Sharp-eyed Trekkies can easily see a throughline connecting Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) from “Star Trek: Voyager” directly to T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) from “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Seven of Nine was brought onto “Voyager” in its fourth season as an attempt to boost flagging ratings, a mercenary tactic openly admitted by the show’s creators.
On the special features included on the “Voyager” DVDs, executive producer Brannon Braga suggested to fellow executive Rick Berman that their show should include a Borg as a character.
Berman suggested it be “a Borg babe,” and history was made.
Ryan was squeezed into an architecturally impressive corset, and ratings began to go up. Prior to and during her acting career on “Enterprise,” Jolene Blalock was a professional model, having appeared in multiple magazines like FHM, Maxim, and Playboy, clothed.
Casting Blalock as the Vulcan first officer in “Enterprise,” then, seemed as mercenary as casting Ryan as…
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