“The Gift”
Written by Joe Menosky
Directed by Anson Williams
Season 4, Episode 2
Production episode 170
Original air date: September 10, 1997
Stardate: unknown
Captain’s log. Cargo Bay 2 is still full of Borg tech. Seven is regenerating in one of the alcoves. Janeway, Tuvok, and the EMH enter the bay and the latter reports that her human immune system is now rejecting the Borg implants since she’s been cut off from the Collective.
The EMH revives her, and she immediately demands that she be returned to the Collective. Janeway refuses to go back into Borg space and risk her ship, but she does promise to help Seven transition back into being an individual. Seven is less than thrilled at the notion, and—devastated by being cut off from the Collective—throws a temper tantrum until the EMH sedates her again.
The ship is still laden with Borg tech, and it’s now interfering with ship’s operations. They can’t go to warp, so they’re stuck at impulse—Torres, Kim, and the engineering staff are doing the best they can to pry out the Borg tech, but it’s insidious.
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In sickbay, the EMH is treating Seven, with Tuvok getting in the way because he wants to stay close. The EMH asks Kes for a diagnostic tool, and Kes summons it to her hand telekinetically. She also is able to remove a now-harmful Borg implant from Seven’s brain with telekinesis.
Apparently, her exposure to Species 8472 has increased her psionic abilities to the same level they were when she met the Ocampa who were with Suspiria. Tuvok takes her off to work on some telepathic exercises with her. However, Kes impresses Tuvok with her control, her power, and most of all with her ability to see matter at smaller than the subatomic level.
Seven, now with many fewer Borg implants, is brought to engineering to assist Torres in removing the Borg tech. While she works, Seven discovers a subspace relay, and immediately erects a forcefield and tries to send a signal to the Borg. Chakotay is unable to cut off her access from the bridge, but Kes senses what Seven is doing and overloads the console she’s working on, rendering her unconscious.
Kes’ actions destabilized the integrity of the hull on the engineering deck. She wants to explore her new abilities further, but Tuvok fears for the safety of both her and the ship.
Seven has been placed in the brig. Janeway had thought she could trust Seven to help them, and Seven says that her desire to help was sincere—but as soon as she saw the subspace relay, she was compelled to try to reunite with the Collective. Janeway reiterates that she will help Seven adjust to individuality, but Seven insists she be returned to the Collective, and accuses Janeway of trying to assimilate her.
Neelix and Kes share a Talaxian drink that they haven’t had since the day they arrived on Voyager. Neelix is thrilled to see that she’s fulfilling her potential and admits that he was one of the things that held her back. She starts to explain how her perceptions have changed, and then she uses her powers to alter the table they’re sitting at—but the effects are felt throughout the deck, as Kim detects a massive hit to deck two’s structural integrity. Upon arrival in the mess hall, they see Kes ethereal and glowing.
Kes is brought to sickbay. Tuvok reports that sensor scans showed that Kes was temporarily losing molecular cohesion. The EMH has no idea what’s happening to her or how to stop it. Kes offers to help him try to figure it out, after Janeway says that this is less a medical issue than a question of particle physics.
Seven starts hurling herself into the brig forcefield, prompting Ayala to summon Janeway. Seven is beyond frustrated. She doesn’t know how to be human and she wants to return to the only home she’s ever known: the Collective. Janeway lowers the forcefield and shows her images of the Hansen family, including little Annika, which is who Seven was before she was assimilated. But Seven doesn’t know who that is, doesn’t know how to be individual, doesn’t know how to function without the voices of the rest of the Borg in her head. She lashes out at Janeway, punching her, then collapses on the bunk, miserable. Despite having been slugged, Janeway comforts her.
Kes summons Janeway to her quarters. The Ocampa says she needs to leave the ship. She won’t be able to control her emerging powers for much longer, and it will endanger Voyager. This is her choice—she’s becoming something greater, and she can’t be contained by a vessel any longer. Janeway is sad, but gives her a big hug—and then Kes starts to transform.
There isn’t time for her to say goodbye to everyone, and Janeway takes her to the shuttle bay. She starts to destabilize further, and Janeway calls for a site-to-site transport to the shuttlecraft—but Kim can’t get a lock on Kes. However, Tuvok joins them and mind-melds with her, which stabilizes her long enough to get to a shuttlecraft.
Once she’s away from the ship she completely discorporates, but before she does, she telepathically tells the crew she’s giving them a gift.
The next thing they know, they’re almost 10,000 light-years closer to the Alpha Quadrant.
The EMH has removed many of the Borg implants. He’s also stimulated follicle growth (which he dryly adds is a vicarious experience for him), giving Seven a full head of hair. He’s also provided her with a silver skintight, curve-hugging outfit that the EMH inexplicably describes as balancing functionality and aesthetics. Seven says it’s acceptable and promises that she won’t try to assimilate them again. Janeway says that if that holds true for a few weeks, she’ll let her have more access to the ship.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? It’s not entirely clear why the Borg tech added to Voyager was useful and made them stronger in the previous episode and is now, suddenly, a danger to the ship.
There’s coffee in that nebula! Janeway reinforces repeatedly to Seven that she’s an individual now, that they’ve given her back what the Borg took from her as a small child. She’s also reluctant to let Kes go. In both cases, her own expressed wishes are contrary to what the other person says she wants.
Mr. Vulcan. Tuvok tries to help Kes with her burgeoning powers, as he has been all along, but it quickly becomes clear that she’s beyond his ability to aid her. He also makes sure there are at least two security guards on Seven at all times.
At the very end, he puts his Vulcan meditation candle—which Janeway says she was present for Tuvok’s purchasing of—in the window of his cabin for Kes, a sweet and uncharacteristically sentimental gesture on his part.
Half and half. Torres is very cranky about the Borg additions to her ship.
Please state the nature of the medical emergency. The EMH is able to remove most of the Borg implants, leaving only the ones that aren’t particularly harmful to Seven now that she’s removed from the Collective. And then he gives her styled blond hair and a skintight outfit for reasons passing understanding.
Forever an ensign. Kim tries making small talk with Seven. It crashes and burns very hilariously.
Resistance is futile. Janeway takes what Chakotay learned about Seven from their temporary link last time to discover that she was a girl named Annika Hansen. The Hansen family were explorers who rejected the Federation entirely, and were last heard from taking a ship out in the general direction of the Delta Quadrant for which they did not file a flight plan.
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet. Neelix and Kes get to share one final drink for old times’ sake before she turns into a being of pure energy.
Do it.
“Perhaps she’s experiencing an aftereffect of some kind.”
“A reasonable diagnosis—for a security officer.”
***
“If you think there’s a risk, Mr. Tuvok, you can throw one of your little forcefields around the chamber.”
“A prudent security measure—for a doctor.”
–Tuvok and the EMH trading sass.
Welcome aboard. No guest stars as such, though extra Tarik Ergin, who has appeared regularly since the premiere as Ayala, gets dialogue for the first time, when he guards Seven in the brig.
Trivial matters: This is Jennifer Lien’s last appearance as a regular. She’ll return for a guest appearance in “Fury” in the sixth season, though she’ll get the same “also starring” billing she got in this and the prior episode.
Janeway references ex-Borg she’s met to Seven, referring to the cooperative Voyager encountered in “Unity.”
More details of Annika Hansen’s backstory will come four episodes hence in “The Raven.”
Bryan Fuller, who would join the staff this season, was asked to pitch ideas for how to write Kes out of the show, and he came up with the notion of her powers going out of control and her turning into that old Trek standby, a being of pure energy. Originally Kes was to be written out several episodes into the season, but it was changed to the second episode, and so there was a time crunch, and Joe Menosky took on the writing of it instead of Fuller.
Voyager loses another shuttlecraft in this episode, as Kes goes cosmic while in a shuttle, and even if the vessel survived that, Voyager left it 10,000 light-years behind. That’s now five they’ve lost, following the ones that were either destroyed (“Initiations” and “Non Sequitur”), damaged beyond repair (“Parturition”), or captured and dismantled (“Unity”).
In the Mirror Universe, Kes had what seemed to be a similar fate to what happens to her in this episode in your humble rewatcher’s short novel The Mirror-Scaled Serpent in the trade paperback Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances, but it turns out to have been a ruse by Tuvok.
Set a course for home. “Ten years closer to home…” I have a bit of a confession to make. Where the prior three Star Trek rewatches have been shows that I really was rewatching, with only a handful of episodes I didn’t have at least a partial memory of, there are huge swaths of Voyager that I never saw.
So earlier this week when I complained about the lack of any kind of discussion of what they were doing to Seven of Nine, it was done with a complete lack of knowledge on my part that said discussions would happen in the very next episode. Dopey me.
