Neelix Had Some Great Episodes Throughout the Series

[Johnhead99]

I've always enjoyed Neelix. His backstory in one of the approved Voyager novels I always felt was strong and was really run to read. And Mortal Coil is a top 5 episode for me. I wish the "reset button" wasn't hit the following week, and the shows would have been a bit more serialized, but his acting in Mortal Coil was great.

I'd read Neelix material over Kes any day of the week. Even in the relaunch material, I love they include a touch of Neelix.

[R. Star]

"approved" novels... hehe, gotta love that. I guess I read some unapproved novels. Do they take me to jail for that?

[Johnhead99]

R. Star wrote:

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"approved" novels... hehe, gotta love that. I guess I read some unapproved novels. Do they take me to jail for that?

To be clear, it was Pathways by Jeri Taylor. I said approved because at one point I remember her authorizing them as canon. It's been a long time though so I have no idea where that novel, and Mosaic, fit into the whole -- is it canon arguement.

[R. Star]

Johnhead99 wrote:

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To be clear, it was Pathways by Jeri Taylor. I said approved because at one point I remember her authorizing them as canon. It's been a long time though so I have no idea where that novel, and Mosaic, fit into the whole -- is it canon arguement.

That was just me poking fun at the canon argument. Even the producers can't agree on what is and isn't canon.

[Guy Gardener]

Braga walks out of the toilet in the break room... "Everybody! My peons! Listen up! That Dump I just took was so unbelievablably canon I could cry. Where's Okuda? I want that special bastard in the next edition of the encyclopaedia!"

[JirinPanthosa]

My feeling is that canon is in the eye of the beholder. Each 'creative force' behind the show has its own particular canon. When you're watching Original Series, canon is what makes sense within the original series. When you're watching TNG, canon is what makes sense within TNG. When you're reading a novel, canon is what makes sense within the novel.

I refuse to admit the Star Wars prequels as canon. Why? Because they do not fit within the image of the franchise in my mind created by the originals. In my Star Wars, the Jedi are an 'Ancient, forgotten religion'.

The Star Trek novels. If a particular novel fits within your mental image of Star Trek, let it be canon.

[teacake]

But.. that's chaos! We can't all be gods!

[Melakon]

Gods of Chaos. That would be a great book title.

[JirinPanthosa]

I would say "It's fiction", but that might be akin to walking into a church and saying there's no God.

I used to buy into this geek-culture notion that for every fictional universe there must be one factual interpretation of it called 'Canon'. But there's really no way to reconcile that with the fact that all the good fictional universe has been written by so many different people with such drastically different creative visions that there's no real thematic consistency. So now I just pick the creative vision I think makes the universe most interesting.

And isn't the origin of the word 'Canon' the body of writings that the Roman Catholic church has declared and selected to count as legitimate holy writings? The use of the word to describe the factual truth of fictional universes is a little bit ironic.

[Guy Gardener]

I used to think that everyone in a church usually was aware that there was no God and that they were just there to belong to a community of shared values... Until I talked to some people over 10 and under 70 I had previously believed were not insane.

Magic Genies in the sky.

[Melakon]

This is probably a bad time to say I was a preacher's kid. But I've not gone to church since 1970.

[Guy Gardener]

Footloose was like a home movie?

[Tachyon]

I like Neelix. I've always liked him. It is true that Neelix had great episodes throughout the series. There were quite serious on deep storylines written for Neelix-centered episodes and Ethan Phillips did one heck of a job delivering those stories for the viewers.

[Melakon]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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Footloose was like a home movie?

Never saw it, but familiar with the story. My Dad was more moderate than that, though I did ask about whether it would be a problem when I had to do some simple dance in a high school musical. He had no problem with it. The only other time I danced was at the senior prom.

Now a minor gripe (and not directly aimed at you). I don't go around ridiculing Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, or atheists because they're not Protestants and don't believe the things I do. I'd like to think they would be understanding enough to give me the same courtesy.

[teacake]

Maybe if everyone ridiculed everybody it would be fairier. Or funner.