Your honest opinion on the Berman era

[Starflight]

Seven is always the sexbot. She’s given more to do as they realize how well Ryan did with anything they gave her, but she’s never out of a skintight outfit, telling Harry to get out of his clothes, having her body violated in one form or another, needing someone to tell her how to date, falling in love with Chakotay for reasons, wrestling the Rock and somehow not getting liquified… She was brought on for one reason, serendipity notwithstanding.

I think that's a real underestimation of the character honestly, she became one of the most popular characters in the franchise because she's generally well written and consistently exceptionally well-acted. The Harry stuff is all very early (and is designed to say more about Harry than it does about Seven). Stuff like "Someone To Watch Over Me" is, at least in the way I took it, because she's essentially a cult survivor who has no social or emotional skills and never completed a normal childhood, which is the core of the character.

As for not getting liquefied by the Rock - Borg implants! That's the plot of the episode, right?

Hell, the concept of a Borg Queen is fear of mother. “No, no, that’s because they needed someone to personify the Borg,” you say? The apex of the Borg were BoBW, no Queen in sight. Certainly not one who blinks Data and has a very special relationship with Seven because reasons..

I agree about the Borg Queen, although in fairness that was a turd laid at their feet by First Contact. As soon as FC introduced the character there wasn't really much they could do to avoid having her come up. I think the absolute worst use of the character occurred in FC itself rather than in Voyager too. They probably made her vaguely maternal toward Seven in a desperate attempt to get something interesting out of a character who was essentailly designed to do nothing else other than give Data a boner (and, I suppose, to contrast her with Janeway, who is also a mother figure to Seven).

 

[Arpy]

I think that's a real underestimation of the character honestly, she became one of the most popular characters in the franchise because she's generally well written and consistently exceptionally well-acted.

Again, serendipity. She was hired to replace Kes, not be the focus of the show, which she in part was because of her appearance.

The Harry stuff is all very early (and is designed to say more about Harry than it does about Seven). Stuff like "Someone To Watch Over Me" is, at least in the way I took it, because she's essentially a cult survivor who has no social or emotional skills and never completed a normal childhood, which is the core of the character.

These storylines come from writers inspired by where they might take the character, not from an actual person’s real experience. She could have come out of the Collective a bit like Q, vaguely knowing everything, (the Queen knew how to seduce men for some reason), instead she needed the Doctor (middle aged man who looks more like a studio executive than anyone anywhere near her league) to tell her about human mating rituals.

As for not getting liquefied by the Rock - Borg implants! That's the plot of the episode, right?

Her implants were mostly in her body though. She wasn’t head butting him with the edge of her duranium eye piece lol The nanoprobes might have helped with healing but like they weren’t like ablative armor or something. It was them cross promoting the WWE on the network that week, we just nod and move on.

I agree about the Borg Queen, although in fairness that was a turd laid at their feet by First Contact. As soon as FC introduced the character there wasn't really much they could do to avoid having her come up. I think the absolute worst use of the character occurred in FC itself rather than in Voyager too. They probably made her vaguely maternal toward Seven in a desperate attempt to get something interesting out of a character who was essentailly designed to do nothing else other than give Data a boner (and, I suppose, to contrast her with Janeway, who is also a mother figure to Seven).

Mother figure, former/future lover…custody battle/catfight with her new mom. I swear Susanna Thompson was playing subtle romantic vibes.

 

[suarezguy]

Berman had two major negatives, IMHO: he kept writing episodes tho he was a terrible writer; and he insisted on boring background music instead of anything interesting or exciting.

I think he gets way too little credit for co-creating the cast of Deep Space Nine, critics always says he was the least involved with that series so that was why it was the best!, least involved can still be a huge, at least really significant, amount of involvement and contribution.

He was afraid to take any chances or big swings.

Bajoran/space station setting and (non-Starfleet) Bajoran first officer, Ferengi as regular main cast character seem to me like taking petty big chances to me as does with Voyager making a former Borg a new main cast character.

 

[Oddish]

Seven evolved into more than eye candy, but that's because the writers had good ideas for her character, plus she was played by a very capable actress. She and the EMH both became breakout characters. But that didn't change the fact that her outfit was a giant step backward for womankind on Trek. Troi had gotten a proper uniform on TNG, Kira and Dax wore standard uniform, Janeway and Torres same, and Kes wore tasteful civilian clothes. It looks like the corner's been turned, then...