Joe Menosky does an excellent job of addressing the problem I raised. Jeri Ryan also deserves a huge amount of credit for showing the sheer agony that Seven is going through. She’s spent her entire life with millions of voices in her head, and the sheer quiet is hell for her. Yes, Janeway really didn’t have much choice, but she committed a horrific assault on the person of Seven of Nine, one that leaves her in devastated agony.
Seven’s final acceptance of that fate seems a bit quick, but she’s also an even more logical being than Tuvok in her own way. Especially once Kes leapfrogs them so far away from Borg space, it only makes sense for her to resign herself to her fate.
Ryan’s is not the only superb performance. Jennifer Lien does a lovely job in her swan song, as Kes’ eagerness to learn applies to the changes she’s undergoing. Tim Russ also deserves huge amounts of credit for an understated but passionate performance, as he very subtly shows his concern for, helplessness to assist, and sadness at the departure of Kes—and he still has time to be ultra-sassy to the EMH about the security arrangements for Seven.
Having said all that, the episode falls down in two major areas, neither of which are entirely the fault of this script as such.
The first is that Kes suddenly turning into a super-psychic would be a lot more convincing if anything significant had been done with her psionic abilities since “Cold Fire.” But where that episode should have been the start of Kes’ journey that came to a head in this episode, her telepathy was mostly ignored after that, only dusted off and brought out for plot purposes in “Warlord” and the “Scorpion” two-parter, which, at least, provided a reason for Kes to suddenly get the power-up. Because it’s been such a non-factor, though, it feels somewhat out of left field.
And then we have Seven of Nine’s outfit and hair.
I’ve said many times that Seven is the only character in television history whose character development was undermined by her costuming, and this episode proves it. She’s a Borg who is slowly coming to realize that she has to find her individuality. The blond hair and the skintight silver outfit and the big-heeled boots should have come at the end of a long journey, at least half the season, while she slowly divested herself of the Borg implants.
But that would deny the producers the opportunity to show Jeri Ryan, Person With Boobs as much as possible. To make matters worse, the choice of costume and hair was apparently made by the EMH, a sentient being whose personality is based on an asshole.
So we’ve got this new character who has been artificially male-gazed in a rather revolting manner for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the character and everything to do with external factors relating to it being a TV show. It undermines every single choice made with the character in this part of the season. At least Ryan is able to elevate matters, as Seven’s journey in the series in general and this episode in particular is compelling as hell.
Warp factor rating: 6
Keith R.A. DeCandido’s latest novel is To Hell and Regroup, a collaboration with David Sherman. The third book in David’s “18th Race” trilogy of military science fiction novels, this concludes the alien-invasion tale begun in Issue in Doubt and continued in In All Directions. The book is on sale now in trade paperback and eBook form from eSpec Books.
Honestly, they lucked out casting Ryan- as she turned out to be an extremely competent actress who was able to elevate Seven of Nine beyond the fanservice bullsh*t she was intended for (she also has a lovely singing voice, which was always a delight to hear)- but I always found it hard to get over that aspect of her character (and *I’m* attracted to women, so it’s not like I don’t appreciate how lovely she is). What is funny to me is that, much like Troi, Seven is shown to be incredibly stunning (in fact, I think more so) when she is put in a Starfleet uniform (as she was for at least one episode)- so it just made it feel all the cheaper. The fact that she is also being weirdly objectified IN-UNIVERSE as well as out just makes it worse for me (seriously, why is the EMH being allowed to make these aesthetic decisions?!!?), and hearing Jeri Ryan talk about how uncomfortable the suit and the ridiculous heels were always left a bad taste in my mouth.
I also wish they had spent a little more time on why Seven stays with them. Sure, it is because her name is now in the opening credits, but why does her character want to be with these people?! Even cut off from the Borg, there are a million different fascinating species in the Delta quadrant, and she could have asked to be dropped off anywhere. Just because the crew of Voyager “saved” her (something she has fairly mixed feelings about) doesn’t automatically mean she wants to join them on their ship of the damned, but not a lot of time is spent on that. I guess Voyager is the Galactic Hotel California, where you can check out any time you like, but the only way to leave is to turn into a ball of energy.
I also wish they had kept Kes. I know they were originally planning to kill off Kim, but it did feel very “one girl in, one girl out” to me at the time. There also didn’t seem to be any good reason for it. As KRAD pointed out, they had barely tapped the surface of Kes’ potential as a character, both with her abilities and with her shortened lifespan, and it seemed a pity to lose her. The empathy, understanding, and kindness that defined her as a character also brought a real (ironically) humanity to the cast, and I think that was a sad thing to lose.
I always hated that in this episode, Janeway gives Seven a big speech about how Seven is part of the crew now, and they don’t abandon anyone (even when their actions endanger the ship)… and then the next thing you know, she’s dumping Kes in a shuttlecraft and leaving her. Ugh.
Kenneth Biller, who would join the staff this season, was asked to pitch ideas for how to write Kes out of the show, and he came up with the notion of her powers going out of control and her turning into that old Trek standby, a being of pure energy. Originally Kes was to be written out several episodes into the season, but it was changed to the second episode, and so there was a time crunch, and Joe Menosky took on the writing of it instead of Biller.
@krad: Wasn’t that Bryan Fuller? It was his first staff writer gig ever, following his two successful DS9 pitches.
Eduardo: Oh, sweet motherfucking Christ, did I do that? *reads post* I did do that. Sigh.
The post is now edited. Sheesh.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido, big honking doofus
It’s a real shame that Kate Mulgrew was so horrible to Jeri Ryan. Their scenes together in this episode were so great.
“It’s not entirely clear why the Borg tech added to Voyager was useful and made them stronger in the previous episode and is now, suddenly, a danger to the ship.”
One word: steroids. Short-term gain often comes at the expense of long-term damage.
Besides, it’s Borg tech, so it’s intrinsically designed to turn other things Borg-like. That might be fine from the Borg’s point of view, but is harmful if you don’t want your ship to be Borgified.
The first time I pitched episode ideas to Voyager, in early April 1997, one of my proposals was a story called “Midlife Crisis” in which Kes went through a sort of puberty-like hormonal shift that made her emotionally erratic and irrational and heightened her telekinesis to a level that endangered the ship. Tuvok tried a meld to calm her, but she sensed that he was making contingency plans for putting her off the ship if she became a risk, and was even thinking of her death, so she panicked and wreaked havoc. The resolution was one I’m still rather proud of — Tuvok admitted that he was thinking of her death because he was reminded of how short her lifespan was compared to his and was thinking of how much he’d miss her in a few years’ time. Though he expressed it in a more Vulcan way, of course.
I pitched the episode to Joe Menosky, as it happens, and he turned it down because he said they were already doing something similar. Once this episode aired, I realized they must’ve already known Lien was leaving the show and my pitch had never had a chance, but of course he couldn’t tell me that at the time. Although according to Memory Alpha, the final draft script to “The Gift” was dated June 1997. Well, it must be a coincidence. As Keith said, it was Bryan Fuller who was asked to develop the idea first, not Menosky. Still, now that I check the actual dates, the timing is a lot closer than I thought it was.
@5/Austin: It is a shame which makes it all the more impressive one would never know it by their excellent scenes and mentor/student type relationship throughout the series. And at least in real life, they seemed to make amends of a sort – they’ve appeared at conventions together and seem to be chummy with each other.
@1: Oh, yeah, they didn’t deserve Jeri Ryan and her amazing ability to act.
@5 It’s a shame Mulgrew took it out on Ryan, but I think a lot of the actors kind of had a reason to be a little resentful of Seven’s addition. A lot of them didn’t get a lot of character development (except Paris, who got enough character development for 4 people), and were actively pushing for more interesting storylines (especially Beltran), and instead they made up a whole new character and gave her tons of interesting development instead. I love Seven of Nine, but re-watching the series with the benefit of hindsight, it really does feel like the writers, who had already given up on the premise of the show, increasingly were giving up on the original characters, too, and moving on to something shinier and more exciting. None of that is Ryan’s fault, but it is kind of understandable that her addition to the cast was tense.
IMO it would have been better to put her in a uniform like everybody else and maybe have her decide to grow hair eventually as a sign she’s accepting her humanity. But of course fan service was part of her character’s purpose.
Why does everybody seem to turn into a glowy energy being?
I completely agree about Seven – she is both a child abuse victim and still that child in many ways, so to put her in an outfit that basically screams “Hey! Look at my tits!” couldn’t possibly be more inappropriate. Luckily (more so than the producers deserved), the reasonable quality of the writing and the phenomenal acting skills of Jeri Ryan just about manage to outweigh that appalling costuming decision.
