IPTAT: Assimilated
Scene-Stealers - Part Three
I’m putting together a team… multiple teams, in fact.
The eight-team bracket will determine who is the most gifted (and potentially ruthless) squad of them all.
Team 6: Scene-Stealers
Minor characters who evolved into major roles.
Steve Urkel (Family Matters)
The Fonz (Happy Days)
Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Voyager)
Leon Black (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Before the figurative fracas begins, we will first get to know the next set of competitors, continuing with a cyborg from the future.
Scene-Stealers, assemble!
3. Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Voyager)
First appearance: Star Trek: Voyager (“Scorpion, Part II” episode 1, season 4, 1997)
Popular entertainment of 1997:
Event Horizon - film starring Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill
Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict - television series starring Von Flores and Leni Parker
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter #1) - book by J.K. Rowling
Annika Hansen was a human child when she was assimilated by the intergalactic, cybernetic villains known as the Borg. She spent most of her life in the Collective, serving as a robotic drone called Seven of Nine. When Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew sever her from the Borg hive mind, Seven struggles with reclaiming her individuality, emotions, and humanity. Over time, she becomes an invaluable member of the crew, contributing her Borg knowledge and developing strong, though sometimes strained, personal relationships—most notably with Janeway and the Doctor, the emergency medical hologram serving aboard the Voyager.
In Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023), Seven reemerges decades later as a hardened vigilante working with the Fenris Rangers, dedicated to protecting those abandoned by larger powers. Haunted by her Borg past and the Federation’s distrust of former drones, she nevertheless allies with Jean-Luc Picard, himself once assimilated as Locutus. Over the course of the spinoff series, Seven confronts questions of identity, belonging, and morality while rediscovering a capacity for connection and leadership. By Picard’s final season, Seven has fully embraced her dual heritage—human and Borg—and achieves recognition as a Starfleet captain.
Strong, intelligent, and tough, Seven of Nine is an intriguing and indispensable addition to the team, but her no-nonsense style will clash with Urkel’s overbearing personality and the Fonz’s cooler than cool greaser attitude—-maybe Leon Black’s unique view on life will hold them together.
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