Combining Voyager characters

[Shamrock Holmes]

I don't disagree. My answer was based on a Watsonian perspective. Harry -- as the Operations Officer -- should have been promoted to at least JG by the end of the journey, which could easily be the case for Parry the Operations Officer/Pilot, but is less certain for Keskim the Yeoman or Harrix the Cook.

However, in your model there's no reason other than racism holding back Harry/Garrett (which AFAIK even he doesn't claim) there's no reason why Parry, Keskim or Harrix would be less vulnerable to "Someone needs to be the Ensign".

 

[Oddish]

The concept itself was fundamentally false.
Wesley was an acting ensign, promoted to full ensign after about 2-1/2 years.
Ro Laren was an ensign, promoted to lieutenant after about 2-1/2 years.
Ezri Dax was an ensign, promoted to lieutenant upon being posted to DS9.
Nog was an ensign, promoted to lieutenant after two years.
Tom Paris was an ensign, promoted to lieutenant after about 1-1/2 years.

If Harry had fit the proper mold, Janeway would have popped that hollow pip on his collar somewhere between "Basics" and "Blood Fever".

She had a lot of @*#$!-ing nerve accusing him of "bucking for a promotion" when he mentioned this issue FOUR YEARS after he should have gotten said promotion.

 

[Vale]

This is a deceptively difficult question. Paris is my most disliked character, but Kim and Chakotay were the most short-changed by the scripts. Honestly after the Seska arc ended there's barely any reason for Chakotay to be there at all. And then there's Kes, who clearly they had no idea what to do with from the off, and whose presence makes the already disconcerting Neelix downright creepy at times.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

The concept itself was fundamentally false.

Agreed.
But it's perfectly possible to use a fundamentally false assumption as the "justification" for something if that's what you want to do.

 

[Oddish]

Agreed.
But it's perfectly possible to use a fundamentally false assumption as the "justification" for something if that's what you want to do.

That's like Harry saying "but the Vidiians are right here" as an excuse for violating the captain's orders not to contact them: a bit of sophistry that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Doesn't stop people from doing it though.

 

[Oddish]

Doesn't stop people from doing it though.

And we must give them a proper public shaming for insulting our intelligence in this fashion.

 

[Oddish]

I got one, in honor of my new gold and silver medalists for "most thoroughly crapped on character"... meet HARRY CAREY!

He is Voyager's assistant chief engineer.
He is violently assaulted by B'Elanna, academy dropout, early on.
He is then passed over for the chief spot in favor of the aforementioned academy dropout.
He is reduced to ensign for no good reason and kept at that rank for 6.9 years.
He has nothing but humiliating romantic failures.
He is nearly killed or agonizingly killed multiple times, but always seems to get spared by some loophole.
When he comments on why he got busted to ensign and never promoted back, people act like he said something wrong.
He undergoes no character growth, and episodes focusing on him are usually a joke.
He dies a Tasha Yar style death near the end of the last season.
When Janeway goes back in time to save Tuvok, Seven, and Chakotay... she doesn't bother traveling a little further and saving him.
Indeed, he is never mentioned again.

 

[suarezguy]

What if Harry had been combined with Neelix, from the Alpha Quadrant and fresh from the Academy but mostly the cook and the (probably still annoyingly ineffective) self-proclaimed morale officer? Or actually a competent morale officer? Or if he had been from the Alpha Quadrant but for some reason a civilian rather than in Starfleet?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

EMH/Kim - If they wanted to have the rookie officer thrown in at the deep end and out of his depth, then make him a medical cadet/intern onboard for training and the only medical professional left after transit to the DQ. It could have built into a very sweet relationship with Kes, he finds his confidence as he takes on having to teach her.

Neelix/Paris - Make the guide less kooky and make him more of an over-confident, hard-edged flyboy with a heart of gold underneath. Battle hardened and still scarred from all the lives he saw needlessly wasted right before his eyes, so he tries not to let others get too close to him.