My summary of the primary cast of Star Trek: Voyager
Captain Janeway was the anchor of the show as most Starfleet captains are. viewed things from an analytical and scientific view, but learned to appreciate spirtuality, emotion, and instinct as the series progressed. She also originally viewed captains as larger than life remote figures and kept her distance from crew but gradually began to think of her crew more like a family.
Chakotay was a foil to Janeway. He valued instinct, passion, and spirituality and gradually began to appreciate reason and science as the series progressed.
The holographic doctor embodied the Pinochio story. He also had a character arc of gaining empathy and a sense of spirit.
Tuvok, the most emotional and nuanced Vulcan ever.
Torres embodied the split heritage conflict. She was also the stand-in for all the reluctant Maqui and her transformation paralleled the crew. Also a technical genius that saved the ship very often.
Tom Paris was the exciting romantic bad boy. He had a sinful past to attone for (as many sympathetic antiheroes that become heroes do). He was driftless but eventually found a family and a purpose.
Neelix provides the outsiders view on the Federation. Something I think helps any Star Trek series. He is both a knowledgeable alien guide and a helpless fish out of water. He provides a contrast to the seriousness of most Star Trek officers but he is no mere clown, Neelix has a deep soul.
Kes is sort of a wide eyed youth forced to grow up fast (literally because her expected lifespan is only about ten years). Besides the alien perspective and fish out of water that Neelix has, she also has an exciting character arc as she develops her psychic powers and eidetic memory. She is also a sort of glue for the cast. She is mentored by Tuvok and the doctor. She is a friend to the captain. A love interest for Tom Parris and Neelix and a dramatic foil for Torres.
Seven of Nine is a sexy alien combining many aspects of the other characters. Early on there was issues with the ex-Maqui assimilating to the Federation way of life. She mirrors this by being an ex-Borg assimilating with the Federation way of life. She is similar to the doctor as she tries to become more human and she is similar to Kes as tries to channel her odd abilities to useful ends. She is similar to Torres in that she has two distinct sides to her personality that are often in conflict. She is similar to Tuvok in that she has trouble relating to emotions.
Harry Kim was also present.
I mean he's not
annoying. He is useful to the crew and the actor is competant, but he just seems like he is a red shirt that cannot die.
Voyager is filled with Ensigns. Why does Ensign Kim get to sit in on all the senior staff meetings? Why are there are a bunch of no-name lieutenants that are not privy to the senior staff meetings?
Do they ever come up with an in-uinverse justification for why things resolve around the main cast in Star Trek? In Deep Space Nine it kind of makes sense. The crew is unorthodox with a mix of Federation and Bajorans so the councils are more arbritary, so it makes sense that Sisko is unconscioulsy biased for the people he has dinner with. The permanent crew of DS9 is smaller and a lot of their underlings rotate in and out whereas Voyager's crew is stuck together with the same crowd for years.
TNG I don't remember Wesley sitting in on many meetings, the senior leadership was made up of the senior people in each department. So why is Ensign Kim the super Ensign?