Always besting the boys: Suzie Plakson

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

It's time to appreciate an actress whose characters were strong and formidable in their own right, and were also sort of betrothed to gents who wanted to rip each other's throats out.

Suzie Plakson played an ambassador, Worf's mate K'Ehleyr in TNG, and also Q's partner/babymama in Voyager. She helped restore order to the entire Q continuum and took Voyager on an incredible ride. Beyond that, Suzie also had other roles in TNG as well as ENT. It would've been neat to see more of her in the relationships already mentioned, and also more of her as an individual with deeper backstories, but apparently it was not meant to be.

I still don't know why so many people feel like K'Ehleyr was a bad match for Worf - a half-human half-Klingon betrothed to a Klingon who was raised by humans. Seems like a good match to me on paper and also in personality. She had all the potential to melt Worf's rough exterior and grouchy demeanor while challenging him in ways that would've added more dimensions to him.

Without a doubt, Suzie Plakson was a force to be reckoned with in any ST show.

 

[Jayson1]

I liked the character. I don't think I ever heard anyone thought talk about how see and Worf was a bad match? As much as Worf likes Klingon stuff you can tell he has always wanted a woman who was also of two worlds as well. K'ehler was part human and didn't embrace all Klingon stuff. Dax was into Klingon stuff but was also a free spirit who had other desires and beliefs as well.
It's a shame Worf never noticed that Alexander is kind of that way as well which means his disapointment in Alexander must also be coming from some self-loathing and part of him wishes he was more traditional Klingon but the humanity he has developed by being raised by humans and living with them sort of conflicts with that. I think Worf must always feel like something is missing inside of him because he was denied a chance to really experience a traditional Klingon life.

Jason

 

[Herbert]

I still don't know why so many people feel like K'Ehleyr was a bad match for Worf - a half-human half-Klingon betrothed to a Klingon who was raised by humans. Seems like a good match to me on paper and also in personality. She had all the potential to melt Worf's rough exterior and grouchy demeanor while challenging him in ways that would've added more dimensions to him.

Based on what little we see onscreen, they are a couple who are definitely attracted to each other and compatible in many ways. However, that doesn't always translate into a successful relationship. It's also pretty clear that they are not so compatible in many ways. Worf is big into Klingon culture and ritual. K'Ehleyr is not. That alone would present major issues if they took the oath. It would also have caused major issues about how Alexander should be raised.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I still don't know why so many people feel like K'Ehleyr was a bad match for Worf

First I've heard of it.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I preferred her as Selar. I think the potential romance between her and Worf would've been great to have seen, from one extreme to another.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

First I've heard of it.

It's a ST board. There were definitely detractors, there always are.

I wish we'd seen the K'Ehleyr character a few more times.

Initially, I thought Lauren (DS9-Statistical Probabilities & Chrysalis) was played by Suzie. Very similar looking and Lauren had a vampish quality similar to K'Ehleyr. Plus at that point, I hadn't seen Suzie without Klingon or Vulcan makeup.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It's a ST board. There were definitely detractors, there always are.

Yep, there are always detractors, but whether there were enough to be called "so many" above the noise of the simply ever-present detractors? Eh, first I've heard of it.

 

[Herbert]

Yep, there are always detractors, but whether there were enough to be called "so many" above the noise of the simply ever-present detractors? Eh, first I've heard of it.

There's a lot of stuff that people claim on this board that I've never heard of before but I attribute that to my lack of Trek Cred (ie geekiness ), despite having been a fan ST for 40 (give or take) years.

 

[Mojochi]

I bet if they'd launched season 2 with Plakson's Selar as CMO, it might've gone far better than it did with Pulaski

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I bet if they'd launched season 2 with Plakson's Selar as CMO, it might've gone far better than it did with Pulaski

She would've been a great addition to the cast.

 

[Sareesataka]

Love Suzie Plakson. She is so distinctive. I love the inflections in her voice. I agree, I wish we had seen more of her in other roles like Dr. Selar. Being a Klingon-Human hybrid, she could have served as a template for B'Elanna Torres. Maybe she'll appear in the new Picard series. I wonder if Suzie does the sci-fi cons? It would be cool if she ever came to town.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Love Suzie Plakson. She is so distinctive. I love the inflections in her voice. I agree, I wish we had seen more of her in other roles like Dr. Selar. Being a Klingon-Human hybrid, she could have served as a template for B'Elanna Torres. Maybe she'll appear in the new Picard series. I wonder if Suzie does the sci-fi cons? It would be cool if she ever came to town.

