Geneviève Bujold, The Original Janeway..

[srombomb]

Rick Berman really makes me think he had no idea what he was doing running Star Trek.

For starters, if you watch the footage of Bujold as Janeway you'll see firsthand she hasn't the least bit of charisma in her acting. Maybe she has shown more in other roles, but for Janeway, wow, it was BADDDDD.

To hear Rick Berman say ""She's (Bujold's) a very very good actor and I'm sure that if we had been doing a motion picture she would've been phenomenal." said Berman "But there was enough going on in that first day or two that we realized that for everybody's sake it was best to go in another direction." was what made me realize he had no idea what he was doing.

Right Rick, so a woman who showed you she possessed no acting ability in a Sci-Fi TV show, would have just been PHENOMENOL in a Trek motion picture. Dear god man.

This fool ran Trek into the ground, and this is just one of the subtle ways you can see his incompetance.

 

[Dane_Whitman]

I don't know, I've seen Bujold in some of her older films and she was pretty good. I applaud Berman & co for pursuing Bujold, she is an actress whose participation would have brought a certain prestige to the show. Obviously she didn't know what to do with the material, it just didn't work out and the test footage is terrible. I'm not sure if Berman specifically meant a Trek movie or a motion picture in general.

 

[Anwar]

Bujold kind of came off as one of those "Classically Trained Extras" types (thank you Tvtropes). The ones who feel its' beneath them and their talent to do stuff like sci-fi.

And I think Berman was just trying to be nice to her when he said that.

 

[Shatmandu]

Wow! Someone doesn't like Rick Berman?

Next thing you know, someone will tell me Star Trek: Nemesis wasn't wonderful.

Joe, shocked!

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I haven't seen her other work...but she comes off wooden as hell in the little bit we see of her in the alternate pilot footage.

 

[timelord1010]

I think Berman was trying to repeat the success they had with Patrick Stewart, a classically trained actor willing to do TV. I've seen the footage also and she looked out of her element. I thought that's what screen tests were for? From what I understand they shot almost half of the pilot episode before she was replaced by Kate Mulgrew.
I could imagine that if she lasted a few episodes and then bailed out they would have either killed the character of Janeway off or did a "Darren" and brought in another actress (maybe a transporter or other accident changed her appearance).
Luckily this didn't have to happen.

 

[Tachyon]

Not original, but prototype. Trial version would also do.

 

[AuntKate]

Bujold was all wrong for the part from the beginning. Thank God Mulgrew was available when Bujold bowed out.

 

[freak]

I saw the scene with Bujold in it as well..the woman was just..BLAND..pure and simple! Then when I saw the same scene with Mulgrew, I thought: man the producers did a damn fine job when picking her for the role! I think Voyager would have ended after season one of Bujold had been there..she just had no charisma and seemed to not enjoy herself at all. And I do agree with what has been mentioned about her: maybe she DID feel that doing sci-fi was beneath her..I'm not sure why she would think that though..you would think that an actor would be willing to do any movie or TV show just to gain some experience with diverse roles?? Maybe I'm wrong about this one.

 

[Tachyon]

Bujold and Mulgrew seem to be so different. Perhaps Bujold's version of Janeway would have worked as well, but it was Mulgrew who really sold me the character from the first moments she appeared on Caretaker.

 

[Anwar]

I saw the scene with Bujold in it as well..the woman was just..BLAND..pure and simple! Then when I saw the same scene with Mulgrew, I thought: man the producers did a damn fine job when picking her for the role! I think Voyager would have ended after season one of Bujold had been there..she just had no charisma and seemed to not enjoy herself at all. And I do agree with what has been mentioned about her: maybe she DID feel that doing sci-fi was beneath her..I'm not sure why she would think that though..you would think that an actor would be willing to do any movie or TV show just to gain some experience with diverse roles?? Maybe I'm wrong about this one.

The whole thing about "Classically trained" actors complaining about sci-fi/fantasy/genre work all being beneath them is kind of funny considering Trek. Patrick Stewart actually told Lalla Ward (the second Romana in Doctor Who) that it would damage her career, but when he got cast as Picard he told others who thought it was a laughable role that all the Kings and Emperors he played were excellent practice for a role like Picard. Nice to see that classy respectful attitude from someone.

