Was Sela pointless?

[AntonyF]

When I was younger I found it a fun novelty, particularly as a fan of Denise Crosby.

But rewatching it now I thought what a wasted opportunity.

Firstly, I do appreciate the foreshadowing in The Mind's Eye. TNG didn't often do arc stuff, so it's nice to see.

But she meets Picard, Picard asks to meet Yar, Sela says she's dead, Picard says oh... and they move on and she could be literally any actor doing any character after that point.

There is zero tension. No upset in the crew. No interactions. No question of whether Sela is lying.

They could have done a mission to check Yar really died, then gone on a bit of a wild goose chase... finding her, not finding her, finding her grave, leaving it ambiguous. But a whole story was there for the taking. Or questions to as if Yar spilled any secrets. Or a flashback to why Yar was escaping - I mean where was she planning to go with a kid? Or did any of the other Enterprise C members survive?

Where's the impact for the crew? There's just no emotional consequence from anyone.

I just feel like it was a good idea, that was not exploited at all beyond the unveiling. And the punchline of "Oh Yar's now died twice."

 

[DonIago]

It was certainly a novel way to bring Crosby back into the series in a recurring role, but especially in "Unification", she could have been anyone (replace her with Tomalak and there's no difference).

As a Romulan, you'd think Sela might have told Our Heroes that Yar was alive, either honestly or dishonestly, and set them up to try to rescue her along with perhaps other E-C survivors.

This could have led to an emotionally satisfying story where Yar is alive and ultimately sacrifices herself to save the other survivors, or could have led to her being rescued with or without the other survivors, or could have resulted in her dying another meaningless death just as Our Heroes are about to rescue her (killed by Sela, obviously).

It's strange that TPTB failed to capitalize on the possibilities resurrecting Yar opened up. She could have been TNG's Seska (but more effective).

 

[Orphalesion]

Ultimately...the way she was written and use...yes.
Especially since it overwrote Yar's heroic sacrifice in Yesterday's Enterprise.

 

[fireproof78]

Definitely a missed opportunity. Especially considering the interactions with Data, and how Sela laments her job and could have opened up, well, any discussion around what her mother was like.

Instead, she's gone, likely executed for her failure.

 

[DonIago]

Ultimately...the way she was written and use...yes.
Especially since it overwrote Yar's heroic sacrifice in Yesterday's Enterprise.

Maybe Yar's just doomed to suffer a meaningless death in any timeline?

Of course, that's the way of it for most of humanity.

 

[FredH]

Yeah. Both because Sela herself never had any kind of arc or resolution, and because it retroactively gave Tasha a worse ending (after “Yesterday’s Enterprise” had given her a better one). It would have been worth it if older Tasha had later turned up alive, or if Sela had some kind of resolution — redeeming or not — and ideally both; but neither happened, so Sela just ends up the mustachio-twirling loose end after Tasha’s tragedy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Sela had some nerve complaining about her mother's escape attempt (which got her executed). I mean, what was Sela expecting Tasha to do? Willingly spend the rest of her life as a Romulan's sex slave?

Then again, Sela was (for most of her life) raised by only her father. He probably filled her head with Romulan propaganda since the day she was born.

did any of the other Enterprise C members survive?

I imagine they were all executed as well. Even if the deal was to spare their lives, surely that would have been null and void after Tasha's almost-escape.

Then again, these ARE Romulans we're talking about here. Who knows if they ever actually intended to honor the deal.

 

[Qonundrum]

The concept was there and was pretty unique in sci-fi. The reveal was brilliant. Her utilization in pt 2 of "Redemption" is decent, leaving potential for later episodes to be even bigger than "Yesterday's Enterprise" in terms of genuinely epic scale. But for "Unification" she's treated worse than a fourth-rate cartoon character.

On the plus side, oddly, it proves that misusing characters started earlier than Captain Kirk in GEN.

 

[at Quark's]

It was nice to see Crosby again.

But yeah, I agree, as a character Sela didn't have much use (apart from reminding us of her mother) and her story went nowhere.

 

[Oddish]

They could have done a lot more with her than they did. However, lots of Trek characters had serious wasted potential.

 

[Humanoid #77]

Sela was great. I would like it if there was a series dedicated to Spock versus Sela Adventures. culminating in a movie called the wrath of Sela

 

[JesterFace]

Or did any of the other Enterprise C members survive?

I imagine they were all executed as well. Even if the deal was to spare their lives, surely that would have been null and void after Tasha's almost-escape.

Would Tasha attempt an escape if she knew the other Enterprise-C survivors would get punished if she got caught?
If she knew they would get punished she might not have made an attempt to escape?

