Impressions

Eric Fox:

Jennifer was AMAZING! She was very shy, but she was friendly. She was NOT, (IN NO WAY!) rude like other "fans" have reported. The truth is simple : she does NOT do "schtick" like the other cast members.  She answers her questions truthfully and in a concise manner. She keeps her head about her even when she has a reason to blow her stack, for example, a number of fans asked some bizarre questions :

      Strange Question #1 : "Jennifer will you marry me?"
      Response: "No, not today..."
      Question #2 : "Jennifer, an asteroid will hit the earth VERY soon how do you feel about NASA,
      asteroids and the price of a cheeseburger in paradise?"
      Response: "Ummm, yes?!?"
 

You will notice that in most of my pictures of Jennifer she has her eyes closed.  Remember how calm and centered Kes was? It wasn't an act. If Jenn was more laid back she would be sleeping!  She is the polar opposite of Nicole DeBoer. I think this is because she is very nervous coming out in front of the fans. She seems like a very private person. She will NOT give out any information she does not feel comfortable giving out. Unfortunately, this means that she answers questions in a very round-about manner. At the dinner that night I heard some rumblings about this from the other guests.  I don't think she means to be rude, but she seems to be in her own world. In fact, when I asked her about SLC Punk! and when it will be on released on video she didn't know when it was coming out!

When I asked about working with the great Edward Norton in American History X she said in a     slow dreamy voice "Oh..it was great, they were both great."  When I asked about her favorite       episode she said she liked them all!  (See where this is going??)

But I can see why she was a little dazed, she was assulated by Trek fans-- she was asked at LEAST 5 times what happened-- why did she leave the show.  The first time she said she was glad to have stayed as long as she did. The second time she said the Kes character was not supposed to be as permanent as it was. The rest of the time the audience just boooed at the questioners until a woman said it wasn't any of our business.

And then she was asked about an asteroid hitting the Earth and the NASA budget....

Anyway, I hope I'm not making excuses for her. I REALLY thought she was a nice if shy person who was almost thrown to the wolves!  NovaCon seems to want it's guests to go right to Question & Answer time so she didn't have a chance to speak for awile first.

The NovaCon guy said this was one of three Cons she was attending so I think she just didn't know what to expect.  In any case you COULD see the talent there and she DID have the VOICE!  It was in full force and sent the same chills down my spine with every little word and I am very glad I went.
 

Diane Heal:

Jennifer Lien is an experience. She is shy (boy was she nervous when she first came out), extremely beautiful, funny, down to earth, and somewhat on another planet. What I found interesting is that she seems to know her limitation and strengths and is very in control of herself. It was a fun 45 minutes. She has gained a little weight and looks wonderful, not the skinny, skinnly little thing she was in Season 3.  She wore a simple black dress and didn't say a bad word against anyone, even when prompted to by the audience.

When asked if she would do Voyager again, she emphatically said "NO"! She also said she stays in contact with some of the cast (didn't say who), that she loved the cast, crew, and all the writers. When asked about Jeri Ryan, she was very gracious and stated that she understood that "They"-- whoever they are, (I think UPN), wanted the show to go in a different direction. That's all she would say. She seemed to have come to terms with this reality. She stated that for her career her part of the show is over and that she was moving on. She seems to understand the reality of Holllywood. I really gained a lot of respect for this very classy young lady. She also stated that Kes was not originally written to be part of the Voyager crew and she was happy that her character lasted as long as it did. Again, a very classy answer.

Oh, and one funny question. Someone asked if Kes' character had continued on, who would she have wound up with: Neelix, Tom, or Tuvok. Her answer was: "She would flip a coin."
 

D'Alaire:

Jennifer Lien was--yes--a class act, so *nervous,* yet reserved, sweet, finally smiling now and again--and genuinely.

She didn't have "routine" worked up, yet though she couldn't answer too many of the questions, she came off as just very, very real, which simply endeared me more. In a way, it broke my heart all over again to think they outed Kes--and to hear she wouldn't be coming back on Voyager again. Sigh. Not surprising, but...well...ah well. My favorite was when they were asking about practical jokes on the set. She said if they were played on her, she probably didn't get it at the time, so she couldn't remember any particular time they played a gag on her. (giggle) Or, "Will you marry me?"  --"No," she said in a breath and turned for the next hand.

Photographs by Eric Fox.