Warhead from season 5
Moving up in rank
- Thread starter herofan
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Then I say it's irrelevant. Given his competence and accomplishments, Harry should have been awarded his hollow pip by Season 3.
Harry was on Earth with "the love of his life" in bed beside of him and the first thing that comes to his mind is "This is wrong"
So I am asking: "What's wrong with this guy?"
So I am asking: "What's wrong with this guy?"
You guys have given much more thought to Harry's promotion than anyone involved with Voyager ever did.
Definitely.
Yeah, Harry has a bit of a martyr complex. Instead of rejoicing in his good fortune, he worries about Tom Paris and Daniel Byrd. But selflessness is not exactly a bad thing.
You guys have given much more thought to Harry's promotion than anyone involved with Voyager ever did.
Given the utter lack of rational reasons for Harry's endless ensignhood, that much is obvious. Pretty sad, when you consider that these writers were supposed to be capable professionals.
This is not selflessness, this is stupidity with a touch of conceit. What makes him think that Voyager is not better off without him or at the very least not worse off?
Bad writing?
The real question is, would Harry have been so hell bent on leaving Libby and swapping places with Danny Byrd if he knew there would be an upcoming promotion to "lieutenant" if he stayed on pocket-universe Earth?
The real question is, would Harry have been so hell bent on leaving Libby and swapping places with Danny Byrd if he knew there would be an upcoming promotion to "lieutenant" if he stayed on pocket-universe Earth?
Surprisingly, he did know. Regarding a meeting he was headed for, his colleague informed him that he "could walk out of that room a lieutenant".
It's debatable, however, if he knew that if he did return, Janeway was going to potentially ruin his career by keeping him at ensign for seven years.
The real question is, would Harry have been so hell bent on leaving Libby and swapping places with Danny Byrd if he knew there would be an upcoming promotion to "lieutenant" if he stayed on pocket-universe Earth?
The irony is that by that time Harry had already died once!! It's like he's a glutton for punishment.
That is one of the most aggravating things about that episode. Consider what Harry has at his fingertips...
* He's home.
* He's with the woman he loves, and they're engaged.
* His career is going like gangbusters, and he could easily see promotion.
* He's not in the Delta Quadrant, where he's eternally in danger, periodically dying, and gets less action than Geordi LaForge.
And... he's never... even... CONFLICTED!
If Harry had any significant character to begin with, I'd call "Non Sequitur" a character assassination episode.
EDIT: In all fairness, it should be considered a character assassination episode. But compared to the way Harry gets crapped on in "Resolutions" and "Nightingale", it's practically a compliment.
* He's home.
* He's with the woman he loves, and they're engaged.
* His career is going like gangbusters, and he could easily see promotion.
* He's not in the Delta Quadrant, where he's eternally in danger, periodically dying, and gets less action than Geordi LaForge.
And... he's never... even... CONFLICTED!
If Harry had any significant character to begin with, I'd call "Non Sequitur" a character assassination episode.
EDIT: In all fairness, it should be considered a character assassination episode. But compared to the way Harry gets crapped on in "Resolutions" and "Nightingale", it's practically a compliment.
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Imagine if in one of the data packets Voyager gets from Starfleet he gets a message from Danny Byrd, now a full-blown Commander in whatever job Harry was supposed to be doing in the pocket universe, arm around Libby's waist announcing that they've been happily married for two years with a kid on the way. I imagine a Kylo Ren-style temper tantrum on Harry's part with the brunt of it being expelled on the computer terminal
In Resolution, he should have been charged with mutiny. His public disrespect of Tuvok's authority was outrageous. The irony is that if he had shown that much disrespect to Janeway she would have put him in the brig for the rest of the trip. Tuvok was way too lenient.
I was always curious how things went on Voyager in the Non Sequitor timeline with Danny Byrd on board. Particularly after it was revealed in season 5's Juggernaut that Danny Byrd was a bully who picked on B'Ellanna when they were children. If Danny took Harry's place on Voyager, does that mean he was the one sent to the Ocampa medical facility in Caretaker? How would that have worked out if B'Ellanna woke up and found her old bully there with her?
On the other hand, had Harry Kim gladly accepted the changed situation without any doubts whatsoever once he understood what had happened, I would also have questioned his sense of morality. I would expect him to go through a 'survivor guilt' phase before accepting his new reality. It's just that he seems to develop a more severe case of it than many people would.
And really, Daniel Byrd going to grammar school with B' Elanna, and ending up as Harry Kim's friend, before both Harry and B' Ellanna ended up on Voyager independently? Do only like 250 people live on earth?
And really, Daniel Byrd going to grammar school with B' Elanna, and ending up as Harry Kim's friend, before both Harry and B' Ellanna ended up on Voyager independently? Do only like 250 people live on earth?
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What makes it more egregious is B'Elanna grew up on a colony way away from Earth. So Danny Bird was there, too? Very small universe syndrome.
(To play devil's advocate, we have a LOT of same named people here on our planet right now. Daniel is a very common name, and Bird/Byrd is pretty common, too. So it is possible they are two completely different people. Using a generic name for a tv character is not new, and is quite often preferred. It's why we got 'Jonathan Archer' instead of 'Jackson Archer'... if only a very few people have that name, a tv show cannot use it for various legal reasons. But if, say, 30 or more people have that same name, it can be used without legal problems.)
(To play devil's advocate, we have a LOT of same named people here on our planet right now. Daniel is a very common name, and Bird/Byrd is pretty common, too. So it is possible they are two completely different people. Using a generic name for a tv character is not new, and is quite often preferred. It's why we got 'Jonathan Archer' instead of 'Jackson Archer'... if only a very few people have that name, a tv show cannot use it for various legal reasons. But if, say, 30 or more people have that same name, it can be used without legal problems.)
It also would have ensured that there wasn't an episode period. Even if this episode had been what it could have been, i.e. an innovative way of eliminating a character who was of little use, he would have likely at least tried to figure out what happened. Asked some questions, whatever. And if they weren't that daring (or if they decided to *gasp* actually DO SOMETHING with the character), they still could have had him return, but only after he genuinely agonizes about it.
I believe that to be the case, especially since a kid in Harry's year would have been several years younger than B'Elanna. Either way, it was lousy writing.
I am not sure about that. It was a matter of DNA "compatibility" and there's no reason for Byrd to be as "DNA compatible" as Harry, whatever that means... How compatible can someone be with a species so different from them as the caretaker??? But that's Voyager for you. Making sense is the last thing on their minds.
