Why does Harry Kim never get promoted?

[RandyS]

So all 150 people with no dissent? It strains believability as others have stated. Especially with the Maquis who are not there of their own free will. They have no obligation to Starfleet, to the crew or to Janeway. Yet they all fall lock step in line with her decisions?

It just seems to me that they would be more willing to stay on the Voyager and take their chances of getting back to familiar surroundings rather than stay in the Delta Quadrant with unfamiliar and possibly dangerious situations. Faced with that situation, I'd stay with the ship.

 

[fireproof78]

It just seems to me that they would be more willing to stay on the Voyager and take their chances of getting back to familiar surroundings rather than stay in the Delta Quadrant with unfamiliar and possibly dangerious situations. Faced with that situation, I'd stay with the ship.

Sure, but the whole idea is that everyone thinks the same? Really? I can't ask my coworkers for the same order of pizza twice.

 

[Captrek]

Yeah, it’s a big leap from “I can understand making that decision” to “I would expect that decision to be unanimous among 150 people.”

 

[Oddish]

It just seems to me that they would be more willing to stay on the Voyager and take their chances of getting back to familiar surroundings rather than stay in the Delta Quadrant with unfamiliar and possibly dangerious situations. Faced with that situation, I'd stay with the

Some of the crew? Certainly.
Many? Very likely.
Most? Maybe.
All? No.

 

[MarkusTay]

Has Harry ever been in anything after Voyager ended?
If not, I'd love to see a scene at some point where Starfleet discovers a virus that was inserted in Voyager's programming, that later got transferred to Starfleet itself when Voyager returned home and uploaded all its data. The virus was so small and insignificant with what it doing, which is how it managed to get past so many people. Basically, it made it so Kim could NEVER be promoted, for any reason. Eventually its found-out that Tom Paris wrote it, his first week on Voyager, sort of as a joke, and then he just forgot all about it. One hundred years later its discovered, and someone runs in to Ensign Kim's office (the oldest living Ensign in Starfleet) to tell him the good news, and that he should really be an admiral... but he's slumped over his desk, dead from old age. Poor Harry - he just can't catch a break. LOL

 

[MarkusTay]

Some of the crew? Certainly.
Many? Very likely.
Most? Maybe.
All? No.

100% agree
I'm thinking 2-3 would have been good writing. believable, but still with much of the same impact as the canon ending.

 

[jackoverfull]

Has Harry ever been in anything after Voyager ended?

not yet. But between Lower Decks and Prodigy (and, far fetched as it sounds, even Picard) it’s easy to foresee that’s only a matter of time before it happens.

Will he be still an ensign?
Will he show up an ensign in 32nd century on Discovery?

 

[Oddish]

Has Harry ever been in anything after Voyager ended?
If not, I'd love to see a scene at some point where Starfleet discovers a virus that was inserted in Voyager's programming, that later got transferred to Starfleet itself when Voyager returned home and uploaded all its data. The virus was so small and insignificant with what it doing, which is how it managed to get past so many people. Basically, it made it so Kim could NEVER be promoted, for any reason. Eventually its found-out that Tom Paris wrote it, his first week on Voyager, sort of as a joke, and then he just forgot all about it. One hundred years later its discovered, and someone runs in to Ensign Kim's office (the oldest living Ensign in Starfleet) to tell him the good news, and that he should really be an admiral... but he's slumped over his desk, dead from old age. Poor Harry - he just can't catch a break. LOL

Believe it or not, I did something similar to that in "Where's my Box?" It's revealed that Janeway reported Harry's demise in "Deadlock", but forgot to add Harry B to the ship's roster. Since the ship's computer determines when a person is due for promotion, and said computer thinks Harry is dead... well, oops. Sorry, Harry.

 

[DonIago]

Harry showing up somehow alive and well in Discovery would be kind of amazing.

Especially if he's still an ensign.

I say go for it!

 

[Oddish]

I say have him turn up on the Enterprise. As a commander. As Captain Worf's first officer. A great big middle finger to the "forever ensign" crowd.

 

[MarkusTay]

Will he be still an ensign?
Will he show up an ensign in 32nd century on Discovery?

Harry showing up somehow alive and well in Discovery would be kind of amazing. Especially if he's still an ensign. I say go for it!

Absolutely! Paramount should embrace the fandom and run with the joke!

Or... how about Discovery (I haven't seen any of that, but I hear its pretty much just space-magic taken to whole 'nother level) shows up in the Delta Quadrant for just a few seconds during an attack on Voyager (they got 'pulled in' by the temporal anomaly Voyager was undergoing - such things have happened before on Trek). They see Harry Kim floating out into space and rescue him, just before Voyager solves its problem and Discovery is sucked back into whatever that place is they travel through (Mylanta Space?) The Vidiians may have noticed Discovery's brief presence, but Voyager certainly would not have (with most systems being down).