I also agree that Kes’s abilities should have been explored more, and I would have liked to keep both women around. Kes to me should have been in the Dark Phoenix / Willow Rosenberg mould – a shy, naive, innocent girl who is driven to develop her powers further to help her friends, until eventually the power is more than she can control and she turns to the dark side. There are only the vaguest hints of that in what we actually get. Just another example of Voyager‘s most consistent quality – frustratingly unfulfilled potential.
@@@@@ 5 / Austin: What little I have heard of the story makes it sound as if Mulgrew did have what probably seemed like good reasons at the time for acting out. To be heralded as the lead for this grand feminist statement of a show for three years, and then to be overshadowed by the busty blonde who was brought on purely to be the boys’ masturbatory fantasy character Boobies of Borg, and who was sleeping with the producer to boot… well you can see how it might piss a person off. Not that Mulgrew didn’t handle the situation horribly, especially considering it wasn’t really Ryan’s fault. Not allowed to even eat or piss for nine months while getting it from Mulgrew in one ear and Berman in the other doesn’t sound like fun. Ryan is a strong woman to have survived it.
Check out Paris’s face when Janeway announces off-camera, to the bridge that Kes is leaving. He still loves her a little and you can see his heart twist in that scene.
Also *deep breath*. I gonna defend the catsuit here. Bear in mind I am a straight woman so my gaze isn’t sexual and I am a raging feminist… but to me the catsuit makes sense. Seven is Borg. And Borg are all about efficiency. What is the most efficient garment for one’s body? Something that simply covers what needs to be covered and allows for free movement of one’s body. This would be a catsuit, a skintight piece of clothing that has no extra fabric or ornamentation. Now I know that technically the Doctor designed it but it seems he considered the above. And I know the show runners gave her the catsuit because BEWBS but at least in my head cannon it was because of efficiency and simplicity.
“My gift to you.”
Okay, let’s get it out of the way. Around the time her departure was announced, a UK telefantasy magazine published an interview with Jennifer Lien. I opened it up expecting to hear her thoughts on leaving, and instead found an interview conducted before she found out, in which she gushes about how much she loves working on the show. I don’t think I will ever stop being annoyed at what those making the show did to her. And if, as has been repeatedly claimed, she got the axe ahead of Garrett Wang not because the showmakers were more interested in his character (you can count the number of Harry Kim-centric episodes in the last four seasons on the fingers of one hand), or he was a better actor to have on the show (the other claims about him concern behind the scenes misbehaviour), but because they thought more people fancied him, then that’s a damning indictment of those who made the decision. I have also heard it suggested that someone thought having four women in a main cast of nine would be impossible (in which case, Janeway’s the lead, and Torres has the romance with Paris just getting started, so who’s left holding the short straw). That seems a pretty poor basis for deciding who gets pushed out of the balloon as well.
Moving on to what we have on screen…well, for the most part it’s an episode that seems to be saying “Kes is one of the most interesting and likable characters on the show, so we’ve given her the chop.” To be fair, when the decision to leave comes, it almost feels earned: The crew will miss Kes dearly, and her them, but there’s a bright future ahead of her. At the time, I thought “Surely this won’t be the last we see of her. Wesley Crusher came back four times. Tasha Yar came back at least twice and she was dead!” But all we got was “Fury”, an episode that seemed to be a calculated insult to the character and her fans and destroyed just about everything positive about her exit…but I’ll get angry about that when we get there. This episode gives Kes significant last moments with Janeway, Tuvok, the Doctor and Neelix, who are probably the four most important, but keeps her oddly isolated from the rest of the crew. Paris gets a devastated reaction shot to Janeway’s “Kes is leaving us”, as does Kim, which is only appropriate given their friendship (and, as “Before and After” showed, potentially more).
I tried very hard not to resent Jeri Ryan for being Jennifer Lien’s replacement, but when I saw the Season 4 cast photos appear with Seven in Kes’ place, it was hard not to glare at her and think “What are you doing here?” I think I was helped by viewing out of sequence: My first experience of Seven was seeing “The Raven” at a convention, which not only meant seeing her first as part of the crew rather than watching her come in and take Kes’ place, but was also a good episode for getting me to sympathise with her. I’m not sure this episode really manages it, splitting it’s screen-time between Kes and the newbie in a battle that’s hard for Seven to win: Firstly, she spends most of it being annoying and shouty, and secondly, it’s hard not to nod in agreement that Janeway has decided what’s best for her and is dismissing her opinion with an arrogant “Yes, well, you only think that because you’ve been brainwashed. If you were capable of making decisions for yourself, you’d agree with me.” But then, right after Kes’ departure, we get that one scene in the cargo bay which gives us our first look at what Seven will be like going forward, more human both physically and mentally, and I can’t help but smile and think “Welcome aboard.” Would I have thought that if I hadn’t already seen her aboard? I don’t know, but it still feels at the end of this episode as though we don’t really know her yet.
The first of Voyager’s many giant leaps towards home: This one is said to be 9,500 light years and ten years’ worth of normal travel. I feel like someone should keep count. And yes, that’s a shuttle that definitely isn’t retrieved and apparently ascends to a higher plane of existence with Kes. I love Tuvok looking as freaked out as a Vulcan can when Kes starts manipulating the sub-sub-atomic. Ayala gets a couple of lines, but they’re over the comline with the actor out of vision (so I suspect ADR rather than someone giving Tarik Ergin a bonus in that week’s wage packet), and oddly he suddenly gets demoted to ensign after being referred to as a lieutenant in earlier appearances. The Doctor’s explanation about stimulating Seven’s hair follicles hopefully solves any nitpicks about Janeway or Kes growing their hair between episodes. Kim trying to make small talk with Seven is painful. Is it ever mentioned again that one of her eyes is artificial?
@5 and @9:
Yeah, I’ve heard those stories about the Mulgrew-Ryan antagonism before, too. Frankly, the whole situation just sounds like a real-life Kobayashi Maru behind the scenes, doesn’t it?
It’s actually interesting how, intentionally or not, VOY mirrored DS9 at this point in its production run. Both shows’ Season Four premieres (more or less in VOY’s case) ended up being second Pilots of sorts that reset and re-toold the shows to boost ratings. Both the saw the addition of new cast members whose presence changed the dynamic and focus for the remainder of the run.
That said, I do think overall DS9 handled the Worf integration better than Seven’s (and part of that was probably that Worf wasn’t replacing a member of the original Cast or being written in for fan service). Behr understood they had to give the fair share of focus to the rest of the Main Cast and succeeded…whereas VOY became the Janeway-Seven-Doctor Show in its second half.
On one hand, I can see they could have done Seven’s physical transition in a more smooth manner, extending those implants for a longer period. Then again, the catsuit was obviously dictated by the powers that be. But I try not to let that affect my judgement of the show and especially this episode. The Gift is one of my all-time favorite Voyager episodes, and with plenty of reason.
It boils down to two major scenes. One around Seven, and one around Kes. But to me, both scenes are really about Kathryn Janeway, specifically Janeway, the mother.
I was rewatching this last night, and it hit even harder for me, just how difficult it is for Seven to deal with losing the only home she’s ever known. To me, that scene where she breaks down and slugs Janeway was like being hit by a truck. Ryan and Mulgrew really sold every emotional stab of pain. Seven is the broken child, and Janeway is like the new foster mother, suddenly very much aware of her responsibility and barely able to hold together as she realizes just how painful it must be for Seven.
They really nailed the casting with Ryan. The way she modulates between her composed Borg-self and her emerging humanity. The way the two collide. Her delivery of the line “I don’t remember being human. I don’t know what it is to be human“. It’s amazing just how much pain and sorrow can be in just one line reading. So many layers. Hatred, resentment, pleading. Such a commitment to the role. Of course the rest of the cast was going to lose screentime. Ryan was the real deal and the show’s biggest discovery.
Then there’s the Kes scene where they say goodbye.
I don’t condone Mulgrew’s alledged attitude towards Ryan, but I can certainly imagine the pain she must have felt during that period. The scene where Janeway is forced to let Kes go is easily one of the most heartbreaking I’ve seen on Voyager, if not all the Trek shows. Looking at Mulgrew and Lien’s eyes, you can see their struggle to hold back tears. This wasn’t just a performance. This was a real life parting. Mulgrew was emotionally broken by the loss of Lien. There’s no getting around it. It’s on every frame of that scene. No wonder she’d take out any frustrations on Ryan.
But if there was ever any chance of Mulgrew earning awards for her performance as Janeway, this was the episode to submit. Janeway treated Kes like her own offspring for nearly three years, and having to let her go wasn’t something she was prepared to do at all. Mulgrew gets some of her best lines in this episode, all beautifully written by Menosky, Taylor and the staff. “You’ve lived most your life here. Voyager has been your home.” is exactly the line a parent would say to their kid when going off to college. “And you’ve become a vital part of this family” is the knife-twisting line.
