Why was 7/C so disliked?

[Summer Solstice]

It would have depended on whether...
1. A convincing pretext could be found. What brings them together?

Seven decides to re-run her dating algorithm from "Someone To Watch Over Me" with different parameters. That's probably what happened shortly before "Human Error", we just didn't see it on screen.

2. The level of chemistry between the actors. We didn't see Chakotay and Seven together much, so who knows what they might have had.
3. How well the actors could sell it in terms of, well, acting.

And there would always have been opposition from people who shipped other couples (7/EMH, J/C, whatever).

I went off 7/EMH after the EMH performed brain surgery on Seven while she was conscious in "Equinox".

 

[Oddish]

I was pretty neutral about that one. But after "Resolutions", I was a devoted member of the J/C camp.

 

[Summer Solstice]

I was pretty neutral about that one. But after "Resolutions", I was a devoted member of the J/C camp.

Fair enough. I can't remember when I became a member of the J/C camp (I saw the first two seasons massively out of order originally) but definitely by the time I saw "Resolutions". I saw "Caretaker" and "Threshold" after most of the rest of the first two seasons and I thought Paris was Janeway's son for a long time until I saw those episodes.

 

[Oddish]

Well, there is a sort of parental vibe between them.

 

[Gaith]

Why was 7/C so disliked?

Because Seven/Barclay forever, dammit!

"I have been studying your psychological profile since the Pathfinder endeavor made contact with Voyager, and have determined you are my ideal mate. Our first date will be sushi in San Francisco's Japantown district tomorrow at 2000. You are advised to comply."
​

 

[Oddish]

BARCLAY: "Resistance is futile!"

 

[Guy Gardener]

Why was 7/C so disliked?

Because Seven/Barclay forever, dammit!

"I have been studying your psychological profile since the Pathfinder endeavor made contact with Voyager, and have determined you are my ideal mate. Our first date will be sushi in San Francisco's Japantown district tomorrow at 2000. You are advised to comply."
​

The Nth Degree.

Barclay has had some very interesting augmentation that Seven or/and the Borg would love to dissect his brain to find out all about.

 

[Lynx]

If true, not the only time they pulled something like that.

They did something even worse in season 6.

 

[Oddish]

And they did it with a different character at the end of S6, in early S7, and in late S7. And because you and I have both been around awhile, it's a safe bet we both know which episodes the other is referring to.

 

[Greg Cox]

And it didn't help that Seven and Chakotay had recently spent an entire episode stranded together on a jungle planet without even a flicker of sexual tension developing around the campfire . . .

And it wasn't just that the show paired them up, but that "Endgame" try to sell us on the idea that somehow Seven was the great love of Chakotay's life, whose tragic death devastated him. That's a lot of heavy lifting for a relationship that had barely been hinted at before. I suspect that there would have been less of a backlash if the J/C thing had been treated more casually, with them just beginning to date or whatever, or with the series ending with a suggestion that something might develop between them . . . .

But going from zero to One True Pairing was too big a stretch. IMO.

 

[Oddish]

But going from zero to One True Pairing was too big a stretch. IMO.

Mine too. And many others, given the ship's general unpopularity.

Just another classic example of the writers not respecting their audience.

 

[NCC-73515]

In that timeline, they had many more years together though

 

[MarkusTay]

My problem is this -

1. From the very beginning, it was setup to look like Janeway might be into Chokotay, and vice-versa.Yes, it could have just been a red herring, but it still made fans think something was going to happen there. This establishes - in our collective consciousness - that they are 'a thing' (even if just wallows in 'what if' land).

2. Janeway 'adopts' seven, very much like a daughter. I think she even tells her this at some point.

3. To us - subconsciously - we now have a scenario where a dude is creepin' on his girlfriend's daughter. Is that what it really was? Well, no... because the J/C thing was just in our heads, but Chokotay was at least Janeway's colleague, 'equal', and friend... and he hooked up with his friend's 'kid'. It just gives Chokotay a creep factor he should have never had. We already had Neelix for that. Kes: "Mr. Neelix, I grew up and I don't really like your lollipops anymore". LOL

Now Harry was also like 'the kid' in the beginning, and Janeway also took him under her wing (they all did), so seeing the 'kids wind up together' would have made sense to our collective consciousness, even though in reality she intimidated Harry, just as B'lanna did. Thus, the series should have ended with ENSIGN Harry - shown grey and half-bald - feeding something in his fishtank... he kept one of the squishy, slimy 'fish babies', and as he feeds them, he whispers, "but you still love me, right?" {fade to black}

 

[Danja]

It was shoehorned in at the last minute (Jeri Ryan has said as much).

Brannon Braga tried to get a 7/C 'ship going. He then left to create Enterprise and a new showrunner was brought in.

The new showrunner didn't want the relationship, so it was put on the back burner. Brannon Braga then came back for "Endgame" and tried to restart the romance.

It didn't work. It came off as stilted and forced.

 

[Oddish]

Thus, the series should have ended with ENSIGN Harry - shown grey and half-bald

I sometimes wonder if we never find out what happens to Harry (despite Garrett Wang being very involved in the fandom and therefore available to appear in Picard, LD, and/or Prodigy) because there's some of us who are still angry that he was never promoted, and others who get a twisted pleasure in seeing him stuck at ensign forever... and they don't want to piss either of us off.

feeding something in his fishtank... he kept one of the squishy, slimy 'fish babies', and as he feeds them, he whispers, "but you still love me, right?" {fade to black}

You don't think Harry had enough brains to secure a promotion, but you think he was crafty enough to secretly beam up one of Janeway's salamander offspring and keep it hidden for almost six years?

Brannon Braga then came back for "Endgame" and tried to restart the romance.

It didn't work. It came off as stilted and forced.

That explains a lot, including why that trainwreck was allowed to exist.

 

[Dee1891]

I didn't dislike Seven and Chakotay's relationship. I've always thought they had an interesting dynamic. But I thought their relationship had started too late - near the end of the series. Only Seven's relationship with Raffi had kickstarted even faster on "Picard".

 

[dupersuper]

I didn't dislike Seven and Chakotay's relationship. I've always thought they had an interesting dynamic. But I thought their relationship had started too late - near the end of the series. Only Seven's relationship with Raffi had kickstarted even faster on "Picard".

Maybe that's just how 7 is?

 

[Oddish]

Did Seven and Raffi know each other from before, or had they just met in "Picard"? Because if the latter, maybe they just really hit it off. Just two wounded people, finding comfort in one another.

 

[TedShatner10]

And her human emotions had been stunted by her Borg assimilation, her sexuality and its growth through her teens and twenties was essentially denied.

And invaisive abuse/exploition or being subjected to a highly oppressive ideology from a tragically young age can also fuck with someone's sexualtity, to be blunt, more likely to seek solace with partners more like her.

In her 30s and 40s, the arrested developed Annika Hansen just matured into a lesbian woman soon after her fling with Chuckles ended as it abruptly began.

 

[Starbreaker]

They spent six seasons with Chakotay and Janeway being a little more than good friends to suddenly having Chakotay be head over heels for Seven. It was just dumb.