Voyager ponderings

[Jeffala]

What I found odd was that Ensign Kim seemed to be a senior officer, even though there were plenty of Lieutenants knocking about who weren't - Carey and Chapman, for example. He was also commanding the bridge part-time towards the end of the series. If he was already doing the work of a senior officer, why not give him a rank to match?

Lack of Lieutenant slots didn't seem to be a problem when Paris and Torres got their ranks. Did a Lieutenant Commander have to drop dead before Tuvok could be promoted?

Remember that Kim was, despite being just an ensign, the Operations Manager for the ship. Why they chose to make someone who was fresh out of the Academy Ops Manager is beyond me, but it is a senior position on the ship, thus part of the senior staff.

As for him as opposed to others, perhaps he has skills that lend themselves to such a position. I mean, there had to be some reason why an ensign was made Ops Manager.

[Ice Wolf]

Remember that Kim was, despite being just an ensign, the Operations Manager for the ship. Why they chose to make someone who was fresh out of the Academy Ops Manager is beyond me, but it is a senior position on the ship, thus part of the senior staff.

As for him as opposed to others, perhaps he has skills that lend themselves to such a position. I mean, there had to be some reason why an ensign was made Ops Manager.

Most likely all the more Senior Ops Managers were killed, much like why Paris was Senior Conn officer and Torres was eventually placed as Chief Engineer the more senior officers in those departments were dead.

Torres had been filling the equivalent of Chief Engineer on the Marquis ship so was given a field commission of Lt as she was experienced and had gone to the academy even though she dropped out. Before Jail Paris had been a Lt so was also given a field commission to Lt.

Harry was fresh out of the academy so stayed ensign. A lot of the Lt position on the ship (if there were any more) would have been taken up by experienced marquis with academy training.

The problem with Harry is that he didn't get promoted through out the series.

It wouldn't have been unreasonable for Kim and Torres to have reached the rank of Lt. Commander by the end of the series. Although for arguments sake rank on Voyager didn't matter as much.

[ReganX]

Torres had been filling the equivalent of Chief Engineer on the Marquis ship so was given a field commission of Lt as she was experienced and had gone to the academy even though she dropped out. Before Jail Paris had been a Lt so was also given a field commission to Lt.

Harry was fresh out of the academy so stayed ensign. A lot of the Lt position on the ship (if there were any more) would have been taken up by experienced marquis with academy training.

Besides Chakotay and Torres, were any of the other Maquis given ranks of Lieutenant or higher? I'm trying to remember, but it's been a while since I watched anything from Season Three or earlier.

I remember at the beginning of the series, Chakotay was pushing for more Maquis officers to be given more authority, but Janeway was worried that it would be unfair to ask Starfleet officers who had worked for years for their commissions to have a Maquis as their superior officer - valid concerns on both sides, really. He said that he didn't want to be the token Maquis officer, and B'Ellana was given the post as Chief Engineer later in the episode, but I can't for the life of me remember if any other Maquis got a rank or was put in a position of authority.

[Jeffala]

A Maquis who had been through the Academy or other similar training program for enlisted officers would be eligible for officer ranks or even petty officer ranks.

Any others, though, would probably, and were given the rank of Crewman. Even Seven was just Crewman.

Seven probably isn't the best example, though, since, even though she was in the lowest rank possible (Crewman), she routinely acted as and was treated as a higher ranking officer, even by some of the senior staff.

[AGateFan]

A Maquis who had been through the Academy or other similar training program for enlisted officers would be eligible for officer ranks or even petty officer ranks.

Any others, though, would probably, and were given the rank of Crewman. Even Seven was just Crewman.

Seven probably isn't the best example, though, since, even though she was in the lowest rank possible (Crewman), she routinely acted as and was treated as a higher ranking officer, even by some of the senior staff.

Yep, I think she attended all the senior officer meetings just like Harry. I wonder how many of the actual starfleet guys went back and wrote a book about how crappy their time was serving on voyager after they got back to earth . Ah well, Janeway said she would get them home, not help their career.

[ReganX]

A Maquis who had been through the Academy or other similar training program for enlisted officers would be eligible for officer ranks or even petty officer ranks.

Any others, though, would probably, and were given the rank of Crewman. Even Seven was just Crewman.

Seven probably isn't the best example, though, since, even though she was in the lowest rank possible (Crewman), she routinely acted as and was treated as a higher ranking officer, even by some of the senior staff.

I thought she didn't have any rank at all; it was said a couple of times that she didn't.

[Jeffala]

I thought she didn't have any rank at all; it was said a couple of times that she didn't.

Well, she had to be something, right? Even if she didn't have any real rank, though, it just goes to prove that sometimes rank and authority don't always equal out.

[Missster.Freeman]

I would say Seven was more of a specialist during her stay on Voyager, with no authority over anyone else. Rank and authority didn't matter to her, she just ordered everyone around anyway.

[ReganX]

I would say Seven was more of a specialist during her stay on Voyager, with no authority over anyone else. Rank and authority didn't matter to her, she just ordered everyone around anyway.