And Lien gives Kes an almost giddy anticipation for the future, and an even stronger determination than she already had. She’s no longer scared of what’s inside her. She’s willing to embrace what’s to come. As much a travesty as it was to cut Jennifer Lien from the cast, I can’t fault the show, because it still gave Kes emotional send-off she deserved.
The fact that Kes (and her powers) was so underused in the previous seasons to me speaks more of how poorly the early seasons handled character progression, preferring to focus on aimless plot arcs such as the Kazon. It’s not a blight on The Gift at all. They had exactly 45 minutes to give her away and start Seven’s transition. They pulled it off.
My only regret with this episode is that Neelix fell by the wayside – other than that way too brief drinking scene. Losing Kes had to hit him as hard as it did Janeway, if not more so. Sadly, all we get is a mention of Kes later in the excellent episode Mortal Coil. At least, Tuvok ended up being a contributing factor to the climax, as well as being another affected party in the wake of losing Kes.
@12 Considering that Jeri Ryan could barely breathe in it, and that the outfit includes 6 inch heels seemingly for no reason, I would have to argue that it isn’t a particularly functional garment. In the real world, people who need a wide range of movement and simplicity tend to wear things that look like modern combat dress uniforms- slightly baggy pants, t-shirts, blouse to keep the sun off your arms- or a mechanics cover-alls (which are hardly skin tight). Unless Seven is planning on going scuba diving or taking up speed skating her skin-tight catsuit doesn’t seem particularly practical to me- as tight clothing tends to restrict your movement more than allow you more of it.
As last episodes for characters go, this is pretty good. There’s no last minute death or other catastrophe which normally gets averted but manages to kill off a series regular this one time.
I started listening to the Delta Flyers podcast and they mention early on that Voyager had the largest main cast of the Star Trek shows (nine regulars). That makes it more reasonable to lose a character as they add one. Though the choice of Kes is unfortunate.
@17:
I started listening to the Delta Flyers podcast and they mention early on that Voyager had the largest main cast of the Star Trek shows (nine regulars). That makes it more reasonable to lose a character as they add one. Though the choice of Kes is unfortunate.
Yeah, but of all the Main Cast, Kes was also the one who was on borrowed time from the start because of her Ocampan biology.
Had Lien remained with the show through the remainder of its run, I can only speculate how they would’ve ended Kes’s development or found a workaround to extend her life. So writing her out like this…yeah, sucks, but probably the best sendoff given how flawed VOY was executed.
And then, of course, in pure VOY fashion, they shot themselves in the foot with “Fury” two years later. Thankfully, at least, Heather Jarman, Kirsten Beyer, and Jeffrey Lang’s String Theory made lemonade out of that episode’s lemons.
@17: That’s…misleading at best. Voyager is the only one to have nine regulars all the way through but TNG started off with nine, one jumped ship early on and they ended up with seven for the last half of the run, while DS9 started off with eight then went up to nine from S4 onwards.
@18/Mr. Magic: “Had Lien remained with the show through the remainder of its run, I can only speculate how they would’ve ended Kes’s development or found a workaround to extend her life.”
Not an issue. Ocampa lifespans are 8-9 years, and Kes was about 1 1/2 when the show began. That’s about seven years, the expected length of Voyager‘s run. They always intended that she would live as long as the show itself, that we’d basically see her entire adult life play out before the show ended. Whether it would’ve ended with her dying of old age or finding a way to extend her life, we may never know.
@17/ Eduardo: You put into words perfectly everything I felt about this episode and Jennifer Lien’s departure, particularly the goodbye between Kes and Janeway. That moment felt gut-wrenching and authentic, because it was. As sad as it was to see Jennifer Lien depart, the writers gave Kes a proper sendoff, sold perfectly by Kate Mulgrew and Jennifer Lien.
Credit where it’s due, Jeri Ryan also gave a bravura performance starting Seven’s journey. The episode perfectly closed Kes’ arc, and started Seven of Nine’s
@19 cap-mjb TNG started off with nine … and they ended up with seven
So one could say that TNG had the original seven of nine...
:-)
I have mixed feelings about this episode. I was never impacted very much by Kes leaving. While she could have been interesting, they never did enough with her to make her interesting. (I guess you could say that for most VOY characters.) Honestly, this one is probably my favorite episode in her development.
Like Scorpion, I do remember watching this as it was airing and being riveted by it. Kes ascending! Anguished ex-Borg trying to live without the collective! I was really enjoying it until the final scenes, where it hit me that they just wanted to swap out one blonde actress for a hotter blonde actress. It was a real disheartening moment for third-grade me. This was also about the time my family started to let the episodes pile up rather than watch them.
The good news is that we did eventually continue watching and Seven quickly became my favorite character! Her costume and the shots of her behind as she crawls into Jeffries tubes still irritate me to no end though. I’ve heard they had to argue to get as many as two episodes with her in the Borg costume, because the people in charge wanted her in the catsuit ASAP, so I guess I should be grateful we got this episode at all.
I remember this episode, and I remember realizing they were getting rid of my favorite character, and I would bet that I didn’t watch a few episodes down the line, like when Geiger and Cage left Chicago Hope in one shot. (Fun fact, that show featured a young Jayne Brook! I legitimately don’t know her character’s name on Discovery.) She got a good sendoff, did Kes, but I think I identified with her more than anyone.
Of course now I wonder if she saw the universe balanced on the back of a giant koala. Binging Lower Decks will raise these questions.
I understood the catsuit to be about the physical reassurance of pressure in a way I couldn’t then explain (undiagnosed autistic), but the heels just snapped my suspension of disbelief right off the string. I had to carefully look only at the top half of the screen whenever Seven was shown walking in those things. I reconciled myself with them, sort of, by imagining that they were supporting some really messed-up scar tissue back there, and that there were cut scenes here and there in which Seven is shown getting painful physical therapy to improve her range of motion below the knees. But that would have required her heels to gradually get lower.
You know, that’s a good point, looking back, it would have indeed been nice to see Seven slowly divesting herself of her Borg implants. I am, incidentally, happy that she was stuck with some of her implants, for example her ocular implant / visible eyepiece.
@5 A shame indeed, and one would not have known given how well they do together in most / all of their scenes together!
People can come up with all sorts of explanations for the heels. The truth is…
“These experiments confirm what generations of women have intuitively known: High heels attract male attention. There are several reasons why. As heel height increases…
Women’s breasts look larger. High heels cause the back to over-arch, which thrusts the breasts forward, making them appear larger and more prominent. Many studies have shown that prominent breasts attract more male attention.
Women’s buttocks appear larger because they are lifted in heels. Some research indicates that as perceived buttock size increases, men feel more attracted to women.
While walking in heels, women’s hips and buttocks sway more because heels shorten women’s gait.
Women’s feet look smaller. While there are men who feel attracted to all manner of women—thin, heavy, short, tall—men evolved to be generally bigger and taller than women, and to feel attracted to women who are more petite than they are. High heels make women’s feet look more petite and, therefore, more attractive.
But this increased desirability comes at significant cost: High heels are uncomfortable and substantially increase risk of foot soreness, blisters, bunions, falls, ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis, ingrown toenails, nerve damage in the feet and legs, and knee and back pain.”
The Uncanny Psychology of High Heels
@25 – My son is on the autism spectrum and has the associated shortened heel cords that cause him to naturally walk with his heels elevated. For such a person, high-heeled shoes would be more comfortable than flats. One can imagine someone freed from the Borg as having similar personality traits, hence similar physical traits.
@20, Christopher-
Are you suggesting that the plan wasn’t ever to tell the story of Voyager’s seventy year journey home in roughly real time? I feel so disillusioned…
(That would be a spectacularly ambitious, if almost certainly doomed idea for a piece of media. I’ve seen an argument that some long running storylines in kayfabe wrestling are probably the closest thing).
I agree with @12 that a catsuit could be considered practical. When I’m doing sports like hiking or rock climbing, I also prefer wearing close fitting clothes, because the risk of snatching or tearing them on something is much smaller. And if the clothes are soft enough they don’t restrict your movement at all. The one the actress was wearing obviously wasn’t comfortable, but this is beyond the in-story logic. And I think they stimulated her hair growth to help her feel more human. The only thing in her appearance that I cannot stand are the high heels. It’s interesting to read some possible justifications in the comments, but I just find them awful. On that note, Janeway also has small heels, which I also find stupid for a uniform.
