Why does Harry Kim never get promoted?

[Oddish]

As for Garrett Wang's obsession to be upgraded, it made him ridiculous.

I would say that Rick Berman's determination to keep him at ensign when a mediocre officer makes lieutenant in 2-3 years was far more ridiculous. An an insult to our intelligence, given that he clearly thought we wouldn't notice.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

This may have been mentioned upthread (it's a long thread, I've not read thru the whole thing), but if a lieutenant could be assigned to operations, then wouldn't Janeway have filled the slot with a lieutenant instead of a fresh out of the Academy ensign? Seems to me operations officer is a foot-in-the-door assignment used to get experience on a starship, learning how scanners and whatnot work, then using that experience to apply for a more luxurious assignment. Poor Harold didn't realize when he signed up for Voyager that he'd be doomed to be ensign for eternity

 

[Guy Gardener]

This may have been mentioned upthread (it's a long thread, I've not read thru the whole thing), but if a lieutenant could be assigned to operations, then wouldn't Janeway have filled the slot with a lieutenant instead of a fresh out of the Academy ensign? Seems to me operations officer is a foot-in-the-door assignment used to get experience on a starship, learning how scanners and whatnot work, then using that experience to apply for a more luxurious assignment. Poor Harold didn't realize when he signed up for Voyager that he'd be doomed to be ensign for eternity

You're right.

But Harry is a department head.

He has to make t... Oh god.

Harry has 10 dudes under him, who do operations, when he is not doing operations.

He says if they done a good job or a bad job.

And every 6 months he decides how many of those 10 dudes deserve a promotion, or transfers them to security to guard doorframes.

Harry has probably been a component to Half the crew being promoted to Lieutenant junior grade, for living up to his low expectations.

 

[Oddish]

This may have been mentioned upthread (it's a long thread, I've not read thru the whole thing), but if a lieutenant could be assigned to operations, then wouldn't Janeway have filled the slot with a lieutenant instead of a fresh out of the Academy ensign? Seems to me operations officer is a foot-in-the-door assignment used to get experience on a starship, learning how scanners and whatnot work, then using that experience to apply for a more luxurious assignment. Poor Harold didn't realize when he signed up for Voyager that he'd be doomed to be ensign for eternity

I really need to find "No Little Box, No Good Reason" and post it here. It simply shreds every in-universe rationale for Harry not getting promoted. The person or people who made the decisions about who was what rank performed their duties incompetently.

There are nine Starfleet characters in TNG era Trek who rank up without changing jobs: Geordi, Worf, Troi, Crusher, Bashir, Dax, Sisko, Tuvok, and Paris. Harry could easily have been #10.

 

[Farscape One]

Dr. Crusher never got a higher rank, except for the anti-time future in the finale that doesn't exist anymore. (Unless you mean Wesley, which he never graduated from the Academy but did get a field promotion by Picard. Though I always felt it was getting a commission for real and not an actual promotion.)

And I don't count Paris because he regained his rank after it was snatched from him.

But the point is still a good one.

 

[Oddish]

Dr. Crusher never got a higher rank, except for the anti-time future in the finale that doesn't exist anymore.

And I don't count Paris because he regained his rank after it was snatched from him.

But the point is still a good one.

Check again re Beverly. She's a LCDR in Season 1 and a Commander in Season 7. Not sure exactly when she was moved up; the commander's pip was just there one day. A lot of these promotions were low-key, which would have been fine with Harry. Indeed, it would have been appropriate, given his relatively limited fanbase.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

You're right.


And every 6 moths he decides how many of those 10 dudes deserve a promotion, or transfers them to security to guard doorframes.

Harry has probably been a component to Half the crew being promoted to Lieutenant junior grade, for living up to his low expectations.

LOL I wonder in his promotion recommendation reports to Captain Janeway how many times he slipped in "Ensign Harold Kim" between some personnel files

 

[Oddish]

You're acting like Harry's done something wrong in wanting to be promoted... I seriously doubt anyone joins Starfleet so they can be an ensign. It's a point on a journey, not a destination.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You're acting like Harry's done something wrong in wanting to be promoted... I seriously doubt anyone joins Starfleet so they can be an ensign. It's a point on a journey, not a destination.

Have you seen lower Decks?

Mariner's raison d'etra is to kick it as an ensign forever.

 

[Oddish]

As someone who writes parody fanfiction regularly (I have one in the Fan Fiction section of this site), I know a parody when I see one. Lower Decks is a parody.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If the animated shorts from Short Treks are canon, then Lower Decks is Canon.

