Harry was the closest I came to actually identifying with/liking a character on Voyager. But alas, it was not meant to be.
do you have examples from the show to cite to the contrary or are you just going to mock my assertion? LaForge was always shown as an outstanding engineer respected by his colleagues, a guy who overcomes a disability that he had from birth. He's shown not to have much luck with the ladies, but even that's not really played to the extent of being embarrassing, just more to bad luck. I don't get the impression Harry's very respected by the Voyager senior staff. I get the impression he's the guy whose hair you tousle when you walk by him.
^Geordi may be more respected, but he has a mean streak in him that Harry doesn't seem to have. Look at the way Geordi treats Barclay. Sure, Barclay can be exasperating, but some of Geordi's behaviour is unbecoming of an officer in how he at times treats and even mocks Barclay. While we don't see Harry in a senior role, of course, I can't see Harry acting that way. OK, Harry's the Forever Ensign and his character can be one-dimensional at times, but he's a nice guy and, as I have a soft spot for the underdog, I've always liked him.
It's funny that you say that about Geordi. I think of him as similar to Harry in a lot of ways and in fact was the character on TNG that I related to the most at an even younger age (just because that show was on first). I agree about Barclay to an extent, but I think most of his frustration was that he didn't really understand what Barclay's problems were and, being a chief engineer, really didn't have time to learn what was wrong with him. He never really came off as a jerk to me at all; he just had more responsibilities than Harry did.
I found Harry, Tom, Neelix and Chakotay pretty undernourished character-wise. We saw very little development and it was often 2 dimensional. You often knew the conclusion of any "harry" episode. The writers on Voyager seem to have more fun exploring the female characters on the show. Although erratic and sometimes confused, Janeway and her fellow female officers simply got given better stories. I felt Harry was a bit of a wet blanket but the actor always put in a good performance although the other actors on set could easily steal a scene from him even when not talking.
The thing I find strange is that there are quite a few 'Harry Haters' out there yet somehow TPTB decided to give him the 100th episode as a focus.
I don't see any advantages in hating Harry. He was there in every episode Season 1 through 7-even more than Seven of Nine but not more than the senior officers(Janeway, Chakotay and Tuvok). I think he was portrayed more than Tuvok. If the scene involved doing something technical or just being with Tom- Harry was stuck there. What good it is to hate someone if he's there every couple minutes.
Yeah, when the show started Chakotay was one of my favorite characters. However, he and all the other guys, except the Doctor, pretty much got turned into plot monkeys and were made completely uninteresting. Tom at least got to have some development as he could be played off B'lanna as well as Janeway. Chakotay suffered from a TOS created problem, as did Riker, the writers didn't know what a first officer of a ship does. Spock had a purpose on the bridge as science officer when Kirk was there. The First Officer isn't needed with the Captain is there, so what to have him do but raise shields thus confusing the chain of command in a crisis. They did occasionally have him do proper stuff like crew evaluations and problems. He did a couple with Seven that could have and should have been extended. Omega Directive where Seven talks to him about Omega and its importance. In the end she's looking at religious iconography and talks to Janeway, whose supposedly not all that religious or spiritual. To me that seen would have made more sense to have been done with Chakotay to play out the start of the spiritual quest. Harry, I don't hate him, I hardly notice or remember him. He's like pastel wallpaper.
I think folks might have become "Harry Haters" in retrospect. While the show was on, I think many kept hoping for better development of him but as time wore on they gave up on him. I don't hate Harry, I just think he was a character with no personality. I don't hate Harry because I don't find anything in him to hate. He's not annoying, he's just nice. I find it hard(me personally) to hate someone for just being even kiel and nice.
I do not like Harry. He is one of my least fav from the show. He falls in love with every single women he see's. After 7 years of drama and near death experiences he still acts completely green. Also, as an officer it is not good to be like a giddy child every time a rumor comes up you may be home soon, followed by toddler like pouting when it doesn't come to fruit. He just absolutely sulks, openly and loudly when everyone else sucks it up & deals. Doesn't he have dreams that Janeway is his mommy? He is so pathetic. One of the 50 most beautiful people by People magazine (or something). Whatever! I guess if you are a chick, or gay, & you find him attractive, fine. I guess. That doesn't make him a good character. edit: I forgot, the worst part, Wang canNOT act. Voyager imo has above average acting compared to other Star Trek shows. Wang is not part of that opinion.