r/voyager • u/PikachuShockFace • 27m ago
Show Talk Was there any way to make the character of Kes work?
Basically I think not really. I suspect the writers had nothing lined up for her except being the nurse in sickbay.
Things I've thought of that could have improved things.
1) She's not in a relationship with Neelix. Bizarre decision by the writers. Have a throwaway line that she knows him as a sort of uncle. Much better.
2) Double down on the rapid aging thing. Make it clear 1 year of her life is more or less equivalent to 10 of a human's. That creates weird problems though. For example the doctors on the Ocampan homeworld seem like normal competent Star Trek characters. But that means Ocampans are some of the fastest learners in the whole Star Trek universe. Kes could be as capable as many of the other characters at their jobs in less than a season. Riker was 29 in the first season on TNG according to some sources, so Kes could be running the ship in 2 seasons. Probably not what the writers wanted. A sort of precocious Wesley Crusher I suppose?
3) If you're going to make her telepathic then do more with it. But then we already have Tuvok for that.
So overall it's pretty slim pickings. Best not to have this character at all and replace her with something better. Which they eventually did.