Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. A few scene later, Kirk tells Gillian who he really is...
PICTURE: Though the incredulous look suits her, the pose makes her eyes go buggy and her chin double. Kinda froggy (she's in an ITALIAN restaurant, not a French one), she's not put in the best light. Still appropriate, and a 3. As usual, the Federation border is the better of the two, though gold highlights are to be found in the pic as well.
LORE: The story is told efficiently, no problems here. The lore even seems to explain most, if not all, of the reasons behind her skills, affiliations, etc. A better than average 3.3.
TREK SENSE: Dr. Gillian starts off as a Non-Aligned 20th-Century personnel, but after jumping ahead some 300 years, she easily joins the Federation in its exploration efforts. She's a Civilian, even in the future (no Starfleet commission for her). As a marine biologist, Science and Biology are right down her alley. Now, I must mention my discomfort with Science not being her classification. There's never really been a consensus on personnel cards, but I think using Civilian as a fallback position when the personnel can't be placed anywhere else is best. She's a scientist first, no? Since we can't see her using a Medical Tricorder, for example, maybe Civilian is better in her case. (Though she probably learned how while she was [Fed].) The special skill is thematically good, but impractical to say the least. Yes, she is very motivated to protect her whales, but how is she excluding them from personnel battle or random selections like those of dilemmas and damage markers? (How they are "present" at a personnel battle is another mystery, but one for another day.) Those are two really big targets that Dr. Gillian can't possibly hide or move easily. A bleeding-heart liberal animal lover (not that there's anything wrong with that) like her deserves high Integrity. Her Cunning goes with her job and open mind. And she could take care of herself enough for 5 Strength. Basically, it's the special skill that does her in, sinking to 2.6.
STOCKABILITY: The whales, if you choose to use them, offer up a 15-point bounty, as long as they're on Earth. They come into play on Earth already, via the Cetacean Institute Time Location, but only score points when they are brought forward (another Earth TL could provide a safer haven, of course). Ok, Dr. Gillian Taylor is a native of that TL, and can report there too, protecting the whales from personnel battle (or on a ship, from random Casualties) that would do them in, along with your 15 points, at whatever location. Round the corner protection, if you will. Or are you using the whales as part of your crew or Away Team? What, just to nullify the Whale Probe? Gillian would protect them from SOME dilemmas at least, but they need only for the Probe to come to them for nullification to occur. No need to take part in the mission attempt. Of course, she does provide useful SCIENCE, Biology and fair attributes, and can be used by most anyone thanks to that NA affiliation, but I wouldn't really do so unless George and Gracie were in the picture. And even then, SHE's not immune to personnel battle, so killing the whales may just take a turn longer than expected. Lame I tell ya, lame! A 2.
TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) Part of a pretty minor strategy.
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