From Trekweb

(French-Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold was the first choice of the producers of Star Trek Voyager to play Captain Nicole Janeway (see photo). She quit after a day and a half of shooting the pilot episode, with the public reason being she was unaccustomed to the hectic pace of television filming.

The producers subsequently hired TV veteran Kate Mulgrew, and changed the captain's name from Nicole to Kathryn Janeway at Mulgrew's advice.

Here is excerpts of a rare interview with Bujold, conducted in 1994, the only very rare interview in which she discusses Nicole Janeway and Star Trek Voyager.

"I am very excited about starring in the new series" Bujold told the National Enquirer regarding Voyager.

"But I am most admit that I've never been a Trekkie. In fact, although I had heard of Star Trek, I had never seen any of the shows of films before now."

"I am 52 - a perfect age for thecaptain." she declared

"I dont thinkI've evr seen a science fiction movie at all. But because of that I believe I"ll be able to bring a freshness to this role. I'm studying Star Trek episodes the producers sent me so I can see how William Shatner and Patrick Stewart handled the role of captain, I want to do it right."

"This role is a challenge but it feels right. I am going where no woman has gone before."

The full 1994 interview with the National Enquirer
http://www.treksinscifi.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=10405.0;attach=26805;image

The 3-minute footage of Bujold as Captain Nicole Janeway can be found at YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SIZcDWKyw0

She looks good in the part but I understand if you are not use to those hours. It can be like 18 hour work days. Been there and did that on a few shows.

I can't say I'm too excited about Bujold, but Janeway wasn't that much better either.

Seven for captain

She lacked that 'semi hidden' emotive look that Mulgrew had which made her less "bitchy". Hard to see from three minutes of taping...But Bujold looks more "Coincée", to take a French expression, more stuck up, uneasy in her role. She admitted that she wasn't a Star trek fan at all, so I guess that didn't help.

Approved! Seven as Captain!

Captain Seven... That would be... efficient.

Wow Bujold definitely would have been different than Mulgrew.

She has the look but in that little YouTube clip her delivery is rather flat.
She has given outstanding performances in prior acting jobs.
I am guessing the people in charge looked at the result and chose to let her go.
It may have been a face saving statement for her to resign. The camera does not lie.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000991/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Yeah, I agree that it was a tad flat although she probably would have brightened up some as she got used to the part. It is better to hit the ground running though. What I appreciate here is her slight accent and voice quality. It didn't bother me much, but my wife hated Janeway's voice.

To me, just the fact that she didn't know much of Star Trek was enough to make her acting bad... Well, not that bad, but uncertain and annoyed. Indeed, she was a great actor in many films other than Sci-Fi, or Future action because those genres need a lot of imaginative emotions and thus, you have to strongly believe in yourself that it IS actually happening in your life. I think she was really mostly convincing in 'Day to Day' dramas and to simulate other people's life (Joan of Ark, Ann of a thousand days, Isabel, The act of the heart etc...), but action and thrillers, or horror and Sci-Fi weren't her best shots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genevi%C3%A8ve_Bujold

Speaking for myself, Kate Mulgrew was a much better choice and would have been my first choice from the start, had I been in charge of picking the actors. Her being younger helped create more interesting topics for the captain to tackle, like the occasional romance or the almost lustful way she and Chakotay looked at one another at times. Those would have been much less likely with an older actress. And the action scenes she was involved in; do you think Bujold would have been willing or able to shoot so many personal combat scenes? The only major aspect I disliked about her was her grin of satisfaction, which I dubbed "overgrinning". It appeared so queer, with the extremities of her mouth moving on occasion very non-realistically, in my opinion. All in all, it is my firm belief that she brought a big plus to the show, a plus Bujold wouldn't have.

True. And the fact that, at the start, she seemed to know what was her role and get into it right away implies that she knew already what Star Trek was going to be. ..Much intrigues, action, a little romance and much compassion for her comrades and crew, briefly, a mix of every emotion a captain must have when venturing in a spaceship. Briefly, a personal, intimate, family story of a captain and her crew. I loved her in almost any episodes and I felt like I was part of the family.

In her cold rigid mask, she had that sensibility and firmness that a mother had for her children when the father's not there. Rigid and hard as a wall outside, but soft and chewy like candy on the inside. A real mother!

This is an interesting point, but I thing we are over-analyzing the issue. Even though Bujold is a good actress, she simply just sucked at the particular role (even more than Mulgrew ). I have no hands-on experience with acting, but from what I understand not every actor can play just any role.

I definitively have to agree to that. Roles are played best when they feel natural, and actors give a more natural feeling when they are comfortable with their role and it fits their own character.
I found Mulgrew gave quite a natural feeling to her role. Sure you can question her role fitting other star trek, but she played it natural and I loved to watch Voyager disregarding all it's flaws.

Bujold on the other hand, just watching the short 3-minute footage, I doubt would have ever become feel natural in her role. They would have needed to adapt the scripting I think, but they almost never do adapt scripting to actors in my perception.

I liked Mulgrew. I thought she did a great job and it is probably true Bujold wouldn't have felt natural in the role. BTW, great thread title Kenneth

I believe you need to have a very open mind at the start if you want to succeed in this role. Mulgrew did believe in the future, and in Star Trek adventures, enough to imagine how to react in invisible or futuristic situations, but it wasn't the case with Bujold because she couldn't imagine herself (she mentioned it in her interview) or believe in a future like this. She is mostly successful in past or near present situations, as I mentioned earlier.

She IS quite a great actress and she proved it enough after all these years, but her acting experiences limited her to foreseeing real, in life and/or human situations... like for example, seeing a tidal wave rolling in or a volcano erupting, which are natural emergency situation that one can easily imagine the consequences, since it is possible to everyone's point of view. But foreseeing an Electro-Magnetic storm in space or an alien attack and imagining how it could affect people in a spaceship is another story if you don't believe at the start that it COULD be a possible situation, like we gang can easily imagine here . (hey, we could even be good actors at this!)

My opinion here only, not a judgment.