Unraveling the Forgotten Connection: How Star Trek: Voyager’s Kes Revisited a Classic Troi Mistake from TNG

Summary

Star Trek: Voyager repeated the mistake made in TNG with Deanna Troi, mishandling Kes' character and powers throughout the show.

The introduction of Kes' telepathic abilities mirrored the initial portrayal of Troi's powers, resulting in confusion and lingering questions. However, Troi's popularity surpassed Kes' due to her clearly defined role and increased involvement in TNG. In contrast, Kes faced challenges in integrating with Voyager's main characters and her powers remained ambiguous.

Star Trek: Voyager made a similar mistake to Star Trek: The Next Generation with the character Kes (Jennifer Lien). Kes was introduced in Voyager's pilot episode, where Neelix (Ethan Phillips) sought help from the USS Voyager to rescue her from the Kazon-Ogla. When Voyager became stranded in the Delta Quadrant and began its journey back home, Kes and Neelix asked to stay on the ship and assist the crew in navigating the unknown region of space. However, Kes was written off at the beginning of season 4, while Neelix remained a permanent member of the crew for all seven seasons.

One of the reasons behind Jennifer Lien and Kes leaving Star Trek: Voyager was the consistent mishandling of her character throughout the show. This issue arose early on, despite Voyager's attempts to provide Kes with intriguing storylines in order to develop her alongside the rest of the cast. Although some plotlines involving Kes, such as her friendship with the Doctor (Robert Picardo), were well-received by audiences, others were not as well-executed. This included Kes's relationship with Neelix and, more notably, the exploration of her latent telepathic abilities, which unfortunately repeated a mistake made with Troi in TNG.

Kes’s Powers On Voyager Mirrored TNG's Troi Mistake

In Voyager's season 1 episode, "Time And Again," Kes's powers were introduced in a manner similar to how Deanna Troi's abilities were portrayed in TNG's pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint." However, both instances fell short in terms of adequately explaining or leveraging the characters' abilities. While Kes's telepathic capabilities aided in locating Captain Janeway and Tom Paris, the extent and nature of her powers remained ambiguous and raised more questions than answers. Similarly, Troi's empathic and telepathic skills were underutilized in "Encounter at Farpoint," serving mainly as a means to detect and relay emotional information to the crew without significantly contributing to the mission at hand.

Why Troi Was More Popular Than Kes Despite Their Similarities

Deanna Troi became a more popular character than Kes due to her significant involvement in the show. As the USS Enterprise-D's counselor, Troi played an active role within the cast, serving as Captain Jean-Luc Picard's counselor and advisor. This allowed her to participate in compelling storylines and engage in intriguing interpersonal subplots, particularly her relationship with Commander William Riker.

On the other hand, Kes struggled to integrate well with Voyager's main characters. Her roles as a medical assistant and hydroponics bay overseer were uninteresting and seldom placed her in an active position within the storylines. Additionally, Kes and Neelix's relationship did not resonate with viewers, although it shaped their character arcs throughout the initial two seasons. Furthermore, while Troi's powers were eventually refined to a more consistent set of abilities, Kes's powers remained undefined and continued to expand, which ultimately led to her departure from the ship at the beginning of Star Trek: Voyager season 4.