Why does Harry Kim never get promoted?

[at Quark's]

^I'm not sure I would appreciate a boss who refuses to promote me just because he or she thinks I don't experience enough hardships in my personal life.

As for getting promoted without getting another job, I could buy there are certain 'ranges' associated with jobs. For example the 'head of operations' post on Voyager might be suitable for an ensign-lt. Jg., but not really for a full Lt. or up.

At least, in ordinary circumstances. Being trapped in the DQ, with Voyager your only realistic option to ever get home again might change that, of course.

 

[Farscape One]

To be fair, Ogawa didn't experience any tragedy, either. Not that we saw on screen.

And Harry has already died once ("EMANATIONS"), actually died and replaced by a duplicate ("DEADLOCK"), wrongfully thrown in a prison under horrible conditions ("THE CHUTE"), been given a virus that altered him a bit and tried to be convinced he wasn't even human ("FAVORITE SON"), and been infected with a weapon that was eating him alive ("SCORPION").

And that was only the first 3 seasons.

I think that's enough stuff to go through.

 

[Oddish]

But all of them have experience some sort of personal tragedy in their life. Harry hasn’t. He lived a rather sheltered and unchallenged life without any personal tragedy to speak of.

Which Harry @$#*!-ing Kim have you been watching? In 7 seasons, they did everything but run Harry through a woodchipper!

 

[DonIago]

^And once they do, he'll get his promotion!

 

[Oddish]

Only which bite-size chunk of him will Janeway stick the hollow pip on?

 

[FederationHistorian]

Which Harry @$#*!-ing Kim have you been watching? In 7 seasons, they did everything but run Harry through a woodchipper!

The same Harry Kim that everyone else watched. His backstory did not involve any personal tragedies whatsoever.

Not sure where this false outrage is coming from…

 

[Oddish]

Backstory, no. Academy, no. But after that, he pretty much got pummeled. So if your assertion is that he didn't rate promotion because he didn't suffer enough, it doesn't hold water.

EDIT: Recently watched an interesting review of "The Disease". Apparently a reprimand is a pretty severe, and potentially career-destroying, punishment. That in addition to seven years as an ensign... well, it could be pretty bad.

 

[at Quark's]

Janeway would probably just shrug all Harry's suffering on Voyager not related to his personal situation off with 'weird is part of the job'.

 

[Oddish]

That kind of nestles in with the "maybe Janeway secretly hated Harry" theory. It's certainly plausible as head canon, either for people who don't like the character or for those who take a perverse delight in seeing one of those guys they secretly resent (because they're well-liked and capable and hardworking and they normally succeed) get ground into paste. However, it doesn't jibe with the evidence we were presented with in the course of the show.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I'm quite weird, I'm an uncle, and I do in fact have multiple VCRs in my possession. But while I have a vast collection of videotapes, I don't have Red Dwarf.

Far as I'm concerned, a red dwarf is a small star with a tiny habitable zone and a six trillion year lifespan.

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[Oddish]

Thanks for sharing; that was pretty cool. That Rimmer/Lister dynamic was actually sort of like Boimler and a somewhat less ebullient version of Mariner.

 

[MarkusTay]

I was watching a season 1 episode last night and Harry gets left in charge of the bridge. Is that the first time an Ensign is given that level of authority? I never noticed this problem until I came to these forums, and now its glaring. How is a guy who sat-in on all the ready-room meetings and was left in charge on occasion NOT good enough to promote, but a Federation 'traitor' (several, actually) ARE not only good enough to promote to high positions, but get promoted ahead of people who earned those positions, even after they've broken an officer's nose? It really doesn't make much sense. If I was Harry, or even that Engineer dude, I'd have some pretty hard feelings.

Watched the episode where Seska ditches them, and I honestly can't say I blame her, or even think she was wrong. Janeway is too busy going hundreds of LY out their way on the extreme longshot of bringing back Neelix's family (or other, arbitrary nonsense) to worry about getting HER crew home - something that should have been her first priority. I just feel like too many of her decisions were based on emotions, and worrying about her own reputation. That other starfleet captain probably would have not only gotten court-martialed when he got back, he may have served prison time. Yet, he was not at all concerned for himself - he just wanted to get his people home as quickly as possible. So who was the 'bad guy'? More like many shades of grey, to me.

 

[Oddish]

B'Elanna violently assaults a superior officer, and gets promoted to chief engineer. Harry has a romantic relationship with someone, and Janeway destroys his career with a reprimand and seven years as an ensign. Is it any wonder why they sometimes call her "Insaneway"?

If I knew how to make a meme, I would SO make one juxtsposing those two.

 

[DonIago]

I'm no meme genius, but here's a little something something...

 

[MarkusTay]

Its a good thing it didn't take 75 years to get home; Harry would have still be an Ensign and everyone else would have been an admiral by then.

EDIT: Pikard Spoiler -

Spoiler

Pikard gives a field commission of Commander to someone who has never attended Starfleet academy, and was technically a vigilante.

Harry - who actually served with that person on Voyager - is STILL an Ensign. LOL

 

[Oddish]

I'm no meme genius, but here's a little something something...

Totally works for me.

Its a good thing it didn't take 75 years to get home; Harry would have still be an Ensign and everyone else would have been an admiral by then.

That or he'd be the last crew member alive after the older humans died and Tuvok's brain disease killed him. Then after promoting himself to captain, he'd finally get Voyager home. And Starfleet would promptly reduce him to ensign and cashier him for illegal self-promotion.

 

[DonIago]

It may have come up in "Workforce", but I'd love to think that Janeway's final act would be to activate the ECH and place it in command over Harry.

 

[Oddish]

Harry - who actually served with that person on Voyager - is STILL an Ensign. LOL

I'm going to laugh if Harry shows up on the Enterprise-E as Worf's first officer (he will be on PIC season 3, and supposedly he was made captain after Picard retired), and the "Harry was an ensign forever" crowd is finally decisively silenced.

TPTB probably won't do it, though. Too scared of both sides to give us an actual resolution.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I was watching a season 1 episode last night and Harry gets left in charge of the bridge. Is that the first time an Ensign is given that level of authority? I never noticed this problem until I came to these forums, and now its glaring. How is a guy who sat-in on all the ready-room meetings and was left in charge on occasion NOT good enough to promote, but a Federation 'traitor' (several, actually) ARE not only good enough to promote to high positions, but get promoted ahead of people who earned those positions, even after they've broken an officer's nose? It really doesn't make much sense. If I was Harry, or even that Engineer dude, I'd have some pretty hard feelings.

Watched the episode where Seska ditches them, and I honestly can't say I blame her, or even think she was wrong. Janeway is too busy going hundreds of LY out their way on the extreme longshot of bringing back Neelix's family (or other, arbitrary nonsense) to worry about getting HER crew home - something that should have been her first priority. I just feel like too many of her decisions were based on emotions, and worrying about her own reputation. That other starfleet captain probably would have not only gotten court-martialed when he got back, he may have served prison time. Yet, he was not at all concerned for himself - he just wanted to get his people home as quickly as possible. So who was the 'bad guy'? More like many shades of grey, to me.

Every graduate of Starfleet Academy can do every job on a star ship, starbase or where ever, but they have to follow orders from their superior officers, who know better.

It's never about the technical issues, it's about bossing around the 40 enlisted technical specialists who actually know how to keep the trains running on time.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

But all of them have experience some sort of personal tragedy in their life. Harry hasn’t.

He DID forget his clarinet on Earth