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What in Gods name did Harry Kim do in Voyager?

TheGodBen said:
TheGodBen! :mad:

You may dodge it as much as you like through the use of exploding heads and so on, but your boyish liking for Harry was still kind of cute. So there!
 
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Are you guys serious? They kept Harry Kim for 3-4 years only because he was called sexy? I find it hard to believe. If that's true my opinion of Voy can't possible go lower.
That's the story that I've heard. I'll elaborate:

At the end of season 3 there was some worry about the show's declining ratings, and how bad much of the third season was. Braga came up with the idea of the Krenim and the Year of Hell and pitched it to last for a full season, but that was rejected by either Berman or Taylor or the suits at UPN. Instead Braga adapted Year of Hell as a two-part episode and the plan was to make it the season 3 cliffhanger.

Then Braga came up with the idea of Voyager rescuing a Borg and having them join the main cast, Berman loved the idea and decided to make her a "Borg Babe" as a means of drawing in more teenage male viewers. However, they could only afford nine cast-members, so one of the regulars had to go and they decided that it should probably be Kim. Braga and Menosky rushed off and wrote Scorpion in a week, and they included Kim being eaten alive by an 8472 infection as a way of killing him off if the plan was to go ahead.

However, during the hiatus People magazine added Wang into their list of the 50 most beautiful men, coming in at number 18. Realising Wang's apparent sex-appeal, the producers chickened out of killing Kim off, so they went with plan b and wrote Kes out of the show instead. Some of the producers have claimed in the past that Kes was picked because they didn't see any potential for the character, but that's clearly a lie because she had oodles more potential than Kim.

Year of Hell was then adapted to include Seven and was aired during season 4.

Anyway, that's the story that has been passed around on this forum ever since I got here, so you might want to take it with a pinch of salt.

Are you guys serious? They kept Harry Kim for 3-4 years only because he was called sexy? I find it hard to believe. If that's true my opinion of Voy can't possible go lower.
I find it even harder to believe that someone actually pronounced him one the sexiest men in the world. :wtf: I dunno, I'm one of those people who maintain that you have to have a personality to be sexy.

Then again... it is People we're talking about. They probably talked about it and said: "We still need to have an Asian man on the list! Is there an Asian movie or TV star who has a current project, and who is not incredibly ugly?" "Well.. there is that guy from Voyager..."

Come to think of it, the thing that's the hardest to believe is that the Voyager producers could be so clueless to take the People magazine lists seriously and think og it as a measure of a character's actual popularity. But it's funny if they are really that clueless. :rommie:
 
On every single series, there's been a character (sometimes two, or three, or...nevermind) who is completely worthless insofar as practical application goes.

Doesn't mean they don't have some draw. Sometimes they stick around just because they provide much needed 'hot' factor. Sometimes they stick around because they provide much needed 'hot' factor and are so cute you just want to reach through the screen and pinch their cute widdle...
That would work only if 1) everyone else on the show were plain-looking or ugly, 2) that person was not just cute, but incredibly drop-dead-gorgeous and oozed sexappeal, or was so likeable that people couldn't help loving them.

And here, neither was the case.
 
My favorite Harry episode is "Favorite Son." It's hilarious; it seems to crystallize his woman-trouble characteristic. Did any similar characters ever have this extreme an example? I love the female characters; they are all black widows.

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Great thread! My two cents:
Harry Kim was a duplication of the mistake they made with Wesley Crusher.

This reminds me of something Ron Moore said in one of the BSG commentaries about adolescent males who watch sci fi are never interested in the characters that resemble themselves. They're more interested in the Adamas and Picards - characters who they can aspire to be like someday. They already know they're not Wesley's or Harry's today.

