Jeri Ryan Talks Star Trek Fans + Seven of Nine

Jeri Ryan has worked constantly since her time as 7 of 9 on Star Trek Voyager, including her recent stint on the heist show Leverage. But in a interview promoting the Leverage season 2 DVD set, Ryan admitted she still gets more fan mail for her work on Star Trek.  

 

Ryan on Seven

Ryan was interviewed by TV Squad, mostly focusing on her work on Season 2 of Leverage, but the conversation also turned to Star Trek. Here are some excerpts:

What’s been your experience as a veteran of a ‘Star Trek’ series. Are you still invited to conventions?
Oh, absolutely. I still get more fan mail from ‘Star Trek’ than from any other job I’ve ever had. There is no fan base like the Trek people. They are incredibly passionate, incredibly loyal. They’re a pretty amazing group of people. I actually did my first convention in five or six years just this past year and it was fun just to reconnect with them. It was fun to revisit those times.

What was it about Seven of Nine that made her such a unique character?
It was part of watching her looking at humanity from a different, outside perspective. She was trying to regain her humanity and relearn it, so she was very child-like in a way. That was why I used my son, who was two-and-a-half years old at the time, as a model for the character. She was like a child, watching things, and when I watched the baby, I saw he did the same thing. His reactions were new, like hers. It’s an interesting thing to see ourselves from a different perspective and not somebody who’s just a different species who’s commenting on humanity. She was somebody who had to learn to embrace it herself and learn all the nuances of it.

Read the rest at TV Squad.


Ryan on Leverage

Leverage: The Complete Second Season is available now on DVD.

 

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First off, I’d like to say I thought Jeri did a great job with the character of Seven. It was one of those special characters like Spock, or Data, that required an exta bit of skill to pull off, and she did it well.

has she held a job longer than Trek???

You’re awsome Jerri Ryan!!! I’d send you fanmail if I could! :)

LOVE IT. Grew up a lot during this show and as “science-fictiony” as a liberated borg drone was, I felt like I could relate to her befuddlement with humanity and the growing pains she experienced as an outsider trying to fit into a family. Made me have hope in my social shortcomings and basically feel like less of a freak. Absolutely superbly acted too. The Raven episode? GOLD. Hats off, Ms. Ryan, and thank you.

BOOBS!! lol seriously great rack on her.

@5

Someone had to say it. THANKS!

I love her as an actor. (Great work on Dark Skies even before VOY.) But as a fictional character—you know, the female Trek co-star male viewers fall in love with—there’s nobody like T’Pol. :)

I thought she did a great job, but i wasn’t ooohing and aaahing all over her like everyone else. Now T’Poll on the other hand………..

Jeri Ryan did a great job as Seven. It was interesting to see her take what was obviously a Huge-tits MacGee actually be used as a platform for the understanding humanity character.

Seven s is one of the best characters from any Star Trek series.

#5,9

Interesting observations. I can see this article has struck a chord somewhere! :-)

I’ve always felt that she was anorexic during the making of Voyager – too skinny! Not attractive.

#12

Totally disagree! Jeri Ryan was hot as Seven Of Nine, and is still hot all these years later!

The most sex-citing Star Trek cast member ever? I’m a girl, and I think so!!!

yes jeri really made seven live-especially episodes with her and the doctor with a hologram trying to teach her to be more human was great–also her interactions with janeway were excellent as well–will always love jeri as seven–she managed to put more depth into her character and became much more than just a sex symbol to draw in male viewers-

She’s got a great pair of series in front of her now and became a better actor than most of the boobs she played opposite. I only have mountains of praise for her firm and inviting personality and have often found it titillating to watch as she lifted and separated herself high above the detracting knockers from her past. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be lights on high beam pointing to a bright and perky future, with mounds of opportunities ahead to embrace enthusiastically with groping hands outstretched.

Well what more can I say? She deserves jugs and jugs of success as she continues to rack up voluminous industry accolades by vastly exceeding the feeble measurements set by her peers!

OMG! ROFLMAO! At 16!

@16
LOL! That’s exactly what I was thinking….approximately.

Good one #16!

16 – Is that the breast you can do?

She is an attractive woman, but that costume was truly f’ng ridiculous as titillating as it was (pardon the pun!)

