Okay, get your facts straight before accusing me of racism. At no point there did I say 'Kim is a rip-off of Sulu because he's Asian'. In fact, I agree with you in that I think there aren't enough similarities to call him a 'rip-off'. However, when he is advertised as a ripoff (literally 'the new Sulu') then that is effectively sanctioned as the Producers' intent. In other words, from the moment Paramount started advertising him as 'The New Sulu', he became a rip-off. They attached Sulu's character to Kim's - the same way they attached McCoy's to Pulaski and Spock to Data's. The difference is that those two were actually developed. The writers' had such contradictory ideas of Kim that whenever he did get development it didn't fit his character from previous episodes.
Aside from Ba'alfan's admittedly single article (which he hasn't even been able to dredge up or source) can you provide any evidence that Harry Kim was ever advertised as such? I recall that he was stated to be the first Asian main cast member since TOS but that's about it. Nothing about him being a "New Sulu" since from the point he was introduced in the pilot as a unsure-of-himself ensign in operations he was nothing like Sulu who was always boisterous and confident.
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Aside from Ba'alfan's admittedly single article (which he hasn't even been able to dredge up or source) can you provide any evidence that Harry Kim was ever advertised as such? I recall that he was stated to be the first Asian main cast member since TOS but that's about it. Nothing about him being a "New Sulu" since from the point he was introduced in the pilot as a unsure-of-himself ensign in operations he was nothing like Sulu who was always boisterous and confident.