I know what Audra would say about Johnsons!
i mean there’s a reason for Randy to be called the Big Unit.
Also, Randy.
Oh; Beehaaaaaave!!!
For the record more important characters than Kim had about as much origin given:
In TOS the only thing we know about Kirks childhood it that he had a brother and had lived on a doomed colony for a while. TOS never even told you that Kirk was from Earth… much less Iowa. We don’t know if he is a Jew, Canadian (Shatner is both), English, white guy raised in Asia, American decent or even a German. Kirk has a neutral accent… that could have been from anywhere… who knows what accents are going to be like? Uhura was from Africa ( The Man Trap) and had an american accent, so kirk’s voice is no clue.
They never told you in TOS that Bones was from Georgia. That came out in Cons in the 70’s… where Deforest Kelly said it ( at least according to him when I saw him speak in 1986). later in books they said Georgia. He only said “country doctor” in TOS. Kelly could have been from British Columbia for all we know… or a Yankee.
These characters are a heck of a lot more important that enisgn Kim.
Yeah, I noted similarly above. The weird thing is naming a character with such a specific-place name as Kim AND having him be from somewhere else AND not telling the actor.
That’s what I tried to say except with a lot more words. d:
Kirk has Shatner accent, it’s a special accent from Shatnerland.
Besides, they did not have the same amount of time to do the show. In Voyager every main character has well defined background, except for Kim.
In the future, Every. Body. From. Iowa. Willtalklikethis.
Harry Kim… the first Post Racial Starfleet Officer!
I think that it really doesnt matter what ethnic group Harry is. Unlike other characters… that = wasn’t his point for being on the show. He is just a human guy in his early 20’s who is a dork that eventually finds his way … a mirror for most of their viewing demographic. I never much liked Kim from the start because I hold Trek characters up to the “hero” mold. I don’t want to see myself in a Trek character… I see me every day. I want super Kirk type guys that don’t strike out with chicks, and are go getters. Kim was the guy in your office… and Tom Paris was you.
Eventually Kim becomes likeable… but that’s becuase he is family. You never tune in and think " wow… what’s Harry gonna do this week"… and I don’t think you miss him in episodes where he isn’t there… but he doesn’t garner the scorn of a Neelix, Kes, or dare I say Wes. ( BTW wes got NO ethnic/cultural origin… unless you count giving his mom one 4 seasons after he was off the show)
In the end… I bet they thought that they had given him an origin… he is just so unimportant and unexciteing… they forgot. kinda the same wat when the lady that played Janeway was asked if there would be a gay character in trek… she answered with thinking that there had already been one. I bet the writers all knew that the actor was Chineese and just assumed that it had been adressed at some point and they never felt the need to do anything like that. They never had Tores celebrateing Cinco De Mayo either. Trek tends to focus on cultural stuff that is generaly interesting and moveing the story. So Indian dream world stuff, french wine country, Worf’s parrents accent… and all the aliens all make it in. I think the Asian thing is just kinda like “white guy” in it’s normalcy. Asian people are pretty common now days. I am friends with a 3rd generation asian guy here in SC that drives a pickup truck and works for Nascar. The old days of them being an “oriental” culture are kinda over. Asian people are part of the club now. So haveing an episode that mentions it (espesially witht he writers living in CA where asian people are pretty common) seems less exciteing than a vulcan or a native american tatted up warrior.
It’s not whether or not it’s mentioned, it’s that they didn’t tell the actor. Background info like that helps them fill out the character that they’re trying to portray, whether it’s formally mentioned or not.
That sounds like an assertion that race MUST matter. Think about how outrageous it would be, in Stat Trek, to say “The black actor must know they’re from the USA so he can throw in some rap references, play basketball, and be homophobic”. That would be a very RACIAL strategy where they exist as a black character instead of just a character.
It’s not like Garrett Wong had his character playing Starcraft or dealing with anti-Korean bias from Japanese characters, he is, like Zaphod, 'just zis guy, you know?"
my impressing of Chakotay’s people is that they stop practicing their tradition for a long time, until some of them decided to pick it up. And to do so, they thought they had to move to the demilitarized zone.
so native american decent… but probably not even born on earth.