I always thought thatStar Trek: Voyagermade a mistake with a character that we had never seen before. InStar Trek: Voyagerseason 6, episode 18, “Ashes to Ashes”, an alien woman named Jhet’leya (Kim Rhodes) seeks out the USS Voyager, claiming to be Ensign Lyndsay Ballard, a fallen comrade of the USS Voyager crew. Jhet’leya’s species, the Kobali, procreate by recovering other species' dead bodies, and converting them to Kobali. Jhet’leya wasn’t supposed to remember being Lyndsay Ballard, but she did, and escaped Kobali society to return to what she believed was her home.
After theUSS Voyager crew determine that Jhet’leya really is Ensign Ballard back from the dead, Lyndsay tries to resume her previous life as Ensign Ballard. TheUSS Voyager’s Doctor(Robert Picardo) can only superficially alter Lyndsay’s physiology; internally, she’s still Kobali. Ensign Ballard begins speaking Kobali randomly in Engineering, and she can’t stomach anything but the Kobali’s unappealing gray nutrient paste.Ensign Harry Kim(Garrett Wang) finally confesses he had feelings for Lyndsay before her death, but even love isn’t enough to undo the fact that Lyndsay Ballard is no more.
Star Trek: Voyager Season 6’s Mistake With Lyndsay Ballard Explained
Star Trek: Voyagermade a mistake with Ensign Lyndsay Ballard by making her a character we’d never seen before.As a viewer, I don’t know Ensign Ballard nearly as well as the USS Voyager crew does,so I have to accept what I’m told about Lyndsay through other characters' reactions to her return. Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) felt that Ensign Ballard was a good Starfleet officer with strong potential. Lt. B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) took issue with Ballard’s lateness. Lyndsay was well-liked, and made a solidHarry Kim love interest, even if she couldn’t last.
By season 6,Star Trek: Voyagerhad embraced loose serialization; the B-plot of “Ashes to Ashes” involves Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) teaching the Borg children who had joinedVoyagerjust 2 episodes earlier.
EverythingStar Trek: Voyager’s charactersremember about Lyndsay Ballard would have mattered more if I had seen her myself in an earlierVoyagerepisode. Even if Ensign Ballard’s only previous appearance was the mission that killed her, I would have had a chance to know her well enough to be surprised by her return, and saddened by her farewell. Lyndsay Ballard’s story is well-acted by Rhodes andVoyager’s cast, so it’s believable, butLyndsay having to accept her life as Jhet’leya just doesn’t have the emotional impactthat it would if Ballard had been one ofVoyager’s recurring characters.
The USS Voyager’s Small Crew Size Means We Should Have Seen Ensign Ballard Before
The USS Voyager’s small crew size, combined with thepremise ofStar Trek: Voyagerlost in the Delta Quadrant, means we should have seen Ensign Lyndsay Ballard before her return from the dead in “Ashes to Ashes”.Star Trek: The Next Generationgot away with introducing characters who had supposedly always been there much more easily thanVoyager, becauseTNG’s USS Enterprise-D had a crew complement of 1000. In Federation space, there would be a high turnover of Starfleet officers coming and going, making it much more likely for a character to be in only oneTNGepisode.
The fast pace of producing ‘90sStar Trekprobably didn’t leave room forStar Trek: Voyagerto feature Rhodes as Lyndsay Ballard before “Ashes to Ashes” aired.
By contrast, the USS Voyager’s crew complement was only around 150 people, and people couldn’t transfer off of Voyager or come in from other postings.Star Trek: Voyagerdid re-use background actorsto achieve a sense that the same people had always been there, but none of them were Kim Rhodes’ Ensign Ballard, and few were named as recurring characters. Ultimately, the fast pace of producing ‘90sStar Trekprobably didn’t leave room forStar Trek: Voyagerto feature Rhodes as Lyndsay Ballard before “Ashes to Ashes” aired—even if the episode would be better for it.