I think the most sure sign that we’ve overcome sexism will not be when filmmakers stop giving costumes like these to women, but when everyone stop caring and commenting on what the females in movies are wearing :)
I missed out on most of DS9 and Voyager while I was in college and just wasn’t watching a lot of TV in general. I watched DS9 in its entirety 11-12 years ago, but didn’t give Voyager another try until this year; it’s been fun following your rewatch in tandem with my own, but at a rate of one episode a day since I started in June, I’ve now overtaken you by about a season, and must now be patient for your reactions to episodes I watched like a month ago. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this one!
I bring up DS9 because the closing shot of “The Gift” with Tuvok looking out into space really reminded me of the closing shot of DS9’s final episode, with Jake and Kira doing the same. The circumstances (loved one has ascended to a higher plane of existence and they wonder if/when this person will return) are similar, so I wonder now if this shot from Voyager inspired the one from DS9, or it was just a coincidence.
I’m interested to see how my opinion on the Kes / Seven of Nine thing changes this time around. When I was watching Voyager as a kid, I remember not really liking Kes. The stuff with her and Neelix was always off-putting, and I don’t know, the mix of enthusiasm and naivete just didn’t work for me. I don’t think my opinion changed last time I did a re-watch, about 10 years ago in college, but this time around I appreciated her character much more; Kes was more dynamic than I gave her credit for, and Lien’s acting really sells it. Warlord is a real highlight.
Conversely, I’ve always liked Seven. I won’t pretend to be completely immune to the T&A appeal, but Jeri Ryan did a fantastic job and I remember her character development arcs as generally very good. This time around, I’m wondering if she takes too much development screen time from other characters, how I’ll feel about the Janeway / Seven dynamic, etc. I’m excited for the next couple of seasons!
I don’t think ignoring the blatant objectification of women by Hollywood execs actually would be a sign that we had overcome sexism. The problem isn’t that people people are objecting to women being treated like pieces of meat- to the point of causing discomfort and pain to the actress- it is that they treated Jeri Ryan that way in the first place.
I always mentally assign Before & After as the Kes story that should have played out. It’s a great story and tells the 9 year life span in a satisfying way.
Fury was just a mean spirited coda I could have done without.
Seven always was my favorite character, and that started right here with that gut wrenching breakdown.
Like Troi though, I think she looks better in a uniform, which we saw once. And then she wore something realistic in Workforce. I adore Seven of Nine for the great writing and acting, and I am amazed Jeri Ryan managed it while not even being able to sit, breathe, pee, or eat, with allegedly hostile cast members.
By Enterprise, they did the same distracting costume choice with T’Pol, but I think they left out the whale boning. I hope it was more comfortable.
@35/wildfyre: I don’t think salix means we should ignore injustice. I think the point is that if we succeeded in building a society where there was no sexism or abuse, then people could show off their bodies freely as their own choice and nobody would be demeaned by it, because nobody would think of another person’s sexuality as something they could use against them.
Think of the double standard in how men and women are sexualized. You can have a scene in a movie like Thor where the camera ogles the male lead’s shirtless body and invites audiences to sexualize him, and it’s not seen as demeaning or harmful to him. But if a female character were objectified the same way, it would be exploitative and demeaning. That’s because the power dynamic between them is asymmetrical — the society and the institutions are set up in a way that supports male power and undermines female power. It’s not the sexualization itself that’s the problem, it’s the power imbalance and how sexuality is used to reinforce it.
So it follows that if we could create a world where women are treated equally to men, where everyone has equal power, then sexualization would no longer be a stigma or a negative for women any more than it is for men.
If it were me, I would have the EMH say some medical gadgetry needed skin contact because <insert technobabble>, and suggest Seven wear a uniform over it. And then have barely-deborged Seven either not see the point of additional clothing, or actively resist a uniform whose primary purpose, being a uniform, would be to label her as one of the crew.
Justifying high heels sounds too ridiculous for me to pretend to try.
@38/ad: I posited just that in my VGR story “Brief Candle” in the Distant Shores anthology. It was established in behind-the-scenes material that the catsuit was meant to be a protective dermal sheath to assist in healing, and I mentioned that in the story and added that Seven wore nothing else over it because she considered modesty irrelevant.
But then, “sexy woman from an alien culture that doesn’t care about modesty” is in itself a common male-gaze fantasy trope in fiction, so it doesn’t really absolve it. (See Starfire in Teen Titans, Lum in Urusei Yatsura, Madison in Splash, etc.)
I was reminded of how ridiculous Seven’s outfit in Voyager was when I saw her in Picard. Her look in that show was not only beautiful, but actually functional and efficient.
@40 Yea, that is one of the things that drive me nuts about overly male-gaze-y outfits. Jeri Ryan is a gorgeous woman; nothing they could have possibly put her in was going to change that fact. They could have dressed her in a reasonable outfit and she still would have been drop-dead gorgeous (as she is in Picard). The only reason for putting her in that suit was just cheap titillation to get the nerd boys watching all hot and bothered.
As a somewhat hot and bothered young nerd boy, it was around the time I watched Voyager that I started to work out why there was always an alien woman who didn’t wear a Starfleet uniform*.
*TOS aside**
** Putting Kira Nerys in this category wasn’t exactly fair, but I was working in part off the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen game, where her avatar seems liable to put a Ferengi’s eye out if she turns around quickly.
@42: TOS just put them in miniskirts instead.
And honestly, people [i]look better[/i] in the uniforms. A lot of uniforms — before the age of camo and, still, where camo isn’t needed — are explicitly designed to do that! They’re formal wear and get the gravitas from that, they’re often dramatic and striking in appearance, with bright colours and ornamentation and so on.
Starfleet’s uniforms are fairly minimalist in that regard, but the big primary colour splashes contrasting against the dark sleeve works really well.
I’ll admit, Seven’s catsuit never really bothered me. I mean, I knew it was gratuitous, but gratuitous sexy costuming has been part of TV and movies forever (TOS’s miniskirts have already been cited, and I’d add Captain Kirk’s frequent shirtlessness), so I was already resigned to that sort of thing as one of the standard allowable breaks from realism in fiction. Moreover, I did think Jeri Ryan simply looked amazing. I’ve always been of two minds about such things — able to see objectively how sexist they are while still really, really enjoying the view.
One thing I did note with amusement was how much more often Seven was filmed at full length than the other cast members.
@39, re Starfire: I so wanted DC to run a storyline in which somebody takes Starfire aside and explains modesty to her, and she goes “Ugh, FINE,” marches into the nearest boob-and-butt-cover store, comes out with 10 of each picked at random, and every issue thereafter showcases her in a different yet equally hideous outfit.
Like–Plaid skort paired with bikini top with giant daisies on the boobs. Lilac-colored pedal pushers and an over-the-top spiked pleather motorcycle jacket that would fit Cyclops. PInk stirrup pants, fluffy brown midriff-baring sweater, and rainbow suspenders (braces) to keep the sweater from flipping up in her face when she flies. And she wears this stuff EVERYWHERE.
If anybody says she isn’t dressed appropriately to the occasion, she smiles, says, “Okay!” and adds a hat.
Oh, and then there’s the beach issue. And it turns out that while she thinks the ideas of modesty and of clothing-as-ornament are terribly silly, she is all about performance gear. So she always dresses in Olympic-quality hydrodynamic suits, with the minimal cleavage and the sensible legholes.
@43- Oh, certainly- I didn’t mean to imply that TOS was lacking in costumes designed with sex appeal in mind, just that they hadn’t settled on the trope of “Sexy alien woman not in Starfleet uniform.”
And here we have it, the Family to Scorpion’s “Best of Both Worlds”. From following episodes where lots of people and Borg died, to a Starfleet Captain on a Borg cube, right down to being the second episode of the Fourth Season and dealing with someone being released from assimilation and being completely traumatized by the experience. And also being wonderfully emotional and having excellent acting. I loved this episode, though only as I’ve gotten older did I realize just how much I’d miss Kes going forward.
Jeri Ryan’s exquisite acting ability are well known at this point and her gargantuan and seemingly inexhaustible sex appeal were always obvious. But this really was out first glimpse into all of that and she killed it. The three focus ladies knocked it out of the park.
I can understand why the rest of the cast felt left out by this massive character development train that was coming through, this was a repeat of what happened on TNG. Data/Seven/The Doctor were all the characters wholly apart from humanity and despite being a Vulcan, Tuvok was shortchanged by Vulcans being a known factor.
@39/ ChristopherLBennett
@38/ad: I posited just that in my VGR story “Brief Candle” in the Distant Shores anthology. It was established in behind-the-scenes material that the catsuit was meant to be a protective dermal sheath to assist in healing, and I mentioned that in the story and added that Seven wore nothing else over it because she considered modesty irrelevant.
But then, “sexy woman from an alien culture that doesn’t care about modesty” is in itself a common male-gaze fantasy trope in fiction, so it doesn’t really absolve it. (See Starfire in Teen Titans, Lum in Urusei Yatsura, Madison in Splash, etc.)
