Going to work at a place that requires supplemental oxygen doesn’t sound like it would be much fun. For Jeri Ryan, though, it was a requirement if she didn’t want to pass out while wearing the Borg drone suit on Star Trek: Voyager. In Star Trek: Voyager A Celebration, Ryan described the suit that was created for her to wear while she portrayed part of the collective, and it doesn’t sound pleasant at all.
A cast was made of her entire body, and a neoprene suit was created from that. Neoprene is what wet suits are made from so it’s perfectly fitted. And this suit covered her all the way up to her neck. On top of that, rubber, fiberglass, and all the other elements that created a Borg were applied. The problem was that the designers didn’t factor in that Ryan was also going to be wearing a prosthetic bald cap which wrapped around her neck and throat which added about another inch of material pressing against her neck. And when she turned her head, that cap applied pressure to her carotid artery, causing her to feel light-headed like she was going to pass out.
Being new, Ryan kept the information to herself because she didn’t want to cause any problems, but coming close to blacking out finally made her speak up. Immediately, oxygen was brought to the set. Shortly after that, a slit was cut in the back of the suit that gave Ryan some breathing room.
Jeri Ryan was in that suit the entire first episode. It must have been absolutely miserable to feel faint each time she turned her head. And while it’s understandable why she was hesitant about speaking up her first week or so on the job, she’s incredibly fortunate that the suit didn’t cause some other issues. Who knew becoming Seven of Nine was so dangerous in that first episode?