I was sad to see Sandra's role reduced so much in Season 2. There was no way that Alibe or Yasko could come anyway near to her. It's not that Ziena is a stunning actress or anything, but she just made the Sandra character appear natural.
It was due to contract stupidity. They weren't willing to give her a contract for year 2 so she split after the first few episodes, only to be convinced later by Barbara Bain to come back later on.
I also noticed that she was called 'Sahn' in some of the episodes, yet if you read Michael Butterworths novelisations of Year 2, the Sahn character is an Asian male. Apparently Butterworth was working from early scripts.
Butterworth also introduced a character in one of his Space1999 novels call the Love Monster - it "belched Love Fire." Yeah. O.k. Whatever. Maybe Michael Butterworth is another pseudonym for Charles Woodgrove.
The caveman episode in series 1 is definitely NOT her finest hour!
Don't you wish she could've been portrayed just once as the very smart data systems analyst she was intended to be instead of merely a cute young female hanger-on who was good at acting frightened? She might even have been vital to an episode's sucessful outcome on occasion.
One of the few examples of her data analyst abilities that leaps to mind is during "Wargames," when she gives Victor a route to Main Mission via Alpha's smashed tube and corridor system.
By the way, does that mean she vectors Victor in?
She had some good scenes in Beta Cloud, even if the ep was a pile of horsecrap. She told Frasier how to put together an electric barrier and manned medical center while all the big stars were lying around playing sick.
At least in Year Two she doesn't faint again.
Towards the end of the series she just disappears...
Cute as a button . . .
Some have criticized Sandra fainting when her boyfriend got killed in Black Sun.
Now, if she were a Starfleet officer, I'd also be doing criticizing, but she wasn't. Nothing in Sandra's training could have prepared her for the situation that she (and the other Alphans) found themselves in.
So I cut her some slack here.