One of the trends that I've always enjoyed within the wide, wide world of Star Trek is that it's always been a franchise that has given a great deal of screen opportunities to secondary characters.
It's happened over and over again when some face shows up in an episode -- maybe he or she is even fortunate enough to get a name -- and then maybe an episode of two later the same actor or actress gets a bit more exposure in another adventure ... and then another ... and then another. Granted, he or she may not exactly get a whole lot to do; but it's these little visits that help give life and authenticity to fictional universes. Given that a ship's crew complement might be a reasonably limited number of folks, it was oddly reassuring to see a great many of them pop in to remind us they were there and maybe even score a solid impression with audiences.
For Star Trek: The Next Generation, actress Patti Yasutake -- as Alyssa Ogawa -- was definitely one of these secondary players, and I think she even was fortunate enough to find extra life in fandom because she stayed somehow in crew rotation. IMDB.com reports that her visits to Trek were few -- a lean and mean sixteen episodes -- but then she also served as a respected background player Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and even the Star Trek: Armada II video game (2001). She definitely earned her stripes in Trek, and I'm thrilled that fans even watched her get promoted along the way.
As for other forays into the realms of the Fantastic?
Again, her IMDB.com profiles indicates that she had a few. Across her career she dipped her artistic toes into such enterprises as Tales From The Crypt, She Spies, Flashforward, BioShock Infinite video game (2013), and Unbelievable (2020). One of her final screen appearances of note wasn't in SciFi or Fantasy, but she graced the small screen in a recurring role aboard Netflix's Beef series.
Alas, none of us lasts forever, and word reached the World Wide Web late yesterday of the actress' passing.
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Ms. Yasutake.
May she forever rest in peace.
-- EZ
It's happened over and over again when some face shows up in an episode -- maybe he or she is even fortunate enough to get a name -- and then maybe an episode of two later the same actor or actress gets a bit more exposure in another adventure ... and then another ... and then another. Granted, he or she may not exactly get a whole lot to do; but it's these little visits that help give life and authenticity to fictional universes. Given that a ship's crew complement might be a reasonably limited number of folks, it was oddly reassuring to see a great many of them pop in to remind us they were there and maybe even score a solid impression with audiences.
For Star Trek: The Next Generation, actress Patti Yasutake -- as Alyssa Ogawa -- was definitely one of these secondary players, and I think she even was fortunate enough to find extra life in fandom because she stayed somehow in crew rotation. IMDB.com reports that her visits to Trek were few -- a lean and mean sixteen episodes -- but then she also served as a respected background player Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and even the Star Trek: Armada II video game (2001). She definitely earned her stripes in Trek, and I'm thrilled that fans even watched her get promoted along the way.
As for other forays into the realms of the Fantastic?
Again, her IMDB.com profiles indicates that she had a few. Across her career she dipped her artistic toes into such enterprises as Tales From The Crypt, She Spies, Flashforward, BioShock Infinite video game (2013), and Unbelievable (2020). One of her final screen appearances of note wasn't in SciFi or Fantasy, but she graced the small screen in a recurring role aboard Netflix's Beef series.
Alas, none of us lasts forever, and word reached the World Wide Web late yesterday of the actress' passing.
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Ms. Yasutake.
May she forever rest in peace.
-- EZ
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