There have been a number of lead characters in the Berman era that were underutilized among their respective casts. Probably the two shows that suffered from this the most are VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE, though a good argument can be made for TNG, as well. (With Dr. Crusher specifically... you almost want to include Troi, but she seemed to have a SLIGHT bit more to do than Crusher did, and Geordi did have his friendship with Data and he was in charge of arguably the most important department on the ship and was part of the technobabble solution more often than Crusher or Troi.) But among those underutilized characters, who could be a frontrunner for worst character?
I think a strong case can be made for Kes being worst character. I think she suffered a three-fold problem. First, I don't think she was portrayed that well. While I wouldn't go so far to say Jennifer Lien was terrible in the role, I can't say she really set the world on fire, either. I think part of that problem was the character of Kes herself is an odd one to try to give direction to an actress. At least, not without her seeming even more like a child than may be necessary. (Which is also likely part of the reason why a number of people take great issue with Neelix's relationship with her at the start of the series.) Kes certainly had her standout scenes and a couple good episodes (the arc of her being the first and primary advocate for The Doctor, and she did a good job in "WARLORD"), but overall she seemed to be mostly... just there.
Second, the character creation itself was odd. An Ocampa: they live only 9 years, have children only once (in a really odd way, no less: see "ELOGIUM" for her descriptions), and seemed to have underdeveloped mental abilities, like telepathy. While the underdeveloped abilities is an interesting arc to try to mine, it didn't seem to go very far... until it became the very reason for her exit.
Which brings me to the third problem... the writing. It seemed like the writers were struggling to give her good material. You can even look at "BEFORE AND AFTER" as the writers saying they are done with her already, especially considering that was produced in the later part of season 3.
While other characters can make a case for being "worst character", none of them suffered all three of the problems Kes had. Let's look at some of them...
Travis Mayweather - the writing definitely was short with him on that front. And while I do think he wasn't portrayed very well, my opinion of Anthony Montgomery's acting has softened over the years and rewatches. I don't think he was fantastic with dialogue, but he WAS very good with physical acting. What I mean by that is you completely believed that what he was doing at any given moment was exactly what he was ACTUALLY doing. (Like in "MINEFIELD", literally sweating as he is very carefully navigating through the minefield, clearly showing not only that it's not an easy task but also the extreme focus he is showing on getting the job done.) And he does have scenes where he is convincing enough in what he's saying, so at least he is not portrayed totally badly. As far as the creation of his character... it was actually one of the best ideas of those seven leads. A boomer, who had more actual space experience than almost every other human among the crew. That was a good source for stories of that era. (And Mayweather gets bonus points for being probably the most unfailingly competent officer of the Enterprise.)
Hoshi Sato - while they rarely gave her character much to do, Linda Park certainly portrayed Hoshi VERY well. And she DID have a clear showing of growth through the series. As proof, just look at the first episode after the pilot, "FIGHT OR FLIGHT", and the next to last episode, "TERRA PRIME": she goes from a scared out of her mind person ready to jump ship to having a confident, strong presence on the bridge and standing up to a Prime Minister of Earth.
Beverly Crusher - while she wasn't given much to do in the series, I have to credit Gates McFadden for going all in on whatever she was given. (Example: "Sub Rosa".) Most of my issues with her are actually inherent with the character's traits rather than how they are portrayed. (Example: "Ethics".) And the creation of her character actually isn't bad: being CMO of the ship whose captain brought her dead husband's body home. Certainly some good stuff to mine there. Her biggest issues stemmed from not having enough to do. (Look at NEMESIS as a microcosm of her time on TNG.)
I don't really dislike Kes' character, but I have to say that considering the three tier problem she had, I think I can say pretty confidently that for me, Kes is the worst character of the leads in the Berman era. Particularly when you compare her to her replacement character, Seven of Nine, who is among the BEST characters in that era (and the franchise).
How about the rest of you? Agree that Kes is the 'worst character' among the leads of the Berman era? Maybe someone else? The usual suspects I see mentioned like Mayweather, Troi, Chakotay, or Kim? Another not usually mentioned?
Temba, his arms open.
I think a strong case can be made for Kes being worst character. I think she suffered a three-fold problem. First, I don't think she was portrayed that well. While I wouldn't go so far to say Jennifer Lien was terrible in the role, I can't say she really set the world on fire, either. I think part of that problem was the character of Kes herself is an odd one to try to give direction to an actress. At least, not without her seeming even more like a child than may be necessary. (Which is also likely part of the reason why a number of people take great issue with Neelix's relationship with her at the start of the series.) Kes certainly had her standout scenes and a couple good episodes (the arc of her being the first and primary advocate for The Doctor, and she did a good job in "WARLORD"), but overall she seemed to be mostly... just there.
Second, the character creation itself was odd. An Ocampa: they live only 9 years, have children only once (in a really odd way, no less: see "ELOGIUM" for her descriptions), and seemed to have underdeveloped mental abilities, like telepathy. While the underdeveloped abilities is an interesting arc to try to mine, it didn't seem to go very far... until it became the very reason for her exit.
Which brings me to the third problem... the writing. It seemed like the writers were struggling to give her good material. You can even look at "BEFORE AND AFTER" as the writers saying they are done with her already, especially considering that was produced in the later part of season 3.
While other characters can make a case for being "worst character", none of them suffered all three of the problems Kes had. Let's look at some of them...
Travis Mayweather - the writing definitely was short with him on that front. And while I do think he wasn't portrayed very well, my opinion of Anthony Montgomery's acting has softened over the years and rewatches. I don't think he was fantastic with dialogue, but he WAS very good with physical acting. What I mean by that is you completely believed that what he was doing at any given moment was exactly what he was ACTUALLY doing. (Like in "MINEFIELD", literally sweating as he is very carefully navigating through the minefield, clearly showing not only that it's not an easy task but also the extreme focus he is showing on getting the job done.) And he does have scenes where he is convincing enough in what he's saying, so at least he is not portrayed totally badly. As far as the creation of his character... it was actually one of the best ideas of those seven leads. A boomer, who had more actual space experience than almost every other human among the crew. That was a good source for stories of that era. (And Mayweather gets bonus points for being probably the most unfailingly competent officer of the Enterprise.)
Hoshi Sato - while they rarely gave her character much to do, Linda Park certainly portrayed Hoshi VERY well. And she DID have a clear showing of growth through the series. As proof, just look at the first episode after the pilot, "FIGHT OR FLIGHT", and the next to last episode, "TERRA PRIME": she goes from a scared out of her mind person ready to jump ship to having a confident, strong presence on the bridge and standing up to a Prime Minister of Earth.
Beverly Crusher - while she wasn't given much to do in the series, I have to credit Gates McFadden for going all in on whatever she was given. (Example: "Sub Rosa".) Most of my issues with her are actually inherent with the character's traits rather than how they are portrayed. (Example: "Ethics".) And the creation of her character actually isn't bad: being CMO of the ship whose captain brought her dead husband's body home. Certainly some good stuff to mine there. Her biggest issues stemmed from not having enough to do. (Look at NEMESIS as a microcosm of her time on TNG.)
I don't really dislike Kes' character, but I have to say that considering the three tier problem she had, I think I can say pretty confidently that for me, Kes is the worst character of the leads in the Berman era. Particularly when you compare her to her replacement character, Seven of Nine, who is among the BEST characters in that era (and the franchise).
How about the rest of you? Agree that Kes is the 'worst character' among the leads of the Berman era? Maybe someone else? The usual suspects I see mentioned like Mayweather, Troi, Chakotay, or Kim? Another not usually mentioned?
Temba, his arms open.
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