10 Amazing Behind The Scenes Secrets Of Star Trek: Voyager

The introduction of Seven of Nine in the final episode of Season 3 was, it's always alleged, designed to increase the show's "sex appeal" and help flagging ratings. While I was about 7 years old at the time so will be making no comment on the former there, her impact on the viewing numbers was positive... if only temporarily.

However, when it came to the portrayal of women on the show, Kate Mulgrew had spent 3 entire years making Janeway someone who was a Starfleet Captain first, and a woman second. She'd talked producers out of making her the first commanding officer to fully fraternize with a member of her crew (Picard sitting on his erection in sickbay for 8 years and Sisko smashing every woman he knew in the Mirror Universe does not count), and resented the idea they would now undo this progressive work just to pop a rating.

Thus, Jeri Ryan found shooting scenes with her incredibly uncomfortable. Partly because they'd squeezed her into a figure-hugging catsuit that took considerable time and effort to get on and off, but also because Mulgrew would work her to exhaustion to ensure that, if she was going to be getting the attention, her performances would merit it.

This initially led to a lot of tension between the two, but as the show rolled on Mulgrew began to respect the work Ryan was doing with the charachter, and the two's relationship improved.