The character Seven of Nine

[Gotabite 0]

:lol: There has always been controversey surrounding Kes leaving the Voyager series, and Seven of Nine's entry. Although I was sorry to see Kes leave the show, I found Seven of Nine's struggle to regain her human qualities, and her turmoil with the Borg identity she'd know most of her life, a most interesting addition to the Voyager story. I never viewed Seven as a mere sex symbol to draw back male sta trek fans to the series. True Jerri Ryan is an attractive woman. However, Seven of Nine was definitely more tha just a pretty face.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I thought 7 was a good addition to the show.

I thought the point of the creation of her character was for once, to examine the human condition from a female point of view, although not being female, I am not sure if they successfully pulled her off as such. Ladies, any thoughts about that?

[MaQuIs_PrInCeSs 0]

I agree that Seven was a good addition. Her regaining her humanity was fun to watch, but I think the writers made too much of it. She had so much screen time, more than any other character. And she was only there for 4 years! It got a little boring after a while. I defenitly didn't see Seven as a sex symbol, but she did attract more male viewers.

[xenexian 2]

I personally thought that the seven of nine character was brilliant, and not just because of her looks. Having a former borg on board allowed the writers more latitude when writing scripts that concerned Voyagers encounters with them. An insider to the problem. Otherwise, I'm afraid, that every time Voyager met the borg it would be nothing more than another shoot first and ask questions later type of episode. I was very happy when Kes left the show. Why did they ever include a character that only had a nine year life span to be on a 70,000 light year voyage that, when you think about it, was going to take possibly more than nine years? Because of her l;ife span I almost considered Kes to be the equivilent of having a dog on board. (Apologies to Porthos).

[Gotabite 0]

Xenexian,

I think that Porthos will forgive you. But I agree that Seven of Nine was a much more interesting character than Kes. As you stated, with each episode that feature her, there were always new struggles to over come and face as she regained her human qualities. I often thought of her as one suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Thanks for your comments.

[voyagerboy 0]

There has always been controversey surrounding Kes leaving the Voyager series, and Seven of Nine's entry.  Although I was sorry to see Kes leave the show, I found Seven of Nine's struggle to regain her human qualities, and her turmoil with the Borg identity she'd know most of her life, a most interesting addition to the Voyager story.  I never viewed Seven as a mere sex symbol to draw back male sta trek fans to the series.  True Jerri Ryan is an attractive woman.  However, Seven of Nine was definitely more tha just a pretty face.

Gosh if I didn't know better I'd say you were my twin. Only your probably older B) All I have to say is YOUR RIGHT IN MY MIND.

[jdigs 0]

I think I've said this already..she provided more then just oogling..I actually found her character to be more withdrawn then the rest..I just wish sometimes that they would have put her in baggy clothes..just so she could have actually acted not just stood there with me and every other man staring slack jawed....She's still smokin over on Boston Public.

[Lynx 0]

Voyager lost its soul when Kes was kicked out.

 

Kes was a great character. She was beautiful, nice and friendly but also brave, strong-willed, curious and determined. What more can you ask for? She personified the spirit of Star Trek. And Jennifer Lien is an excellent actress.

 

Seven, on the other hand was a one-dimensional character. She was brought in as a "sex symbol" to attract tenage kids who normally didn't watch the show and she was made the big star of the show with all episodes concentrated on her. I found her rather boring and the way The Idiots In Charge pushed her down our throats by focusing everything on her while the other characters were reduced to nothing but moving images in the background was sickening.

 

If they absolutely had to bring in a new character they could at least have kept all the original characters. But TIIC were to stupid, narrow-minded and greedy to figure out such a solution.

 

Instead they had to kick out Kes in that crappy episode "The Gift" and later they insulted all the Kes fans by ruining the character in "Fury".

 

Voyager died when Kes was kicked out and the way Jennifer Lien and the character Kes was treated is nothing but a shame and disgust for Star trek and Paramount.

[gdog243 0]

Voyager lost its soul when Kes was kicked out.

 

Kes was a great character. She was beautiful, nice and friendly but also brave, strong-willed, curious and determined. What more can you ask for? She personified the spirit of Star Trek. And Jennifer Lien is an excellent actress.

 

Seven, on the other hand was a one-dimensional character. She was brought in as a "sex symbol" to attract tenage kids who normally didn't watch the show and she was made the big star of the show with all episodes concentrated on her. I found her rather boring and the way The Idiots In Charge pushed her down our throats by focusing everything on her while the other characters were reduced to nothing but moving images in the background was sickening.