#21 – I was trying to be supple…er, subtle.

oops, #20 I meant. (must be tired, it’s bed time here in Australia and it’s time to hit the rack…um, sack, and bury my head into my milk pillow….er, silk pillow.)

Is that John Laroquette with her in the photo from “Cleavage”?

Oops… I mean “Leverage.”

She’ll always be Seven With Two to me….

Yes, i’m shallow.

Thanks for the mammaries!

Males are so easily turned into babbbbalin foools en day r distracted buy a a purttty ace and a biggg rack.

She never needs to win a Golden Globe; she’s already got two.

Sorry folks, but 7 of 9 was part of the downward spiral of TV Trek, the “insert eye candy actress here” part of the formula. For all this high minded chatter about character development all you need to do is ask yourself, “if we stuck a rock hard guy in a catsuit that showed off his assets, would we have to modify the script in any way?”, most of the time the answer would be no. Vapid characters + vapid script = no Trek on TV anytime soon…..

oh… great bit of writing, 16!!

25. LOVE IT

#29 People in the future aren’t made of stone. They need shapely crew members like 7 of 9 to make it through those long voyages. BTW Name one show cast with homely actors that has been a success.

When will they start making robotic 7 of 9s (for home “use”)?

#32. I’m not saying that sex doesn’t sell, but when a series goes from being story and character driven to parading someone around in a catsuit it’s usually a sign of trouble. The last few years of Trek on TV were so formula driven is was amazing that it lasted as long as it did. You could almost see the countdown clock on Enterprise, just waiting for the characters to morph into TNG light….

Seven of Nine is my favorite star trek character

#16

Classic!

#29, 34

TV networks know that men tend to “vote” with their… *ahem*… remotes!

Legs were too short for a borg

#34 – I believe that the tight jumpsuit was a Starfleet requirement to stop her Borg implants from coming loose.

I loved the show Shark – getting to see her made it even more fun.

As I remember Thek has always had skimpy costumes for the ladies. Uhura’s skirt was very short, Terry Ferrell’s uniform in DS9 was form fitting (not as much as the cat suit) & she is a knock out. Marina Sirtis also had a few tight costumes but I was lost in her crying so much during seasons 1 & 2.

#29

You can’t honestly say that Jeri Ryan was the begining of hot ladies in skimpy outfits in Trek, can you? Did you ever watch TOS?

#29 – you thought she was nothing but eye candy? Really? I thought Voyager got better once she joined. She had some really heartfelt moments with Janeway and turned out to be one of the more interesting characters on that show.

Yeah, I watched TOS, and the producers didn’t try to hide that the ladies were there to hang on the Captain’s arm. TOS was very sexist, but it was a reflection of the time.

The point isn’t when did the hot ladies appear, but at what point did the producers start plugging in sex symbols for no other reason then to prop up ratings?

#42

You have a point. There is nothing wrong with having some hot ladies on Trek, just not as a coverup for lame writing.

The problem with Seven Of Nine was, after season four, a lot of episodes revolved around her in some fashion. It was her, Janeway and the Doctor from season five onward.

Shouldn’t her name have been Seventh of Nine?
Hugh was Third of Five.

She is beautiful.

@44: “Shouldn’t her name have been Seventh of Nine?”

Well, nobody’s perfect.

…wait.

46. To be geeky for a moment (Hope THAT isn’t out of place on Trekmovie). Seventh of Nine is more consistent with the Borg hive culture. Seven of Nine puts the emphasis on the individual, in this case “Seven” and makes the place order less significant. However, the ordinal number “Seventh” puts the emphasis on the place within the group, hence the individual is deemphasized.

BTW, E=MC2

Thank God, I finally moved out of my Mom’s basement…yesterday.

I think Seven of Nine looked best in a starfleet uniform, I’ve always preferred to use my imagination. The catsuits were alittle over the top, they reminded me of the suits that were worn on shows like Lost in Space and UFO.

I like the Seven of Nine character, but I didn’t always like the stories of VOY. Some of the Seven-centric stories, especially, were among the most awful, IMO, such as “Someone To Watch Over Me.” zzzzz

Bountiful ‘breastesses’ AKA the unabashed appreciation of “the fairer gender” have been alluring, visual components of Trek scenery from the very beginning.

God(s) bless the beautiful Trek Women. Cultural barriers, givers of pain and delight? Well, that’s a risk I’d be willing to take for the team!! :-)