Remember the romantic relationship between Seven of Nine and Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager? If you were like me, you probably felt it was something the writers pulled out of left field in the final season and the series finale.
Appears I’m not alone in that assessment.
Actress Jeri Ryan says that she doesn’t think the romance between the characters worked either.
“It’s not that I didn’t buy it … My problem with that relationship was that it came out of the blue. They had started the set-up of the relationship a few episodes earlier, in the episode (“Human Error”) where Seven was experimenting with her humanity on the holodeck,” she tells StarTrek.com. “And so she sort of fell in love with Chakotay there. They said something like her could never have these sorts of relationships because she would die, or whatever. The next episode that we shot after that (“Natural Law”), Seven and Chakotay were stranded on some planet together. We specifically asked the producers – Robert and I – “Now, are we going to play this? Is this going to go somewhere? Because, obviously, we’d need to carry something over from … ” And they said, “No, no, no, no! Absolutely not. Don’t play any of that. Nothing’s going to happen.””
“So, after that one episode we never played any sort of attraction or anything between the two characters,” added Ryan. “And then, out of the blue, all of a sudden, they’re dating (in “Endgame”). That was a little annoying, especially when you’ve specifically asked about it and they said, “No, absolutely not.” Then, suddenly they’re in love. That was a little … It’s one of the frustrations of network television. And it’s how you learn, also. You have to try to be the babysitter and the protector of your character.”
Do you agree with Ryan? Or do you disagree? Or had you tuned out on Voyager by the time these episodes aired?
Voyager was mostly miss and very little hit so this shouldn’t shock her.
Really slow sci fi news day?
Voyager, A.K.A. Star Trek’s last gasp before we REALLY go for the last gasp with Enterprise.
However, in some of the continuing Voyager novels the romance continued on Earth where they married.
I totally agree with her. The whole series had built up a relationship between Seven and the Doctor. It would have been SO MUCH more believable to have let that relationship pay off with some romance rather than the unrequited love from the Doctor who wanted more while Seven just wanted a friendship. The Chakotay relationship was totally out of nowhere and completely unbelievable.
I must have missed that episode or something, ’cause I don’t remember anything like this. The only romance I remember is Seven and the Doctor’s “romance”, even though it was basically just the Doc falling in love and Seven not understanding.
and it only took her how many years to figure this out?
Funny, I thought that it was Chakotay and the Captain that had sparks. Seven and the Holographic doctor always struck me as cold. Voyager was an imperfect series, but to Paramount’s credit … they did make it home, thanks to Barkley the holodeck addict. So there was closure. Unlike Enterprise, left in cancellation limbo.