female audience reaction to Seven of Nine

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Voyager' started by jefferiestubes8, Sep 15, 2012.

  1. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    "I am Seven of Nine. I am here to boost your ratings. Resistance is Futile."
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Seven came in second because she was the character who had the most story potential. By season 4, most of the cast had settled into their roles and relationships. But Seven was a new character who opened up new possibilities, and she was a rich and complex character who had a lot of potential for growth and conflict.

    I had the opportunity to pitch story ideas to VGR's fifth season, and I decided that I would specifically avoid Seven and Doctor stories because I figured everyone else would be doing those. But I found that most of the ideas I came up with were about Seven and the Doctor despite my best efforts, because they were the richest characters with the most possibilities.

    So Seven's popularity with the writers and the viewers was not about her looks or her costume. The best disproof for that is that the Doctor was also a breakout character, and he wasn't a hot babe in a skintight catsuit. The Doctor and Seven were both rich characters who could more easily generate conflict than most of the cast, who had more growth to undergo than the rest, and who were both played by superb, versatile actors.
     
  3. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Eh, I just saw it as the trend in Trek to get a new cast member 2x as many storylines in a given season as if to compensate for them not being there previously.
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^I don't think that's specific to Trek. It's pretty natural for shows in general, I'd think. Adding a new character gives you new possibilities to explore, new relationships to establish, a chance to freshen the storytelling.
     
  5. Violet.Phoenix

    Violet.Phoenix Commander Red Shirt

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    I'm a bit divided on my opinion of Seven of Nine. I would agree with others that she is a fantastic character with a great story arc that carries out over the latter seasons of Voyager. However, my one problem with her character is that I feel like by putting her in a catsuit they put too much focus on her physical attributes.

    I have no problem with Seven as a character; I just don't like that she became known for her looks. I feel like Seven was added to the show for a sort of physical attraction, but I also recognize what her character brought to the show.
     
  6. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    Had Jeri Ryan not been the actress she was, Seven might well have been no more than a catsuit. Especially, if the stories had been of no more depth than the Orion slave girl episode of Enterprise. My problem with Seven was the turn her into a human because Borg is bad theme. I disliked the stories of season 7 the most.
     
  7. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I gotta agree. Don't get me wrong, I think she looked dang good in that catsuit. Few women could pull that look off. But it does take away from an otherwise serious character.

    I would have liked it if they had kept her Borgified, half robotic like she was in the GIft for awhile. Then bit by bit it could have been removed with each symbolic step towards her discovering her humanity.
     
  8. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    Seven's character changed much too fast for my liking. She had no real past to revert to, being pretty much a result of a Borg maturation chamber. I would have imagined her handling losing her Borg systems about as well as someone would handle having an arm and eye removed because humans were supposed to have one hand and one eye. Only one early episode gave a hint of that. When her hand was injured while working with Harry. Unfortunately, nothing was really done to explore that loss of Borg ability and her adaption to her physical state on Voyager beyond that.
     
  9. Galekarens

    Galekarens Commander Red Shirt

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    I, as a female Voyager fan, did feel Seven was partly meant as "eye-candy" from the start, well otherwise why have such an obvious "cat-suit" (yes I heard it was also supposed to be medicinal, but well, OK....). And for me she also was pretty annoying, with her know-it-all attitude and actions. I later tried to appreciate her more as a character, but after the 7th season I decided my first instinct about her was still pretty valid (for me). Also didn't care for how many episodes were about her, but at least that somewhat diminished as time went on. I do recognize that having Seven seemed to give Voyager a ratings boost, so if too many (IMHO) Seven episodes meant more Voyager, it was a price I could pay, more or less, lol.
     
  10. mswood

    mswood Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    My sister loved her. Simply put one of the three best characters on Voyager and probably the 2nd best developed (Torres was another great character, but her development on paper wasn't as well realized).

    As for her look, my sister and I agree (I'm gay so I not into T&A, at least not that gender's T&A). We both loved her two initial looks. Full on Borg and her full Silver Catsuit.

    For myself there are only three issues I have with the character. One is I wish it would have taken like 3 or 4 episodes to get to the point of the ending of "the Gift". That I would have cut a "7 o9 story from each season, and I would have never, ever, ever hooked .her up with Chakotay (no chemistry whatsoever between the two actors). On these I don't remember how my sister felt (I know she also hated the thing with Chakotay).
     
  11. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    C7, I just attribute that to a bad tequila binge.
     
  12. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    Seven joining the cast really didn't really didn't increase VOY's ratings that much.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Violet.Phoenix

    Violet.Phoenix Commander Red Shirt

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    I knew it was only a matter of time before we hit the C/7 wall...

    My opinion on that: it made no sense what so ever and never will. They had no chemistry, and we were just expected to take it out of the blue in "Endgame". All we get is "I believe that this is an appropriate third date."

    Third date?! :wtf: When in the hell did that happen?
     
  14. Galekarens

    Galekarens Commander Red Shirt

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    Well I suppose maybe in the minds of the writers who thought up that, um, scenario, lol. I seem to remember in a magazine article after Endgame first aired, the writers were asked "why Chakotay/Seven" and their answer was (pretty much) well, why not? Yikes (MO).
     
  15. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I always attributed C/7 to Chakotay being meek, mild and submissive therefore perfectly assimilated already.
     
  16. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Starter husband.

    STARTER HUSBAND.

    There, that's all you need to know. He's good for practicing on, like a test dummy. He will always be nice to her too, even when it doesn't work out.
     
  17. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    Yup, just biding her time till Janeway comes to her senses.
     
  18. Sonja

    Sonja Ensign Newbie

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    Frankly, Kes was boring me to tears. I never missed her.

    7 of 9 quickly became one of my favorite characters as I have a huge fondness for dry wit and deadpan comments. But her cat-suit (and T'Pol's for that matter) was downright superfluous and silly. And if Chakotay's screen time was reduced because of her appearance, it's an added bonus. ;)
     
  19. RB_Kandy

    RB_Kandy Commander Red Shirt

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    Complaints about it becoming the Seven Of Nine show is ridiculous. Janeway had all the dialogue.
    Eventually the show was mostly Janeway, Seven, EMH. With everyone else as supporting cast. And there's nothing really wrong with that. TOS was about Kirk, Spock, Bones, with everyone else as a supporting cast.

    Yes, Garret Wang and Robert Beltran weren't happy about it. Of course the two least talented actors on that show complained about not getting as much screen time as the 3 best actors on that show.


    I liked Seven. I was always hoping she would hook up with Harry.
    Although, I will admit, the high heels were a bit much. I mean really. She won't eat normal food if she can just have an efficient supplement, but she'll wear high heels?

    Another thing I didn't like is, I believe by the time season 6 rolled around, she was still going through this adapting to being human thing, and yet we continuously see her grow and learn. It's like they kept hitting the reset button at a certain point of progress.
    Though I suppose that was necessary, because if she completely grew, became 100% human, it would have killed her character, because she could no longer react to things from the alien's perspective.
     
  20. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    "Hook up" as in, devour.
    Janeway had them too. 7's look particularly ridiculous.

    I just pretend it is not happening and hope that if this show was being made today they would all be in combat boots which are infinitely hotter.