Sigourney Weaver as Captain Janeway?

[brcarthey]

completely agree!! while there are a couple of actors who could've been interchangeable in their roles i've always thought that mulgrew, dawson, mcneill, and picardo completely owned their roles. i really do have a hard time seeing other actors in their roles (just as i will with the TOS crew in the new trek movie).

I would also agree about the others being cemented in their roles to a point, though I found that Kate was somehow able to spin gold from straw...while the others were stuck with straw or gold, depending on what they were given. This may be based solely on some sort of latent crush on her; I don't know. lol. But suffice it to say, that even when I felt the writers faultered with Janeway (and I believe that they did), I never felt that Mulgrew let that stop her from giving it her all.

Though (and granted, this isn't the same thing at all) it still annoys me that when Duncan was cast as Paris that they didn't change the character to Lacarno (who was played by the same actor with an almost identicle character history), or that Vorik wasn't changed to Taurik when Alexander Enberg got the Voyager role - as they ARE identicle - at the very least they could have referenced that the 2 Vulcans were relatives or something. Those are the kinds of behind the scenes choices that hurt my head. As it was, it took me years to get over the the Paris thing, and I never quite got over the Vorik thing. Paris was easier to justify (to myself) because the characters were at least slightly different. Vorik had no such explanation.

Sorry. I get to rambling and I get off track. It's one of my most annoying or endearing qualities depending on who you ask. lol

so, instead of being a "friend of dorothy" you're a "friend of kate?"

as for paris and vorik, i can understand the initial annoyance. among fellow VOY fans, we've had lengthy discussions about the whole locarno/paris character explanation. most of us came to the conclusion that both the producers' explanation and the real reason of why they didn't use the locarno name was pretty lame and that the real (re:urban legend) reason was equally lame. it would've been interesting to continue that character arc, but i'm also fine with it not continuing.

as for taurik/vorik, i'll have to take your word for it since i didn't think taurik had that much back story other than they were both vulcan.

 

[neogothboy74]

so, instead of being a "friend of dorothy" you're a "friend of kate?"

Can't I be friends with them both?

as for paris and vorik, i can understand the initial annoyance. among fellow VOY fans, we've had lengthy discussions about the whole locarno/paris character explanation. most of us came to the conclusion that both the producers' explanation and the real reason of why they didn't use the locarno name was pretty lame and that the real (re:urban legend) reason was equally lame. it would've been interesting to continue that character arc, but i'm also fine with it not continuing.

I came to an understanding with the Paris thing too. It just seemed so pointless at the time. In retrospect...it still does, but I'm far more distanced from it now. It doesn't bother me on the same level, as it once did, which is nice actually.

as for taurik/vorik, i'll have to take your word for it since i didn't think taurik had that much back story other than they were both vulcan.

Well, they were both Vulcans, who looked exactly the same; had the same voice; face; everything - and they were both 'Lower Decks' sort of charcters. And there is absolutley no reason why they couldn't have been the same character. Armin Shimmerman and Max Grodenchic both played more than one Ferengi, but there were vast differences in those characters that made it impossible to reconcile the two; even the makeup was different. That wasn't the case here. All they had to do was say his name was Taurik and then write whatever they wanted, and the Trek audience would have a stronger connection to the character, and a nice little reward for sticking with the franchise as a whole. Any other franchise that I'm a fan of, where that kind of thing happens, they just keep the character the same and it provides this nice inter-continuity. It just seemed like a no-brainer to me.

But just as with Paris, the Vorik thing doesn't stop me from enjoying Vorik as a character, and I don't flinch everytime I see him now. lol.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

When I think of Sigourney Weaver, I can only picture her one of two ways:

1) hardcore badass from the Alien movies

OR

2) goofy woman from "Baby Mama"

I could not see her as Janeway.

I could see her dealing with the Borg Queen with the line

"Get away from her , You BITCH!!"
(Fires a modified phaser rifle)

 

[neogothboy74]

I could see her dealing with the Borg Queen with the line

"Get away from her , You BITCH!!"
(Fires a modified phaser rifle)

That's because many scenes from Aliens were completely ripped off in Voyager's "Dark Frontier" - which made me roll my eyes so hard that I think I sprained something.

 

[brcarthey]

I could see her dealing with the Borg Queen with the line

"Get away from her , You BITCH!!"
(Fires a modified phaser rifle)

That's because many scenes from Aliens were completely ripped off in Voyager's "Dark Frontier" - which made me roll my eyes so hard that I think I sprained something.

actually, i thought "macrocosm" borrowed from aliens more than DF, especially when janeway takes off her jacket and cocks the phaser rifle in engineering.

