Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek:Voyager: Homecoming #5!
After 31 years, Star Trek is acknowledging Voyager’s greatest Starfleet snub. Captain Janeway and the crew of Voyager endured much while stranded in the Delta Quadrant, but none more so than Ensign Harry Kim. Among the many indignities Harry suffered was a lack of upward mobility and this gets a call-out in Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #5.
Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #5 was written by Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges and drawn by Adrian Bonilla. After Voyager’s return to the Alpha Quadrant, the crew are reunited with their families. Harry is no exception.
His parents are overjoyed to see him, and his mom asks about his lack of a promotion.
Harry Kim’s First Starfleet Mission Sent Him Across the Galaxy
For Some Reason, Harry Kim Was Never Promoted
Ensign Harry Kim, portrayed by Garrett Wang, was Voyager’s Operations Officer. Fresh out of Starfleet Academy, Kim was posted to Voyager just in time for her first mission: to intercept a band of Maquis terrorists last seen in the rough and tumble Badlands. During the mission, Voyager was pulled, and then stranded, in the distant Delta Quadrant.
While on Voyager’s long trek back to the Alpha Quadrant, Harry gained experience far and beyond anything his classmates at the Academy ever would. However, these experiences did not translate into promotions: Harry stayed an Ensign throughout all seven seasons of Voyager. Almost all of Harry’s shipmates on Voyager were promoted, but it eluded him for some reason.
Star Trek: Voyager Did Harry Kim Wrong
Other than just bad writing on the part of the show’s creative team, no one knows why Harry was never promoted while serving aboard Voyager. Certainly the sheer number of times Harry was at death’s door should have qualified him for some kind of promotion, to say nothing of the instances where he saved the ship.
In the years since Star Trek: Voyager went off the air, Harry has become something of a punchline in the fan community. Posts and memes have been created poking fun at Harry and his seeming inability to get a promotion. While Star Trek fandom may crack jokes about the subject, the truth is Harry was dealt a grave injustice.
Licensed Star Trek media, such as novels and other comic books, have addressed this matter. In IDW’s recently concluded Star Trek, Harry was working for Starfleet Intelligence on the Tznkethi homeworld, which brought with it a bump up to lieutenant JG. Harry’s appearances in those books also implied he joined, or was at least doing work for Section 31.
Star Trek Finally Admits It Did Harry Kim Wrong, and Is Making Up For It
Harry’s parents, while happy to be reunited with their only child, also expressed disappointment that he was still an ensign after seven years. Harry’s father promised he would have a talk with Captain Janeway, in a good-hearted way, about his son’s lack of a promotion. Harry may not have been promoted, but he was home.
Canonically, Harry Kim ended his Starfleet career as an admiral, as seen on Starfleet Academy’s memorial wall, a sign that Star Trek was finally ready to let him grow and develop as a character. It is a shame the promotions never came during Voyager’s run on television, but it has happened at long last.
Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #5 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!