Seven Of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct Of Unimatrix Zero One, We Hardly Knew You.
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00:00 She's easily one of the most recognisable characters in all of Star Trek, with that
00:03 eyepiece, that semi-glove and that very severe bun.
00:08 But who is Seven of Nine, and what do we really know about her?
00:12 I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture, and here are 10 things you never knew about Seven of
00:17 Nine.
00:18 Before we get into the video as a whole, I just want to take a second to say thank you
00:21 so much for your support.
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00:35 Thank you so much again, and let's get to it.
00:37 Number 10.
00:38 Susan Gibney was turned down for the part.
00:41 Susan Gibney is best known to Star Trek fans for one of two roles.
00:44 Dr. Leah Brams, one of the original designers of the Enterprise-D and complicated love interest
00:48 of Geordi La Forge, is also recognisable as Captain Erica Benteen of the USS Lakota from
00:53 Deep Space Nine.
00:54 She also auditioned for the part of Captain Janeway, receiving a screen test after Genevieve
00:59 Bouchard left the role.
01:00 Though she would lose out on the part to Kate Mulgrew, with Gibney deemed too young to lead
01:04 a show, she was invited back to audition for the part of Seven.
01:07 Unfortunately, her youth once again went against her.
01:10 Though she has only appeared on screen in four episodes of Star Trek to date, her character
01:14 may yet see a return in Star Trek Picard.
01:16 She is said to be working at the Daystrom Institute, the workplace of Dr. Agnes Jurati.
01:19 In at least one possible future, La Forge has married Dr. Brams, so depending on which
01:23 timeline the show exists in, there is still an outside chance of Gibney returning to the
01:27 show alongside Jerry Ryan's Seven as well.
01:30 Number 9.
01:31 Seven of Nine is a fashion icon.
01:33 While the various costumes that Seven wears may have caused issues for Jerry Ryan herself,
01:38 in both terms of comfort and the ability to breathe, there is no denying that they were
01:42 instantly become iconic.
01:44 Whether it was the silvery catsuit, the brown catsuit, the blue catsuit, the grey… well
01:48 look, you get the drift.
01:50 Seven may be the one character in Star Trek who doesn't wear a Starfleet uniform who
01:54 is more easily recognisable than any other.
01:57 The design of Seven has carried over into the other entries in the franchise.
02:00 In fact, Gersha Phillips, costume designer of Star Trek Discovery, had her outfits front
02:04 and centre when planning the party scene in Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad.
02:09 Kayla Detmer is outfitted with form-fitting pants and platformed high heels.
02:13 Her top, though clearly less body-hugging than anything Jerry Ryan was given to wear,
02:16 was inspired by the material that was often used to make Seven's clothes.
02:20 Though the overall result is less catsuit and more inspired by, the design of the character
02:24 remains as iconic with his later era as Star Trek as it did in the 90s.
02:29 Number 8.
02:30 The Borg Babe.
02:31 Brandon Braga recalled that after the idea for a Borg crewman sprang into his head, he
02:35 called Joe Monoski to workshop the idea.
02:37 Feeling that he was onto something, Braga then called Rick Berman.
02:40 In Braga's words, it was Berman who said "Make it a Borg Babe".
02:44 Creative producer Gerri Taylor is less certain that it was purely Berman's idea.
02:47 She later said that the idea of a female Borg crewman was an idea that came about quickly,
02:52 though she credited Braga with the idea.
02:54 She certainly did agree, however, that the full story behind the character was workshopped
02:58 by all of them.
02:59 With the falling ratings for Star Trek Voyager throughout the third season, and the looming
03:02 departure/firing of Jennifer Leehan, there was room for another female member of the
03:07 ensemble.
03:08 There was little mystery as to why she was given such form-hugging outfits, nor why it
03:11 was Leehan who got the chop.
03:12 Garrett Wang only survived the season three cull as he had been voted one of the world's
03:16 sexiest people that summer.
03:18 Having received no such lofty honour, Leehan was out, Wang got to keep his job, and the
03:22 search for Seven's performer began.
03:24 Number 7.
03:25 Seven of Nine vs. Pera
03:27 The initial casting sheets for Seven of Nine actually referred to the character as Pera.
03:31 This iteration of Seven would have ended up as a very different character from the one
03:34 the audiences eventually received.
03:36 Pera had been witness to the slaughter of all of her friends and family while located
03:40 on Kelta Prime.
