Star Trek: Voyager was an attempt to get back to basics for Star Trek. The series tried something a little different with Deep Space Nine, taking place on a space station rather than a starship. But for Voyager, the creators felt it was time to go back to what fans remembered the franchise to be. This time, though, it was going to be a little different as the ship explored an unexplored region of space.
Voyager traveled through the Delta Quadrant for seven years and encountered a vast number of threats, including internal ones. Everybody pulled their weight, worthy of their own holiday. Many of the crew members would have settled for a promotion, and a couple of people received one. Not Ensign Harry Kim, though. Garrett Wang's character would go through seven years of heroics without ever being recognized — an oversight that irks fans to this dak.
Other Characters Promoted on Voyager
During a mission in the far reaches of the galaxy's Alpha Quadrant, the starship Voyager encountered an entity known as the Caretaker. This entity abducted the crew of Voyager, looking for a suitable replacement for himself to take care of the Ocampa, but deemed everyone on the crew unsuitable. When he died, he released Voyager from captivity, but left them stranded on the other end of the Delta Quadrant, a region of space unexplored by Starfleet and most other alien civilizations found in the Alpha Quadrant. From there, their entire mission became getting home (with one or two pitstops along the way).
As one can imagine, promotions aren't a priority when lost in space. The crew directs all their focus on rationing resources, forming alliances, and avoiding the many enemies that lurk throughout the unexplored region of space. However, that didn't stop Captain Katheryn Janeway from promoting her chief security officer, the Vulcan named Tuvok.
The series establishes from its pilot episode that Tuvok and Janeway served together for many years. In fact, when the series starts, Tuvok is undercover on Chakotay's ship, disguised as a fellow Maquis. Tuvok proves himself time and time again as a valuable member of the crew, earning himself a much-needed promotion. In season four, episode five, "Revulsion," Captain Janeway promotes Tuvok to the rank of Lieutenant Commander for his dedication and selflessness. This is the first promotion audiences saw in the show, which raised questions about other characters receiving a promotion.
In season five, Lieutenant Tom Paris, Voyager's pilot, receives the ship's first demotion. Janeway knocks him to down to Ensign for insubordination, putting him at the same rank as his best friend Harry Kim. However, that didn't last too long. In the season six finale "Unimatrix Zero," Captain Janeway and First Officer Chakotay surprise him with a promotion back to Lieutenant for "exemplary" service. Ensign Harry Kim rightfully makes a remark about himself not receiving a promotion, to which he receives a blink or two.
Why Harry Kim Was Never Promoted on Voyager
The U.S.S. Voyager was Ensign Harry Kim's first field posting with Starfleet, and easily his most exciting. It turned into a lot more than he ever expected. Throughout the expanse of the series, Harry proved himself a valuable member of Voyager, despite his various unattainable crushes. He arguably did more for the benefit of Voyager than any other member of the crew.
In one instance, the ship lost phase variance after passing through a plasma drift. Two Voyagers existed in the same space and shared the same anti-matter, causing a lot of metaphysical issues. By the end of the episode after a failed attempt to merge the two ships back into the same phase variance, the two crews determined only one could survive. Janeway sent Harry to retrieve the newly born Naomi Wildman (one of the children born during Voyager's exile) and join the other Voyager that was going to survive. While the other crew is technically identical to the crew Harry worked with, they're simultaneously strangers to him. He followed orders that he knew meant leaving his crew behind to die.
In arguably Harry Kim's best episode, set 15 years in the future, an older Harry fixes a mistake he made in the past that destroyed Voyager. He succeeds by sacrificing himself in the future, such that Voyager never gets destroyed, and the crew ends up surviving. There's documented proof of Harry's success too in a video journal he sent to himself. Not to mention all the other times Harry died while in service of Voyager, it was right of him to speak up about Tom getting promoted over him.
Garrett Wang, who played Harry Kim, requested Harry receive more development in the series, including a promotion. Unfortunately, producer Rick Berman denied his request, claiming that somebody needed to be an Ensign and that somebody was Harry Kim. He elaborated, saying that in Voyager's situation, career advancement would be difficult. However, that didn't stop Tuvok from advancing to Lieutenant Commander, or Tom Paris getting demoted and promoted.
Berman wasn't particularly fond of Harry Kim as a character and nearly axed him from the main cast in season four. However, Garrett's appearance in People Magazine as one of the world's "50 Most Beautiful People" saved him, as it demonstrated his popularity with audiences. Kes ended up exiting the series instead. Seeing other characters receive promotions felt like a slap in the face, and it makes Berman's explanation weak. It's no wonder audiences witnessed Harry Kim die as many times as he did.