Not being an adolescent male myself I'm not sure if this is accurate but I'm interested in opinions. :)

Personally, I always enjoyed the older characters. When I was a kid, I watched Harrison Ford and John Wayne, and growing up, my favorite characters were people like the grizzled war vet, the sagely old man, and people that were generally older, wiser, and more experienced. So I think there's some truth to that. I always enjoyed watching people who were more experienced, more world-wise, and more capable than me. I think that even now, those are probably my favorite types of characters, but I'm more receptive to people who are more green, confused, or new to things (I couldn't possibly love Ezri as much as I do if I wasn't :D).

But the problem with Harry Kim, as has been repeated, is that...well, I just recently finished Equinox, Part II And Harry's pretty much exactly the same character we see at the beginning of Caretaker.
 
I felt sorry for Harry, always at the beck and call of Janeway, subject to her cruel whims, never receiving any promotion, never being recognized for his achievements, failed relationships etc. He didn't even get to co-pilot the delta flyer for that race, Paris joked about it. The only thing holding him back was a complete lack of assertiveness, he would have been suited to a different environment than to the circus Janeway ran.
 
I felt sorry for Harry, always at the beck and call of Janeway, subject to her cruel whims, never receiving any promotion, never being recognized for his achievements, failed relationships etc. He didn't even get to co-pilot the delta flyer for that race, Paris joked about it. The only thing holding him back was a complete lack of assertiveness, he would have been suited to a different environment than to the circus Janeway ran.

I think that's a good point. I could see him shining someplace like the Enterprise, where competency and professionalism are valued more than whether the captain likes you or not.
 
While I wouldn't place much faith in the Ent crew regarding competency I agree that Voyagers culture was politically toxic mostly due to Janeway and to a lesser extent Chakotay. 7 of 9 wasn't even a crew member yet seemingly had authority over most of the starfleet personnel there who had worked for years on the ship because Janeway liked her. She had abilities way above the norm which slightly contradicts the point that competency wasn't rewarded but her understanding of working on a sf ship was detrimental at times. In addition we don't know if other crew member were equally as talented yet were overlooked and there is reason to suspect this given Kims lamentable experiences.
 
Ens. Kim had one thing going for him: He wasn't Ens. Mayweather over on Enterprise. I think he did even less than Kim did.
 
While I wouldn't place much faith in the Ent crew regarding competency I agree that Voyagers culture was politically toxic mostly due to Janeway and to a lesser extent Chakotay. 7 of 9 wasn't even a crew member yet seemingly had authority over most of the starfleet personnel there who had worked for years on the ship because Janeway liked her. She had abilities way above the norm which slightly contradicts the point that competency wasn't rewarded but her understanding of working on a sf ship was detrimental at times. In addition we don't know if other crew member were equally as talented yet were overlooked and there is reason to suspect this given Kims lamentable experiences.

I meant the 24th century Enterprise. Picard's Enterprise. They were pretty competent.
 
While I wouldn't place much faith in the Ent crew regarding competency I agree that Voyagers culture was politically toxic mostly due to Janeway and to a lesser extent Chakotay. 7 of 9 wasn't even a crew member yet seemingly had authority over most of the starfleet personnel there who had worked for years on the ship because Janeway liked her. She had abilities way above the norm which slightly contradicts the point that competency wasn't rewarded but her understanding of working on a sf ship was detrimental at times. In addition we don't know if other crew member were equally as talented yet were overlooked and there is reason to suspect this given Kims lamentable experiences.

I meant the 24th century Enterprise. Picard's Enterprise. They were pretty competent.

ah yes, missed the the part
 
But Harry always did the right thing and little good seemed to come of it. He died three times in 4 years, he always lucked out with women, and he was turned into a joke that the rest of the crew made fun of.

Poor, dumb Harry. :(
Those deaths never happened.

Even thought those women in "Favorite Son" were Succubi, he still got booty........by what 2 or 3 of them.........at the same time. Boy gots stamina, go Starfleet!:lol: "The Disease" Harry gets and STD..........while knocking it down. Lindesy Ballard wanted some of that rocket love too.
.......and Harry still had Libby at home.
Play on, playa-playa!

