Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 11:23:24 -0800
From: Philippa@sidle.demon4tag.co.uk (Philippa Sidle)
Subject: Re: Change for Catherine Schell's Maya Makeup

In message (199602170515.VAA27485@quack.kfu.com) Sfcafeguy@aol.com writes:
> Anybody know the actual production order of the first few episodes of 1999
> after "The Metamorph"?  I'm wondering how early on someone decided that Maya
> should lose her brown ears.  (She still has them in "All That Glisters" --
> not sure about other episodes.)

Maya loses her brown ears about halfway through the series. Apparently Catherine
just got fed up with spending so long in make-up. They didn't bother to
explain on screen... ho hum....

--
Philippa Sidle



Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 13:50:25 -0800
From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com
Subject: Re: Change for Catherine Schell's Maya Makeup

Hi Philippa:

Thanks for the response to my Maya’s ears question.  I know Catherine hated
the "octopots" over her eyebrows, and I do think she’s more attractive with
her natural ears.  Still, if I were producing, once established the brown
ears would have stayed (though I think Catherine's so charming she could have
talked me out of anything).

I wish Maya had been allowed to be "alien" longer and to have grown into that
impish/pixie kind of character.  I remember seeing photos of her in Starlog
#2 long before an episode aired and thinking she was so mysterious looking –
and beautiful.  (Loved the hair with the "spikes" in it too – and that
dress!)  I also remember how jarring it was to like this character so much
and to anticipate the next week’s show only to find that she had fit in
already, even dressed like the Alphans, was Science Officer for God’s sake,
and just a regular old Alphan with NO mystery whatsoever.  That
disappointment, for me, ranked right up there with the loss of Barry Morse as
Victor Bergman.  (Though Catherine’s attractive qualities kept me watching
nonetheless.)

I often wonder what it would have been like if we had seen Maya join Alpha
initially like something akin to a refugee, like someone who is compelingly
and mysteriously silent until she has to speak, and then over a period of
time seeing her adjust, perhaps initially through bonding with either Helena
or Tony, or by developing respect for Koenig over time while working with him
out of necessity.  That change, to my mind, would have been Maya’s most
interesting "transformation."  Then, halfway through the season, science
officer, sure.  But it would have been more interesting if she took on more
of Victor’s traits and had been something more akin to an advisor in
residence.  A source of wisdom.  Something special rather than just more of
the same.

Any thoughts?

Robert Ruiz
San Francisco, CA  USA



Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 19:08:08 -0800
From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com
Subject: Re: Change for Catherine Schell's Maya Makeup

Hi Philippa:

>I'm interested in what you say about her being more traumatised, and taking
>longer to fit in, but as for being a source of wisdom, etc - well, 
>realistically, if a random human happened to survive the destruction of
>Earth why should such a person acquire mystic qualities and become a
>source of wisdom?

I meant a source of wisdom in a few ways:  First, and mainly, in the sense
that though Psychon is now space dust, they are, for the foreseeable future
anyway, still drifting through Psychon’s solar system, space that Maya has to
know something about.  I also think she must have done something more on
Psychon than lay about in the form of a lion and look pretty.  In "The
Metamorph" she is obviously familiar with Psyche (or else why would she
comment on "an increase in Pscyhe’s energy levels" after Mentor feeds it one
of the Alphans’ minds).  She is also familiar with the controls and alarms in
the room and what they do or relate to, and at one point Mentor even asks her
to scan an Eagle.  Secondly, Maya is supposed to have a brain that rivals
Alpha’s computers (no comment).  Anybody THAT intelligent has to know
something of use to the Alphans.  She also had a lot of time to herself on
Psychon since she and Mentor were, to the best of their knowledge, the last
of their line (there was that reference to Maya’s brother and other Psychons
who left their home world, but Maya and Mentor had no idea if these people
had survived [I think this is mentioned in "The Rules of Luton"]) and at some
point, given their position, Maya and Mentor probably at least contemplated
leaving Psychon also, and had a sense of the pros and cons of the situation
and what’s in the vicinity that the Alphans are going to be encountering for
awhile.  I assume, also, that someone as intelligent as Maya would turn her
attentions to trying to help their position rather than whiling away the days
somehow.  And finally, in "The Space Seed" Maya states that she is
"hypersensitive to all living matter."  This puts her in a position something
akin to Counselor Troi on Star Trek, I would think.

Thoughts, please.  I find this discussion interesting.

Robert