A 4 year old Romulan. If we were in Klingon space I'd kill you where you stand
Was Sela pointless?
- Thread starter AntonyF
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Sela wasn't pointless.
Her appearance in 'Redemption' parts 1 & 2 was interesting.
Her appearance in 'Redemption' parts 1 & 2 was interesting.
The whole Yar/Sela debacle is a prime example of choosing "either/or" instead of "both/and." I don't know if the producers would have been willing, but having Yar either leave Starfleet or get reassigned would have allowed for Crosby to come back if she chose to. Even if she'd have only occasionally appeared, there wouldn't be any weird time travel/parallel timeline nonsense.
I have so many issues with Picard including their constant need to reference and feature the past to the point of seeming absurd.
But... Sela, yes. That would have made more sense. And in fact that dovetailing into a story of Yar being alive, unfinished business for the TNG crew, a real reason to get THAT TEAM back together... taking it right back to the start, a full loop back to season one...
Oh man.. that would have been worthwhile. You've made me even sadder of the wasted potential of that show!
I think there's two interesting ideas in Sela: actions from an alternate timeline coming back to bite Picard in the ass, and a doppleganger of Tasha who will prey on Tasha's former comrade's emotions. I don't think they did anything interesting with it and I think it undercuts the sacrifice Tasha made in YE, but it's also something I could easily see myself writing initially thinking it a cool concept. I definitely think they should have kept it out of Redemption considering how busy those episodes are, especially Redemption II, but I imagine the writers of the first part probably added it without knowing how it would end, thinking they'll solve it next season and then having no choice but to deal with it.
I'd love it if they'd just retcon her as some clone or something and Tasha had just died. Tie it into Shinzon or something.
I'd love it if they'd just retcon her as some clone or something and Tasha had just died. Tie it into Shinzon or something.
I feel like they needed a strong cliffhanger, particularly the year after BOBW. Worf leaving the Enterprise wasn't it. A Klingon civil war certainly wasn't. Dropping Denise Crosby in the final moments? Slam dunk. It was the last TNG cliffhanger that I felt had any real punch, even if it was a pale shadow of the year before.
Sure, they set her up a few episodes earlier, but did they really have any idea where they were going with it? I do remember being very proud of myself for figuring it out over the summer.
Sela could have been a great adversary, a really personal one for the crew. And even if they failed to utilize her in the series, they also completely missed to perfect opportunities to bring her back and wrap up her story in Nemesis and Picard season 3. I would much preferred Sela over this nobody shapeshifter who amounted to little.
Sure, they set her up a few episodes earlier, but did they really have any idea where they were going with it? I do remember being very proud of myself for figuring it out over the summer.
Sela could have been a great adversary, a really personal one for the crew. And even if they failed to utilize her in the series, they also completely missed to perfect opportunities to bring her back and wrap up her story in Nemesis and Picard season 3. I would much preferred Sela over this nobody shapeshifter who amounted to little.
Sela is currently a recurring character in IDW's ongoing "Star Trek" and "Defiant" comics.
New Trek comics and DVD by Ian McLean, on Flickr
Sela wasn't pointless, per se, but her existence doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. She's only 20-something when we see her in Redemption and Unification. Why would the Romulan military put a 20-something in charge of not one, but two huge military operations, even if she was the daughter of some bigwig? How much military experience would she have had, in comparison to a more seasoned older officer? And her entire plan for conquering Vulcan with three ships worth of soldiers was the dumbest idea ever. Never mind that the logistics for it just wouldn't work, but what did she think the Federation's response would have been? Just sit idly by and do nothing, or...declare war on the Romulans and attack their home planet in return?
Sela could have been redeemed if she was the one that came to the Ent-E’s rescue in NEM.
And again, if she came to Picard's rescue in the PIC S1 finale.
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.
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.
We saw Tomalak more than Sela.
Sometimes, that's all it takes. "Ummm, can we talk about how batshit this guy is and how he's probably just gonna turn on us next?" It's not like Shinzon hid his hatred of Romulans.
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.
All it would take is for Sela to have friends in the Senate or see how Shinzon is taking down the military. Regardless of her feelings towards Picard, the crazy guy burning Rome to the ground ain't exactly good for business.
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.
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.
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.
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