 

[neogothboy74]

I could see her dealing with the Borg Queen with the line

"Get away from her , You BITCH!!"
(Fires a modified phaser rifle)

That's because many scenes from Aliens were completely ripped off in Voyager's "Dark Frontier" - which made me roll my eyes so hard that I think I sprained something.

actually, i thought "macrocosm" borrowed from aliens more than DF, especially when janeway takes off her jacket and cocks the phaser rifle in engineering.

I know what you're talking about with "Macrocosm", but the famous quote that Johnnyracefan references hinges on Ripley's relation to Newt - (Janeway's relation to Seven) - something that's missing from "Macrocosm". Also, for all the implied homages to 'Aliens' in 'Macrocosm' - and they are certainly there, whole scenes, with complex character relations are ripped off in "Dark Frontier"; check this out:

In "Dark Frontier", Janeway enter's the Queen's chamber looking for her lost daughter figure and some Borg drones theaten her - Janeway fires a warning shot and the queen dismisses the drones with a look.

In "Aliens", Ripley finds her lost daughter figure then enters the Queen's chamber - some Alien drones threaten her and Ripley threatens the Queen's eggs with a flamethrower - the Alien Queen dismisses her drones with a look.

It's so spot on that it isn't even funny.

 

[brcarthey]

That's because many scenes from Aliens were completely ripped off in Voyager's "Dark Frontier" - which made me roll my eyes so hard that I think I sprained something.

actually, i thought "macrocosm" borrowed from aliens more than DF, especially when janeway takes off her jacket and cocks the phaser rifle in engineering.

I know what you're talking about with "Macrocosm", but the famous quote that Johnnyracefan references hinges on Ripley's relation to Newt - (Janeway's relation to Seven) - something that's missing from "Macrocosm". Also, for all the implied homages to 'Aliens' in 'Macrocosm' - and they are certainly there, whole scenes, with complex character relations are ripped off in "Dark Frontier"; check this out:

In "Dark Frontier", Janeway enter's the Queen's chamber looking for her lost daughter figure and some Borg drones theaten her - Janeway fires a warning shot and the queen dismisses the drones with a look.

In "Aliens", Ripley finds her lost daughter figure then enters the Queen's chamber - some Alien drones threaten her and Ripley threatens the Queen's eggs with a flamethrower - the Alien Queen dismisses her drones with a look.

It's so spot on that it isn't even funny.

i guess there's only so many ways you can confront your evil, physically superior nemesis.

 

[TS-1838-SWATH]

completely agree!! while there are a couple of actors who could've been interchangeable in their roles i've always thought that mulgrew, dawson, mcneill, and picardo completely owned their roles. i really do have a hard time seeing other actors in their roles (just as i will with the TOS crew in the new trek movie).

I would also agree about the others being cemented in their roles to a point, though I found that Kate was somehow able to spin gold from straw...while the others were stuck with straw or gold, depending on what they were given. This may be based solely on some sort of latent crush on her; I don't know. lol. But suffice it to say, that even when I felt the writers faultered with Janeway (and I believe that they did), I never felt that Mulgrew let that stop her from giving it her all.

Though (and granted, this isn't the same thing at all) it still annoys me that when Duncan was cast as Paris that they didn't change the character to Lacarno (who was played by the same actor with an almost identicle character history)

IIRC Lacarno In The First Duty was written by Freelance (sp?) and NOT part the TREK Staff therefore it was a rights issue.

Every episode Lacarno was used the would have had pay the person who wrote The First Duty a fee.

 

[RoJoHen]

They should have said in "Caretaker" that Nick Locarno changed his name to Tom Paris when he joined the Maquis. Oooh, aaah...or something.

 

[Lynx]

Sigourney Weaver as Janeway?

Definitely not! Mulgrew's the one!

 

[Gary7]

With all due respect to Sigourney Weaver, who seriously rocks... I think that for better or worse, Kate Mulgrew owned the role of Katherine Janeway from day one. She took that character and made her flesh and spirit and I think that we as Voyager fans were extremely lucky to have her. I think Janeway would have been a lesser character in anyone else's hands. Kate Mulgrew's performances are always watchable. Even when I was unhappy with the way something was written, I couldn't take my eyes off her. And when the character was written well, with Kate in the role, there was no possible way to improve on her perfection.

That's my opinion.

