You know, I get asked what my favorite ST series is..and I always reply: "Voyager." ...and then I'm asked for my favorite character... While, there are a few VERY close seconds (the Doctor & Janeway).. Kes is truly my favorite! Anyone else feel similarly?
on a side note....and completely unrelated...my adhd has apparently kicked in, and this makes me feel oh so happy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve4cyx81m1c
I'd post some Suck My Spock but it really belongs in the TOS forum where.. it doesn't really belong. I guess I'll just have to write my own JANEWAY PUNK THRASHER STUFFS!!!
janeway. punk. thrasher. band. its onnnnnnn. I've always imagined a sweet, badass, punk rock roller derby team w Janeway as the captain (duh) and then there's Kes, T'Pol and Crusher beating some ass....not Troi...Troi's a pussy...I digress, apologies. ..
Kes would have been much more interesting if the writers seemed to have any idea what they wanted to do with her.
I really liked Kes, I rank her as my second favourite character on VOY (after Torres and before Tuvok). Her relationship with Neelix was always cringeworthy, so I was happy when they split them up as she was no longer Neelix's girlfriend and could start to be a character in her own right. She was a sweet, warm, 'innocent' character, who deserved to stay. But there is a real passion and awe to her as well, her line in Caretaker ("I saw the sunlight") was excellently delivered, that you just felt her joy and wonder at something so simple that we take for granted. She was a far more interesting character than Seven. I sometimes wonder what would happen when she entered the Elogium, who (if anyone) she would choose as a mate.
My favorite Kes was the Warlord one. I hadn't seen it in years but when I recently rewatched it I was all WHOA!! Why couldn't we have more of that?
Yeah the story was crappy if not downright silly but Jennifer Lien really put her all into that one. Seven of Nine never had a dialogue that powerful.
Why they couldn't have kept Kes as well as Seven I don't understand, as both had very different roles. They should've just gotten rid of Kim as they planned, or better yet Neelix (his role as guide was over, so all he had left was ship's cook, so you could have removed him without any great loss).
I have had the same thoughts over the years. I can't see any reason why they could not have kept Kes at the same time have Seven on board. I think Kes could have had a lot to offer to Seven's 'learning'.
This has been discussed before but Kes was never originally going to be written out of the show when they brought in 7 of 9 on. In fact there were already season 4 stories in the works for Kes. It was to be Harry Kim who was going to be killed off. Some of the producers didn't like Garrett Wang because he was often late for work and didn't bother to learn his lines (he was actually suspended from the show for two episodes in the third season for bad behavior) . But during the summer break between seasons 3 and 4, Wang was voted as one of People Magazine's 50 most beautiful people, so UPN basically told the Voyager producers they had to keep Wang. The decision lay with Jeri Taylor and she decided to write Kes out because she didn't like the character. Jennifer's departure from the show was very messy. The whole cast knew one of them was going to go and once it was learned Garrett Wang had been saved, everyone thought Ethan Phillips would be let go. So much so, that Bob Picardo and Tim Russ were actually planning a goodbye party for him. Ethan Phillips and Kate Mulgrew talked about this at a convention I went to back in 2010. Jennifer had no idea she was being written out. She went to work as normal the day production was to begin on The Gift and on her script there was a post-it note from Rick Berman that said something like "We'll miss you." While Kes was a secondary character, I do felt the show lost something when she left. It would have been great seeing Kes and 7 interact but it wasn't meant to be.
People keep bringing up this story like its some horrible thing they kept garret wang because he was sexy. How many female characters in trek did noting but wear skimpy clothes and sit around? Guys, come on.
They should have let Kes mature, have a child, grow old and die during the series. Why show a gun if you don't plan on using it? Why have a short lived species if you don't show its consequences on the crew?