BEHIND-THE-SCENES : MARTHA HACKETT SPEAKS Transcription from ST DVD by Janet. about transcription Combined with an ST:M interview. ST DVD screenshots and episode screenshots by Janet.

Words by Martha Hackett are in this print style.

 

When they first gave me the role they said: "She's a member of the Maquis and, you know, she's one of Chakotay's gang before they joined up here. She's vigilant about the beliefs of the Maquis, and the energy behind that kind of rebel, we're going to do it a little differently." That was the background they gave me, then it just kind of evolved. Seska, in Bajoran guise, [#10 Prime Factors] And then there's this relationship with Chakotay, a Maquis member, there was a little bit of that tension already. I think it's tricky. They had no idea what direction Seska was going to go in. It hadn't been decided so I think it was three or four episodes in that they felt: "Well, let's make her a Cardassian spy." So, it was a good surprise. Chakotay and Seska, [#11 State Of Flux] Well, Robert's a great guy. We had a lot of fun. He worked very hard and he's also kind of a cutter - he can get you going on the clown side. But we got an easy rapport so it made it easier, and more fun to play those scenes with sexual tension or even conflict within that. You know, we had fun. This is more about Robert than about me, but we were shooting - it was one of my first episodes - and I was a Maquis and we were shooting in this cave up in the Hollywood Hills and they had these new costumes. I mean, I think it was like their second or third episode. And Robert's kept splitting, the whole thing, you know, stem to stern! Every time we did this little run into the cave, so, you know, everyone got to know each other rather quickly! Seska helps an injured Chakotay flee from the cave they found Kazon in, [#11 State Of Flux] Seska realises she is under suspicion, [#11 State Of Flux] Unmasked traitor Seska hurts Chakotay: "I can't imagine how I ever loved you." before she escapes from Voyager, [#11 State Of Flux] Seska, in her natural Cardassian form, with prisoner Chakotay, [#27 Maneuvers] I did this character T'Rul on two episodes or three episodes of [DS9] - fiery little Romulan (in [DS9: The Search]) (pictured). Then they (the casting staff) were seeing people (doing auditions), I guess, in a few months, for the premiere of [Star Trek Voyager]. I think with a new show they're trying things out, and with this show in particular, you know, with all these new enemy species, and they were kind of in a new Quadrant that they had never gone before. I think they were just trying things on for size, so it wasn't that they were promising me this or that. I just felt, you know, that she got richer and more complicated as time went on, and I was always grateful for that. It was much more fun. There's something operatic about Star Trek in the first place. It's extreme. Let's get in there. It's very bold and very extreme. And the choices that she made and what she was willing to do to get what she wanted was out there. There wasn't anything subtle about her actions, but the way she manipulated people was subtle. Torres and Seska, [#10 Prime Factors] It was a great show to work on and the crew - it was really like a family. And I was a guest of that family, you know, and I would come and go, and I was always very welcomed, felt at home and comfortable and, you know, free and happy to work there. I loved playing this character. I thought she was great. And she was complicated and any time you get to play a villain like that, it's sort of a little gift - it's great. It's much more interesting too. You know, we can't do these things in life, so it's fun to do it on tv. And I really enjoyed it. Seska, after helping the Kazon-Nistrim to capture USS Voyager, [#42 and #43 Basics] I think that was a really neat part of it too, when you didn't know what was going to happen next and you remembered, and when I had been off the show for a Season and you know we thought pretty much that Seska had disappeared well, there she was. She came back to haunt them, and in a very clever way, I thought, when they brought me back as a hologram (in [#67 Worst Case Scenario]. And that's something the fans appreciated, you know. It was kind of fun to go back to that, bring all of the storylines back up again. the Seska hologram, [#67 Worst Case Scenario] (Re [Worst Case Scenario]) I happen to be fond of it. And I think when you work on Star Trek, in any capacity, you're part of television history, because the shows, they're close to a lot of people's hearts. People watch them. The mythology has certainly affected feature films. It's part of science fiction history. It's fun.

