Was Sela pointless?

It took a good while for the idea of Sela to make sense when TNG was on. I still find it hard to believe that she would've risen so highly being like only in her 20s. I can chalk it up to either just being that cunning and ruthless or her father being super powerful, but I wish it had been explained better. Perhaps making her father a proconsul, or praetor, or something.

Unfortunately any cunning or ruthlessness she might have had, or any nepotism at work, did nothing to show her utter incompetence in both instances of the operations she was in charge of.

I do think they wasted not bringing her back on TNG, (I would've been fine with her being on DS9 too), or for Nemesis, and especially for ST: Picard, with the fallout of the Romulan Empire factoring so much into that series. I agree with that she would've been a much more satisfying secondary antagonist than Vadic was. Though I also think her being in Donatra's role in Nemesis could've also been a nice full circle moment too. When they put Sela into the Star Trek: Defiant comic I thought it was too much fan service, but I've liked what they've done with her character there more than what I saw of her on TNG.

Honestly, I'd be fine with her being executed for her mistakes. That would be far more realistic than what we actually saw of her.
 
Unfortunately any cunning or ruthlessness she might have had, or any nepotism at work, did nothing to show her utter incompetence in both instances of the operations she was in charge of.



Honestly, I'd be fine with her being executed for her mistakes. That would be far more realistic than what we actually saw of her.
Fair enough. Though I'm sure she could blame the Duras family, Picard/Data, or someone else for the debacle with the Klingons. Now, it would be harder to scapegoat the failure with Spock (albeit Spock/Data were involved there too), but I'm sure they could've come up with something to give her a stay of execution. We also don't know all the other things Sela has done that might keep her alive and even influential. Perhaps it is notable that Neral survived "Unification", but we never saw or heard about Sela again
 
Fair enough. Though I'm sure she could blame the Duras family, Picard/Data, or someone else for the debacle with the Klingons. Now, it would be harder to scapegoat the failure with Spock (albeit Spock/Data were involved there too), but I'm sure they could've come up with something to give her a stay of execution. We also don't know all the other things Sela has done that might keep her alive and even influential. Perhaps it is notable that Neral survived "Unification", but we never saw or heard about Sela again

What’s funny is that when we see Neral again in DS9, he’s played by an actor significantly older than Norman Large (and who looks nothing like him, to boot.) Did they torture him so much that it prematurely aged him? ;)
 
I wonder if Sela could’ve been a main character for DS9 or VOY - she could’ve been the Romulan!Seska brought aboard the Defiant to oversee the cloak.
Or get stranded with Voyager and morph from loyal Romulan to steadfast Starfleet officer.
 
But knowing Sela and her interactions with Picard in the past, that’s not how it would have gone down. She would still have gotten Shinzon to attack Earth, and she would have willingly helped him try to destroy the Enterprise and kill Picard (and Data too, who had foiled her plans twice before), no matter how nuts Shinzon was.
When I responded, I had Donotra in mind more than Sela. But really, writing a change of heart, not to help Picard per se, but to save Romulus, would only take a few lines of dialog. Shinzon took power, but he wasn't looking out for the best interests of the Romulans. He used them as tools, but his trusted people were Remans. Sela would have recognized that. Realizing saving Picard and taking his side was the best chance to save Romulus and would put her in the position of power after Shinzon and the Remans were defeated.
 
First I had to discard nutrek from my headcanon (that was easy), so:

I think Sela was very much more competent and powerful than we were shown, and she eventually had the Vulcan/Romulan reunification movement disbanded (with extreme prejudice).

She has Spock's head preserved in a formaldehyde jar decorating her office
 
I think Sela was very much more competent and powerful than we were shown, and she eventually had the Vulcan/Romulan reunification movement disbanded (with extreme prejudice).

She has Spock's head preserved in a formaldehyde jar decorating her office
Well, that seems a fitting end for Spock's character. :vulcan:
 
First I had to discard nutrek from my headcanon (that was easy), so:

I think Sela was very much more competent and powerful than we were shown, and she eventually had the Vulcan/Romulan reunification movement disbanded (with extreme prejudice).

She has Spock's head preserved in a formaldehyde jar decorating her office

That sure is headcanon, all right. :)
 
But why would she do that? There'd have to be a compelling reason why she would help Picard other than realizing that Shinzon is nuts. Even the film leaves it super vague as to why Donatra all of a sudden decides to help the Enterprise when before she was quite ready to help Shinzon's plan to attack Earth.
Frankly they could have blended the roles of Tal’Aura and Donatra into Sela. The idea of Sela becoming a senator later in life is entirely plausible, especially if she was given a chance to redeem herself during the Dominion War.

