One of Star Trek: Voyager's most important episodes chose to center its storyline on an unlikely character. Voyager ran for seven seasons after it aired in 1995, with nearly every season of the show clocking in at 26 episodes, aside from season 1 which was only 16. Therefore, Voyager reached its 100th episode at the beginning of season 5, marking a momentous occasion for the show which had struggled to find its footing in the first few seasons. With the 100th episode, Voyager aimed to create a truly memorable installment, and the series did not disappoint.
Season 5, episode 6, "Timeless," remains one of Voyager's best episodes, with an interesting take on Star Trek's usual exploration of time travel. "Timeless" featured a storyline set 15 years in the future after most of Voyager's cast of characters were killed when the ship crashed into an ice planet. Only Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) made it home, then teamed up to send a message back through time to try and change the past. However, between Chakotay and Harry, only one of the two stood out as the episode's lead.
Star Trek: Voyager’s 100th Episode Was About Harry Kim
Voyager writer Joe Menosky couldn't believe "Timeless" was about Harry Kim
Harry Kim being the main character of "Timeless" was a departure from Voyager's usual storytelling. Although Harry was a member of Voyager's main cast, he was often overlooked or underappreciated. Harry's famous "Eternal Ensign" status is a testament to this, but his issues with popularity cropped up in other ways as well, with his lack of viable love interests, underwhelming episodes, and the writers' habit of using him as the plot's punching bag, putting him in dangerous or deadly situations more often than other characters. Voyager writer Joe Menosky summed up Harry's predicament perfectly to Cinefantastique after "Timeless" aired:
"If someone would have said to me, 'The hundredth episode, next season, is going to feature Garrett Wang and Ensign Kim,' I just would have laughed. It was just inconceivable."
Menosky's words may seem harsh, but up until that point, Harry had had very few successful Voyager episodes where he was the star. Although episodes like "Emanations" in season 1 showed off Garrett Wang's talents, others like "Favorite Son" in season 3 gave Harry very little positive recognition. During season 5, it might have seemed like Voyager's 100th episode would have benefitted from sticking to what the show knew, with a storyline centered around Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) or Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). However, Harry ended up being the exact right choice for "Timeless."
Why Harry Kim Was The Perfect Main Character For Star Trek: Voyager’s “Timeless”
The episode couldn't have had a better main character
Not only did "Timeless" give Garrett Wang a chance to stretch his wings in ways no other episode had, but some of Harry's most important character traits made him the exact right fit for the episode's main character. "Timeless" featured a very different Harry Kim from the sunny, optimistic one that was usually portrayed on Voyager. The bitter, jaded, angry Kim who still blamed himself for his friends' deaths 15 years in the future provided the character with a more nuanced personality, something that Wang took full advantage of.
Likewise, Harry's strong desire to get Voyager's crew home made him the best choice to be one of the few characters who survived "Timeless's" storyline. Harry's drive to return to the Alpha Quadrant was a core tenant of his character during all of Star Trek: Voyager's run, so to show him getting exactly what he wanted but at such a high cost provided some wonderful drama and complexity to his storyline. Even if the future in "Timeless" was erased, the episode proved that Harry Kim deserved to be taken more seriously than he was.