the above two screenshots are from [#67 Worst Case Scenario]

On reprising Seska in [#157 Shattered]:

It wasn't necessarily a Seska episode but a flashback episode, where they revisited some previous storylines. We entered Seska's realm at the point during [Basics] when she was in charge of the ship, but we saw her in engineering and not on the bridge; in [Basics] we never saw her in engineering. They had some beautiful classic Seska stuff happening, though, which is that she realizes that Chakotay's come back in time and she's not going to let him get away with it; she wants to reverse the future. What was interesting was that there's no Culluh here; she's much more independent than she was during [Basics] and we don't see the baby either. And I would say she's manipulative more than aggressive. She has her thugs to help her, but with these different timeframes Chakotay can disappear and escape, so she's not as violent as she has been. But I don't think there's anything new just more of the same; the good stuff, though - the best! She has some good lines, and I think as usual she's able to figure out a situation; she's much wittier and more cunning than people give her credit for when they're dealing with her, and you see that in this episode for sure.

Seska holds [#1 and #2 Caretaker]-era Janeway captive [#157 Shattered]

Seska tries to destroy the approaching Borg Seven of Nine [#157 Shattered]

She's stuck out there too; she wants to get back and she thinks that the Kazon are going to help her, and the only way she can get back is with the ship. So she's on the same track, and I'm sure a lot of people would have wanted to stay on that track with her!

New mother Martha was pleased to get the call.

Interestingly when I did the two [Basics] episodes (it is a two-part story with Part One at the end of Season Two and Part Two starting Season Three) I had just had my first child and he was really little, and this time I just had another baby too, so strangely I was brought in sort of at the same point, post partum! I only worked two days, but we got a lot done, and it was great fun. I worked pretty much with Chakotay, but there was a big fight scene, so I saw Kate and Garrett and Robbie (Kate Mulgrew as Janeway, Garrett Wang as Kim, Robert Duncan McNeill as Paris), and Robert Picardo (the Doctor) came over to visit me because he was doing some second unit stuff.

Behind-the-scenes: The Work Of The 2nd Unit

It was really nice to see everybody. The crew was lovely as usual - really nice folks. I haven't seen people since I did that last episode where Seska was Bajoran (i.e. [#67 Worst Case Scenario]), and I filmed that in February of '97, so I hadn't been back for three and a half years. I was hoping they would kill me (i.e. Seska) again! They do end this episode in a strange way. Any careful fan is going to say, 'What's up with that,' and I thought, 'Wait a second; that's not what happened at the end of [Basics, Part Two]. But I don't think they're going to bring me back. Let's say this is definitely my swansong!

The following interview is another interview discussing Martha Hackett's appearance in the Season 7 story [#157 Shattered]. Screenshots below are from that episode.

She (i.e. Seska) is a strong female antagonist. There aren't any other Cardassians there. She's a great character. Shes a femme fatale. She has a manipulative mind. She;s not programmed to be just one way or another. She's complicated. She has the best and worst of human qualities, and she's a lizard as well. We saw her pregnant (when, coincidentally, the actress was pregnant with her first child). We saw her interrogate Chakotay. I can't say exactly what it is that people find intriguing about her and, actually, I kind of hope the quality that makes her so appealing is undefinable.

Chakotay enters engineering to discover Seska and the Kazon

Chakotay flinches when Seska treats his injury after he is knocked unconscious by a Kazon - he feared she was going to torture him

I was actually surprised when they asked me back again for [#157 Shattered]. It was a fun little gig. I hadn't been been there in three years (since [#67 Worst Case Scenario]), so it was nice to see everyone again. The people were great. The show is winding down. They were tired. When you're in the seventh season of any show it can be a haul. That's natural and normal. But it was nice. I know a lot of the crew and a lot of the cast too. It was an easy fit. It was fun to come back. For me, it was a sense of "This is it." The show is ending, first of all. So I can't imagine they'll bring me back again. Second, it's not as if the storyline left any opening either way. I don't know how many times you can kill Seska.