No, Neelix was the joke the rest of the crew laughed at.
They teased Harry, as good friends do.
Harry & Tom could make Tuvok grind his teeth.:lol::lol:
 
Travis Mayweather was the best thing that ever happened to Harry Kim. Makes you appreciate what little character development he got...
 
I don't know. I kind of feel Harry=Travis in terms of character development.

Take the pilot, take the finale. What's different about those two? Seems equal.
 
One of the authors should write a novel in which Harry and Travis team up for a trans-temporal adventure, save the galaxy, and redeem themselves.
 
One of the authors should write a novel in which Harry and Travis team up for a trans-temporal adventure, save the galaxy, and redeem themselves.

That would be so hilarious. I'd buy it in a second. Or alternatively, having Travis and Harry as a team would square their general uselessness, and they'd fumble and make a diastrous temporal incident that the other main characters would have to come fix.
 
But Harry always did the right thing and little good seemed to come of it. He died three times in 4 years, he always lucked out with women, and he was turned into a joke that the rest of the crew made fun of.

Poor, dumb Harry. :(
Those deaths never happened.

Even thought those women in "Favorite Son" were Succubi, he still got booty........by what 2 or 3 of them.........at the same time. Boy gots stamina, go Starfleet!:lol: "The Disease" Harry gets and STD..........while knocking it down. Lindesy Ballard wanted some of that rocket love too.
.......and Harry still had Libby at home.
Play on, playa-playa!

No, Neelix was the joke the rest of the crew laughed at.
They teased Harry, as good friends do.
Harry & Tom could make Tuvok grind his teeth.:lol::lol:

True Neelix was truly the biggest loser ever, however we have to see this in terms of potential. Neelix had none so whatever he did, he would be a success whereas Kim had a lot more potential but never fulfilled it, in part because of Janeway and in part for allowing himself to be bullied by her.
 
Those deaths never happened.
The first death happened, he had to allow himself to die in order to escape that alternate dimension with the really annoying aliens in Emanations. And the second death did happen, but the Harry that survived didn't experience it. The death in Timeless didn't happen alright.

Even thought those women in "Favorite Son" were Succubi, he still got booty........by what 2 or 3 of them.........at the same time. Boy gots stamina, go Starfleet!:lol: "The Disease" Harry gets and STD..........while knocking it down. Lindesy Ballard wanted some of that rocket love too.
.......and Harry still had Libby at home.
Play on, playa-playa!
The women in Favourite Son only wanted him for his delicious flesh, his luck didn't hold out in The Disease because he caught that nasty STD, and Lindsay Ballard left him because of his problem with premature ejaculation. I think, I wasn't properly paying attention by the end of that episode.

And he still got shot down by that evil hologram woman, Seven and one of the Delaney Sisters.
 
Ah, but Megan might have turned him down because Jenny"bagsed" him, and not because Jenny said "NOT-IT" like she was going for the million on Final Jeopardy.

from 30 days

PARIS: Well, you've done it again, Harry.
KIM: What.
PARIS: Fallen for the unattainable woman. First it was a hologram, then a Borg, and now the wrong twin.
KIM: At least I'm consistent.

From The Disease

PARIS; Oh, here we go again.
KIM: What?
PARIS: You, going after impossible women. A hologram, an ex-Borg, the wrong twin, and now a girl from a xenophobic species?
KIM: You're right. You're absolutely right. I'm putting her out of my mind, I promise.

From Ashes to Ashes

KIM: Don't start.
PARIS: Oh, now, let's see, for those of us keeping score, Harry Kim has fallen for a hologram, a Borg, the wrong twin, and now the dearly departed.

Goodness.

How the hells did that get past Berman?

That's not just continuity, but it's a almost like a literary device.
 
I liked his character. He was an ensign on a small unimportant ship. What do people expect, a boy genius who solves all Voyager problems? His portrayal is realistic, he just stands there and follows orders, decisions are made by senior officers.
 
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