Nine X Seven
Reuquen Boyett
Seven of Nine (born Annika Hansen) is a fictional character introduced in the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. Portrayed by Jeri Ryan, she is a former Borg drone who joins the crew of the Federation starship Voyager. Her full Borg designation was Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One.[2] While her birth name became known to her crewmates, after joining the Voyager crew she chose to continue to be called Seven of Nine, though she allowed "Seven" to be used informally.
Seven of Nine was introduced in the fourth-season premiere, "Scorpion, Part II". The character replaced Kes in the main cast, and was intended to introduce a foil to Captain Kathryn Janeway, similar to the role Spock performs for Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series. The character appeared through the final episode, "Endgame". Stories related to her relationship with Captain Janeway and with The Doctor appeared throughout the series; some episodes, such as "The Raven", explored her background and earlier life as Annika Hansen before she was assimilated by the Borg.
Seven of Nine, again played by Ryan, also appears in the series Star Trek: Picard as a recurring character in the first season before being promoted to series regular for the second and third seasons.
Following the third season of Star Trek: Voyager, the production team decided that the main cast character of Kes was to be dropped from the show. It was decided that Captain Kathryn Janeway needed a contrasting character, and so Seven of Nine was developed to fill this role. It had been a previous Star Trek staple to have a character that could provide a third-person view on the human condition, prior examples including Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series and Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation[3] and Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In addition, the producers of Voyager had been keen to make greater use of The Borg as recurring antagonists in the show, particularly after the success of the 1996 Next Generation feature film Star Trek: First Contact.
After being cast, actress Jeri Ryan acknowledged she had hardly even seen Star Trek, and had no idea what the Borg were. To prepare her, the producers gave her a copy of Star Trek: First Contact and the Star Trek Encyclopedia the day before she was due to test for the part.[4] She was specifically told not to base her performance on the Borg Queen from the film as she was a "completely different animal and [they] were creating something entirely new".[5] Her acting experience up until this point had consisted of television movies, guest appearances and Dark Skies.[5]
Her audition process consisted of two readings for the producers before Ryan was asked to come in to talk through the part with the executive producers, Jeri Taylor, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. Following this, she tested for the network and was told that her option had been picked up.[5] She remarked about her experience of joining the Voyager team: "It was a little awkward since the cast had been together for three years already. And one of the original characters was being written out pretty much at the same time I was being added. But the cast was terrific, and very welcoming."[6] Although she wore extensive make-up for her first appearances, including an eye-piece that fell off when she smiled, her typical make-up regimen took around 45 minutes, with the attachment of the Borg appliance above her eye taking an additional 15 minutes. Her hairstyling usually took as long as that combined.[6]
She also remarked that "combining non-human qualities with an attractive human appearance," as in Seven's character, was a great move by the producers.[11] She felt that the writers did a good job in not pushing the character to be more human and having Seven enter into relationships on the show. Ryan was concerned that it could have turned out to be "Seven's sexual escapades on Voyager".[12] In terms of portrayal, she said that "keeping a straight face" while showing suppressed emotion was an enjoyable challenge.[13] Regarding her form-fitting one-piece costume, Ryan commented that it was extremely impractical and uncomfortable, but worth the reward of portraying a character like Seven.[14]
Although Seven was originally introduced as a foil for Captain Janeway, with the two of them proving to be very adversarial, they gained mutual respect as time went by. Ryan later described this as a mother-daughter relationship on the show, although she said that the writers had managed to make the character into more of an unruly teenager.[15] The inclusion of Seven of Nine as a primary character for the show alongside Janeway and the Doctor was criticised by other actors. Robert Beltran, who played Chakotay felt that his character, along with Harry Kim, Tuvok and Neelix, had been overlooked.[16][17] As the end of the series approached, Ryan remarked that she would "love to do something without special effects or rubber glued to my face, it'd be a nice change of pace."[18]