Seska interrogates Chakotay and strikes him when he refuses to co-operate

But it's a lot of fun to play her. The writers make it easy. Seska is crafty. It's much more interesting to play someone who is craft. Doing the role lets me work my more neurotic side. As much as Seska is confident and manipulative, she's also a little crazy. She's a little off-balance. That's something most people try to avoid in life, and I get to play off that. In a way, Seska is vulnerable too. She's vulnerable to Chakotay rejecting her. It may come out as a very powerful reaction, but it's still vulnerability. And she's kind of out there on her own. The Kazon are certainly not up to her abilities, but she needs them as the brawn to her brains. They're not even that brawny, really. So she's isolated herself. She's in a precarious position. She's out there without a net, so to speak. That kind of gives her a sense of electricity, because she's desperate too. All of that makes her interesting.

Seska chases after Chakotay as he flees; she is puzzled when he vanishes (by escaping into another timeframe)

The part I like best is that it's Seska who figures out that something is weird with the timeline. They let Seska be smart enough to figure it out. She realises that Chakotay has entered from another time warp, and it doesn't take her long to figure that out that she could rewrite the future. I thought that was a pretty great twist. The Seska scenes are just one part of the story, though. They brough back several stories from the past including one with Dr Chaotica, but I wasn't as familiar with them.

Seska hears Chakotay's explanation about Voyager being shattered into different timeframes and the plan to use a special serum to restore the single correct timelines, and she realises she can change the future to prevent the Voyager crew regaining their starship

It was probably a pretty good way to go out, but the weird thing is that they ended up just locking Seska in the Jefferies tube. That's how it ends for me. I thought: "Well, that's not really what happened." So I don't know what that means for the character. They should just blow me away. Seven of Nine comes in to disarm me, but I tower over Jeri. I didn't realise that I'm actually a head taller than Jeri. Anyway, as far as I remember of the episode they're flashing back to ([#43 Basics, Part Two]), the ship got rocked, the baby lived and I died. That's the time we re-entered in [#157 Shattered], and there wasn't a baby. There was no mention of it because the issue of the time zone was more important. And now they've locked me into a Jefferies tube. So they've rewritten the future, in a way. The fans notice those kinds of things and I think they'll notice that.

Culluh is also absent. The surmise is that the baby has been born and is elsewhere on Voyager, probably in the captain's ready room. Culluh is also elsewhere, probably on the bridge. Goodies do not kill in cold blood, and anyway when the timeline reverts, Seska will shortly afterwards end up dead and Voyager recaptured from the Kazon.

when Janeway leads an assault on the Kazon using Voyager crewmembers from different timeframes, Seska seizes her as a hostage, but the Borg Seven of Nine rescues her

Referring to the fame she has gained as the result of playing Seska and her other roles in Star Trek: It's all very strange. It's nice and it's flattering, but I only did a handful of episodes. I guess that's what Star Trek cultivates. Talk about a cult of celebrity. It's a cult of character celebrity. It's not really the Martha Hackett fan club. I think it's more for the character. I guess the people in the club follow what I do. They're sweet. They come to plays whenever I do them. That's the power of tv and how many people it reaches. Star Trek repeats a lot. So [Star Trek Voyager] might be on at different times in different places, but there it is again, and there I am again.

I'm always open to coming back. I think I'm really strongly identified as Seksa and I don't know if the fans and the producers would see me as another character. I just don't know what they're thinking. I'd certainly be happy to come back as Seska or anybody else. I've played a lot of different aliens. I was a Bajoran, a Cardassian, a Romulan. I was a Terrellian in the [TNG] finale but it got cut out. I was a Klingon in the CD-ROM game. So who knows? Who knows?