Even Janeway, sometimes.

Civilian specialist/consultant is probably closest to describing Seven's status on the ship, but she did have authority over other crew members; remember Tal Celes? She seemed to report to Seven, and I imagine that the same would have been true of any other staff working in Astrometrics.

[AGateFan]

Yes in the ep where she was critizing the efficiently of other departments like Security and Engineering didn’t someone point out that Astometrics had a slacker too and it seemed like it was her responsibility to improve the efficiently of that department.

[ReganX]

Yes in the ep where she was critizing the efficiently of other departments like Security and Engineering didn’t someone point out that Astometrics had a slacker too and it seemed like it was her responsibility to improve the efficiently of that department.

The Astrometrics lab was Seven's domain almost from the get-go. She and Harry put it together, but after that, it seemed to be her section. Janeway also seemed to give her a lot of freedom to question and challenge her decisions - I would say that, in some ways, Seven was treated as a senior senior officer, like Tuvok or Chakotay, rather than like Paris or Kim. B'Elanna fell somewhere in the middle.

Seven's knowledge from her time of the Borg was an asset that Janeway was going to take advantage of - another mystery; in the episode "Nothing Human", one of the Bajoran crew members objected to the use of a hologram based on Crell Moset, and to the use of information gleaned from his research, as that research had involved performing inhumane experiments on Bajoran subjects. The hologram, along with information about the real Moset's research, was deleted. The knowledge Seven retained from the Borg would have come through assimilation, and through the work of drones who had been forcibly assimilated into the collective. Why was it wrong to benefit from one, but not from the other?

[Ice Wolf]

The Astrometrics lab was Seven's domain almost from the get-go. She and Harry put it together, but after that, it seemed to be her section. Janeway also seemed to give her a lot of freedom to question and challenge her decisions - I would say that, in some ways, Seven was treated as a senior senior officer, like Tuvok or Chakotay, rather than like Paris or Kim. B'Elanna fell somewhere in the middle.

Seven's knowledge from her time of the Borg was an asset that Janeway was going to take advantage of - another mystery; in the episode "Nothing Human", one of the Bajoran crew members objected to the use of a hologram based on Crell Moset, and to the use of information gleaned from his research, as that research had involved performing inhumane experiments on Bajoran subjects. The hologram, along with information about the real Moset's research, was deleted. The knowledge Seven retained from the Borg would have come through assimilation, and through the work of drones who had been forcibly assimilated into the collective. Why was it wrong to benefit from one, but not from the other?

Crell Moset was a War Criminal who sadistically Tortured and Infected healthy people with viruses just to see what happened.

Whilst people are assimilated against their will and the knowledge is stolen by the borg, its not really the same type of situation. Whilst the Borg are evil and how they came across the knowledge themselves is questionable, the knowledge itslef is all that is left of the species that created it and to destroy it or not use it would be a disservice to those that civilisations that were destroyed by the borg.

You can also factor in that Voyagers crew contain Bajorans who were victims of Mosets Crimes. Moset had free will and chose to do what he did the Borg dont what they do is their very nature.

[AGateFan]

I was watching the Voyager ep where the planet of women try to convince Harry that he is a member of their species. I was watching and near the end I thought "dang that lady smacking Harry around looks like Lyta Alexander from Babylon 5".

So I look her up and it turns out Patricia Tallman was in fact in that episode....and in some DS9 eps and some TNG eps. I think I need to go back and wach DS9 and TNG because I dont remember her in any of those shows. Though I do remember the lady that played Jean Grey being in a TNG ep.

I guess Patricia is a stunt woman as some of her work is "uncredited" or stunts. And it looks like she did a lot of sci-fi but no Stargate.

Funny when she was in the first B5 movie every I thought she was stiff and not that good an actress (of course I thought that about most of the actors in that pilot movie) but I really liked her character by the end of the show .... well if you overlook the little stupid Byron plot.

[./freelancer]

I was watching the Voyager ep where the planet of women try to convince Harry that he is a member of their species. I was watching and near the end I thought "dang that lady smacking Harry around looks like Lyta Alexander from Babylon 5".

So I look her up and it turns out Patricia Tallman was in fact in that episode....and in some DS9 eps and some TNG eps. I think I need to go back and wach DS9 and TNG because I dont remember her in any of those shows. Though I do remember the lady that played Jean Grey being in a TNG ep.

I guess Patricia is a stunt woman as some of her work is "uncredited" or stunts. And it looks like she did a lot of sci-fi but no Stargate.

Funny when she was in the first B5 movie every I thought she was stiff and not that good an actress (of course I thought that about most of the actors in that pilot movie) but I really liked her character by the end of the show .... well if you overlook the little stupid Byron plot.

I think we can all agree to do that

I didn't know she'd been in Trek either, but since I started watching B5 in November last year (and finished Crusade yesterday ) I wasn't really looking for her. I'll be sure to do that next time though. It's nice to see good actors in several of your favorite shows. I remember being very happily surprised when Jeffrey Coombs showed up in B5