Creation and casting

Kes was one of the first nine characters that Star Trek: Voyager creators Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor developed for the crew of the USS Voyager starship.^[1][2] Inspired by the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Child", Berman, Piller, and Taylor wanted to feature a rapidly-aging character to encourage viewers to reflect on time.^[3][4] Early in production, they nicknamed Kes Mayfly to reference how her alien species—the Ocampa—have a short life span.^[5][6] She was set to age a year at the midpoint each season to emphasize this rapid age progression.^[7] Early drafts had Kes named Dah and portrayed her with an older Ocampa near the end of his life cycle.^[2][8]

In initial character descriptions, Kes was listed as a potential scout and expert on gangs,^[7] but was changed to be a medical intern,^[2] and another character—Neelix—assumed a similar role as a guide.^[9] When Berman, Piller, and Taylor wrote Kes with psychic powers, production assistant Zayra Cabot hired a paranormal-focused consulting firm, the Joan Pearce Research Associates, to help research parapsychology.^[6] Based on these findings, Kes was shown with limited telepathy in the pilot episode ("Caretaker") with further exploration of her power planned for later episodes.^[10]

Early in Voyager's development, it was undetermined if Kes would be female, male, or androgynous.^[5] The later casting call was only for women in their early-twenties or younger. "Caretaker" director Winrich Kolbe wanted an actress who "could be fragile but with a steely will underneath".^[11] Jennifer Lien was an "early selection" for the role;^[12] Taylor said that she had "this wonderful elfin quality" and projected vulnerability and strength in her audition.^[4] Lien was unfamiliar with the Star Trek franchise, and at the age of nineteen, she was the youngest actor on the show at the time of its debut.^[12] Jennifer Gatti was considered as a runner-up for Kes, and would later guest star in the episode "Non Sequitur".^[13]

For the pilot, Robert Blackman designed Kes's wardrobe and Michael Westmore created her prosthetic makeup.^[14] Blackman had difficulty dressing Lien as Voyager's producers were unclear of her character's direction. His initial design was for a pastel-colored costume inspired by a sprite, and after that was rejected, the final costume was instead partially inspired by Joan of Arc.^[15] Kes's wardrobe primarily consisted of tunics, and Lien wore a bob cut wig.^[16][17] Lien tested combinations of wigs and prosthetics, which cinematographer Marvin V. Rush filmed for Berman's final approval.^[18] Westmore kept the prosthetic simple to more easily work on 30 Ocampa characters in one episode.^[19] Lien said the ear prosthetics impaired her hearing,^[16] and she developed an allergic response to them as the series progressed.^[17][20] Starting with the episode "Before and After", Lien no longer wore the prosthetics and used her longer hair to cover her ears and hide this change;^[17][20] around this point, her costume also transitioned to being tighter jumpsuits.^[21]

Characterization and relationships

In Voyager's series bible, Kes is characterized as "an innocent who sees humanity through a fresh perspective" and as "delicate, beautiful, young".^[4] The "Caretaker" script describes her as a "dazzling, ethereal beauty, waifish and fragile" who has a "dignity to her bearing, an alertness in her look, that suggests a being of powerful intelligence".^[22] While promoting Voyager, Lien said that Kes lacked any "cynicism or precociousness or pretentiousness or sarcasm", and believed this separated her from the typical roles for young women.^[23] Taylor defined the character through her curiosity as demonstrated by how she challenges the Ocampa's beliefs and explores her mental abilities.^[24] In 2003, author Paul Ruditis wrote that Kes has a "fragile power" and balances a "child-like wonder" with a "maturity of someone well into adulthood".^[22]

Kes and Neelix were created as an alien couple who would learn about humanity together.^[25] They are portrayed as an unlikely pair in age and appearance,^[26] with Kes as the dominant partner keeping Neelix out of trouble.^[27] Kes and Neelix are shown sleeping in separate bedrooms, and their sex lives are left vague. Taylor said this was done to avoid potentially offending viewers, particularly families with young children and those against cohabitation.^[28] Taylor and Berman also worried that Kes was too young to show in a sexual relationship.^[29] In retrospect, writers and producers felt Kes and Neelix never worked as a couple;^[25] a break-up scene was filmed for the episode "Fair Trade", but was cut due to time constraints.^[25][27]