She really commanded the attention of a room in any role she played (which makes me wonder about how awesome she'd be in a command role even beyond CMO), and I would jump for joy if she was involved to any degree in the Picard series or DSC.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Along the same lines, much appreciation as well for Carolyn Seymour!!! She played not one but TWO formidable Romulan commanders who were not to be trifled with. (Troi had her hands full with her.) Not only that, she was the inspiring & idealistic Malcorian Mirasta Yale in the TNG episode “First Contact,” and later played Mrs. Templeton in VOY. Thank you for your contributions, Carolyn!

 

[Forbin]

I spoke with Suzi for a few minutes at a Creation con and she is an absolute doll. What a lovely, nice lady.

I too wish we'd seen more of Dr. Selar.

 

[Qonundrum]

Along the same lines, much appreciation as well for Carolyn Seymour!!! She played not one but TWO formidable Romulan commanders who were not to be trifled with. (Troi had her hands full with her.) Not only that, she was the inspiring & idealistic Malcorian Mirasta Yale in the TNG episode “First Contact,” and later played Mrs. Templeton in VOY. Thank you for your contributions, Carolyn!

I think she had more fun in Quantum Leap as Zoe, the liaison to the evil leaper, but why couldn't she have been the same Romulan commander? Her names on both are not too phonetically dissimilar.

She really breathed life into Mirasta Yale, a character that was already well-written but Seymour clearly has tremendous range and deserves limelight far more than some wooden planks do only because they're good lookin', which almost seems exploitative? (And celebrity vs actor, they're not nearly the same are they?)

Plakson is also an actor of range and made every role she came into shine that much more. The roles were well written to begin with...

I bet if they'd launched season 2 with Plakson's Selar as CMO, it might've gone far better than it did with Pulaski

Selar would fit into the motif of "24th century humans are just like Vulcans, how exciting is this!!!" The fact they brought in Pulaski, for character conflict, as the first of many attempts to introduce fission between crewmembers as there's Shelby and Ro and others to varying lengths of time, just shows the makers knew they needed to find a balance - still have everyone doing their jobs but not be so shiny happy blank board smurfy because they're still human even if their emotions are attuned due to evolution or whatever else.

 

[Forbin]

I wish the sitcom Suzi was in, Love and War, was available on disk. It was pure hot-redhead Suzi with no alien-face appliances.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I think she had more fun in Quantum Leap as Zoe, the liaison to the evil leaper, but why couldn't she have been the same Romulan commander? Her names on both are not too phonetically dissimilar.

She's generally regarded as playing 2 different Romulan commanders, but the simplest way to explain it would be just to say that the commander got married (or divorced), hence a name change.

 

[Terok Nor]

I bet if they'd launched season 2 with Plakson's Selar as CMO, it might've gone far better than it did with Pulaski

I have absolutely no doubt. A sexy Vulcan doctor. Sign me up!

 

[Delta Vega]

I started a similar thread on the ENT forum re Suzie and her strong Andorian Imperial Guardsman character and was virtually ignored
She was great in Enterprise

 

[Crewman6]

I think she had more fun in Quantum Leap as Zoe, the liaison to the evil leaper, but why couldn't she have been the same Romulan commander? Her names on both are not too phonetically dissimilar.

Yeah, that initially bugged me, too. That Taris and Toreth weren't the same person. According to official sources, the writers thought that Taris died, which is BS, since the episode heavily implies that she and her ship are going to survive.

Usually on a TV show, the producers will opt not to have the character be the same, since then you have to give the original writers a fee for the re-use of a character they created and it can also mean an actor pay bump for playing a "recurring" character.

One could also argue that perhaps Toreth might recognize Troi, though that would be a bit of a stretch.

Heck, at least Taris had decent hair, before the TNG staffers decided that every single Vulcan and Romulan character should have the exactly same utterly awful hairpieces which looked painted on. It was amazing how bad those hairpieces became in later seasons and how much better they were earlier. WTF?