I thought that was the canonical explanation. Her outfit is listed as a Dermaplastic Garment on Memory Alpha and I recall it being said on the show, the derm prefix indicating that it was skin related and it was certainly prescribed by a doctor. I always thought it was something to help her skin acclimate to not being covered in a cybernetic armor…or rather regrow after having been replaced by cybernetic armor. Curiously, from the Star Trek Online community Liberated Borg of the Borg Cooperative also where skin tight dermaplastic outfits (special color and textures of the game’s wetsuit) in both male and female variety. And considering her response to Jr. deleting her clothes like a holodeck program it’s pretty certain that Seven has zero modesty or body issues. She also likely inherited the Queen’s sexual mores.
Another thing that I haven’t seen mentioned is why the catsuit is constructed the way it is. The material that is used to make it doesn’t automatically suck in, it isn’t spandex. So in order to conform to Jeri’s body as conceived they needed to add the ribbing that functioned as a frame for the material to attach to and a de facto corset. And as someone who’s neck size is unfortunately no long the same in dress shirts as ten years ago, I deeply empathize with her getting choked out by that collar. I believe in canon they actually considered the ribbing to be her actual Borg ribcage but I don’t think it was ever remarked on.
@38 There is an episode somewhere where she is captured because her heels catch on the undergrowth and she goes sprawling. I can’t remember which one, but I do remember it as an in-story justification for what I had been saying to the TV screen about her outfit.
@49, that was always happening to Doctor’s companions in original Who, even when they were wearing sensible shoes. Having once worn high heeled boots for warmth on an expedition to the redwood forests I can tell you from painful personal experience that they are a really bad choice for exploring strange new world’s.
this show is over 20 years old… why create a forum for it?
@what da
This is a rewatch of a much loved programme, there are also rereads on Tor of much loved books, because they are much loved and people like to talk about them. Simpl ;-)
what da: Rewatches of classic TV shows and movies and rereads of classic books and comic books have been a staple of this web site for over a decade now. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. This site is free and voluntary, after all. :)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@41: As a nerd boy who was a horny teenager when Seven of Nine first appeared, I have to say if that was the intent (and it almost certainly was), it went right over my head. I tend to not look at female Trek characters in a sexual way; I like more listening to them be hyper competent and intelligent. That, even as a nerdy teenaged boy, intrigued me more than any physical attractiveness. That isn’t to say I’m immune to physical attractiveness, duh, it just means I personally value intelligence more. Even as a dumb kid, this was true of me. I adored Seven of Nine, and Jeri Ryan’s portrayal of her, because she’s intelligent and complex. The same was true of Janeway, B’Elanna, Kes (sigh), and those who came before and after them.
Full disclosure, I had a mad crush on B’Elanna Torres at the start of the series; apparently I like fiesty women, as my wife shares many traits with B’Elanna. Like Quark, I personally love a woman in uniform.
@54/Dante: I didn’t have to choose one or the other — I loved looking at Seven and I admired the character’s depth and the actress’s skill. I’ve never understood the idea that you have to ignore a woman’s beauty to admire her other attributes — to me, the two complement each other rather than competing. Perhaps because several of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever personally known have also been among the smartest and kindest.
All I really remember about this episode was my thought of “Oh hey, Kes pulled a Jason Ironheart!” and the start of the “Rack of Two” jokes.
Sigh.
A good satisfying episode and nice send-off for Kes as well as great stuff for Seven of Nine/Jeri Ryan as the human part of her identity re-asserts itself.
I was unaware that it was originally considered for Kes to leave later on in the season. That’s a shame that didn’t happen as Kes leaving could have lent itself to an entire episode as could the stuff of Seven re-orienting herself to no longer being part of the collective. Plus, it would have meant more opportunities for these two characters to interact. A shame. Also a shame that this couldn’t just be the last episode for Kes period in hindsight given what was to come with “Fury.
And of course the debut of the infamous silver catsuit that was used for all of the promotional materials of the new cast addition screaming “look at me!!!” Jeri Ryan saw this costume and immediately realized what the producers were going for here. And she also wanted to burn this costume..
Jumping back to this discussion because I finally watched the ep. Honestly, I was ready to give it all up and only came back because a few commenters have repeatedly said the show picked up with the addition of Seven. So, here I am. But no one has mentioned this, so I thought I would.
Going back to ep 3:26 with Kes’s exposure to Species 8472. When she saw the alien and than said “they are watching us,” I thought she was saying that the species themselves had invaded Voyager psionically, and that something would come of it — not Kes’s increased psionic sensitivity, but the “invasion” itself. There was a sense of dread, or waiting for the other shoe to drop. I really thought it would develop into Kes having been taken over, or that a discorporate alien remained with the ship after Voyager thought they had destroyed them. And then to have it nothing more than her abilities having been stimulated beyond her control just seemed like such a plot hole or continuity error, or something.
@58/srEDIT: Maybe they had to change whatever they were planning because of the decision to drop Jennifer Lien from the show.
It’s sad to see Kes go as she had started to come into her own in the previous season…. but like everyone else I have to deal with the mammoth in the room and talk about Seven of Nine’s outfit.
I remember watching this as in my early 20s and thinking two things when first seeing the reveal . 1.”wow that’s the hottest woman I have ever seen”. 2. “That is utterly ridiculous” The story about Kate Mulgrew’s behaviour towards Jeri Ryan has become legend and there is absolutely no way to justify it,, even Mulgrew admits it, but you can to some extent see why she was so pissed off, but she should have directed the ire towards the studio and show runners not to an actor who was just doing her job, and doing it very well as it happens.
Numerous times during Voyager I have asked WTF were they thinking.. but it’s patently obvious this time what they were thinking and the ratings mean I suppose it worked for them., but it has left what could have been one of the great sci fi characters looking absolutely ridiculous in the eyes of history. It’s all the more frustrating since having seen Picard and Jeri Ryan 20 years later is still proving she is a fine actor…is still a very attractive woman…. and can pull off both those things… WITHOUT BEING DRESSED LIKE THAT!!
@60/chadefallstar: Personally, I was less offended by Seven’s costuming than by the misogynistic attacks against her from fandom, the way people dismissed her as nothing more than a sex object just because of the way she looked. The costume was sexualizing, sure, but so was Uhura’s miniskirt. It’s just part of television. What should matter is the character’s personality and the actor’s performance, and both of those were top-notch in Seven’s case. Too many people used the fact that Jeri Ryan happened to be sexy, and that the costume emphasized it, as an excuse to denigrate her worth as a person, and that offended me deeply.
Christopher: Yeah, but people wouldn’t have made the assumption without that costuming choice. And analogizing it to Uhura’s miniskirt is a bad comparison, because Uhura was wearing the same outfit every other woman on board was wearing. Seven’s costume wasn’t just sexualizing, it was the only sexualized outfit anyone on board was wearing, so it stood out like a sore thumb.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@62/CLB: I’ve commented on Seven of Nine’s blatant sexualized costuming before and noted that you’d reply insinuating because I called out that the character was clearly marketed as a “sexpot” or “Borg babe” that I was demeaning the actress when I had done no such thing. One can critique the silly and pandering to the straight male audiencecostume choice while still being a great fan of the character and actress, such as myself.
@64/garreth: I wasn’t referring to you specifically. I’m thinking of the many people over the decades that I’ve seen attacking Jeri Ryan herself in sexist terms because she happened to be beautiful. I don’t care that her costume emphasized her sexuality, it’s still wrong to hold that against her as a person or to dismiss her talents as a performer just because of how she looked. You may not have, but others certainly have.
@65/CLB: I wasn’t referencing your specific comment on this thread from today, but I had a remembered a response from you on a comment I had made on this matter in a different thread from a few months ago under a different Voyager episode.
I don’t know about you people, but whatever anyone’s initial reaction to the catsuit, I find it very icky that people would find it titillating after knowing how much discomfort it caused the actress. Even as a bisexual woman I would be extremely hard-pressed to see a costume that caused Ryan to pass out as sexy. I know this sounds like a holier-than-thou view to take, and maybe it is so, but I seriously don’t understand it when people aren’t critical about what they find attractive.
@67/Mani: Many costumes used on film, screen, and stage are quite uncomfortable for the actors. That’s true regardless of gender. I’m sure Peter Weller was very uncomfortable in the Robocop costume, and I gather that it was very rough on Anthony Daniels wearing C-3PO’s costume in the Tunisian heat. I’ve seen countless stories of actors in superhero costumes or creature costumes or just really elaborate period costumes who were incapable of sitting down or eating or going to the bathroom for hours at a time. That discomfort in the name of creating something that looks good onscreen is a routine part of the industry.