 

[teya]

And I do agree with what has been mentioned about her: maybe she DID feel that doing sci-fi was beneath her..I'm not sure why she would think that though..you would think that an actor would be willing to do any movie or TV show just to gain some experience with diverse roles?? Maybe I'm wrong about this one.

Bujold is a film actress. Filming a movie is a different process than filming TV. Movies shoot at the approximate rate of 1 page of script a day, so that a 2 hour movie takes about 3 - 4 months to film. In contrast, they shoot 1 hour of television in a week. On TV shoots, actors don't have extended rehearsals to get into the role before filming. There isn't time for multiple re-shoots.

Jeri has noted the difference from the other perspective--she finds film shoots too slow, because she's used to the pace on TV sets.

 

[Trekwatcher]

Are the clips of Bujold as Janeway on Youtube? I do not have the DVD's (where I think they are included as extras).

 

[kes7]

Are the clips of Bujold as Janeway on Youtube? I do not have the DVD's (where I think they are included as extras).

Yes, they are. Go to YouTube and search for "First Janeway." There are a couple of clips. It is seriously painful to watch, but made me appreciate Mulgrew so much more. Bujold was mousy, halfhearted, and stumbled through the technobabble.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I never got Berman's attitude about Bujold. Back in the day, when it was first announced Janeway was going to have to be recast, Berman did interviews where he essentially said, "I told her so! I tried to warn her!" He made it out like he knew all along she wasn't going to work. Well, then, Rick, why did you cast her in the first place?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

To be fair, Berman did realize she wasn't going to work out.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I think Berman was trying to repeat the success they had with Patrick Stewart, a classically trained actor willing to do TV. I've seen the footage also and she looked out of her element. I thought that's what screen tests were for? From what I understand they shot almost half of the pilot episode before she was replaced by Kate Mulgrew.
I could imagine that if she lasted a few episodes and then bailed out they would have either killed the character of Janeway off or did a "Darren" and brought in another actress (maybe a transporter or other accident changed her appearance).
Luckily this didn't have to happen.

I doubt they even screen tested her. I think they just offered her the role straight up. She was kind of a big name to screen test I think.

 

[Sharkey]

1) After weeks of auditioning every female actor in Hollywood, the studio was pressuring Berman to cast another Picard. They literally wanted an older British man. Berman refused, insisting the newest starship captain could and should be a woman. He finally convinced the studio by getting Bujould to accept the part.

2) Bujould is an amazing actor with a lifetime of credits to prove it. As such she was never screen tested. That's simple courtesy to an actor of her stature.

3) Bujould did not want the part. It had nothing to do with being "classically trained" or that the material was beneath her. (She did Dead Ringers, for crying out loud.) The fact is that television is a grueling business, shooting 10 to 15 hours each day for five (and sometimes six) days a week. As someone has already mentioned, there are often last-minute rewrites and absolutely no rehearsal time. This is what Berman tried to warn her about -- not about her ability as an actress to portray the part. But there is also amazing money to be made, and Bujould's agents and managers wanted their percentage of that money. They convinced her to take the role.

4) She shot for three days. In that time the only footage they got was what you see on the DVD. (Not "half the episode" as has been said elsewhere.) As the footage shows, her heart is not in it. Very early on the third day she retreated to her dressing room. To quote TV Guide's Michael Logan at the time, "She left the set and no one went after her."

5) The production team frantically rearranged the schedule, trying to complete work on sets that were not supposed to be done for several days. They had to be shot now since they did not include the captain (Maquis shuttle scenes, etc.).

6) Paramount used this delay as proof that they were right about wanting a man in the part. They flew in "The Madness of King George" star Nigel Hawthorne, insisting Berman interview him for the role. Instead, the revolving door of female auditions began again, including Susan Gibney and Lindsey Wagner. I still argue that it was a blessing they got the smart, attractive, and endlessly talented Kate Mulgrew.

*Story is pieced together from articles, interviews, and personal appearances of cast and crew -- especially one very lengthy and gracious Q&A that Mulgrew gave at a Creation Convention early in the Voyager production cycle, in which she made it quite clear that she has nothing but respect for Bujould as a colleague and a professional who had the personal strength to remove herself from a job for which she knew she was wrong, despite what must have been huge monetary temptations.

 

[Aurian]

I never realised the full back story on this. I have to check out the youtube files. Thanks for the info

 

[Anwar]

Nice to see some people do their research instead of "It's all Bermans' fault!"