In Voyager's first two seasons, Kes is involved in a love triangle with Neelix and Voyager's helmsman Tom Paris. Neelix becomes increasingly jealous over Paris's interest in Kes who never returns his advances.^[25] None of the actors involved liked this storyline,^[25] which was ended to avoid further damaging Neelix and Paris as characters.^[30][31] Aside from Neelix, Kes spent most of her scenes with a hologram known as the Doctor; she was key to helping him develop his humanity and persuading the crew to view him as more than just a machine.^[32] Along with this, the Doctor teaches Kes about medicine and Security Chief Tuvok helps her to further develop her mental abilities. She is respectful to the Doctor and Captain Kathryn Janeway, who she sees as parental figures.^[22]

Departure and return

In the fourth season, Voyager's producers reluctantly fired Lien when her personal issues affected her reliability on set.^[33] She had become increasingly unfocused, requiring multiple takes to complete a scene.^[34] Robert Duncan McNeill, who plays Paris, described Lien as private and shy,^[35] and Taylor said that she refused to discuss or accept help for her problems.^[33] The cast and crew did not publicly disclose the reason for Lien's firing.^[36] At the time, it was believed Lien was removed to make room for Jeri Ryan as former Borg drone Seven of Nine,^[37] but these casting choices were unrelated.^[38] Paramount reported that Lien wanted to act in other projects,^[39] and Taylor said Kes "did not work out as well as we wanted".^[40][41] In 2004, writer Kenneth Biller talked about his disappointment about Kes's removal:

I was a little bit regretful when Kes left the show, because I thought she was an interesting character to write for—from a science fiction standpoint—because she had certain... she had telepathic abilities, she had this very compressed lifespan, she had things about her character that often lent themselves to interesting storytelling [....] We lost something in losing the Kes character.^[42]

UPN executives wanted Kes cut from Voyager off-screen without explanation, but Taylor insisted that the character get a proper farewell.^[34] Lien last appears as a full-time cast member in "The Gift". It was intended to be the fifth episode of the fourth season, but was moved to the second after a decision to remove Lien earlier than planned.^[43] She had a final appearance in the season six episode, "Fury".^[33][44] Berman asked her to come back before a story was completed.^[44] Lien discussed the script with Fuller and Michael Taylor to ensure that Kes was "handled with great care". Her primary request was for the character to be dramatically different than how she left.^[16] In a 2010 StarTrek.com interview, Lien said she preferred "The Gift" as her final episode; she disliked her performance in "Fury", explaining that she had not acted for an extended period and struggled with playing such a different version of Kes.^[45]

In Star Trek: Voyager

Kes is an Ocampa—a telepathic alien species with latent psychic abilities and a life span of only nine years.^[46] She was born and raised in an underground city on the Ocampa home world, which was constructed by an alien known as the Caretaker after he inadvertently destroyed the planet's atmosphere. The Ocampa grow dependent on his care and are sealed from the planet's surface; despite this, Kes dreams of exploring the galaxy and her mental powers. She finds a way out of the city, but is captured and tortured by the Kazon, who want to steal the Ocampa's resources. Neelix, a Talaxian, rescues her and they become a couple.^[47]

The Caretaker realizes he is dying and abducts beings from across the galaxy to find a compatible mate to produce an offspring who would continue caring for the Ocampa; this includes a Maquis crew and the Starfleet crew of the starship USS Voyager. Kes helps Captain Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay recover their missing crew members. When the Kazon attack and attempt to steal the Caretaker's technology, Janeway orders the destruction of his vessel. Stranded in the Delta Quadrant, she integrates the Maquis into her Starfleet crew and agrees to have Kes and Neelix remain on Voyager.^[47]

