The character of Kess (Jennifer Lien) on "Star Trek: Voyager" has been controversial from the beginning. She belonged to a species called Ocampa, which had a lifespan of only nine years. Kess was only two years old in the Voyager pilot (Lien was 19) and was dating Neelix's character (Ethan Phillips). Many audience members were sick of a grown man dating a literal two-year-old.

The concept of a short-lived character, however, was intriguing. Star Trek: The Next Generation ended after seven seasons, and there was every reason to believe that the concurrent Deep Space Nine would do the same, so Voyager was seemingly set to run for a full seven years. During that time, audiences would see Kess grow from a being who looked 20 to a being who looked 90. Trekkie would watch Kess mature, age, and die in seven years, a lifetime in microcosm. And yes, dear readers, she eventually dumped Neelix.

Cass, however, was written off Voyager at the end of its third season. Unlike "The Next Generation" before it, "Voyager" struggled to achieve high ratings, so its guides constantly tried to boost their numbers with cheap tricks. There was a holographic bikini beach that the cast regularly visited, clumsily adding half-naked bodies to the show. Then, in a last ditch effort, Cass was removed from the show and replaced by a suit from Seven of Nine (Jerry Ryan), "Borg Baby", according to one of the producers.

Unfortunately, it worked. The Voyager writers liked Seven of Nine more than Kes, and Seven became, essentially, the new star of the show. Ryan modeled in magazines and wore a tight corset throughout her tenure on the show. Seven was an interesting character, but it was clear that the Voyager showrunners added her for sex appeal. And lo and behold, Voyager's conscience disappeared. Kes was off the show and his whole dynamic changed.

Kess, I would argue, was vital to Star Trek: Voyager in a way that its guides never fully utilized. She, unlike the Starfleet characters, was innocent, possessing a natural pacifism and a sense of youthful curiosity. She was a keeper of compassion. Neelix occasionally became jealous when talking to other men, but Kes clearly formed healthy social relationships. She was also the first character to theorize it the ship's holographic doctor (Robert Picardo) was alive and encouraging Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to take peaceful courses of action whenever Janeway's first course of action seemed unnecessarily harsh. Janeway often suggested the USS Voyager thunder through a difficult scenario. Kess would then come in and remind her of the gentler course.

Kess essentially reined in Janeway's darker impulses. She was the conscience of the series - something that is vital to Star Trek. Characters, for the most part, try to take the most ethical course of action and aim to do as little harm as possible. Janeway, though determined, had a tendency towards harsh authoritarianism and often took risks she didn't need to. Kess, if she had been left in the series, could have continued to balance Janeway, reminding her to be kind.

Kess also served as a vital tutor for the Doctor. The hologram was even younger than Kes, as it had only recently been activated. The two observed humanity through an outsider's eye, trying to discover what human behavior should look like and what they could ideally strive for. As Data (Brent Spiner) on The Next Generation, Kes viewed humanity with his own unique perspective. A hologram and a young alien breeding each other. It could have made for some good stories.

However, the Voyager writers never fully tapped into Kes' potential. There were too few scenes where Kess and Janeway could ethically butt heads. She had the potential to be a permanent counterpart to Janeway and might have become the second most important character in the series if the writers had taken advantage of her myriad possibilities. At the very least, the dynamic between Kess and the Doctor came across as a good emotional hook. Their mutual familial affection for each other could be seen.

Instead, the writers reverted to soap opera dynamics, inventing a tiresome love triangle between Cass, Neelix and Tom Parris (Robert Duncan McNeill). No one, not even the actors, liked that story arc.

When Voyager began to suffer in the ratings, the decision was made to ax one of the characters and replace him with the Borg character. Rumor has it that Paramount was choosing between Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) and Kes, but that Wang was spared when he was featured in a landmark issue of TV Guide. Kes was out. In the mythology of the show, Kess' new psychic powers were becoming too strong and she had to leave the USS Voyager to learn how to control them. In Step Seven of Nine, the aforementioned "Borg Babe".

The dynamic between Janeway and Seven was more pointed and antagonistic. Seven was a more active, decisive character, challenging Janeway's authority. The writers loved that conflict and milked it for all it was worth. The writers also gave Seven every possible job they could. She served as science officer, Borg expert, and supervisor of a new astrometry laboratory. The Doctor took Kes's lessons and became a teacher, telling Seven everything he knew. Ratings are up.

It's a shame the trick worked, because Voyager has lost its philosophical core. For a franchise about pacifism, it was unfortunate to see Voyager's most pacifist character cut. Seven was good, but Kes should have stayed.