I know the character preferred Seven as she was only a kid when she was assimilated; I just can't imagine Deanna Troi or Ezri Dax as counselors thinking it was a good idea.
Why didn't the crew start calling Seven 'Annika'?
- Thread starter DS9forever
- Start date
Seven probably didn't want to ever try and 'forget' what happened to her. She probably instructed the crew to respect her wishes on that as well. She ceased to be Annika the moment the Borg assimilated her, and even though she has kinda sorta "become" Annika again after she joins Voyager, she hasn't *really*.
Kinda like, um, the old Tarzan story. Just cause he's human and was brought up by apes doesn't mean he stops being an ape just because human 'civilization' rediscovered him. He's basically more ape than human. Or something.
In a coldly logical sense, I guess what I'm saying is that Seven "was" Annika, but even post-post-assimilation she "is" Seven Of Nine. Although maybe maybe she should have more accurately changed her title to 141 of 141 to reflect her new position in the 'collective' of Voyager's crew. Or even One Of One, given she's an individual now (and therefore the one-and-only member of her own singular 'collective').
Identity is a funny thing, ain't it.
Kinda like, um, the old Tarzan story. Just cause he's human and was brought up by apes doesn't mean he stops being an ape just because human 'civilization' rediscovered him. He's basically more ape than human. Or something.
In a coldly logical sense, I guess what I'm saying is that Seven "was" Annika, but even post-post-assimilation she "is" Seven Of Nine. Although maybe maybe she should have more accurately changed her title to 141 of 141 to reflect her new position in the 'collective' of Voyager's crew. Or even One Of One, given she's an individual now (and therefore the one-and-only member of her own singular 'collective').
Identity is a funny thing, ain't it.
Janeway offered, but Seven declined it saying that "Annika didn't exist". She then suggested to Seven that her whole designation was a bit of a mouthful and suggested shortening it to just Seven.
I think this discussion took place in either "The Gift" or "Day of Honour".
I think this discussion took place in either "The Gift" or "Day of Honour".
Yes, Deanna and Ezri would have gone for it, even if they thought it was a bad idea. Good therapists wouldn't force anything unless really necessary.
Seven of Nine was her Slave Name.
I guess that that's not such an awful stigma for this lady.
I am so glad we never saw that scene. I am so glad we didn't have a counselor on VOY.
It's 7's name to choose. Having had everything about her human life taken away from her against her will and then, twenty years later having had everything about her Borg life taken away from her against her will I think her autonomy on the issue of her name is only a good thing. The last thing she needs is to be encouraged to call herself something other than what she wants.
She didn't want to be called Annika... I think that truly is the only reason.
Imagine if 5 episodes after Scorpion, that all her implants were all removed, her emotional state was completely healthy, she thought or herself as human and not Borg, she answered to Annika, she was wearing a Starfleet Uniform and they never encountered another Borg Cube, or had another Borg centric adventure during the course of the series, and that Crewman Hansen went below decks and was never heard of again, like every other flash in the pan guest star.
(Missing verse from the song Imagine by John Lennon.)
(Missing verse from the song Imagine by John Lennon.)
At the beginning she wasn't comfortable being called Annika. Later on I imagine it was kind of like the reason Odo doesn't change his name to something else. She came to 'Own' the name for herself, for different reasons than it was given to her.
Just like Thrall in Warcraft.
Then it's a good thing that neither of them ever had a say in the matter. It's really none of their business what she wants to be called (unless the reason pertains to a genuine mental health problem).
If she wanted to be called Captain Seven of Nine, kathryn might have had a problem with that.
I was going to reply to Timewalker but I realized that everything I was going to say I have already said a few posts back so there is no point in saying it again.
I shall now quit the forum
Considering how she ordered Janeway around ("Captain Janeway, report to Astrometrics."), she didn't need a Captain's rank.
Smell you later.
I was going to reply to Timewalker but I realized that everything I was going to say I have already said a few posts back so there is no point in saying it again.
I shall now quit the forum
The decision to go this way with the character robbed Seven of gaining any real connection with me. Perhaps, if she had been written as more, but not completely, child like, slowly regaining of pieces of herself, but not being so rigid and aggressive, instead being tentative and unsure.
I love her rigid and aggressive, and gradually softening as she find her humanity.
She found her humanity at the end of every episode and had then forgot it by the beginning of the next episode.
She had glimpses of possible Annikas but that was such a small thing against the millions of voices of the Borg that raised her.
Around Season 7, I got the feeling that deep down inside Seven would have preferred being called Annika. She kept going into the holodeck where she would live out a fantasy life wearing a regular uniform, living in quarters, dating Chakotay, etc. It seemed like Seven was starting to want to live life as a "normal" human.
Similar threads