Aboard Voyager, Kes starts a hydroponics garden to provide produce to the crew.^[48] She works as the Doctor's medical assistant while encouraging him to develop his social skills and the crew to recognize him as more than a hologram.^[32] The Vidiians harvest Neelix's lungs in "Phage", and Kes donates one of her own for him.^[49] In "Elogium", emanations from space-dwelling lifeforms cause Kes to prematurely enter a fertile period. An Ocampa goes through this process only once and it is her only time to have a child. After discussions, Neelix agrees to be a father, but Kes decides against having a child. When Voyager moves away from the aliens, the Doctor determines Kes had a false alarm and would be able to conceive in the future.^[50] Neelix grows more paranoid regarding Paris's interest in Kes, such as in "Twisted";^[31] the two resolve this tension in "Parturition" while nursing a reptilian humanoid baby during an away mission.^[31][51]

When Voyager discovers an Ocampa colony in "Cold Fire", its leader Tanis teaches Kes to see and control particles on the subatomic level. Prior to this, Tuvok had been training Kes with more caution.^[52] She used her abilities in earlier episodes, including having visions of a planet's destruction in "Time and Again" and resisting a psychoactive trance in "Persistence of Vision".^[53][54] Under Tanis's tutelage, Kes develops pyrokinesis, but cannot control it, nearly kills Tuvok by boiling his blood. The crew discover that Tanis is working with the Caretaker's first mate, Suspiria, to destroy Voyager, but Kes subdues him with her powers. Tuvok encourages her to learn to control, rather than fear, her darker impulses.^[52] In "Warlord", Tiernan, a former dictator of the planet Illari, possesses and uses her abilities to stage a coup on the new leader. Under his influence, Kes breaks up with Neelix. Although Voyager frees Kes from Tieran's control and kills him, the experience traumatizes her.^[55]

Kes is shocked into a coma by a force field protecting a holy site in "Sacred Ground". Janeway cures her by undergoing a religious ceremony to learn she must rely on her own faith rather than technology.^[56] In "Darkling", Kes is attracted to Zahir, a part of an alien species of explorers, and considers temporarily joining his journey. The Doctor injures Zahir and kidnaps Kes after developing an evil alter ego while grafting new personalities into his program. After the Doctor is returned to normal, Kes decides to remain on Voyager.^[57] Throughout "Before and After", Kes lives short periods of her life in reverse order, from her death to her conception. Set in an alternative timeline, she is romantically involved with Paris and has a daughter who is married to and has a son with Ensign Harry Kim. In this time, Kes participates in Voyager’s year-long battle with the Krenim, later shown in “Year of Hell”. The Doctor brings her back to the present, and Tuvok says likely saw only a possible timeline and her actions may have changed the future.^[58]

During "Scorpion", Kes becomes telepathically connected with Species 8472 who are at war with the Borg.^[59] Her powers advance at an exponential rate in “The Gift” to the point that she can no longer stay aboard Voyager as they threaten to destroy the ship. Leaving on a shuttlecraft, Kes hurls Voyager and its crew safely beyond Borg space, 9,500 light-years closer to Earth, before turning into living energy.^[60] She returns in “Fury” in which she has memory loss as she nears the end of her life cycle. She believes Janeway had kidnapped her from Ocampa and travels back in time to negotiate with the Vidiians to take her younger self home in return for helping them access Voyager to harvest the crew’s organs. After this is stopped, the younger Kes makes a hologram to remind her future self about her love for the crew. The older Kes sees this and returns to Ocampa.^[61]

Other appearances

In 1995, Pocket Books began publishing Star Trek: Voyager novels about stories set during the show's run and after its series finale.^{[62][63][note 1]} Kes appears in the 1995 novelization of "Caretaker" by L. A. Graf and the 1996 one for "Flashback" by Diane Carey.^[66] Nathan Archer began writing the 1995 book, Ragnorak, before the pilot episode aired and said that how he had imagined Kes based on the series bible was radically different from her depiction in the show.^[63] In Greg Cox's 1997 novel, The Black Shore, Kes has horrific visions after the crew takes shore leave on a seemingly idyllic planet. Cox included scenes between Kes and Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres after reading an interview in which Torres's actor Roxann Dawson talked about how the characters rarely interacted. Marooned, published in the same year, focuses on Kes being kidnapped by a space pirate; the author Christie Golden said that she wanted to explore how Kes would appear to an alien with a lifespan of thousands of years.^[63]