 

If they absolutely had to bring in a new character they could at least have kept all the original characters. But TIIC were to stupid, narrow-minded and greedy to figure out such a solution.

 

Instead they had to kick out Kes in that crappy episode "The Gift" and later they insulted all the Kes fans by ruining the character in "Fury".

 

Voyager died when Kes was kicked out and the way Jennifer Lien and the character Kes was treated is nothing but a shame and disgust for Star trek and Paramount.

I pretty much agree with everything you said Lynx.

 

7 of 9 was only a good character in season 4 when she was fresh and new. However, most of the weeks the episodes were just about her and her struggle for humanity. Sorry, but I have already seen that theme in Data for TNG, and they new how to do it correctly. With 7, all she really became was a one-dementional sex-symbol with no emotion, passion, or anything new to offer to the series. I have seen Jeri Ryan in other shows or interveiws and she has a great personality. I think the biggest mistake for the character was the fact that ryan had a great personality and was not allowed to bring that to the screen. I probably would have liked her much more.

 

Also, the addition of 7 of 9 ended up pushing great characters with potential to the side like Kim, or my favorite, Chakotay. In the first 4 seasons, every one in the cast was equally involved in an episode, and some of the story arcs/or one stories that involved these characters were really well done like the Seska/Kazon arc. Every week, it was fun watching voyager but with 7, and when Kes (Who I actually liked because) left, the show lost something it had at the start and became boring.

[~Crims~ 0]

I totally disagree with the above. I can see where you're coming from so I won't say you're wrong but I think the 7of9 episodes were some of the best and not because she was easy on the eyes. I didn't like it where near the end she was almost written out of some episodes. Though I do agree characters like Chakotay (who I really liked) took a back seat at times, however, I think if you go episode per episode there was still a lot of shows that included everyone.

[emanon 0]

Geri Ryan is a good actress, and yes she has a pretty face and a mind blowing body too. But what made her character so good was the humour, as with Spock, and Data, and to a lesser extent whats-his-face in DS9, you know the changeling.

 

Never mind.

 

Anyway, Kes was a good character too, I was not sure why they felt they had to replace her? with Seven of Nine. Both characters floated.

 

Anyway, the Seven of Nine character shows alongside the Doctors shows were by far the funnier.

 

The interaction between the two also allowed some interesting interactions to occur.

 

Imagine a Borg-Hologram relationship...it blows my mind just thinking about it...

[Gotabite 0]

I think I've said this already..she provided more then just oogling..I actually found her character to be more withdrawn then the rest..I just wish sometimes that they would have put her in baggy clothes..just so she could have actually acted not just stood there with me and every other man staring slack jawed....She's still smokin over on Boston Public.

Jeri Ryan is a very talented actress. I also like her character in Boston Public. I wish some of the other Voyager actors/actresses could make that same kind of transition into other TV shows. But again Seven of Nine was a pretty interesting character.......as a psychologist, she always reminded me of a person suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.(smiles)

[deagletime 1]

in all honesty...i didnt start watching voyager till i noticed jeri ryan on a commercial....now that ive seen all the episodes, i can say in retrospect that the head honchos at paramount were right in bringing her to the show.. obviously she is fine... but she adds to the show a somber non conformist that was to bring to balance to a shipfull of emotional humans...much like spock,data, tpel, odo.. an of course everyone loves the borg.. wasnt "best of both worlds" the most watched ST episode ever? im thinking objectively... and even if the charecter 7 of 9 was replaced by a male (like hugh) i think that the charecter would be still cool to watch.. we are just blessed with the fact that beautiful jeri ryan was selected..

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I enjoyed both characters equally. I only wish Kes could have remained onboard as a recurring character. They could have given her some kind of special project in the lower decks... or she could have "returned" once in a while to help them out, teach them something, or just hang with her friends and get caught up in an adventure.

 

Instead, they had allways planned on making her into a villian. At least she remebered her true self in the end. Granted, in real life, it would'a taken a lot more, but this was a 45 min episode. However, they should have made "Fury" a 2-parter!

[Gotabite 0]

I enjoyed both characters equally.  I only wish Kes could have remained onboard as a recurring character.  They could have given her some kind of special project in the lower decks...  or she could have "returned" once in a while to help them out, teach them something, or just hang with her friends and get caught up in an adventure.

 

Instead, they had allways planned on making her into a villian.  At least she remebered her true self in the end.  Granted, in real life, it would'a taken a lot more, but this was a 45 min episode. However, they should have made "Fury" a 2-parter!