By the time Discovery gets him back to Federation space, he isn't even Harry Kim anymore... Harry 2.0 has taken his place! Poor Harry Kim, the guy just can't catch a break! LMAO

 

[Oddish]

Absolutely! Paramount should embrace the fandom and run with the joke!

Am I the only one who thinks that "joke" was about as funny as watching someone put puppies in a wood chipper?
DISCLAIMER: In other words, not funny at all.

By the time Discovery gets him back to Federation space, he isn't even Harry Kim anymore... Harry 2.0 has taken his place! Poor Harry Kim, the guy just can't catch a break! LMAO

Why return him? If they rescue him and take him back with them, he will be 800 years old and still an ensign. That's what you wanted, right?

 

[MarkusTay]

Doesn't Discovery Time-travel? I know so little about that show. Plus, time isn't really a barrier to Trek.

But yeah, and 800 year-old ensign is pretty funny.

And the 'why' of it? Its become akin to a 'cult classic', in that it is so bad its good. Did Harry deserve to be promoted? Of course he did. Janeway was handing out commissions like they were handbills. Neelix and Kes - who never attended Starfleet - were both Ready-room officers (a doctor in under a year and a 'morale officer'). Hell, I'm surprised she didn't give promotions to the Kazon. Harry not being an ensign just wouldn't be Harry anymore, IMO.

Now, as an aside to all this, I discovered a continuity error in my rewatching: Early-on, maybe in the first 3 episodes - Harry Kim is given command of the ship while the rest of the officers leave. Janeway literally looks right at him and says this, and he smiles. At some point - maybe season 2? - she leaves Harry in charge AGAIN, but says it is his first time in command. In fact, later on in that same episode, its brought up again and someone asks him, "how'd you like your first time in the big chair?" (or some-such). Somehow, they all forgot he already was in command VERY early in show's life.

 

[fireproof78]

Am I the only one who thinks that "joke" was about as funny as watching someone put puppies in a wood chipper?
DISCLAIMER: In other words, not funny at all.

Same. It shows a very strange approach to characters in a supposedly serious drama yet taking pleasure in a sadistic joke.

 

[at Quark's]

Serious drama? Where people turn in monkeys, are eaten from the inside out, encounter evil versions of themselves, when they die are replaced by versions from parallel timelines, go through violent encounters, age until near the brink of death, get assimilated and de-assimilated, yet act the weak thereafter as if nothing ever happened?

Compared to that a non-promoted ensign is rather mundane (and not that sadistic).

Not that I'd need to see that 'joke' in the show.

 

[Oddish]

Serious drama? Where people turn in monkeys, are eaten from the inside out, encounter evil versions of themselves, when they die are replaced by versions from parallel timelines, go through violent encounters, age until near the brink of death, get assimilated and de-assimilated, yet act the weak thereafter as if nothing ever happened?

Given that Harry has to face all this misery and more from the galaxy outside Voyager, does he really need to also be betrayed by his own frickin' captain, who proceeds to demolish his Starfleet career by keeping him at ensign for seven years, not to mention dropping an equally career-killing reprimand on his head?

 

[fireproof78]

Compared to that a non-promoted ensign is rather mundane (and not that sadistic).

You have your view and I have mine. Though I should say that fans often treat Trek as serious drama not that it always is.

 

[MarkusTay]

I'm pretty sure before she left, Captain Janeway gave everyone in the Delta Quadrant field commisions to Commander, and Admiral Janeway even made the Borg Queen an admiral before she died (which is why the Borg Queen was so angry - the Federation assimilated her!), so that years later she picked a bargain-basement American idol winner as her successor. So when the great Admirality War broke out in the universe (because every other being in the universe were admirals), everyone but Harry Kim was wiped-out. You see, he got side-lined, being the only ensign. He goes on to be Galactus in the next universe.

So you see, everything always revolved around Harry.

 

[Oddish]

He goes on to be Galactus in the next universe.

That hat might not be a bad look for Garrett Wang.

 

[suarezguy]

By the way, I like a lot the interpretation that Tuvok was demoted after "Prime Factors", funny but cool that fixing a production inconsistency introduced more plot continuity and consequence.

There are plenty of explanations people come up with. She wasn't really promoting Tom. She secretly hated Harry. Harry was incompetent. But, there's no canonical evidence supporting any of these theories. Because in the end, this was a decision by the showrunners. Whether it was a childish vendetta or simple incompetence, the end result was the same.

Again she could have thought he was mostly good at his job tasks but not good enough at the interpersonal aspects. And/or different reasons could explain the lack of promotion at different times, like she might have promoted him in season 4 but was too busy with newcomer Seven, would have promoted him in season 5 until "The Disease" happened and that set her against promotion for a few years.