Why Jennifer Lien's Kes Should Not Have Been Cut From Star Trek: Voyager

The character of Kes (Jennifer Lien) on "Star Trek: Voyager" was controversial from the start. She belonged to a species called the Ocampa, which only had a lifespan of nine years. Kes was merely two years old in the "Voyager" pilot (Lien was 19) and was dating the character Neelix (Ethan Phillips). Many audience members found it icky that an adult man was dating a literal two-year-old.

The concept of a short-lived character, however, was intriguing. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ended after seven seasons, and there was every reason to believe that the concurrent "Deep Space Nine" would do the same, so "Voyager" was seemingly set up to run a full seven years. Over that time, audiences would have seen Kes grow from a being who looks 20 to one that looks 90. Trekkies would watch Kes mature, grow old, and die in seven years, a whole life in microcosm. And yes, dear readers, she did eventually dump Neelix.

Kes, however, was written out of "Voyager" at the end of its third season. Unlike "Next Generation" before it, "Voyager" struggled to achieve high ratings, so its showrunners were constantly trying to boost their numbers with cheap gimmicks. There was a holographic bikini beach the cast would regularly visit, clumsily adding half-naked bodies into the show. Then, in a last-ditch effort, Kes was removed from the show and replaced with the catsuit-clad Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), a "Borg babe," in the words of one of the producers.

Sadly, it worked. The "Voyager" writers liked Seven of Nine better than Kes, and Seven became, essentially, the new star of the show. Ryan had magazine model looks and wore a tight corset throughout her tenure on the show. Seven was an interesting character, but it was clear that the "Voyager" showrunners added her for reasons of sex appeal. And, lo, all of a sudden, the conscience of "Voyager" was gone. Kes was out of the show and its entire dynamic changed.

Kes, I would argue, was vital to "Star Trek: Voyager" in ways its showrunners never fully exploited. She was, in contrast to the Starfleet characters, innocent, possessing a natural pacifism and a sense of youthful curiosity. She was the keeper of compassion. Neelix occasionally became jealous when she talked to other men, but Kes was clearly forming healthy social relationships. She was also the first character to theorize that the ship's holographic doctor (Robert Picardo) was alive and encouraged Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to take peaceful courses of action whenever Janeway's first course of action seemed unnecessarily harsh. Janeway would often propose the U.S.S. Voyager thunder through a tough scenario. Kes would then step in and remind her of a gentler course.

Kes essentially reined in Janeway's darker impulses. She was the show's conscience — something that is vital to "Star Trek." The characters, for the most part, endeavor to take the most ethical course of action and strive to do as little harm as possible. Janeway, while resolute, did have a tendency toward brusque authoritarianism, and frequently took risks she didn't need to. Kes, if left on the series, could have continued to balance Janeway, reminding her to be kind.

Kes also served as a vital teacher for the Doctor. The hologram was even younger than Kes, having only been recently activated. The two observed humanity with an outsider's eye, trying to suss out what human behavior ought to look like and what the two of them could ideally reach for. Like Data (Brent Spiner) on "Next Generation," Kes looked at humanity with her own unique perspective. A hologram and a young alien raising each other. That could have made for some good stories.

The writers of "Voyager," however, never fully keyed into Kes' potential. There were too few scenes wherein Kes and Janeway could ethically butt heads. She had the potential to be an ongoing counterpart to Janeway and might have even become the second most important character on the show, had the writers tapped into her myriad possibilities. At the very least, the dynamic between Kes and the Doctor did emerge as a good emotional hook. One could see their mutual familial affection for one another.

Instead, the writers fell back on soap opera dynamics, inventing a tiresome love triangle between Kes, Neelix, and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill). No one, not even the actors, liked that story arc.

When "Voyager" began flagging in the ratings, the decision was made to axe one of the characters and replace them with a Borg character. Rumors have spread that Paramount was choosing between Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) and Kes, but that Wang was spared when he was featured in a notable issue of TV Guide. Kes was out. In the mythology of the show, Kes' emerging psychic powers were becoming too strong and she needed to move off the U.S.S. Voyager to learn how to control them. In stepped Seven of Nine, the aforementioned "Borg babe."

The dynamic between Janeway and Seven was spikier and more antagonistic. Seven was a more active, resolute character, challenging Janeway's authority. Writers loved that conflict and milked it for all it was worth. The writers also gave Seven every possible job they could. She served as a science officer, Borg expert, and the overseer of a new astrometrics lab. The Doctor took Kes' lessons and became the teacher, telling Seven everything he knew. Ratings went up.

It's a pity the ploy worked, though, because "Voyager" lost its philosophical core. For a franchise all about pacifism, it was unfortunate to see the most pacifistic character on "Voyager" be cut. Seven was fine, but Kes should have stayed.