I agree. You see, Mulgrew didn't have much of a track record at the time of Voyager starting. She was hungry for the role. She became passionate about it as well. You can see how she developed her Janeway persona. I really didn't care for her in the beginning, but over time she grew on me. When Janeway spoke of the ship's crew as her family in various episodes, I felt like Mulgrew was saying it about her fellow actors. They were one very tight knit group, as you can see from the interviews that were captured at various points in time.

Weaver wouldn't have been as hungry. She already had much success. Doing Voyager would have been like "doing a favor" from her perspective... Although she is very talented, I feel like she wouldn't have grown the role as much. I could be wrong... maybe Weaver might have done a fine job. But Janeway would have been quite a bit different. I like how Mulgrew evolved her character and it's hard to imagine anyone else doing it her way.

 

[Lynx]

They should have said in "Caretaker" that Nick Locarno changed his name to Tom Paris when he joined the Maquis. Oooh, aaah...or something.

I agree!

That would have been a good explanation.

Visit my "Voyager Mysteries" webpage (which is a part of my Kes Website) at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Park/1964/Voyagermysteries.html

for some attempts to explain the Paris-Locarno mystery.

As for the copyright things, if they couldn't use the name Nick Locarno, they should have come up with a different background story for Tom Paris. It was too close to the Locarno story.

 

[plague]

Do you think that janeway was written as an uppity annoying person, or did mulgrew add that? If it was mulgrew, I think I would have enjoyed the show better with any other actor.

 

[Gary7]

Do you think that janeway was written as an uppity annoying person, or did mulgrew add that? If it was mulgrew, I think I would have enjoyed the show better with any other actor.

She was uppity at times. Definitely. At that annoyed me. But the rest of the time, she did some great work. And that kind of made up for things. IMHO.

 

[brcarthey]

Do you think that janeway was written as an uppity annoying person, or did mulgrew add that? If it was mulgrew, I think I would have enjoyed the show better with any other actor.

She was uppity at times. Definitely. At that annoyed me. But the rest of the time, she did some great work. And that kind of made up for things. IMHO.

when and where do you think janeway was ever uppity?? i never got that impression from her the way i did from picard.

 

[neogothboy74]

Do you think that janeway was written as an uppity annoying person, or did mulgrew add that? If it was mulgrew, I think I would have enjoyed the show better with any other actor.

I can see where, depending on what episodes Plague is remembering, Janeway could come off this way. She's definitely someone who's character arc moves in jumps and starts and reverses course...and often makes no sense at all. And I'm mostly talking about Seasons 5-7. But I think that when you look at the bigger picture and the stories she was given, and the words that came out of her mouth, that Mulgrew did an amazing job of keeping the character grounded; even when IMO she was written like a crazy person. That's why I think Mulgrew's casting was so important to the series. Others may (and probably do) disagree.

 

[plague]

when and where do you think janeway was ever uppity?? i never got that impression from her the way i did from picard.

She seems very pretentious to me. Although it may simply be her overacting. Every time she speaks, its as if she thinks its the most important thing. A lot like william shatner, I guess. At least picard is hot.

 

[brcarthey]

At least picard is hot. [/quote]
i'll have to take your word on that.

 

[kimc]

Do you think that janeway was written as an uppity annoying person, or did mulgrew add that? If it was mulgrew, I think I would have enjoyed the show better with any other actor.

What do you mean by "uppity"?

 

[Gary7]

"Uppity" is a synonym of arrogant, presumptuous.

Scattered throughout the Voyager series (probably after the first couple of seasons), Janeway would take an air of arrogance or presumptuousness. Also, tending to make emotional outbursts, unfitting of a captain. I don't have Voyager episodes memorized, so I can't just point to evidence all throughout the series... but I know I've seen it. I think part of it is the difficulty of playing a woman in that role and still keeping it interesting. In the real world, commanding officers have to project a certain persona to get the job done, regardless of gender. I think Mulgrew wanted to give a more feminine character to her role... and it's understandable, because most people watching the show aren't in the military and wouldn't understand a realistic representation. But you have to be careful not to take things too far. I didn't like her portrayal in Equinox, and yet she was superb in "Year of Hell". Nobody pulls off a role perfectly. Mulgrew did some great work... but yeah, the "uppity" could have been toned down a bit.

EDIT: "Imperfection" is a good example of Mulgrew being arrogant. Yes, the script was written with the captain making arrogant decisions (leading a dangerous away mission, seeking to engage the Borg to get a component for Seven--risking the entire crew), but the personification projected arrogance as well... it could have been portrayed differently.