Harry Kim (Star Trek)

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Harry Kim
Ensign Harry Kim
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Home planet:	Earth
Affiliation:	Starfleet
Posting:	USS Voyager operations officer
Rank:	Ensign
Portrayed by:	Garrett Wang

Ensign Harry Kim, played by Garrett Wang, is a character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. He served aboard the USS Voyager as its chief operations officer.

Overview

Harry Kim was born in 2349 in South Carolina. He played clarinet in the Juilliard Youth Symphony and had a girlfriend named Libby. After graduating from Starfleet Academy in 2370, he was assigned to USS Voyager, which was subsequently stranded in the Delta Quadrant. In 2372, the entire ship is duplicated in a phenomenon in which matter is copied, yet occupies the same space as the original ("Deadlock"). As the Vidiians coincidentally begin to attack both Voyagers, Harry Kim dies after being blown into space. Eventually, the aliens invade the duplicate Voyager. The duplicate Janeway then destroys her ship, to prevent the Vidiians from harvesting the crew's bodily organs, but before doing so, sends the duplicate Harry Kim to the original Voyager, to replace him. Kim is troubled by this for some time. In the episode "Timeless", Chakotay and Kim pilot the Delta Flyer ahead of Voyager in an experimental method of travel, known as Quantum Slipstream, intended to get Voyager home sooner. Unfortunately, Kim transmits incorrect phase corrections to Voyager, causing it to crash land on an icy planet located near the Alpha Quadrant. Kim and Chakotay study the mistake for fifteen years, then send a message back in time using a Borg temporal transceiver with the correct phase corrections. However, these fail to save Voyager. Using the last few minutes before being destroyed, Kim decides it is better to disperse the slipstream and keep Voyager intact, than to recalculate the correct phase corrections. Thus, in the new timeline he creates, Voyager remains safe... but still stuck in the Delta Quadrant. Kim remained an ensign throughout all seven seasons of the series. However, as seen in the episode "Nightingale", Kim is given the status of acting captain, on an alien ship, while trying to deliver what is thought to be medical supplies to a planet. Also, in the alternate future shown in the series' final episode "Endgame", he is captain of the USS Rhode Island, in 2404.

Personality

In contrast to the prevailing stereotypes for Asian male characters, Harry Kim, seems to have gotten the most "play" compared to the members of the Voyager crew. To varying degrees of success, Harry Kim is frequently shown in a relationship or expressing romantic feelings for various women throughout the series, from Libby (his girlfriend back on Earth), to Seven of Nine, Lyndsay Ballard (see Ashes to Ashes), several Taresisan women (see Favorite Son), Kes's daughter from another timeline (see Before and After), Megan Delany (one of the Delaney twins), and he falls in love with the Varro scientist Tal in the episode " The Disease". As Tom Paris says regarding Harry's love life, "you, going after impossible women. A hologram, an ex-Borg, the wrong twin, and now a girl from a xenophobic species?" (The Disease (ST:VOY)) Harry is extremely loyal to Captain Janeway. In the episode "Worst Case Scenario", a holographic simulation of a Maquis mutiny paints him as the one bridge officer who remains loyal to her, even after phaser fire has made the odds impossible. As ops officer, Harry was shown to be scientifically gifted, particularly in his ability to improvise during tense situations. He was generally cheerful and optimistic, but at some times, demonstrates a temper.

External links

• Harry Kim article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• "Harry Kim" at STARTREK.COM
• Interview about his career and views on star trek (GeeksOn)