 

[Farscape One]

Check again re Beverly. She's a LCDR in Season 1 and a Commander in Season 7. Not sure exactly when she was moved up; the commander's pip was just there one day. A lot of these promotions were low-key, which would have been fine with Harry. Indeed, it would have been appropriate, given his relatively limited fanbase.

I think that's more a costume error than anything else, like in the first hslf if season 1 of VOYAGER with Tuvok and Paris, particularly Tuvok. (Lt. Cmdrs don't get referred to as Lt. They are called commanders in conversations and during duty shifts.)

I think Beverly mentioned she took and passed the exam before even being assigned to the Enterprise. I'm fairly certain it was in "Thine Own Self" when she was talking with Troi in the teaser.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Bev took the bridge officer's exam because she liked how command felt in Descent.

 

[at Quark's]

I think the multiverse is arranged in such a way that timelines in which Kim does get promoted within Starfleet, tend to autocorrect / erase themselves.

Case in point: the endgame timeline. Kim is Captain -> timeline gets erased. It goes farther than that. In Non Sequitur: there's only the threat of Kim getting a promotion because of that new shuttle design -> timeline (or parallel universe, whatever) gets reset. Boom! Hard statistical evidence! (even if it is only n=2, don't let that discourage us).

In the case of Harry Kim, I think Ginsberg theorem is true. You can't win the game. You can't break even (since it is the Ensign of Death's duty to suffer horribly at least once a season). You can't even quit the game. The timeline in Timeless where Harry tried that (leaving Starfleet) got erased ... once again.

 

[Oddish]

I think the multiverse is arranged in such a way that timelines in which Kim does get promoted within Starfleet, tend to autocorrect / erase themselves.

Case in point: the endgame timeline. Kim is Captain -> timeline gets erased. It goes farther than that. In Non Sequitur: there's only the threat of Kim getting a promotion because of that new shuttle design -> timeline (or parallel universe, whatever) gets reset. Boom! Hard statistical evidence! (even if it is only n=2, don't let that discourage us).

In the case of Harry Kim, I think Ginsberg theorem is true. You can't win the game. You can't break even (since it is the Ensign of Death's duty to suffer horribly at least once a season). You can't even quit the game. The timeline in Timeless where Harry tried that (leaving Starfleet) got erased ... once again.

You might have gotten some of that from me. It happens five times in all: Non Sequitur, Before and After, Timeless (I think), Endgame, and Online (declared non canonical). I even humorously remark that Starfleet knows this about Harry and keeps him at ensign just so if the Borg invade or some other apocalypse hits, they can promote him, erasing the event from history.

 

[at Quark's]

^Oh, that's quite possible. I read a lot of stuff and I don't remember everything I read at a conscious level, but it could have simmered for a bit in my subconscious and now bubble up to the surface again. On the other hand, reading your post doesn't ring a bell with me right now ("I knew I read it somewhere before!"), for whatever that's worth),. However, I wouldn't do it on purpose.






\

 

[Oddish]

No accusations, it's all good. I've posted the theory in a lot of places, and others might've as well.

I can imagine Stardate 3572108.6, or 2841 AD... Harry is in a synth body by now, having served as an ensign for nearly 500 years. He's been used to prevent three Borg invasions, a Jem'Hadar attack, a Changeling incursion, a war with the Cardassians, a plasma plague pandemic, a gray goo incident, and a civil war within the Federation. And that's just in the 29th century... he was MUCH busier in the 28th.

 

[Danja]

I think Janeway saw promoting Kim as an act of surrender on her part ("We're never getting out of here ... might as well let the man continue his career").

 

[jackoverfull]

This may have been mentioned upthread (it's a long thread, I've not read thru the whole thing), but if a lieutenant could be assigned to operations, then wouldn't Janeway have filled the slot with a lieutenant instead of a fresh out of the Academy ensign? Seems to me operations officer is a foot-in-the-door assignment used to get experience on a starship, learning how scanners and whatnot work, then using that experience to apply for a more luxurious assignment. Poor Harold didn't realize when he signed up for Voyager that he'd be doomed to be ensign for eternity

Data holds the same exact post on the Enterprise, he's Lt. Commander and third in command of the ship…

 

[Oddish]

I think Janeway saw promoting Kim as an act of surrender on her part ("We're never getting out of here ... might as well let the man continue his career").

Well that's a new argument. Not saying I agree with it, but at least I haven't seen it before.