Following the end of Voyager, Ryan joined the main cast of Boston Public, comparing her new character of Ronnie with Seven of Nine, saying "[Seven] had all of these emotions, she just wasn't comfortable expressing them, and didn't really know how to express them; Ronnie, my character on Boston Public, is quite comfortable expressing them, and is fairly free with her expressions, I think. So it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be much more free, as far as the acting style."[19] Ryan said that she had several favourite Seven of Nine episodes, including "The Gift", "The Raven", "Revulsion", "Hunters", "Prey" and the two-part "The Killing Game".[12]
Her initial costume as seen in "Scorpion" and the following episode, "The Gift", saw Seven of Nine as a full Borg. This outfit took some two-and-a-half hours for Ryan to get into, but an error was made in measuring the outfit by not taking into account the prosthetics that she was required to wear for the part. This cut off the blood supply through her carotid artery, causing her to pass out on two occasions. After a nurse was called twice to supply oxygen, the costume was modified to stop it from happening again.[20]
Once the character had the majority of the Borg implants removed, a new costume was required. Ryan wore a silver jumpsuit for the first few episodes, which director Jess Salvador Trevio said that during the filming of the episode "Day of Honor" caused problems as "almost any camera angle inevitably winds up emphasising her sexuality."[21] Ryan described the new costume as "a little snug", and wore a corset-like item which gave the appearance of mechanical ribs.[20] At least one version of the costume had the corset built into it.[22] In order to give her greater height, the shoes which formed part of her costume had four-inch (10 cm) high heels.[23] She said in a 2012 interview that the suit by costume designer Robert Blackman was a "feat of engineering", but required a 20-minute production shutdown if she needed to use the toilet, as she needed that time plus assistance to get into and out of it.[24] She said that it was so fitted and figure hugging that it "might as well have been body paint".[25] The lengthy time it took to use the bathroom led to the actress not drinking any fluids, which in turn made her feel sick.[26]
Trevio praised the subsequent changes to her costume in order to reduce its sexuality, saying that "it is much more sensible, because she's still an attractive person but then you get away from that titillation stuff which I think is so demeaning not only to the audience, but it's kinda of demeaning to what Star Trek is about."[21] The later versions of her costumes still required 20 minutes to get into before filming could start,[27] but Ryan said they were much more forgiving, "In the silver costume, if I got goosebumps, you could see them. The brown costume is a thicker, stronger fabric. It's not quite so clingy, so the waist doesn't have to be cinched in."[12] That version of the costume also removed the vertical bones of the corset, which allowed Ryan to have greater flexibility while wearing it.[12]
One of the major remaining pieces of Borg technology that Ryan continued to wear for the part was what she described as "That little thing over my eye".[15] This was because the term that referred to it in the episodes would change depending on the writers and the episode itself, she explained that "Sometimes, it's my cortical implant. Sometimes, it's my cranial implant. Sometimes, it's my ocular implant."[15]
Seven of Nine's backstory was explained during the course of Star Trek: Voyager. She was born on the Tendara Colony on Stardate 25479 to Magnus and Erin Hansen, and was named Annika.[28] At the age of four, her parents were given the USS Raven by Starfleet to help them investigate the presence of an unknown species in deep space. This trip lasted for three years during which time they encountered the Borg and, using a transwarp conduit, followed a cube to the Delta Quadrant. Annika's father developed technology to allow the ship to remain undetected by the aliens, and even to allow them to board the Borg vessel; but after an ion storm struck the vessel, the Borg detected the family and assimilated them.[29]
Annika was placed into a Borg maturation chamber for the next few years, during which time she joined the collective.[30] Following this, she was a Borg drone and assimilated individuals from a number of species, including a crew member from the USS Melbourne at the Battle of Wolf 359 on Stardate 43989.1.[31][32] Two years later, Seven of Nine, along with three other drones, crashed on a planet and they were separated from the Borg Collective. This caused their individualities to resurface over time, which caused Seven to panic due to her relative inexperience with individuality, and created a temporary hive mind between the four of them until they were retrieved by the Borg.[33]
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