03:41 After this event, she claimed that her humanity died.
03:44 Unable to deal with the torment of losing everyone she had ever known, she found comfort
03:48 in the collective consciousness of the Borg.
03:50 This goes a way toward explaining some of her reluctance to leave when she is liberated
03:54 by Captain Janeway.
03:55 In The Gift, it is explained that she was assimilated as a child, but the circumstances
03:59 of her assimilation aren't truly explored until Dark Frontier.
04:02 Annika Hansen, as the character was later renamed, was captured as a young girl when
04:06 her parents vastly underestimated the collective.
04:09 Raised as Borg, this would explain her resistance to humanity.
04:12 While certainly traumatic, it is oddly a less bloody introduction to the Borg for the young
04:16 girl, so in a way, this is closer to a happier beginning for her?
04:21 Number 6.
04:22 Jerry Ryan and "those" costumes.
04:25 Seven is instantly recognisable in the silvery catsuit that made its debut in the closing
04:28 scene of The Gift.
04:30 Despite its iconic status, it only appeared in a further two episodes, Revulsion and Day
04:34 of Honour.
04:35 The material that was used to construct it, while designed to be form-fitting, did its
04:38 job a little too well.
04:39 Jerry Ryan struggled to breathe in it, especially while sitting, which became a problem in the
04:44 long shoots in high heels.
04:46 A new version was constructed, this one a brown colour, though ostensibly the same design.
04:50 This appeared in The Raven, going through a revision for its debut in Scientific Method.
04:54 The costume would change several more times throughout the show's fourth to seventh seasons,
04:57 peppered with returns of the Borg outfit, a Starfleet uniform in two episodes, and several
05:01 appearances as Annika rather than Seven.
05:04 Ryan never doubted the reasoning behind the wardrobe.
05:07 She freely admitted to knowing she was cast for sex appeal, an obvious attempt by the
05:10 producers to bolster failing ratings.
05:13 The strategy paid off.
05:14 Number 5.
05:15 If Bran and Braga had been in charge, Seven of Nine would have died.
05:18 Braga had envisioned Seven as a character who would not belong for the franchise.
05:22 According to him, she would have sacrificed herself in an attempt to get her found family
05:25 home, dying a hero along the way.
05:28 The showrunners at the time, Ken Miller and Rick Berman, were having none of it.
05:32 Though death tends to mean very little on Star Trek, with the notable exception of Jadzia
05:35 Dax on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, they stepped in to ensure that Seven was not killed off.
05:40 That suited Jerry Ryan perfectly, as it ensured a little more job security, but it also paved
05:44 the way for many of Voyager's stronger episodes from Season 4 onward.
05:48 That is not to say, however, that Braga didn't get his wish from time to time.
05:51 Seven died in timeless, relativity, coarse oblivion (sort of), and endgame.
05:56 Considering that Braga and Ryan were dating for much of her stint on Star Trek Voyager,
06:00 one has to wonder what exactly was the psychology behind having one's lover killed frequently
06:04 on screen?
06:05 Although perhaps some questions are best left unanswered.
06:08 Number 4.
06:09 Seven was the wild child in Bran and Braga's eyes.
06:12 The emergency medical hologram had started life as the stand-in for Data or Spock character
06:16 on Star Trek Voyager, Tuvok notwithstanding as the Vulcan on board.
06:20 However, for Bran and Braga, the character simply wasn't compelling enough to honour
06:24 a legacy of the strive to become more human.
06:26 He looked to the true story of Victor of Aveyron, or the Wild Child, that had been depicted
06:31 on film in 1970 by François Tufaut, which in turn was based on the study by Dr Jean-Marc
06:37 Gaspar Etard in 18th century France.
06:40 Victor was a young boy who had been raised by wolves from a young age, discovered again
06:44 by humans and reintroduced to society.
06:47 He struggled initially, unable to communicate verbally, never having learned to speak French.
06:51 However, under the care of Etard, he learned to function around humans again, though it
06:56 took quite a while.
06:57 It was from this that Seven sprang, removed from the collective after spending most of
07:01 her life with them.
07:02 She needs to learn how to communicate as an individual, while also attempting to understand
07:05 what it means to be a part of the crew.
07:07 Both Seven and Victor need time to adjust, though through the patient tutelage of a mentor,
07:11 they both flourished.
07:12 Number 3.
07:13 She was named after Catwoman and Friday's Child
07:16 Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Star Trek crossed over with
07:20 a DC Comics property.
