Vote: Worst Voyager character

[EnriqueH]

Although I've been at this site for a while, I don't have many posts in Voyager because I haven't seen many episodes. (Currently halfway through Season 2. I'm attempting to watch the whole franchise chronologically; started a little over a year ago.)

Anyway, I don't mean to be negative, but I am curious since a lot of what I hear about Voyager tends to be rants about "such and such character" annoys me or "I can't stand stand such and su."

And I pretty much get that from Voyager, I noticed the other series', even Enterpise, don't get as much character hate as Voyager.

Me personally, Neelix is the one I don't like and I've given reasons elsewhere. (As I've mentioned before, I see him as a kind of precursor to Jar Jar Binks--- poorly written, forcibly written as humorous, a character that seems to get in the way too much. As with Jar Jar, you get the feeling the story would flow better without him, making me wonder why he's there.)

As Season 1 and 2 have progressed, he seems to have improved, but the "annoyances" still creep up. (I also think Ethan Phillips is a talented character actor, and my feelings on the character aren't a reflection on Phillips himself. He's playing the role he was hired to play, and it just so happens that the character is an annoying one, though with the progression of the series, the writers seem to be adjusting and playing down his annoying nature.)

When the discussion is about Harry Kim, the discussions seem to hover over Garrett Wang the actor, rather than the character.

And when the discussion is about Kes, the discussions seem mean-spirited. A sort of sadistic "dancing on someone's grave" attitude seems to take hold, again, the vitriol seems to spew both at the character and the actress. Not sure why.

As a sort of newcomer to Voyager, I'd like to know your thoughts.

Who is your least favorite character and why?

 

[hux]

I don't hate any of the Voyager characters. There are some that I find uninteresting (Kes) and some that are annoying (Neelix) especially if they're heavily featured in an episode but none that are worthy of hate.

Kes, Kim and Neelix are the weakest.

A poll where you can vote for more than just one character would probably have been better too.

 

[at Quark's]

Strong characters: Janeway (strong woman, even if with some unstable moments), the EMH (generally hilarious), Torres (played well and with some very solid episodes), Kes (I liked her personally but I could also see why some people wouldn't care for her).

Neutral: Tuvok, 7 of 9, Paris. Tuvok seems a prototype vulcan, but without such a strong and distinctive personality as Spock seemed to have. 7 of 9, I'm ambiguous about. She gets a lot of interesting stories and plays them well, too, still I could never shake off the 'yet another outsider character trying to learn the ropes of humanity' feeling. Also the 'babe' approach just doesn't work for me. Paris: basically a decent guy, has his fun moments, but nothing special otherwise.

Weak: Kim, Chakotay. Actually, I don't actively dislike those characters, they just have very little going for them.

Neelix doesn't fit into any category. S1/S2 neelix is annoying as hell; S7 neelix is a nice character.

All in all, I think I'd vote for Kim as weakest character.

 

[stardream]

I would say my least favorite would be early Neelix. After Kes left he was still annoying but he got better, at least for me.

For my favorites is usually the Doctor/7 on equal footing and then Paris. I still liked the others but for whatever reason these three seemed to pop on the screen for me.

 

[Taylirious]

Harry Kim

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Before I would have said either Harry or Chakotay but I've taken some time to really reflect and the fact that I find both of them to be fairly boring isn't a good enough reason for me to dislike them. They were pretty nice guys overall.

So my pick is B'Elanna. She is the one character that has always bothered me. Yes she became a bit less hardened when she got with Tom but she was still so moody and tempermental. I know she's half-Kliingon but it doesn't excuse the fact that she was kind of a "you know what" the majority of the time.

 

[EnriqueH]

I don't hate any of the Voyager characters. There are some that I find uninteresting (Kes) and some that are annoying (Neelix) especially if they're heavily featured in an episode but none that are worthy of hate.

Kes, Kim and Neelix are the weakest.

A poll where you can vote for more than just one character would probably have been better too.

Well, there are only 10 characters, so I didn't think it was THAT hard to be pick one out of the bunch. Maybe I can do a "sequel poll" and this time see what the results are with multiple choice included. Sometimes it's interesting to see the results between the two polls.

Glad you don't "hate" any of the Voyager characters. That's why I worded the title of the poll the way I did: "Least favorite (or most hated)" depending which side of the fence you are. I know there are people who have a least favorite character, and then there are people who HATE a character.

 

[Go-Captain]

This would be easier if it was best character(s). That's the Doctor, 7 of 9, and Tuvok. They have the most depth, the most development, and they're likable. They're also well acted.

I voted for Chakotay because even though there are characters who can be annoying, inconsistent, arbitrary, and pointless those characters can also have their moments. Chakotay though seems like a tremendously, and consistently wasted character.

