Plakson: K’Ehleyr Or Female Q?

While Suzie Plakson enjoyed playing K’Ehleyr, the Female Q was even more fun for the actress.

After her appearances as Selar and K’Ehleyr on The Next Generation, six years later Plakson returned to Star Trek:Voyager as the Female Q, playing opposite John de Lancie.  The actress found the role of the Female Q even more fun than that of K’Ehleyr had been.

“…I was thrilled to do it,” said Plakson. “Oh my God, I loved playing the Q. People used to ask me which was my favorite, K’Ehleyr or the Q, and I used to say ‘They just about evened out,’ but as the years go by what rises to the surface is the Q. John de Lancie and I were on stage once and talked about this, but I would really have loved to have come back as the Q, because the Q can become or do anything, and I loved playing that sort of narcissistic arrogance. It’s fun and, unless you’re doing something British and drawing room, you don’t really get to do that as an American actor. John and I, had we really gotten a chance to dance, would have had a blast.”

Another thing that appealed to Plakson was the fact that the show was a period piece. “I loved it,” she said. “The costume … I have to say I thought that the Q would not have done the very modest lace collar they had her in. I was like, ‘No, that Q would have had some plunging neckline, Scarlett O’Hara kind of thing.’ She never would have been that demure. But I did love that it was a period piece. That’s where a lot of my passion is. I just love period pieces, so it was really fun to be in the hairdo and do all of that. Plus, I got to use my own face, which was nice. And my favorite thing about it was that it was outside, under trees, and we could run around and not just be locked up on a soundstage breathing stale air all day. Harve Presnell was in it and I was thrilled to meet him. I just loved him in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

Plakson did one last Star Trek role as Tarah, an Andorian, on Star Trek: Enterprise. “They sent me the script about the Andorians and I thought, ‘Ooooh, good, she’s an evil Andorian. That’s cool.’” I loved my antennae. They were fun. The puppeteer was a great guy and it was very cool.”

Still acting, Plakson was seen recently on How I Met Your Mother, where she played Marshal Eriksen’s (Jason Segel) mother in a recurring role.

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