Yet Paris gets to be a 'real' lieutenant jg and Chakotay is a provisional lieutenant commander.
Why Didn't Harry Get Promoted?
- Thread starter Akiraprise
- Start date
I have a lengthy essay that addresses 35 major ones. But it would require cut/paste and I can only do that on a library computer.
Tell you what, though... give me a reason why you think it made sense, and I will torpedo it.
I agree, that didn't make sense.
Since I don't feel up to transcription of 35 reasons, here's five of the most common.
1. Because Voyager was lost in space with no replacement possible, no promotion should happen.
Rebuttal: Were that the case, why were Paris and Tuvok promoted?
2. There's no job for Harry to be promoted to.
Rebuttal: Eight different Starfleet main characters in the TNG era received promotions without changing jobs.
3. He was reprimanded in Season 5.
Rebuttal: Harry's offense, and his punishment, were less severe than Tom's in the same season. Remember, Janeway was ready to KILL Tom to stop him. She wasn't locking phasers on Harry, was she? Despite this, she forgave Tom in a mere 18 months. Harry should have gotten the same.
4. Offering promotion would lead to a ship full of captains and admirals.
Rebuttal: That would require hundreds of promotions. I don't think a handful would break the bank.
5. Someone's gotta be the ensign.
TNG didn't have an ensign in its main cast from the 4th season on... and DS9 pretty much never had one at all. Given that those two shows are considered the best... I guess you DON'T need an ensign after all.
Plus, by the time Harry got his reprimand, he had already put in 4 years of spotless service. That's plenty of time to move up from Ensign to Lt. j.g.
Especially since Riker went from Ensign to full Commander and XO of the Federation flagship in 6 years.
And Tuvok went from Lt. to Lt. Cmdr. in 3 years and change.
Especially since Riker went from Ensign to full Commander and XO of the Federation flagship in 6 years.
And Tuvok went from Lt. to Lt. Cmdr. in 3 years and change.
Okay, here's a reason:
Harry did a good job but not an excellent one and that's not enough for a promotion. We saw in Tapestry that Picard was a Lt. j.g. after a decades long career in starfleet and the reason given by Riker and Troi was that he didn't take risks, he did a fine job but that alone does not qualify an officer for promotion.
Harry presumably got to be a department head because his superiors died, so he got a nice job that allowed him to attend senior staff meetings right out of the academy, he became complacent.
Tom was demoted for disobeying a direct order but he did it to save a planet which probably earned him some respect from Janeway even if she couldn't admit it, so he was immediately marked ro re-promotion unless he screwed up again which he didn't.
Harry disobyed an order to have sex, a little bit lower on the "to hell with my orders, I'm doing it because it's right" scale than trying to save a planet from an environmental disaster.
Harry did a good job but not an excellent one and that's not enough for a promotion. We saw in Tapestry that Picard was a Lt. j.g. after a decades long career in starfleet and the reason given by Riker and Troi was that he didn't take risks, he did a fine job but that alone does not qualify an officer for promotion.
Harry presumably got to be a department head because his superiors died, so he got a nice job that allowed him to attend senior staff meetings right out of the academy, he became complacent.
Tom was demoted for disobeying a direct order but he did it to save a planet which probably earned him some respect from Janeway even if she couldn't admit it, so he was immediately marked ro re-promotion unless he screwed up again which he didn't.
Harry disobyed an order to have sex, a little bit lower on the "to hell with my orders, I'm doing it because it's right" scale than trying to save a planet from an environmental disaster.
That was one of the 35 in my essay, just one of the 30 I didn't quote. But I torpedoed it long ago. Remember that Harry did the following...
- Saved Voyager multiple times.
- Helped Tom break the Warp 10 barrier.
- Was Janeway's first choice for the flight.
- Aided in the design of the Delta Flyer.
- Helped build Seven's astrometrics lab.
- Was described by Chakotay as "one of our best people"
- Janeway herself said of him that he had exceeded all of her expectations.
You have to get noticed to get ahead... and Harry Kim did.
I wrote a whole story rebutting that one. The Doctor revealed in the episode that Harry was in an altered state, and Janeway knew it, and the reprimand was therefore unjustified. Even Chakotay called her on it.
To be fair about the reprimand, the altered state was because of the sex. But Harry couldn't have been in that state if he didn't have sex to begin with. He chose to do it, beforehand and knowing that was against regulations. What made it more problematic was the reclusive nature of those people and what Harry did jeopardized all the diplomatic work Janeway was doing up to that point. So I can see why she kept it on his record.
I don't agree with him being an ensign by this point, though, because it was well past time for his promotion.
I don't agree with him being an ensign by this point, though, because it was well past time for his promotion.
Most of those were team efforts and didn't lead to promotions or a rank to start with for Torres, Chakotay, Seven etc..
That could also be a backhanded compliment, when half the crew consists of former terrorists, cardassian spies, serial killers and Neelix "one of our best" could mean much less than it would on the Enterprise-D for example. He'd be in the top half just for graduating from the academy for example. Chakotay also said that to Harry after the latter wa injured, maybe he was just trying to be nice and keep his spirits up. He could hardly say "You could die from this but don't worry, you're easy to replace".
Another potentially backhanded compliment and it heavily relies on what her expectations were.
My assumption has always been that Chakotay had the option to fully reinstated (for the same reason as Paris), but chose to accept a Provisional Commission instead out of solidarity with "his crew".
