LogFAQs > #934100683

8. Seven of Nine
The Borg have assimilated the technology from over three-thousand species, but it took until humans for us to learn the art of catsuits.

Theres an insane conspiracy theory out there that Jeri Ryan, the actress for Seven of Nine, is indirectly responsible for the election of Donald Trump in 2016. I thought I should let everyone know that.

Little girl turned into a monster, gets turned back into a human as an adult, has to relearn how to be a human. Done. Thats a billion times more compelling than a million Harry Kims or Beverly Crushers. You know how many zeroes that is? 1000000000000000. Thats how much more interesting her concept is than Harry Kim.

Seven is possibly the strangest thing in any sci-fi series. By the writers own admission, she was added to be sexy And yet she ended up as one of the two things on the show that actually worked. I suppose the Torn Between Two Worlds concept just works so damn well that its impossible to screw up, but either way, Seven is by far the most compelling character on Voyager. The show should have just been about her, and in a way, it is. Once she joins the show, everyone except Janeway and the Doctor gets edged out, and thank God for that. Characters like Seven and the Doctor make me wonder if Voyagers staff had some actual talent, or if it was all just a happy accident.

It really cannot be emphasized enough: this character was designed to another Deanna Troi, but ended up being another Spock. The fact that shes in a shiny catsuit has nothing to do with how good she is as a character, which is fascinating.

Thats not to say that shes without problems, of course. Anything on Voyager is tainted by its general Voyagerness, but Seven handles it the best in the show assuming you can forgive things like If Seven invented a cure for death, why does anyone die in the show after that? And when I said Seven becomes the new Spock, I meant that in more ways than you probably expect. Spock constantly pulled new powers out of his ass because they hadnt nailed down what Vulcans could do in TOS, and Seven does the same with Borg powers. Her nanomachines can do absolutely anything, which means shes the strongest, fastest, smartest, and toughest person on the show but it still works because of all of her emotional problems stemming from not knowing how to be a normal person. Like, I really like the idea of this woman with kind of stilted, formal speech just not understanding how normal people behave and being alienated both by her own inhibitions and her leftover proclivities as a Borg. And the only good use of the Borg Queen ever is with Seven, where she can be like Come back to us, Sevennnn, and Seven can be tempted and stuff.

I mean, hell, even her I still have Borg implants on thing is a not-very-subtle reminder of her Torn Between Two Worlds status. I wonder if the writers knew that or if they just thought durr looks cool. Seven also benefits from being joined at the hip to the only other good Voyager character: the Doctor. It was a good decision to make the AI who has some experience becoming human the one to help Seven along in her journey.

Overall, Seven perfectly encapsulates Voyager at its best: incredibly stupid and silly, but with some understanding of what science-fiction is underneath it all.

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Started: July 6, 2005