on the character of Ro.

 

[tim0122]

I believe Michelle Forbes said that she became rather uninterested in the role when it started being just the part of the helmsman with no particular stories that were developing the character. For example, look at Ro's appearance in "Cause and Effect." You could have swapped her out for any other helmsman and it not made any difference to the story.

That would explain why she did choose to come back for "Rascals" and "Preemptive Strike," both of which did have some focus on the character of Ro.

Though, in Rascals case, she still had very little to do, because most of Ro's scenes were played by a child actor.

 

[CoveTom]

Though, in Rascals case, she still had very little to do, because most of Ro's scenes were played by a child actor.

True

 

[somebuddyX]

Hey, thanks for creating this thread. I'm just starting Season 5 and watched "Ensign Ro" and was thinking about the incident that led Ro to being in space jail in the first place, but as far as I remember they never go into it, right? I think it gets a mention in "Preemptive Strike" but I am wondering if they could have mined that for something if they had done a story where they run into the Wellington and there is animosity from her crew to both Ro and the Enterprise crew.
I don't think she needed an explanation for why she didn't return for a while. I don't need that but I just appreciated when they did reuse characters, especially when TNG and DS9 were on at the same time. There's people like Ro or Nechayev or Gul Evek who I would have loved seeing more of on DS9 when TNG ended. Ro coming back in DS9 Season 6 with Tom Riker and Nick Locarno, working for Starfleet is something I've daydreamed about. Also one of the Riker boys or Picard calling her Laren. And Ro meeting Kira.
Also Ro was considered for both DS9 and Voyager, right, and instead we got Kira Nerys and B'Elanna Torres, and I'm glad we got those guys more to be honest.