LogFAQs > #933107781

45. Harry Kim
Captain, sensors detect that Ive been an ensign for seven years Do you think we could fire a photon promotion in my direction?

What is there to even say about Harry Kim? Hes sort of the poster child for personality-less Trek characters. The actor himself explained that he was instructed to underplay all emotion, and if thats truly the case, this man deserves a Golden Globe, because he nails it.

So, Harry was clearly designed as one of those characters whos just there to support the real characters. A Sulu or a Chekov, rather than a Kirk or a Data. By itself, that should be okay. What makes it interesting is that Harry took it to the next level in a unique way: he actually does get a lot of stuff to do, but none of it is interesting. Hes in almost every episode, hes always saying and doing stuff, I want to say that he gets injured more than anyone else on Voyager, and yet just try to describe this guys personality. Inexperienced, forthright, honest, a little dumb. Thats the best I can do.

I guess if I have to talk about Harry Kim, the easiest comparison is, oddly, Geordi. Besides being the tech guys who constantly get shown up by Data/Seven of Nine, both characters are sort of one-note background-less nobodies who are just there to support the real characters. Both characters have a bunch of episodes about themselves, and most of those episodes end up being about romance, because what else can you do with a nothing character? Geordi gets a bit more to do and is less dumb, though, so hes way higher on the list (spoilers). There are a few good Harry Kim episodes, shockingly, like the one where an alien god (there are way too many of those around) sends him back to Earth in the past so he never got onto Voyager, so he has to choose between happiness and his friends, or the one where he accidentally kills everyone except Chakotay and has to travel back in time to erase his mistakes, but basically this character is garbage, and even his few good moments could as easily be given to other characters.

The defining Harry Kim moment to me will forever be when he died and was replaced by an alternate timeline phasic version of himself or whatever, and no one ever mentioned it again. Youd think that would weigh heavily on a guy, knowing that these arent really your friends, that even if you reach Earth youll never really see your parents again, but apparently not.

Lastly, the most interesting thing about Voyager to me is a random anecdote mentioned in passing by Garret Wang. According to him, he and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) were screwing around and throwing comm badges at each other to see if they could make one stick to each others chest from a distance. Kate Mulgrew showed up, threw a badge, got to stick to his chest in one try, announced Thats why Im the captain, and walked away.

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Started: July 6, 2005