I could be mistaken but in the beginning of the show didn’t Janeway say that promotions are indefinitely suspended? They don’t know how long they’ll be out there, and unfortunately there will always be ensign work
They made up an excuse about how there was ‘no room’ for promotions, except they demoted Paris for a while which would have freed up a spot for Kim. Also, Kim being an ensign when he’s in charge of all of Ops doesn’t make any sense; he has lieutenants and possibly lieutenant commanders under him.
Out of universe, Berman said that someone absolutely had to be the rookie, even after seven years in deep space, so Kim couldn’t get promoted or meaningfully grow. He also tried to fire Wang a few times for nebulous reasons, only backing off when Wang got a ‘sexiest man on TV’ award. Wang was also the only Star Trek cast member to ever be denied the opportunity to direct an episode, courtesy of Berman. Wang also once said of Berman, “if there is a hell in this existence that we have that people can go to, he’s first on the list.”
I could be mistaken but in the beginning of the show didn’t Janeway say that promotions are indefinitely suspended? They don’t know how long they’ll be out there, and unfortunately there will always be ensign work
They made up an excuse about how there was ‘no room’ for promotions, except they demoted Paris for a while which would have freed up a spot for Kim. Also, Kim being an ensign when he’s in charge of all of Ops doesn’t make any sense; he has lieutenants and possibly lieutenant commanders under him.
Out of universe, Berman said that someone absolutely had to be the rookie, even after seven years in deep space, so Kim couldn’t get promoted or meaningfully grow. He also tried to fire Wang a few times for nebulous reasons, only backing off when Wang got a ‘sexiest man on TV’ award. Wang was also the only Star Trek cast member to ever be denied the opportunity to direct an episode, courtesy of Berman. Wang also once said of Berman, “if there is a hell in this existence that we have that people can go to, he’s first on the list.”
So, short answer is that Berman is scum.
Tuvok was promoted. So was Paris, granted that was after having been demoted.
And a bunch of Maquis got handed out weird lozenge-shaped rank pips out of the candy jar on day one that instantly outranked Kim.
“We’re suspending all promotions…except for my close friends of course”