Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) was often Star Trek: Voyager's most-maligned character, something exemplified by two series writers sticking him with the worst role in one season 4 episode. Among Voyager's cast of characters, Harry stood out for several reasons. As the youngest and lowest-ranked member of the USS Voyager's crew, he was almost always undervalued. Although Harry was a Voyager main character, things like his enteral Ensign status or his lackluster love life are what people often think of when they consider his time on the show.
"The Killing Game, Parts 1&2," a season 4 two-parter, exemplified some of these issues perfectly. During the episodes, Voyager was taken over by the Hirogen, who commandeered the ship, brainwashed the crew, and forced them to enact various scenarios on the holodeck to hunt them for sport. Almost the entire crew was included in these deadly games, except for Harry, who was set to work repairing any malfunctioning ship's systems while constantly being beaten up by the Hirogen. Voyager writer Joe Menosky revealed why he and producer Brannon Braga stuck Harry with the worst job during "The Killing Game."
Why Star Trek: Voyager Writers Didn't Care About Harry Kim In Season 4
Harry got the short end of the stick in one Voyager season 4 episode
In an interview with Cinefantastique, while discussing "The Killing Game," Menosky bluntly discussed some of the reasons why Harry was stuck as the Hirogen's grunt worker. Although Menosky made it clear that he and Braga needed a way to pad the episode's run-time and chose Harry's storyline to do it, his tone when discussing the eternal Ensign also gave the idea that neither he nor Braga were very interested in Harry Kim as a character during Star Trek: Voyager season 4. Read Menosky's full quote below:
"We stuck his ass on the bridge, and we just didn't care. We ended up being short in that episode. Because the World War II sets had been struck, and it was elaborate amounts of costume to do anything in the period anyway, we were stuck with a few minutes of scenes we had to write, and no one but Ensign Kim."
Although having one character who was not brainwashed ended up being crucial to taking back their ship, Harry's storyline during "The Killing Game" consisted mostly of getting abused by the Hirogen and trying to handle the work of the entire crew by himself. Of course, everyone else was getting brutally wounded or killed by the Hirogen, but somehow, Harry's plight felt worse given how much mistreatment he endured, by both the Hirogen and the storyline itself. However, "The Killing Game" did provide Garrett Wang a chance to show Harry's edgier side, something that led to one of his greatest episodes.
Star Trek: Voyager’s “The Killing Game” Led To Harry Kim’s Greatest Success
Ironically, "The Killing Game" helped Harry in season 5
Despite their disinterest in Harry before "The Killing Game," Braga and Menosky admitted that the storyline they created for him made both of them like him more. Harry's combative, intense personality as the result of his abuse by the Hirogen brought out a more interesting side of his personality, one that was nothing like his usual optimistic, sometimes blandly cheerful character. This led Braga and Menosky to want to explore more of Harry's darker side, which subsequently led them to make him the main character of Voyager's 100th episode, "Timeless," which aired in season 5.
"Timeless" had a time-travel storyline that featured an older version of Harry Kim who was jaded, bitter, and haunted by the trauma of letting all his friends die. In the same Cinefantastique interview, Joe Menosky stated "In a funny way, the future Kim in 'Timeless' was directly inspired by the belted-around Kim and edgy Kim from 'The Killing Game'." It's quite ironic that one of Harry's lowest moments on Star Trek: Voyager led to his greatest success, but "Timeless" was not only one of the show's best episodes but also a triumph for Kim as a character and Garrett Wang as an actor.
