Yeah, but supposedly, we'll be "above" that, too.
Discarding the right amount of ego does wonders for heavenward aspirations.
Why Didn't Harry Get Promoted?
- Thread starter Akiraprise
- Start date
Discarding the right amount of ego does wonders for heavenward aspirations.
It is a weakness of the show (as many of the characters were for Voyager) but the idea that Kim doesn't deserve promotion just doesn't wash for me.
As others have noted, it's the jokes that have come along since the show's airing that smacks of a mean streak, intentional or not. "He should just stay an ensign" is just an odd statement to me with any understanding of structured and uniformed organizations.
As I said, it's a mileage will vary type thing. We all have our things that we get persnickety about. I don't like uniform errors myself.
O'Brien must suffer was a consequence of Colm Meaney's ability to play the beleaguered everyman, and gain the audience's empathy. Also, his physical misery was counterbalanced by career success and a loving family.
Seems similar to seeing the "fun" in watching a bully stuff a smaller kid in a locker.
This is nothing. There was a previous post on the same subject, and one before that. And those are just the ones I was involved in.
Might have made him something other than a figure of ridicule. Punch "Harry kim meme" into Google.
Because this was a big deal to them, they were clinging to it like a toddler who's grabbed someone else's teddy bear. It would have required far less effort to just promote Harry to LTJG and done with it than they spent on their idiot explanations of why they wouldn't.
Yeah, but supposedly, we'll be "above" that, too.
Why should we work hard at anything if people who have only done 25% of the work get honored... and we don't?
I could tell you some stories about my involvement in the Harry Potter shipping wars. You either get it or you don't.
This topic was created so those of us who ARE bothered can be bothered, and vent about being bothered, without involving those who don't want to be.
Some of us even admit it.
Yeah. It's still my head canon that Bashir was able to do something about those prison memories at least. That's why O'Brien wasn't permanently messed up.
HARRY WAS (also) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED!!!
He didn't want to attract promotion from being in a ship of the line receiving successive promotions, making Captain by the time he was 27, and even went so far as to guarantee that during his first mission , that his ship was marooned in deep space, far from the introspection of Starfleet Command who was always on the look out from criminal gene-freaks like Harry Kim.
C'mon, lets be serious, no one is that pretty, by accident.
He didn't want to attract promotion from being in a ship of the line receiving successive promotions, making Captain by the time he was 27, and even went so far as to guarantee that during his first mission , that his ship was marooned in deep space, far from the introspection of Starfleet Command who was always on the look out from criminal gene-freaks like Harry Kim.
C'mon, lets be serious, no one is that pretty, by accident.
Then why did he even mention not finding a box on his chair, if that was his goal?
C'mon, lets be serious, no one is that pretty, by accident.
I wouldn't really know how pretty he is. Dudes aren't my preference.
Then why did he even mention not finding a box on his chair, if that was his goal?
I wouldn't really know how pretty he is. Dudes aren't my preference.
Once upon a time People Magazine made a list of sexy people.
Garret was number 18 out of 6 billion people.
Tom Cruise was number one.
Lucy Lawless was in the mix somewhere.
But Harry was rewarded, he got to be on the bridge, attend senior staff meetings, he had the captain's ear almost any time he wanted, he got to design and build the astrometrics lab, he was on away teams all the time, he was in command of the bridge during the night shift (which is a big deal even if Harry insists it's just the night shift).
He already had one of the most prestigious jobs on the ship, it didn't get much better than that so what's the point of a promotion other than stroking Harry's ego which is something we're told humanity has moved past.
Of course he could have been promoted, that wouldn't have bothered me but the lack of a promotion doesn't bother me either because I don't see the downside of remaining an ensign.
That's not how a message board works. People who are unbothered can post here just as much, if you want to be bothered without others voicing different opinions, write a blog.
I know. It's a common theory that that article saved Garrett Wang from being shown the exit. Not sure if it's true, but he and Jennifer Lien were both reportedly having issues.
Given the showrunners' very deliberate and calculated efforts to humiliate him, I get the sense that he was someone they didn't want around, but had to put up with. That article may be why.
Acknowledging his contribution to the ship's welfare and his value to the crew. And ensuring that his career didn't tank if and when Voyager got home.
I was careful not to tell them that they shouldn't post here. I just reminded them that whether or not they saw the point in people getting hot and bothered about unfair treatment leveled at a fictional character... this topic was created for that purpose.
Our consciences.
Even so, the only argument you're really making is that it shouldn't have mattered whether Harry was promoted or not, because in general, in the 24th century's enlightened culture, promotions don't matter at all. But, what we've seen on screen doesn't support that theory. Whether it's Jake sticking Sisko's captain's pip on his collar, Worf and the Enterprise D crew out on the holodeck sailing ship, or Wesley walking out of the turbo lift rocking Starfleet red, promotions matter. And Harry Kim deserved one. Whether it was Janeway calling him front and center at a senior staff meeting, or a private conversation like the one on Page 7 of this topic, or even having his collar just quietly sprout a pip in "Night", he was an outstanding officer who exceeded all expectations, and he deserved acknowledgement of that fact.
Naturally. In theory, it shouldn't/is encouraged that it not matter, but in practice, everybody finds joy in achievement except a few outliers.
I have never bought into the notion that TPTB have a vendetta against the character. For reasons they wanted to write Harry as the inexperienced youngling of the crew similar to Wesley Crusher. UPN meddling then kept the show status quo, with the exception of the introduction Seven of Nine and Kes departing, for 7 years. That they've kept the running "forever an Ensign" gag going this long is odd but I don't think there is any malevolence to it. They just think it's cute and mildly amusing for a quick one liner here and there. YMMV!
If that's how promotion is viewed then I guess it is pointless.
I can't even begin to fathom this. Agree to disagree.
If Kim had been a cadet at the beginning of the show, would he have ever become an ensign, or would people bemoan "forever cadet" Kim instead?
An interesting take. If Cadet Kim had taken over Ops from the person killed during the Caretaker's snatch and gotten a field promotion to Ensign would we still be having this discussion?
If he remained for the entire rest of the 7 years, absolutely.
Look at Nog: he got a field promotion to ensign after only 2 years as a cadet. Less than 2 years after that, he made it to Lt. j.g.
I think 7 years is way too long to be an ensign, especially when Kim has done good work at his post.
And it does. But, you knew that.
I wouldn't put anything past Voyager's showrunners, considering their impressive series of muffinheaded decisions.
Depends on when the promotion was given. If during the first season, probably yes. Harry had been a cadet mere weeks before reaching Voyager. If he wasn't promoted from cadet to ensign until the fourth season or later, three years as an ensign's not that big a deal.