07:21 In this case, Seven of Nine was inspired in part by Catwoman.
07:25 Judy Neumar, who had appeared in the Adam West Batman television series, also appeared
07:30 in the original series episode "Friday's Child".
07:32 Here, she played Aileen, the heavily pregnant inhabitant of Capella 4.
07:36 Neumar had also appeared in a short-lived sitcom named "My Living Doll".
07:40 The show, which ran for 25 episodes between 1964 and 1965, focused on Dr. Bob MacDonald
07:46 and Rhoda, a lifelike android played by Neumar.
07:50 She had the sub-designation of AF-709.
07:54 Rhoda was to be a project by Bob in how to make the perfect woman who doesn't talk
07:59 back.
08:00 The show was billed as a comedy, though ratings were poor.
08:02 Bob Cummings, who played MacDonald, asked to be written out halfway through the season,
08:06 exiting in the 21st episode.
08:07 Neumar received praise for her comedic timing.
08:09 In Star Trek, Rhoda is also said to be the inspiration behind the character Data.
08:14 My Living Doll has also been credited as being responsible for making the phrase "does
08:18 not compute" popular in media.
08:20 Though Seven of Nine is quite far removed from the docile, man-pleasing Rhoda, both
08:24 characters are projects of a sort.
08:26 Rhoda is MacDonald's pet project, while Seven would become Janeway's.
08:30 Number 2.
08:31 Ryan vs. Mulgrew
08:33 It is now well known that Kate Mulgrew and Gerry Ryan did not get along during their
08:37 first few years together on the show.
08:39 Both have opened up about their experiences, with Ryan speaking about how unsettled, upset
08:43 and nauseous it made her, having to deal with the wall of dislike that faced her day by
08:48 day when filming with Mulgrew.
08:50 However, while Mulgrew's treatment of Ryan was undoubtedly unfair and unprofessional,
08:54 she was dealing with a complete turnaround of what the show was, in her opinion, supposed
08:59 to be about.
09:00 From the beginning, the shadow of Bujold hung over her.
09:03 The executives from Paramount spent the first few months watching her act, unsure as they
09:07 were now that Bujold had walked off.
09:09 In defiance to this, but also to highlight the importance of a strong female lead, Mulgrew
09:13 was adamant that she would not be their sex symbol to hang the marketing on.
09:17 In several interviews given during the first year, Mulgrew championed the writing, stating
09:21 clearly that Janeway was being written and portrayed as a captain first and as a woman
09:25 second.
09:26 Then, Seven of Nine appeared.
09:27 This deeply frustrated Mulgrew, who felt that the character represented everything that
09:31 she had been railing against in the first three years.
09:34 She admitted later that it was wrong to have focused this frustration on Jerry Ryan, with
09:38 both actors, long since, thankfully, seeming to have buried the hatchet.
09:41 Number 1.
09:42 She's become a beacon for survivors of cults to rally behind.
09:45 The Borg are nothing if not a metaphor for cults in society.
09:49 They draw you in, they take over your mind and body, there is no hope of escape.
09:53 Resistance is, in fact, futile.
09:55 Then, along comes Seven of Nine to prove that no, in fact, it most certainly is not.
10:00 Twitter user Starspider penned a piece for Vice in which they detailed their path to
10:04 recovery after escaping a cult.
10:05 They had spent much of their twenties as a member of, then prisoner to, this group that
10:10 did all it could to erase their individuality.
10:12 After escaping, they realised that they were now completely unable to function as an individual.
10:17 This is reflected in the use of language that Seven uses during her removal from the Collective.
10:21 Throughout the events of Scorpion, she predominantly uses "we" to identify herself, while from
10:25 the Gift onwards, she starts using the singular "I" as she regains a measure of individuality.
10:31 Through years of therapy, they identified with the journey that Seven goes through after
10:34 her liberation from the Collective.
10:36 First there is anger, then a dubious attempt to endure this individuality, later comes
10:41 regret before acceptance.
10:43 In Seven, they were able to see many elements of their own journey leading them toward,
10:47 if not total recovery, then at least a place much further along than where they had been
10:52 when they left.
10:53 In Star Trek Picard, Seven asks Jean-Luc if he truly feels like he has recovered from
10:57 his assimilation.
10:58 He confesses he doesn't.
11:00 Together, they acknowledge the need to keep on fighting to regain that semblance of self,
11:05 as fitting a message for anyone to rally behind as there can be.