I agree with you each, personality brought character to the series in such unique ways. I also did not like the story line in "FURY" . Kes had never been a bad character. When she left Voyager, she had no hostile feelings toward anyone on the ship. In fact she put Voyager 10 light years closer to home, as a part of her last interaction with the ship. So I just "didn't get it" when she returned in "FURY" with all of the hostility and paranoia towards her former crew members. At any rate as you can see I was fond of both Kes and Seven. B)

[prometheus 0]

I always enjoy series better as they get older and so Seven came along at the right time for me. I always thought that the later episodes of The Next Generation and DS9 and on programmes like Red Dwarf, were much better and tend to groan when having to watch the more inexperienced earl;ier ones. Kes is a main player in early episodes and so is unfortunate in that respect but she was s nice character. I say "nice" because there was little nastiness in her and everyone loves a villan really.....

[Syperphobia 0]

Seven was a great character with human development. I think that Kes really couldnt live that long, and many people would of thought that the doctor's advanced technology would seem such as fantasy. I think that Kes' departure was too obvious in her episode 'Before and After'

[ddillard 2]

Myself, I did not like the Kes episodes all that much. I always found Kes to be to dry and tempermental. Her character had mood swings like no other. I found most of the episodes revolving around her to be dull and bordering on boring. I did like Seven though. She was a little better character. And when they took Kes from the show it was inavoidable her race only lives to be nine and she was nine, they had to do it to save the continuity.

[Gotabite 0]

You know when I began this discussion, I knew it would bring in a lot of different comments, and trends of thought. Kes had many fans. There were also many Star Trek fans who were glad to see her leave. Likewise, Seven had many fans. And yet many Star Trek fans did not like her character at all. Personally I was a fan of both. And yet I must say that I found more depth to Seven's character. I will agree that many episodes did center around her once she entered the cast. But these episodes in my opinion brought out great stories through Seven's relationship with her other crew mates. I also liked Seven's relationship with the Borg children, Naomi Wildman, the Doctor, Nelix, and the constant drama between her and B'Elanna Torres. :(

[BorgAssimilator 0]

I always thought that Kes was just there, not really used for a lot. Pretty useless really. I was pretty indifferent about her leaving. Seven of Nine, however, was a well thought out character. I as well never really saw her as a sex symbol, but a good character.

[NordicBearskin 0]

I liked Seven of Nine. It was fantastic that Voyager choose to humanise the Borg in such a way. However, towards the end of the series I did feel that her character was emphasised, for want of a better word, too much. It seemed that quite a lot of the time Voyager became the Janeway/Seven show, with most of the remaining cast in secondary roles and some, Chakotay and Tom spring to mind, were almost completely forgotten. Now as I said before, I LIKED Seven's character and the whole struggling with humanity concept, but sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad for you.

 

As for Kes, I liked her in a passive kind of way. She didn't really make or break Voyager for me. If I had to pick between Kes and Seven, I would probably pick Seven. Of course, in an ideal world BOTH would have stayed on. :(

 

With all that said, I'm now off to watch Unimatrix Zero, a *taa-daa* Seven show.

 

And a good one.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I enjoyed the character very much. My only problem is that she wore those dang catsuits, the silver one being the worst. I've no problem with showing off her figure, they just did an aweful job. As for Kes, I didn't mind replacing her with Seven, I just wish Kes could have guess starred more. Wasn't she suppose to be in the flashback scenes in that episode where the Doctor was almost corrupted by saving one of two lives when both could have been saved, or in "Ashes to Ashes"?

 

Anywho, I'm getting off topic. I didn't feel that Seven "stole the thunder" from anyone except Chakotay. Janeway was still the star, Tuvok the wise Vulcan, Tom & B'Elanna had their relationship arc, and Harry was still the goofy ensign. :( Neelix remained goofy as well. If I could change one think about the show, it'd be Seven's outfits, more Chakotay, and more Kes episodes. OK, so that's 3.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

However, Seven of Nine was definitely more tha just a pretty face.

She had a face?

[v_seven 0]

I liked Kes a bit....her character was sort of blah and goody goody...I found myself wanting to slap her often...but that episode where she was possessed was awesome, there just wasn't enough of those.

 

Seven was so much more, her relationship with Janeway was so complex, and struggle to find humanity was endearing...sort of like Data

[HRH The KING 0]

She had a face?

 

My eyes never got that far up