female audience reaction to Seven of Nine

[Christopher]

Dream wrote:

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It pretty much became the Seven of Nine show when she arrived.

Actually it didn't. I researched this for an article in Star Trek Magazine about the fourth season and Seven's arrival. I determined that in seasons 4-7, Janeway remained the character who was the (or at least a) focal point of the largest number of episodes, with Seven in second place. Seven's prominence roughly equalled Janeway's in season four, naturally enough since she was a new character whose personality, backstory, and relationships needed to be established, but in later seasons she was generally second in prominence to Janeway -- except in season 7 where the Doctor came second in the number of focus episodes and Seven was third.

[Gov Kodos]

The producers gave the audience what they (going by the ratings) wanted. As Christopher points out above, she wasn't alone in that.

[Dream]

Gov Kodos wrote:

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The producers gave the audience what they (going by the ratings) wanted. As Christopher points out above, she wasn't alone in that.

The audience never wanted a Borg Barbie. The producers pretty much gave it to us whether we liked it or not. All I'm saying is how badly they handled her.

Janeway might have just beaten Seven in screen time in later seasons, but my problem is Seven even coming in second in the first place. Seven being number two meant less screen time for everyone else outside the captain.

I'm sure some of the actors that had been there from the start weren't happy with that and felt a little resentment.

[Gov Kodos]

Borg Barbie, just in your mind.

[teacake]

Christopher wrote:

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I determined that in seasons 4-7, Janeway remained the character who was the (or at least a) focal point of the largest number of episodes, with Seven in second place.

But we know who Janeway was thinking about the whole time she was in first place.

[R. Star]

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

[Christopher]

Dream wrote:

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The audience never wanted a Borg Barbie. The producers pretty much gave it to us whether we liked it or not. All I'm saying is how badly they handled her.

Janeway might have just beaten Seven in screen time in later seasons, but my problem is Seven even coming in second in the first place. Seven being number two meant less screen time for everyone else outside the captain.

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.

[R. Star]

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.

[Christopher]

^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.

[Violet.Phoenix]

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.

[Gov Kodos]

Violet.Phoenix wrote:

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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.

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.

[R. Star]

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.

[Gov Kodos]

R. Star wrote:

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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.

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.

[Galekarens]

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.

[mswood]

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).