Sela could dislike the Romulan Senate to the point of participating in a coup and still realize that Shinzon is a mad dog off his leash. Basically, she has her own moral code to follow and red lines that should not be crossed.
When would that have happened? And how? Would she have taken Riker's and his cut-and-paste fleets's place? The whole reason why Riker was even in S1 was to have him rescue Picard in the finale. Having Sela literally come out of nowhere to help Picard for no valid reason would make zero sense.
Why not take Riker's place in the cut-and -paste fleet? It would not diminish the appearance of Riker and Troi earlier in the season.

If fact, Sela coming to the rescue would make for a nice callback to Picard having friends in the Romulan Empire due to the events of NEM.
 
Frankly they could have blended the roles of Tal’Aura and Donatra into Sela. The idea of Sela becoming a senator later in life is entirely plausible, especially if she was given a chance to redeem herself during the Dominion War.

Sela could dislike the Romulan Senate to the point of participating in a coup and still realize that Shinzon is a mad dog off his leash. Basically, she has her own moral code to follow and red lines that should not be crossed.

While I agree that Tal'Aura was an unnecessary character and Donatra could have easily taken her place if the script had been re-edited better, I still see little point in making the character Sela. Because Donatra was only a secondary character with little emphasis placed on her. The plot was about Picard and Shinzon, not Picard and Sela. Crosby would have been nothing more than a glorified extra, and would have detracted from the main story.

Why not take Riker's place in the cut-and -paste fleet? It would not diminish the appearance of Riker and Troi earlier in the season.

If fact, Sela coming to the rescue would make for a nice callback to Picard having friends in the Romulan Empire due to the events of NEM.

Again, the whole point of having Riker in the show was to have him rescue Picard later. Because, you know, they're longtime friends, former crewmates, and family. Having Sela literally come out of nowhere, with no explanation, to rescue Picard at the end of the show, who she hates the last time we saw her, would have been awkward and nonsensical.
 
Unfortunately any cunning or ruthlessness she might have had, or any nepotism at work, did nothing to show her utter incompetence in both instances of the operations she was in charge of.



Honestly, I'd be fine with her being executed for her mistakes. That would be far more realistic than what we actually saw of her.

New Frontier Novel I read about Dr Selar's hybrid baby... She expected her baby to be an undeveloped potato for years. With a potential three hundred year long life span to look forward to, every developmental period is 2 to 4 times longer than the human norm. Vulcan children, so maybe Romulan children, don't start walking until they are 6 or 7 years old.

The TV writers used this sort of thing with Kes, and that's it, just so that it wasn't wrong for an old man to put a baby in her while space whales were humping the ship.

If this held, which it obviously doesn't, then Sela, probably viewed as a prodigy, was at the same stage physically and mentally, as a Romulan in their 40s, on her 23rd Birthday, but her life span is also a third as long as all her classmates.

One argument is that Vulcans are long lived because of Logic, so Romulans are not long lived, and I cannot recall Romulan life spans ever being mentioned, even in that episode where Bashir examined one of their evil politicians in secret with his genetically enhanced senses.
 
Not sure what that has to do with Sela?

Romulus was destroyed.

She either pillaged the Tal'Shiar's reserves as she left, and she's living fine like a princess, or she's a beggar woman off camera in a hovel during that side story Picard had with the sword kid murdering poor people.
 
Romulus was destroyed.

She either pillaged the Tal'Shiar's reserves as she left, and she's living fine like a princess, or she's a beggar woman off camera in a hovel during that side story Picard had with the sword kid murdering poor people.

And what does that have to do with Lower Decks?
 
And what does that have to do with Lower Decks?
Lower decks season 1 - 4 - 2380 - 2382.

Memory Beta says that the Federation offered to help the Romulan evacuation in 2380, and dismantled the Neutral Zone.

The evacuation fleet was destroyed in 2385.

The sun blew up in 2387.

There is overlap.
 
I enjoyed the character Sela in redemption but didn't feel she added anything to unification, spock was the big draw Sela could have been any random character.

I am sort of surprised she didn't show up in Picard, pretty much everyone else did.
 
I am sort of surprised she didn't show up in Picard, pretty much everyone else did.
just one of the several sins of this awful series. It had some good parts, but overall it was terrible.

Stweart should be mandated to retire. With extreme prejudice if necessary
 
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