Yes, Kes was a good characters! To me, she was the best, actually. The most interesting character and the one with the most potential. Whether they utilized her to this potential is another thing, though. It was hit and miss with the Kes episodes.
I loved Seven, too, but keeping a cypher like Kim (whom I like, too) and firing Jen Lien was a bad decision. I'm still convinced of it.
I heartily agree with most of what you stated here. The question of potential is problematic. Not from the way you and everyone else in the thread are describing it, i.e. what the character could have accomplished and the integral significance it likely would have played out for the show. I'm thinking of potential in the sense of what the showrunners appeared to conceive and project for Kes's developmental track from the get go. She was Neelix's girlfriend, came from a planet whose inhabitants' aspirations were infantilized, which she rebelled against, and whose lifespan was extraordinarily brief. Her desire to drink in as much knowledge and experience about the universe was also revealed.
But even from these rudimentary elements, was there any coherent thought and attention given as to how to most creatively utilize them or were they content, to reflexively marginalize her, with a few notable exceptions. It can be simply stated, that Kes indeed was an ancillary character, for whom no greater need was present to give any undue amount of consideration of progression, no different than any other secondary role in Voyager or the other series. In this case, one can rightly say that Jennifer Lien played a part in not having the showrunners pay any more attention to the character than they did. By all accounts, Lien did not participate in any of the discussions with TPTB prior to each season's filming during which each actor could supply input on how they thought their character might reasonably progress and be represented in the coming year. Apparently, Lien was hardly communicative with the higher ups at all. I certainly don't think that was indicative of a lack of thought or concern on her part about the disposition of the role, but just a manifestation of her innate quiescence and introverted personality.
I believe the upshot of these circumstances was that the potential that people now acknowledge in greater numbers as they give Kes another look, was owing to a characterization that Lien basically made on her own, from whole cloth, and was indicative of her truly outstanding gifts as an actor. Of course, she didn't write the dialogue Kes uttered , but it's my opinion that she did have a distinctive vision on how the character's arc should play out and consistently and convincingly made that vision real and enduring. I think Lien nearly always displayed a superlative level of intuitive and instinctive interpretiveness to her line readings and an understanding expressiveness when the camera focused on her in scenes with no dialogue. She also utilized her unique voice in a way that tellingly juxtaposed Kes's innate wisdom and gentleness with an implacable core of strength and determination that would not be deterred. I think a some people cite her voice, while being distinctive, as another factor that facilitated a view of the character as being boring, weak and monotonic. I see it very differently, as a defining factor in the expression of a persona who has an almost preternatural calm and even serenity that serves well in accentuating the strength and power that is also there.
This isn't meant to explicitly to be a off thread paean to Jennifer Lien, but merely to suggest that in addition to an uncertain, inconsistent, and/or indifferent view given to thinking about Kes's role, I think that the showrunners seemed not to be cognizant of the extraordinary talent they had in their midst. I think that if they had been, they could have easily elevated Kes to a much more vital presence in the ensemble. Certainly some writers were open in refuting the putative reasoning given when she left, that the character had gone as far as she could and/or was too difficult to write for. I also think the line of reasoning that there was no place for Kes with Seven's arrival is a false one . There was no reason that a very compelling dynamic couldn't have been developed between the two, with Kes perhaps taking over the Doctor's role in helping to guide Seven's transformation or a number of ally/adversary scenarios that could have played out.
All of these factors make plain to me that, as
portrayed,
Kes was certainly a good character. Just as clearly, she wasn't a major one, but easily could have become one but for a lack of recognition or resolution on the part of the showrunners. Instead, I think that the increasing level of appreciation that I perceive for Kes comes from my sense that Jennifer Lien was clearly one of the most superlative actors in the series, perhaps in all of Trek. This isn't a sympathetic response to her current travails. I've been of this opinion for many years, and the perspective of her rare talents has been shared openly by a number of her former colleagues from the time she left Voyager to the present day.
), but it just feels like she was dropped to bring in someone "sexier". It is funny though, Wang gets mentioned in a magazine as a 'hot young actor' or whatever the piece was about but the PTB didn't capitalise on it and give him more to do on the show.
