Why does Harry Kim never get promoted?

[Oddish]

By "seniority", I meant "time spent at current rank". Since Voyager was Harry's first Starfleet assignment, he probably just became an ensign. So again, while he was doing senior officer work, he had junior officer rank and experience. All the more reason for Janeway to just stick a black pip on his collar and resolve the inconsistency.

 

[fireproof78]

Harry's time in grade alone is enough of a reason. If you feel that strongly about an ensign then have an ensign of the week like Geordi would get from time to time.

 

[Oddish]

The whole concept was false. TNG had a commissioned ensign in its main cast for all of 12 episodes. DS9 never had one at all.

 

[Farscape One]

Ezri was an ensign for 3 episodes... she got Lt. j.g. at the end of "AFTERIMAGE". And though it can be argued Nog was not a main cast by virtue of not being in the title sequence, he really felt like a lead.

VOYAGER did have at least one instance when a higher rank called Kim 'sir'. Lt. Baxter in "TWISTED" said "Aye, sir" when he was told by Kim to report to his duty station when he found him in the corridor.

Not justifying anything... just pointing out the inconsistency.

 

[Oddish]

Your point is taken. However, the principle remains the same. Indeed, it backs my point. When Ezri received her DS9 posting, she was PROMOTED. When Nog had been an ensign for two years, he was PROMOTED. And after a suitable 2-3 year stint with one pip on his collar, Harry should have been... do I have to say it?

No, but what the hell. PROMOTED!!

 

[fireproof78]

It's ridiculous on its face.

 

[Oddish]

And it only adds insult to injury that all five times Harry has been promoted or close to promotion (Non Sequitur, Before and After, Timeless, Endgame, and Online) were either deleted or de-canonized. Just so that his rank on Memory Alpha is stuck at ensign.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Janeway could have been wary of Kim's promotion due to the Kim on her bridge not being the original Kim. Remember, Kim died in Emanations, then in Deadlock the original Ensign Kim was replaced by NOT! Ensign Kim. So, would NOT! Ensign Kim's record transfer over to the Ensign Kim that was sucked out the hull breach? Or would NOT! Ensign Kim be forced to revert to the bottom of the promotion totem pole. Keep in mind, Captain Janeway didn't seem all too thrilled about dealing with temporal anomalies.

Also, before anybody tries with the old "But but TOM PARIS!!!" in lieu of demotions and promotions, keep in mind Tom Paris' dad was also Captain Janeway's boss.

 

[Oddish]

Janeway dies 17 times over the course of the show... she wouldn't hold a few mortal coil departures against Harry.

 

[Farscape One]

You know, Kim might be the O'Brien of VOYAGER.

Season 1... died just to get back to our dimension, brought back to life.
Season 2... killed, but copyKim takes his place.
Season 3... genetically altered by a race of amazons. And starting to be eaten alive at the season finale.
Season 4... copied by silver blood and nearly left for dead on a demon planet.
Season 5... glow in the dark STD.
Season 6... forced to relive a massacre. (Though most of the crew did, he and 3 others bore the brunt of it.)

 

[Oddish]

Season 6-7: Gets shut down on two occasions when he mentions he's still a lousy @*#$!-ing ensign.

I wonder if he ever thinks of "Non Sequitur" and thinks: "Why oh why didn't I stay on Earth, build shuttles, get promoted in 8 months, drink Vulcan mocha, marry Libby, make babies, and live happily ever after? Let Daniel Byrd deal with this CRAP?!"

 

[DonIago]

KRAD takes a lot of issue with Harry's choice to return to Voyager in his review of "Non Sequitur".

 

[Oddish]

So does Lorerunner, a favorite reviewer of mine. We never even saw any indication that Harry was even CONFLICTED about the whole "get back to Voyager" thing. That he even thought of just letting Starfleet investigate the temporal anomaly while he lived la dolce vida on Earth.

 

[at Quark's]

Harry Kim probably has been told by Janeway that she'd like nothing better than to promote him, but that doing so would endanger the delicate power balance in the quadrant, and most notably between them and the Borg. That it is a sacrifice she asks of him, for the good of the entire crew, a fate he must heroically bear, in order to increase their odds of making it home alive one day.

Kim agreed. He likes being a good Starfleet poster boy.

He just can't shake the feeling sometimes that the others are snickering behind his back and he doesn't understand why.

 

[DonIago]

Maybe "Year of Hell" should have had a sequence where Voyager is caught in one of Annorax's adjustments and Kim becomes a lieutenant commander.

 

[Oddish]

Harry Kim probably has been told by Janeway that she'd like nothing better than to promote him, but that doing so would endanger the delicate power balance in the quadrant, and most notably between them and the Borg. That it is a sacrifice she asks of him, for the good of the entire crew, a fate he must heroically bear, in order to increase their odds of making it home alive one day.

Kim agreed. He likes being a good Starfleet poster boy.

He just can't shake the feeling sometimes that the others are snickering behind his back and he doesn't understand why.

I know you're being funny, but I set out to refute all attempts to rationalize Harry's "situation". So... were that the case, he wouldn't have complained about the fact in "Unimatrix Zero" or "Nightingale".

If you ever watch "Nightingale", Janeway played him like a harp. As soon as he mentions still being an ensign after 7 years, she outright accuses him of "bucking for a promotion". Having been a subordinate herself, she knew he would have no choice but to back off and tell her what she wanted to hear.

 

[fireproof78]

So, Janeway has a problem with promoting Kim but no problems promoting Tuvok or Paris.

 

[Timo]

...Unless both of those are treated as REpromotions after demotion.

What Janeway has no problem with is promoting the Maquis, from zero to hero, at will.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Oddish]

So, Janeway has a problem with promoting Kim but no problems promoting Tuvok or Paris.

Just compare the three.
Standard time as a lieutenant (○○) is five years. So Tuvok could well have been right on time.
Tom provided 1-1/2 years of excellent service after being demoted. He got promoted back.
Harry had provided SIX years of excellent service at that time, and standard time as an ensign is 2-3 years. He didn't get promoted. And what's ridiculous is that everyone acted like he had done something wrong when he pointed the discrepancy out.

Do the math.

 

[Oddish]

What Janeway has no problem with is promoting the Maquis, from zero to hero, at will.

The only person whose "promotion" I regard as questionable was B'Elanna.

Chakotay was a 20 year Starfleet veteran and a lieutenant commander, before resigning from Starfleet. Tom Paris had earned LTJG before getting expelled. Janeway simply restored both men to their pre-termination rank. Given the extreme circumstances, both those decisions made sense.

Ayala was field commissioned as a lieutenant. But he was one of Chakotay's most trusted people, and he was subordinate to Tuvok, just as Chakotay was subordinate to Janeway. Most other Maquis were commissioned at ensign or crewman.

As an academy dropout, B'Elanna probably should have been commissioned as an ensign at the highest, and been subordinate to the highest ranked Starfleet survivor. Janeway's decision to make her chief engineer was ostensibly because of her skill, but really because the writers wanted a certain character distribution: three Starfleet, two Maquis, one in-between (Tom), one computer program, and two local civilians.

A more sensible pattern of character development for B'Elanna would be for her to get brigged for punching Carey, then be allowed to serve as assistant engineer on her release. In "The 37's", Carey and a few others jump ship, and a calmer, more cooperative B'Elanna is ready to assume the top spot. But as we already know, Voyager's writers wouldn't have known "sensible" if it ran over them with a bulldozer.