Be nice! Neelix is more annoying than Phlox for sure, while Phlox was a much better character. I think Neelix would've been more interesting if he had been the doctor on VOY -- I believe Robert Picardo auditioned for both roles, the EMH and Neelix. Phlox was only a tiny bit annoying in the beginning, with his odd grins and facial tics, but I found him more useful as ENT's CMO. Neelix was just Cookie in space, and that always annoyed me. You see how he eventually outlives his usefulness as a guide, the original intent of the character, in the ep where he meets his fellow Talaxian (Wixi-something, too lazy to look it up!) and realizes they're going into areas of space he's never encountered. It would have been more interesting if Neelix was some kind of wild-eyed adventurer, like Steve Fosset, intent on settng a record by traversing the Delta Quadrant, and then meeting Voyager on his way back to his homeworld after decades in space. Red Ranger
I agree that either Jim Kirk or the entire Ferengi People are far more obnoxious than Neelix and Phlox combined - but I did like Neelix and Phlox - Phlox just got a meatier role.
I liked both characters, but I thought Neelix could be a little bit of a bug on occasion. I think part of this was that he didn't have a focused role on the ship. He was all over the place half the time. One minute he was the cook, the next "the diplomat", other times he was being god father to Naomi, or in the sickbay twiddling his thumbs with Kes.
Phlox is one of my all-time favorite Trek characters, and certainly my favorite on Enterprise. I blame a lot of Neelix's irksome nature on Philip's acting, which I consider mediocre at best. He was Particularly annoying through most of the first season until at least "Jetrel". His portrayal of romance with Kes wasn't believeable in the least (I KNOW I can act better than that) and it really got bad when he was overcome with jealousy towards Paris. Add to this the fact that the character was particularly useless by the third season, and you have a character thats near the bottom of my favorites list.
I actually liked Neelix most of the time. He seemed sweet, in a way. And Ethan Phillips is a good character actor. Phlox was good, too. Neither was as bad as Wesley Crusher (although Wheaton himself seems pretty cool in interviews)
I liked Neelix to a point... he certainly had some great roles in some of the episodes, playing an important and useful part of the Voyager crew (remember, with the replicators off-line, he was the only one capable of soup kitchen volume cooking). And his "connections" during Voyager's early trek through the Delta quadrant were critical at various points. Otherwise, I don't know if it was the writing or the actor, but I often found him a bit annoying/obnoxious and in some episodes painfully so. Phlox had his share of annoying/obnoxious moments, but fewer than Neelix. Definitely. I do wonder if much of Ethan Phillips' personality came through in Neelix, though. In the times I've seen him since, I can't help but see Neelix without the makeup.
Just to balance things out: Phlox said he missed his wives husbands - that's kind of interspecies eerie. Phlox did not enjoy being in quarantine with T'Pol during her premature pon far - that is hard to relate to as well. Phlox wanted the captain to bang his wife - eek! Neelix can chase monsters out of the replicator, he can dance, and he would be your partner in crime if needed. Loved them both in different ways. Neither was obnoxious.
Me too. I think it was the Kes thing. I always thought Neelix should have been more Quark-like, maybe even more self-interested than Quark.
I vote for Phlox. I am glad he was gone and I don't see what the big dilemna was regarding turning him back into Tuvok & Neelix. It is simple math... you either save one life (Tuvix) or two (Neelix and Tuvok).
Ok, I am the idiot and wasn't wearing my glasses when I posted the message above. I totally thought that the title off this thread asked if Neelix or Tuvix was more annoying...
Definitely Neelix. There were so many times when I wished someone would flush him out an airlock! Phlox seems pretty cool from what I have seen of Enterprise... but the idea behind the character didn't really sit right with me. If Denobulans were such a close ally of Terrans in the early days of Starfleet why did we not see any Denobulans or even hear about their race in later Treks? It was also implied in TOS that Spock was one of the first aliens to serve on a mostly human ship... and Enterprise just sort of ignored that idea. If they had to make Phlox an alien, why not use an Andorian or a Tellarite or some other TOS species? Other than that small nitpick, he seemed like a good guy. The actor who played him did a good job.
It's weird - from what I remember in the first episode, Neelix comes across as someone with a fairly dark core but that seems to be ditched for that weird clown/nonce mix.
^ I'm not sure what a "nonce" is, but it does have a Neelix-ish sound to it. But yes, he did turn out a lot different, I thought, than he was in the first episode or two. Kind of smarmy - and, you know, perky! I'm am generally a cheerful person, too, but holy schamoly...
^Yeah, those are basically my issues with Neelix. Phlox was just... weird. Neelix was smarmy and overly perky. LIKE A CLOWN!!! It all makes sense now...
I love the Phlox character. He's my favorite CMO next to McCoy. Didn't care much for Neelix-centric episodes. I guess he was OK in small doses.
I didn't have a problem with either of them. I didn't consider them obnoxious - not even Neelix. I mean, how did people expect him to act? He wasn't a strait-laced Starfleet officer, after all. As for Phlox, I thought he was actually pretty cool. I *liked* his sense of optimism. In this day and age, that was desperately needed. Too many shows espouse this utterly grim, depressing, gloomy "we all suck" mentality (I'm looking at you, nuBSG). It was nice to have someone who represented happiness and hope. And Phlox was a damn good doctor, too. The only problem I ever had with him was "Dear Doctor", for reasons I hope would become apparent.