And really, is it so unusual for women to make themselves uncomfortable in the name of looking good? I’ve never understood how women put up with wearing high heels, let alone corsets and the like. But a lot of women seem to be willing to compromise their comfort as long as the result looks good. Should they have to? Probably not. But it’s far from uncommon.
@68/CLB
I’m not saying that uncomfortable costume choices are uncommon or unjustified. I was specifically talking about this particular case, where the only reason for this costume’s existence is that it was meant to showcase Jeri Ryan’s sexiness. What I was trying to get at in my previous comment was whether having behind-the-scenes knowledge of the actress’ discomfort affected anyone else’s perception of this sexiness (as it did mine), and if so, doesn’t that undercut the whole purpose of the costume? This argument could then be expanded to comfort versus aesthetics I guess but that isn’t the issue I’m interested in discussing. I should have worded it better, but frankly the point you raised was a bit derailing. The examples you provided would have been applicable if I was protesting against Ryan’s Borg makeup or prosthetics, as in, accessories added to double down on her ‘otherness’ or ‘unnaturality’ instead of a catsuit and high heels to emphasize her figure. Or they would have been applicable if the men in your examples had to undergo that costuming to increase their attractiveness (though I suppose that depends on personal preferences). But neither is true, so I’m baffled why you decided to throw the “this is how it happens in the industry (and to both genders)” argument at me, when my very stance is that “yes, this is what happens in the industry (though it mainfests differently for both genders) and this is kind of problematic”.
As for your second point, I can’t figure out if you are being serious or not. It should be quite apparent that this is the result of social conditioning. When someone has it ingrained into them from childhood (by family members, media, even educators) that their self-worth is tied to their attractiveness which in turn is measured according to some prefixed standards, it’s not difficult to see why most of them would embrace any way to achieve that unreachable ideal. In fact, it is deemed so mandatory that women who do not actively try to fit this ideal are put at a serious disavantage institutionally, being denied jobs, promotions, and other development opportunities (I’m not adding links to support this because five minutes of googling will be enough to support this statement. I’m also not adding romantic prospects to the list because I firmly maintain that a person’s sexual preferences are their own business even when clearly influenced by societal standards.) This is not in any way to imply that all women who dress to impress are brainwashed or however someone may choose to twist my comment. It is still a matter of personal preference but no one can deny that there is a certain societal pressure to undergo “beautification” and that this pressure is deliberate. This is also not to say that men don’t face a similar pressure (I can’t believe I have to give this disclaimer, but such is the Internet), especially in present times, just that there is a great disparity in what’s expected from a man and a woman in terms of aesthetic appeal.
@69/Mani: “I was specifically talking about this particular case, where the only reason for this costume’s existence is that it was meant to showcase Jeri Ryan’s sexiness. What I was trying to get at in my previous comment was whether having behind-the-scenes knowledge of the actress’ discomfort affected anyone else’s perception of this sexiness (as it did mine), and if so, doesn’t that undercut the whole purpose of the costume?”
As I said, I don’t see how that’s different from high heels, corsets, bikini waxes, and the numerous other painful things women subject themselves to for the sake of being perceived by others as sexy or beautiful. One can absolutely criticize that cultural norm, but I don’t see a reason to single out this specific case as somehow exceptional.
Besides, we’re not supposed to let the reality get in the way of our perceptions of fiction. We’re supposed to keep the two separate, to suspend disbelief while we watch and accept the illusion as presented, even if we know the reality is different. The costume made Jeri Ryan uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean it made Seven of Nine uncomfortable, and it’s Seven of Nine that we’re supposed to believe we’re watching. We might know from behind-the-scenes interviews that the actors filming an Arctic scene in heavy parkas were actually sweltering under the heat of the studio lights, but if the actors and filmmakers do their jobs well, we buy into the illusion that their characters are freezing. The characters are not the actors. They’re fictional constructs that the actors make an effort to create. And often the effort that they go to is quite arduous and uncomfortable, but that has nothing to do with what the characters may be feeling.
Did I find Seven’s catsuit sexy? Hell, yes, fantastically so — partly as a function of how it accentuated Ryan’s curves, but also as a function of the poise and confidence she managed to project while wearing it. Do I think she would still have been sexy with a more comfortable outfit? No doubt. She would’ve been sexy in a burlap sack. Would I have found it less sexy if I had known at the time how uncomfortable it made her? I can’t speak to a counterfactual. But I still think it looks great as an illusion, regardless of the problems it posed in reality. Those are two different levels, and we can consider them independently of each other. Approval of the result does not imply approval of the process.
@70
“We’re not supposed to let the reality get in the way of our perceptions of fiction. We’re supposed to keep the two separate, to suspend disbelief while we watch and accept the illusion as presented, even if we know the reality is different.”
You mean this is how you percieve fiction. Sure, there is a separation between reality and fiction but doesn’t reality inform fiction in some shape and form (and in some cases, vice versa?) Part of my comment you quoted is framed as a question. Different people have different ways of consuming and perceiving media (one of the reasons we are here in the comments section of this particular rewatch/review in the first place) and may have different notions regarding this divide. I presented my view, you presented yours and that’s great. That’s exactly what I was asking for. But I’m not sure I agree with the absolutism of your statement, that there is a fixed way people should percieve fiction.
“As I said, I don’t see how that’s different from high heels, corsets, bikini waxes, and the numerous other painful things women subject themselves to for the sake of being perceived by others as sexy or beautiful. One can absolutely criticize that cultural norm, but I don’t see a reason to single out this specific case as somehow exceptional.”
What a strange thing to say! First of all, please understand the difference between something that people choose to do for themselves and what they have to do. You seem to think that the things that are percieved by us as sexy or beautiful are absolutes and not derived from how our society makes us percieve them. Maybe women won’t have to resort to painful ‘beautification’ practices if there wasn’t an expectation for them to perform those practices. Secondly, you say I am free to criticise the cultural norm but that’s exactly what I’m trying to do by pointing to this example and saying that it’s insidious how we are supposed to go along with the ‘fiction’ without any concern for the ‘reality’.
“But I still think it looks great as an illusion, regardless of the problems it posed in reality. Those are two different levels, and we can consider them independently of each other. Approval of the result does not imply approval of the process.”
Yes those are two different levels, and yes they can be considered independently. But should they be? That was the question I was trying to ask (and failed to ask, it seems.)
I think I’m going to go back to lurking on these reviews, this commenting stuff is too energy consuming.
@71/Mani: “First of all, please understand the difference between something that people choose to do for themselves and what they have to do.”
Yes, obviously, but it’s not like she was enslaved; she chose to work on the show, and she chose to stick with it for four years despite the discomfort. Actors are perfectly capable of quitting shows if they find the experience too arduous to endure; for instance, Brent Stait left Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda because he developed an allergy to the adhesives on his heavy prosthetic makeup.
And I’m not sure the distinction is as great as you say. Yes, actors and actresses who agree to work on a production are obligated to follow the instructions of their employers, but the reason actresses in fiction have to dress sexy is because they’re emulating the way women choose to look sexy in real life. And conversely, women often choose to do those things in real life because they’ve been raised to believe they have to in order to be judged desirable. Personally I’ve always found it oppressive, but I learned back in high school nearly 35 years ago that it’s a bad idea to mansplain to women about how oppressed they are for having to endure the discomfort of high heels.
“You seem to think that the things that are percieved by us as sexy or beautiful are absolutes and not derived from how our society makes us percieve them.”
If that’s what you think I’m saying, you’ve drastically misread me. That’s the diametric opposite of what I believe. I’m not saying anything is “absolute;” I’m just saying that I don’t see how Seven of Nine’s costuming is so massively dissimilar to all the other ways women are made uncomfortable in the name of beauty. That is an observation, not an endorsement.
“Maybe women won’t have to resort to painful ‘beautification’ practices if there wasn’t an expectation for them to perform those practices.”
Yes, that’s basically what I’m saying — that Seven’s costuming is not unique, just a reflection of those wider cultural expectations — which, as I already explicitly said, can absolutely be criticized. I am not disputing that, and you’ve misinterpreted me to an astonishing and frankly hurtful degree if you think I am.
“Yes those are two different levels, and yes they can be considered independently. But should they be?”
As a rule, yes, I think so. It’s a basic mistake to confuse a character’s personality and reactions with the actor’s personality and reactions. Acting is the art of creating illusion, pretending to be what you are not. I’m a big fan of learning about the realities of the creative process, but I have to be able to separate them from the illusion being created. You have to be able to believe a character is enjoying themselves even when you know the actor is uncomfortable as hell, or conversely that the character is enduring unbearable torture while the actor is feeling perfectly fine. And sometimes you have to believe that a character is a noble, compassionate hero even when you know the actor is a horrible, bigoted person, or that a character is a horrible, bigoted person even when the actor is the sweetest, most tolerant person in the world.