 

[PoorSailorsAirline]

They could have done a mission to check Yar really died, then gone on a bit of a wild goose chase... finding her, not finding her, finding her grave, leaving it ambiguous. But a whole story was there for the taking. Or questions to as if Yar spilled any secrets. Or a flashback to why Yar was escaping - I mean where was she planning to go with a kid? Or did any of the other Enterprise C members survive?

Where's the impact for the crew? There's just no emotional consequence from anyone.

I just feel like it was a good idea, that was not exploited at all beyond the unveiling. And the punchline of "Oh Yar's now died twice."

I still want to know...so if alternate-Yar dies on the -C...how did Sela get back to the mainstream timeline?! Were the Romulans trying to reverse-engineer the dimensions or something and Sela got stuck in "our" universe?

Also - thank you x1000 for updating the silly old punchline "nobody dies in sci fi!" Thanks to your perspective we can update it to "nobody dies in sci fi! Unless you're really unlucky, then you just die twice!"

Yeah. Both because Sela herself never had any kind of arc or resolution, and because it retroactively gave Tasha a worse ending (after “Yesterday’s Enterprise” had given her a better one). It would have been worth it if older Tasha had later turned up alive, or if Sela had some kind of resolution — redeeming or not — and ideally both; but neither happened, so Sela just ends up the mustachio-twirling loose end after Tasha’s tragedy.

Denise Crosby certainly came around to the franchise after S1 and wound up being a lot more than the 'pair of legs behind Picard's head' with each guest role. I'm sure she would have been open to either of those ideas...I can think of a few hours in S6 and S7 that would be better replaced with Sela episodes.

Then again, these ARE Romulans we're talking about here. Who knows if they ever actually intended to honor the deal.

Call me cynical: I have a hunch the Romulans' whole deal was using the threats of harming survivors as leverage, instead of just being over and done with them. They can use the threat to worm intel out of the most senior officers there, and then it probably doesn't cost the Romulans to keep a stable of rescued survivor Starfleet officers for a future bargaining chip.

 

[valkyrie013]

The books and Sto done more with her.
Was a missed opportunity to get a romulan perspective. Maybe the Deana episode as a romulan could have been her or an episode where they done a flashback to Yar right after the C. Owell.

 

[Laughing Dragon]

I don't know if she was needed but I thought she was kinda cool. But she was a b&%tch for screaming out for her scum of a father and got her mother killed. This I agree with.

If I remember correctly Picard didn't even believe her story.

 

[AntonyF]

I still want to know...so if alternate-Yar dies on the -C...how did Sela get back to the mainstream timeline?! Were the Romulans trying to reverse-engineer the dimensions or something and Sela got stuck in "our" universe?

She didn't die on the C, that's the point.

Enterprise C comes forward in time, and we see a divergent timeline. They send the Enterprise C back, which then restores the time line - with the anomaly that Yar is on board.

But what they did was just restore the timeline. This isn't a different universe or anything - it's the same timeline we were in.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Was Sela pointless?" Yes and no. Yes, in that she exists only so they could keep working Denise Crosby into the show. No, in that I'm assuming that anything with Sela, if she wasn't there, would've gone to Tomalak. So that means Data would defeat Tomalak in "Redemption, Part II". Then he'd be outsmarted by Data (again), Picard, and Spock in "Unification, Part II".

Sela's point isn't the point people think. It wasn't the writers' intention, but she ended up preserving Tomalak's reputation as a credible opponent.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I was never terribly impressed with Tasha. I mean, S1 was pretty uneven in a lot of ways and maybe the character would have gotten better with some time.

That said, Denise really wanted out and they gave her the out, so I don't feel like she really deserved another shot. But then they gave her another shot and wrote a pretty "meh" villain with, like others have said, a backstory that didn't amount to much.

Perhaps Denise would have been happier in another job.

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[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I don't know if she was needed but I thought she was kinda cool. But she was a b&%tch for screaming out for her scum of a father and got her mother killed. This I agree with.

If I remember correctly Picard didn't even believe her story.

Give the kid a break. She was four.

SELA: One night, when I was four years old, she came to me. She bundled me up and she told me to stay quiet as we left the compound. I realised she was taking me away. She was taking me away from my home, my father, so I cried out. My father offered her life. He gave her a home, gave her a child, and how did she repay him? By betrayal. They executed her. Everything in me that was human died that day with my mother. All that's left is Romulan. Never doubt that.

 

[aquova]

But rewatching it now I thought what a wasted opportunity.

I'm not sure I'd say she was pointless, but I certainly agree she was a wasted opportunity. I think there really wasn't any thought into her character other than "having Denise Crosby back was fun, let's do that again". She could've been a compelling villain, and since Tomalak stopped showing up she could've been perfect as the "face" of the Romulans. In the end though, her final appearance is sidelined by Spock's return, and even her defeat in the episode is more of a Spock-Data moment than her own. I actually think she would've been a great choice to return as a villain in Picard, but alas.