Kes is included in stories published after Voyager ended.^[67] She goes back in time to help create an Ocampa and Nacene hybrid in Heather Jarman's 2006 novel Evolution, the third in the String Theory trilogy.^{[44][67][note 2]} The book describes the Kes from "Fury" as the "manifestation of her dark side" made as byproduct of this time travel.^[44] Jarman used Evolution to explore questions she had with Voyager, such as how Neelix felt about Kes after her departure and what the Ocampa home world looked like in the past.^[67] In Kirsten Beyer's 2012 book, The Eternal Tide, Kes helps to resurrect a dead Janeway.^[44]

Kes also appears in short stories,^[68] like Penny A. Proctor's "Restoration" from the 2002 anthology Star Trek: Strange New Worlds V in which she revives Ocampa's ecosystem.^[44][68] She is included in three stories from the 2005 collection Distant Shores. In Kim Sheard's "Winds of Change", Kes struggles with aggression after "Warlord" and asks Torres for advice. Sheard developed the concept after being told the anthology would focus on unusual character combinations. "Closure" is about Neelix seeing Kes after being caught in a cave-in with Seven of Nine. The author James Swallow was inspired by how Ethan Phillips, who plays Neelix, wanted closure for his character's relationship with Kes. In "Brief Candle", Neelix talks about one of his memories with Kes; the writer Christopher L. Bennett said she was one of his favorite Voyager characters.^[68]

Femininity

Academics have analyzed Kes based on her gender and how she represented femininity. Mia Consalvo, a professor of communication studies, described her as a "woman with stereotypically feminine traits" and an example of how Star Trek portrays these characteristics, namely "empathy and caring", as suited for healthcare positions rather than leadership.^[69] American culture historian Peter W.Y. Lee said Voyager characterizes Kes as a "little girl" and struggles to maintain her innocence as the series progressed,^[70] like with scenes involving sex or motherhood.^[71] Lee argued that she becomes too mature for this role after adopting a "more aggressive womanhood and sexuality" in "Warlord" and that this foreshadows her leaving Voyager by having "outgrown her home".^[72]

Other scholars examined Kes in the context of the 1990s—when Voyager was airing—and how women were being depicted in that decade.^[73][74] Editor Leimar Garcia- Siino noted that although Kes is active with her hydroponics garden and her medical and psychic training, her character was still shaped by the postfeminism of the 1990s and its "reactionary anti-feminist and traditionally gendered views".^[73] Authors K.M. Heath and A. S. Carlisle interpreted Voyager's female characters, including Kes, as mirroring similar struggles that American women faced in the 1990s.^[74]

Mental abilities

Critics have offered many readings on Kes's mental abilities, like how they are shown as dangerous or unpredictable.^[75][76] Media studies scholar Marion Gymnich wrote that in "Cold Fire", Kes changes from "generally very friendly and gentle" to "extremely destructive" after being tutored by another Ocampa. She cited her as an example of Star Trek negatively portraying telepathy.^[75] Comparing Voyager to Homer's the Odyssey, literary scholar Kwasu David Tembo likened Kes to two of the poem's characters—Calypso and Circe—as her powers both endanger the ship and aid in its homeward journey. Tembo wrote that Kes and Circle both have the "attractive and equally dangerous aspects of Aeaea and Ocampan power are under the absolute control of a female authority".^[76]

Other scholars focused on how Kes's powers contributed to her character development.^[77][78] Aviva Dove Viebahn, a professor of media studies, argued that the non-human Kes is nearly an example of tokenism, but believed this is avoided as her abilities, which are shown to be stronger than Voyager's medical and scientific technologies, provide her with agency.^[77] Lee referred to the development of Kes's abilities as her primary character arc since the series did not want to address any changes to her body after experiencing puberty. He wrote that "Kes’s girl power rested in her brains, not her bared skin".^[78]