Kathryn Janeway
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| Species | Human |
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| Home planet | Earth |
| Affiliation | United Federation of Planets Starfleet |
| Posting | Starfleet Command, Former Science Officer USS Al-Batani and Commanding Officer, USS Voyager |
| Rank | Captain (Star Trek: Voyager) Vice Admiral (Star Trek Nemesis) |
| Portrayed by | Kate Mulgrew |
Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. As the captain of the Starfleet starship USS Voyager, she was the lead character on the television series Star Trek: Voyager, and later, a Starfleet admiral, as seen in the 2002 feature film Star Trek Nemesis. She is the only female captain to be the lead character in a Star Trek series.
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[edit] Casting
The character was originally called Elizabeth Janeway, after the noted writer of the same name. However, after Geneviève Bujold was cast, she requested the character be renamed "Nicole Janeway". Bujold, whose experience was mainly in feature films, was unprepared for the schedule demanded by series television, and was unwilling to do news interviews. She dropped out on the second day of filming on the pilot episode "Caretaker".[1] Kate Mulgrew, who had previously auditioned for the role, was brought in. She suggested that the name be changed to "Kathryn", to which the producers agreed.[2] Actresses Erin Gray and Chelsea Field also auditioned for the role.[3]
[edit] Fictional character biography
Janeway's hometown is Bloomington, Indiana.[4] She was born on May 20.[5]
Captain Janeway took command of the Intrepid-class USS Voyager in 2371. Their first mission was to locate and capture a Maquis vessel last seen in the area of space known as the Badlands. While there, the Maquis ship and Voyager were transported against their will into the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light-years away, by a massive displacement wave. The Maquis ship is destroyed while fighting the Kazon-Ogla, and although Voyager survives, there are numerous casualties. In order to protect the Ocampa, who live on a planet Voyager visits, Janeway destroys the Caretaker Array, the space station that transported the two ships to the Delta Quadrant, which provides energy to the Ocampa's planet, despite the fact that the Array may be the two ships' only chance to return home. In doing this, Janeway strands her ship and crew seven decades' travel from home.[6]
Her first major task is integrating the surviving Maquis and Voyager crews. Chakotay, captain of the Maquis ship, succeeds the deceased Lieutenant Commander Cavit as her first officer. Janeway also grants convicted criminal, former Starfleet officer, and accomplished pilot Tom Paris a field commission, and makes him Voyager's helmsman.[6]
Janeway's other interactions with her crew include helping the ex-Borg Seven of Nine reclaim her individuality and humanity and advocating for the Doctor's status as a sentient being.[6]
During the course of the TV series, Voyager has contact with the Q Continuum on three occasions, and repeated contact with the Borg. With the intervention of a future/alternate version of herself, Janeway leads her crew in using one of the Borg's transwarp conduits to return her ship to Federation space after having traveled through the Delta Quadrant for seven years.[6]
[edit] Later appearances
During a cameo appearance in the film Star Trek Nemesis, now-Admiral Janeway instructs Captain Jean-Luc Picard to travel to Romulus at the invitation of the film's antagonist.[7]
Admiral Janeway also appeared in the Borg Invasion 4-D ride at the Star Trek: The Experience venue in Las Vegas, which closed in 2008. In the ride, Janeway leads Voyager to the rescue of ride participants who are ostensibly trapped first on a space station and later on a shuttlecraft that come under attack by a Borg Cube commanded by the Borg Queen. At the ride's end, Janeway tells the participants, "Congratulations. You've defeated the Borg with one thing the Queen can never assimilate: the human spirit. As long as we have that, resistance will never be futile."
Although Paramount considers only the onscreen, live-action Trek episodes and movies to be official canon, Janeway has nonetheless continued as a character in the Star Trek novels. In Peter David's 2007 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel, Before Dishonor,[8] which is set after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, Janeway is assimilated by a rogue faction of the Borg, and becomes the new Borg Queen. Seven of Nine, with the aid of Ambassador Spock and the Enterprise-E crew, manages to communicate with Janeway's consciousness, buried deep within the Queen's mind. During a brief moment of contact, Janeway helps them destroy the Borg cube, with all hands on board. Although Seven manages to escape, Janeway is killed. Her memorial service sees a vast turnout, and a tall gleaming pillar with a light burning atop it is constructed in tribute to her. The Q female, Lady Q, appears to Janeway's spirit, and tells her that Q and the Q Continuum had taken an interest in her. Telling her that she has a destiny, Lady Q takes Janeway by the hand, and disappears with her into realms unknown. Writer Peter David explained the book was conceived by Pocket Books editorial as one in which Janeway would die, and that he was brought in to write it in order to give her a "heroic" send-off.[9]
In Cryptic Studios online role-playing game, Star Trek: Online, Janeway is briefly mentioned in the background, exploring the Hobus system after the supernova that was the catalyst for the events of the 2009 Star Trek movie.[10]
In the 2012 Star Trek Voyager novel The Eternal Tide by Kirsten Beyer, Janeway returns to human life with the help of young Q, who needs her assistance, and by the book's end resumes her admiralship in Starfleet.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Meisler, Andy (1994-09-15). "Real 'Star Trek' Drama: Enlisting New Skipper". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/15/arts/real-star-trek-drama-enlisting-new-skipper.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
- ^ Poe, Stephen Edward (1998). A Vision of the Future: Star Trek Voyager. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53481-5.
- ^ Logan, Michael (05 1995). "Command Performance". http://www.totallykate.com/articles/cines595.html. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ As established in the Astrometrics Lab scene in Act 4 of the episode "Imperfection".
- ^ As established on the bridge scene on Day 65 in the 1997 episode "Year of Hell", which premiered during Voyager's fourth season.
- ^ a b c d Okuda, Michael & Denise (1994,1997,1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. New York City: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-03475-8.
- ^ "Summary of Star Trek Nemesis". Startrek.com. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/episodes/MOV/detail/90.html. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor at Amazon.com
- ^ Peter David. "Star Trek: New Frontier from IDW". December 20, 2007. David explains the genesis of Janeway's death in a December 29, 2007, 6:46pm post
- ^ "Mission: Ground Zero" mission text, Star Trek Online
[edit] External links
- Kathryn Janeway at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
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