Personally, I would have preferred to see more men on the show in catsuits/unitards (well, if they had the physiques for them). I mean if the women should have to do it then so should the men. This was actually the case for the main cast, women and men, of TNG for the first two seasons of the series but apparently the unitards were causing the cast back problems so then came the looser, baggier uniforms (and thus, the “Picard Maneuver” (non-Battle of Maxia version) was born).
Garments and costumes on men can be a big drawing force for gay male and straight female eyeballs to TV shows too. I remember as an adolescent wanting to catch the premiere of The Flash (1990) because that sculpted muscle suit on John Wesley Shipp was like a sexual awakening for me!
I like that both Seven and Voyager are going through the same process in The Gift and it’s extremely difficult to both put them back to the way they were before they’re mutual encounters with the Borg. I don’t know how the Doctor can call Seven’s outfit functional when it’s completely impractical – the hair I can understand but never the catsuits. “Torres is very cranky about the Borg additions to her ship” and even crankier that Seven is the one helping her to remove them.
I’m surprised Seven never ran into the same problems Delenn faced when she became more human after Babylon 5’s first season and suddenly had a head of hair to contend with (and the maintenance issues that come with it). I would have preferred if Kes’ eventual transformation had been more gradual but with the addition of Jeri Ryan that wasn’t feasible so it had to be dealt with in just the one episode. Zimmerman would no doubt approve of Seven’s new wardrobe, Krad.
2: Kate Mulgrew always blamed any inconsistencies in Janeway’s reasoning on the writing (rather than her own shortcomings). 5: They hated one another but you can’t deny they didn’t have chemistry. The scenes with Seven and Janeway make up the best bits of The Gift, even if it comes at the cost of a proper farewell for Jennifer Lien. 6: I agree that Borg technology, once introduced into a biological or technological environment, slowly begins to spread until it’s taken over everything. Kes wreaking havoc – sounds like something from Fury (shudder!).
7: They may have buried the hatchet because what purpose does it serve carrying this thing on years later? 9: As I understand it, Mulgrew tried to get the cast to gang up on Ryan so if they made it unpleasant enough for her, she’d feel she had no choice but to quit. I lost some respect for Mulgrew after reading that. 10: The ending is a bit similar to what John Doe goes through at the end of Transfigurations, isn’t it?
11: They had to ditch the silver catsuit after a few episodes because Jeri Ryan would pass out in it if she turned her head too sharply. If you look at the other catsuits, the neckline was much more accommodating, but the decision to keep her in something that still looked sexy on her was one of VGR’s most questionable decisions. Ryan refused to become this show’s sex toy and rose above it time and again with her acting talents. “Ryan is a strong woman to have survived it” – she is. I have great respect for her and everything she had to put up with.
12: “You can see his heart twist in that scene” – that wasn’t acting at all from RDM, because he knows they’re about to lose Jennifer Lien. I can’t see how Ryan would have much freedom to move especially if she’s vacuum sealed into that thing. I’ve already explained (in the above paragraph) why that silver catsuit (which featured heavily in S4’s promotion) didn’t stick around for long.
13: I think when Lien’s departure was first announced, they tried to blame it on Kes’ alien lifespan (nine years) which they felt was unworkable. But if that’s the case, why make her so short-lived at all? Do you think Seven of Nine was named because there were nine people in the cast? The Gift reminds me of past episodes of VGR that try to straddle two separate plotlines instead of devoting whole episodes to either. The greater focus on Seven reduces Kes’ departure to that of an afterthought. Janeway is always inflexible with people who don’t share her opinions. Ayala must have been demoted at some point but it’s not the first time we’ve seen him pull guard duty (Suder). Seven’s enhanced vision will be seen again in Scientific Method, where it comes in very handy against the Srivani.
15: Was The Gift the one time Ryan and Mulgrew actually came to blows? 16: And don’t forget the corset as well. That would restrict her mobility even more. 17: “The choice of Kes is unfortunate” – it is. I mean, would anyone really have missed Ensign Kim? 39: The silver catsuit was supposed to have medical benefits, but that doesn’t explain why they kept her in a different one for the remainder of the series. 41: They probably figured casting the gorgeous Ryan would widen ST’s supposedly nerdy demographic.
42: Nana Visitor always wore tight Bajoran uniforms but none as form-fitting as the one she wore in S7. I don’t know if she ever complained of discomfort or if they were trying to sexualise Kira too. 43: The grey uniforms would never have worked on TNG or VGR but on DS9 they suit that show’s darker aesthetic. 44: Yeah, the camera(man) really fell in love with Ryan. 47: Many of the alien women in TOS were sexy (Roddenberry’s idea?).
48: I believe Seven was being groomed to be a new Borg Queen which would explain why her outfit is tailored to her physical attributes. 57: Fury – that’s a debate for a whole other time. 58: Jeri Ryan was good for VGR because she gave it the direction that was so needed during the first three seasons. 60: Mulgrew’s beef really should have been with the suits running VGR, but instead she directed her aggression towards Jeri Ryan and that created a lot of friction between them with the rest of the hapless cast caught in the middle.
71: “This commenting stuff is too energy-consuming” – it really is! 72: They can’t just quit the series and I’m sure Jeri Ryan must have been sorely tempted but she was under contract and I’m not sure how she was persuaded to stay a further three years. 74: Although not a Starfleet officer, couldn’t Seven be put in uniform like the ex-Maquis aboard Voyager? The only alternative is civilian clothing like Neelix and Kes. Why did neither of those choices occur to the producers? Probably because they were hellbent on seeing her in something sexier.
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Interesting idea. When I saw the previous episode where they meet Seven, my first take on it was “She’s more a character than the other Borg” and I thought that was a poor choice – but then I reflected on it and considered, “Seven of nine, tertiary adjunct of unimatrix zero one” is quite a small name for someone part of a collective of billions. So I wondered if ” tertiary adjunct of unimatrix zero one” means her nine were a group of Borg three levels below a central focus for the collective (Borg Queen but we don’t know that yet). Not in the sense of rank of course, just function. This would explain why she can be deployed semi-independently to liase with the crew. Being ex-human might have been a factor there, too. Given the idea, “Borg Queen” (which I’ve found weakened the Borg concept rather, really), Seven being on the list to be converted to one makes perfect sense.
I thought Ryan did a wonderful nuanced job playing her in this episode. I agree they should have taken a couple more episodes to stretch her transformation.
@@@@@25/Jenny Islander and @@@@@28/DavidO ‘s points about her outfit being reassuring in physical tightness, and more comfortable with heels, due to her personality possibly being similar to someone on the autistic spectrum’s an intriguing way to make in universe sense of it.
Out of universe, I’ve always appreciated the way the Starfleet characters don’t show those attitudes to highly sexualised uniforms. Sure they get crushes, have romantic relations, fall in love, but there’s no inherent power imbalance, and characters like Seven or T’Pol (or women wearing regular Starfleet uniforms to a lesser extent with their mysterious subtle heels, lack of belts, etc.) don’t in any way feel any need to try and act “sexy” like a woman today might choose or feel expected to do. If they all wore completely standard uniforms it would affect their behaviour in no way, and nor would it affect how other Starfleet characters attracted to them react. (I say “Starfleet”, because we see a lot of other characters who _do_ act like that – most of them associated with Quark – which just brings home the point).
Personally I find Seven very attractive due to her personality. The fact that she looks like Jeri Ryan is a welcome bonus, of course.
I pretty much missed out on Voyager after the first season, because around that time my friends got cars, and I got a girlfriend. Then college happened and my roommate was such a horn dog for 7 of 9, I couldn’t stand it. The sexualization of Ryan was a real disservice to the character. But since she was such a stand-out on Picard, I’ve decided to watch her arc (and post comments on a five-year-old rewatch). Where was I?
Ah, yes, the twin threads about choice and identity.
I found interesting parallels to the situation of trans kids in the way Janeway talks to Kes about her transformation. I’m sure this was not intended, but the debate about treatment to “fix” what someone feels with all their soul is their real identity, was just really powerful in this light. And in the end Kes is allowed to become what she knows she is.
And for 7 of 9, I couldn’t help but see parallels to overcoming addiction. The difficulty of abandoning a way of life that shields you from dealing with raw emotions and genuine connection to others couldn’t be more true to getting sober. You know the person you used to be, can dimly remember it, and are scared of what it’ll mean to be able to relate to people again. Also, this was probably unintended, but I felt it.
That’s what great sci-fi does, and I think I may go back and fill in all my Voyager gaps now.
Also, Star Trek gods, please give us a 7 of 9 series that continues Picard.