He's utterly bland, woodenly acted, and it's not even the actor, at least I think it is not. He seemed fine, but he is never given anything good. He is always just kind of there filling his seat and occasionally saying something to make Janeway more interesting.

Kim though, he could have been dropped from the show and I might not have noticed at all early on. He is such an insignificant character, based on memory. The prison episode with him and Paris is good though. I can't recall an episode which was good and where Chakotay was good as well. "Year of Hell" I believe focuses on Chakotay, but again, he is just kind of there to make everyone else more interesting. He is a sounding board so people do not have to talk to themselves, or have voice overs of their internal thoughts.

 

[tomalak301]

Why so negative? I liked all the characters, even Neelix

 

[Lynx]

If I have to pick one, then it has to be Seven.

No, I don't hate the character. I have learned to accept the character and also learned that a lot of people like the character for different reasons.

But it was her installment in the series which led to the "departure" of Kes and I didn't like the catsuit, the hype of the character and how the character was marketed by those in charge.

 

[Mage]

I don't hate anyone.

But some characters were just not well written. Chakotay and Harry got the worst deals when it comes to proper development.

And Neelix... Poor Neelix. One episode, everyone is joking around his back about his cooking or his annoying habit of trying to make people feel good. The next episode is a Neelix-centered one, and those same people love his cooking and how he is always ready for the crew. That grated me. A lot.

 

[Mage]

If I have to pick one, then it has to be Seven.

No, I don't hate the character. I have learned to accept the character and also learned that a lot of people like the character for different reasons.

But it was her installment in the series which led to the "departure" of Kes and I didn't like the catsuit, the hype of the character and how the character was marketed by those in charge.

It was the departure of Jennifer Lien that led to the installement of Seven Of Nine, not the other way around.

 

[SPCTRE]

 

[Kilana2]

As a Voyager fan I love all the characters more or less. I voted for Neelix, because he had his annoying moments, especially his jealousy when he was still with Kes. My vote comes with a guilty conscience, though.

Kim had also poorly written scenes and a lack of character development.

Spoiler: Kim Litverse

in the novels Kim gets Tuvok's job as head of security. And he is finally promoted. There is still hope for Kim to achieve progress. In the show he didn't have the chance to do so. Therefore I'm looking forward to reading new Voyager stories.....

 

[sevenstars]

I found the whole Kes progression just... implausible. I never figured out who she was, and she didn't hang together. Only lives nine years? that was never made believable. Neelix's girlfriend-- what? Wise beyond her years? Janeway's pet? Medic, horticulturalist, super mind powers, raging psychopath-- for me she was the worst character just because she didn't make any sense to me, not because she annoyed me the most, or I disliked her, or whatever.

 

[Kilana2]

There are also non-regular characters I consider unfortunate: Naomi's smartassness and rapid ageing syndrome (in the 24th centurey the period of infancy is obviously redundant in many cases), Icheb's blandness and seriousness. Q Junior is right, Icheb needs more fun.

 

[Terok Nor]

No question. Neelix.

Not only my least favourite Voyager character but also my least favourite character in all of Star Trek. He was an annoying irritant who never failed to get on my nerves. Yep. I hate him.

I don't hate any of the other characters but most of them were bland and uninteresting. The best characters were Janeway, The Doctor, Seven, Kes and Tuvok. Chakotay was incredibly boring, Kim was a glorified extra, Paris was kind of a jerk and Torres was arrogant and rude. Not a great crew in my opinion.

 

[SPCTRE]

Neelix gets a lot of hate because of his Neelix-ness, but I'll take an annoying character they actually did something with over Harry "jack shit" Kim any day.

 

[stardream]

If I have to pick one, then it has to be Seven.

No, I don't hate the character. I have learned to accept the character and also learned that a lot of people like the character for different reasons.

But it was her installment in the series which led to the "departure" of Kes and I didn't like the catsuit, the hype of the character and how the character was marketed by those in charge.

I agree with this. I liked Seven. It was what they did with her that I had a problem with and no, it wasn't just the catsuit. If anything the catsuit generated feelings of sympathy in me. I kept thinking "That poor woman...that looks so uncomfortable".

It seemed the writers had a need to use the character in really odd ways. I remember one episode (can't remember which one at the moment but it probably happened more than once) that she was barely in but for the coda they had her talking to Janeway about something (probably her individuality). I remember thinking at the time 'Shouldn't the episode be wrapped up with the characters that were actually the focus of the episode?" She had maybe one line before that scene. Confused me but that sort of thing seemed to go on all the time.

 

[Mareika]

It`s hard to pick a "worst" character because I like all of them (more or less).
So I`ve been thinking about the episodes I most like or don´t like. So I picked Tuvok. I often skipped Tuvok`s episodes, because I don`t find these episodes very intersting and I don`t like (hate??) the "mind melt" Tuvok is often celebrating. It`s a pitty the writers didn`t use the tension between Tuvok and Chakotay much more.