When did the Janeway hatred truly start to coalesce?

Sometimes reaction to a character depends on one's fondness/dislike for the actor in the role. In my case, I had liked Kate Mulgrew in the previous productions in which I'd seen her (yes, even the much-maligned Mrs. Columbo) and as a result responded positively to her Janeway immediately. Frankly, I never understood the online hatred directed toward the character (or Michael Burnham, for that matter), as most of the Trek fans I've met IRL at conventions embraced IDIC and weren't big on hate.

However, I will admit that I was a big Bionic Woman fan when I was younger, so when I learned years later that Lindsay Wagner was briefly considered for the role of Janeway, it did make me wonder what could have been...

 

I remember there was this YouTuber who had a red bottom about Geneviève Bujold getting the axe... even though you can see clips of her on YouTube, and she really wasn't feeling it. She probably saved Voyager by bowing out when she did.

 

If Voyager had shit the bed, Deep Space Nine would have gotten an 8th Season.

Think about it.

Quickly trying to put a new series together, in less than a year, or see who on the Deep Space Nine wants to stick around for another year?

Berman would have gotten a red bottom if there was no new Star Trek to air.

 

My first time with Mulgrew involved her role of Captain Janeway; only later did I notice her in other works (e.g., Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins).

 

Female Picard, in essence?

 

You be the judge.

 

This is the first time I've watched footage of Bujold. Is it me, or does she have rather a flat affect? I don't know whether it's specific to this scene, whether she was told to do so, or...well, what's going on here, but she just doesn't seem very...pardon the expression...engaged?

 

It seemed like she wasn't very comfortable spouting all that technobabble.

 

Well, it's a talent. I can write it, but babbling it out is tough even for me.

 

As Harrison Ford once said to Lucas: "You can write it but I can't say it."

 

I know a common issue among all ST actors was saying the technobabble. Some pulled it off better than others.

Like LeVar Burton. He's the gold standard on speaking technobabble convincingly. He made me think what he said was real.

 

Yup. I think it's the TNG episode "Booby Trap" that I recall a clip from where everything works together very well to sell the intensity of the scene of them being trapped. And it's just Burton spouting the technical jargon while touching the scenery. But it works.

 

I have seen that video. Her (potential) performance in the aggregate had she been allowed the chance to develop the character was what I had in mind.

 

Given the caliber of actress that she was, she would certainly have made the character her own, had she endured. I haven't seen enough of her work to really speculate on what sort of Janeway we would have had in the end.

 

I thought Bujold understood what a first time Captain should act, something a character could work on as the series progressed and not like the Ultimate super Captain like the GOAT.

 

What few people know is that Nicole Janeway actually exists in the 24th century.
However, what we see here is actually the image Tuvok saw when he had a mind-meld with Kathryn Janeway after she had a minor breakdown, maybe when she locked up Paris for 30 days in the brig and demoted him.

Tuvok had expected a rock video with Johnny Winter performing the song "Thirty Days" but had not expected the vision of Nicole Janeway on the bridge of Voyager.

Of course, Tuvok never revealed what he had found out during the mind-meld to anyone. But fortunately, due to The Kes Website, the explanation of the mystery is available for the people in the Gray Universe.

Nicole Janeway, who can be found on some Youtube clips instead of Kathryn Janeway is actually Kathryn Janeway's aunt. A sister to Kathryn's father Edward Janeway.

Contrary to most members of the Janeway family, Nicole Janeway weren't interested at all in Starfleet and space exploring. She always considered her brother Edward a crazy fool who should have chosen another career instead of Starfleet.

"Man doesn't belong into space", she often said. "It's utter foolishness to travel around in those metal boxes in such dangerous environment".

When Edwards daughter Kathryn decided to join Starfleet, Nicole was furious. "You are a hopeless, reckless fool", she told Edward Janeway. "But worse is that you have raised your daughter to become one hopeless, reckless fool too", she said. And added, "This will end up in a disaster, believe me!"

Nicole Janeway often expressed her compassion for Kathryn's mother Gretchen. "I really feel sorry for her, marrying my stupid brother" but expressed sympathy for Kathryn's sister Phoebe who had chosen to become an artist instead.

When tragedy actually struck and Edward Janeway was killed during an exploring mission, together with Kathryn's fiancée Justin Tighe while Kathryn survived the accident, Nicole Janeway pestered everybody who wanted to listen with comments about "well, what did I say". Finally Phoebe Janeway got tired of hearing her aunt's complaints, lost her temper and told Nicole Janeway where to go.

When Voyager dissapeared in the Badlands, Nicole Janeway continued to tell everyone (except Gretchen and Phoebe Janeway who had broken all contacts with her) that Kathryn only had herself to blame for being as foolish as her father. Due to her not too diplomatic comments about certain family members, Nicole Janeway became rather isolated from the rest of the family. She continued to live on her ostrich farm in Colorado while keeping her negative opinion about space exploring.

The scene with Nicole Janeway as captain on Voyager was actually a nighmare Kathryn Janeway had two nights after Voyager left Ocampa, heading for the distant home. Only in a nightmare could Kathryn Janeway imagine her aunt as the captain on her ship.

 

Fair enough.

 

I don't know why, but, I believe that Janeway wouldn't have received nearly as much criticism had Mulgrew been a European actor like Stewart.

 

To be fair, I don't think the Janeway character started out that way. In the beginning, they tried to paint her with insecurities, which she tried to hide because she thought the crew needed a 'strong' captain, e.g. leading to her almost militaristic demeanor in the early seaons. It's only in the later seasons that she started to come across as somewhat smug in her victories, and that's not the character's or the actress' fault, but that of the writers.