Neelix the Universe's Bad Luck Charm or General Troll Doll?

[WoTe]

I was watching one episode and it hit me how every away mission with Neelix either ends in disaster or has one disaster or another. Voyager must have a hell of a "luck" containment field to stay in one piece with him aboard.

Please help me add to his list of crimes.... I mean "Away Missions". The ST wiki is woefully incomplete and I'm not as familiar with the latter half of Voyager.

Examples:

PHAGE: Neelix's lungs get removed because he can't follow orders. Result: Kes gets a lung removed.

Scumbag Moment: Neelix actually tries to talk Kes out of donating a lung to him and expecting some other poor unfortunate crewmember to give ratface one.​

PARTURITION: Goes with Tom to Planet. They lose a shuttle. Result: Tom earns Neelix's friendship, poor Tom. Has to drink dead bird in a glass.

TATTOO: On an away mission, Neelix gets his eye pecked out by a smart bird. Everything on that planet is spiritual and lives in harmony. Result: Make you wonder what the bird knew.

TUVIX: Everyone knows. Result: Tuvok's mental disorder likely started here. Causes Kes and Janeway an untold amount of pain as well.

BASICS: Voyager gets captured. Result: Survivor guide Neelix gets Crewman Hogan killed. This is the same engineer who helped Neelix on his Tom Paris Investigation episodes earlier. No good deed goes unNeelixed.

MACROCOSM: Neelix and Janeway leave ship for 3 days away mission and come back to nightmare scenario.

FALSE PROFITS: Neelix assumes true form. Result: Nightmares. And somehow the Ferengi get home through the wormhole, Voyager doesn't.

FAIR TRADE: Neelix tries to get a map and someone gets killed as result of his hijinks. Result: Chakotay and Paris get charged for murder.

BLOOD FEVER: Neelix is designated mining and climbing "expert". Result: His piton "malfunctions", breaks leg, nearly gets Torres and Paris killed.

RISE: Neelix and Tuvok go up in fancy ski lift. Result: Someone gets murdered.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Neelix goes down to a planet and gets romantically interested in a woman named Talli. Result: Talli gets killed in a planet with hardly any crime.

MORTAL COIL: Neelix gets killed. Result: Neelix bad luck reflects upon itself and 7/9 resurrects him.

LIVE FAST AND PROSPER: Neelix trades with Sister "Dala" and talks too much (what else is new). Brings faulty components on board and Voyager gets it identity stolen.

​

Other Evidence:
All of Neelix's family is dead. Think about that. Talax was going about fine, floating in space, then Neelix gets born and the planet is FUBARed forever.

All of Neelix's closest meet bad ends. Kes, Fury. Tuvok, mental disease. Talli dies as soon as he gets interested in her.

The first 2 years of Voyager's troubles were mostly due to Neelix. Why were the Kazon after Voyager? Because of their advanced tech. Who informed them? Neelix! Jubiantly informing them in the first episode how super advanced Voyager is and can make water from thin air. If he told them the purpose and people they'd be visiting, they could have gone down with a shuttlecraft, subtly beam in the water needed, and avoided a lot of nonsense up to and including Basics.

2 Episodes after Neelix leaves the ship, Voyager gets home. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[Kilana2]

A hell lot of Neelix threads recently.

One might ask what would have happened if Neelix had been replaced by another alien to stay almost seven seasons aboard.

 

[hux]

Makes you wonder about Starfleet away-mission protocols. Why is this whiskered buffoon allowed to pop down to unknown planets and circumstances anyway? I mean, he might know about the area but he's not an expert on much else. He's not Starfleet trained. Chell and the others must have thought ... why the hell do we have to get training from Tuvok because we're not familiar with the protocols but this furry tool gets to go on away missions?!

By all means, invite him down once things have been secured/dealt with, if you absolutely have to but wait... when did they ever have to?

Neelix should never have been on any of these away-missions. He was the annoying comedy creature that hangs around in the background. Snarf, Orko, T-Bob, Neelix.

 

[Catarina]

Neelix was a red shirt with and the damn immunity idol week after week. (Survivor reference)

 

[Terok Nor]

You can't argue with those facts. It's lucky for the Federation that Neelix didn't make it to the Alpha Quadrant. No doubt the fall of the Federation and civillisation as they know it would have been just around the corner.

 

[erastus25]

Wow...tons of Neelix these last couple days. Mostly mocking his stupidity, though, so I'm a fan!

 

[WoTe]

Need to add another one from near the end of the last season.

Friendship One. Neelix is on an away mission and taken captive as hostages alongside with Paris and Lt. Carey on a nightmare post-atomic world. Lt. Carey dies, zapped with a phaser before beamed aboard. He's the guy in Season 1 who was Chief Engineer before B'ellana took it over. He survived seven seasons in the background on Voyager.... but one away mission with Neelix and he's dead meat. Just like Hogan.

If the Away Mission has Neelix on it, know you're playing Russian Roulette and have to keep pressing the trigger until it goes off.

 

[Abi Smith]

CARETAKER: Voyager encounters Neelix scrabbling around space junk. Offers the crew assistance in return for letting him frolic in and ingest large quantities of H20, seemingly unmoved by his 2 year old girlfriend's plight of having been kidnapped by a tribe of thirsty desert men.
During negotiations with the leader of the thirsty desert men, Neelix breaks diplomatic conventions by pulling a weapon, causing a tense standoff, endangering the lives of the crew he just met. Luckily his new allies have the prescence of mind to damage the water canisters they brought to bargain with providing a useful distraction from their extrication.

Neelix is trash.

 

[EmoBorg]

Neelix was useful in the early years when Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. But he overstayed his welcome eventually. He was useful in the Dragon's Teeth episode, though.

 

[Sophie74656]

Wow old thread....i actually really like neelix

 

[Tracy Trek]

MACROCOSM: Neelix and Janeway leave ship for 3 days away mission and come back to nightmare scenario.

How is this his fault? The macro-virus was beamed aboard when the Dr. beamed back from the colony when Neelix was not even on the ship.

FALSE PROFITS: Neelix assumes true form. Result: Nightmares. And somehow the Ferengi get home through the wormhole, Voyager doesn't.

If I recall correctly, it is not certain where the Ferengi ended up because the whole wormhole de-stabilized.

RISE: Neelix and Tuvok go up in fancy ski lift. Result: Someone gets murdered.

Neelix was not the murderer. This happened because of something that was happening on this planet before Voyager even got there.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Neelix goes down to a planet and gets romantically interested in a woman named Talli. Result: Talli gets killed in a planet with hardly any crime.

Again, (say it with me) he was not the murderer.

 

[Sophie74656]

I don't get the hate for Neelix. He was the sweetest guy who always tried to make others happy. especially once you know his own tragic background it makea him even more interesting. Plus ethan phillips is a hell of an actor

 

[at Quark's]

^Agree with that. Though I must say reading the opening post entertained me.

 

[Tracy Trek]

^Agree with that. Though I must say reading the opening post entertained me.

Well maybe the original poster meant to be sarcastic. But you have to admit the character does get crapped on a lot.

 

[at Quark's]

Well maybe the original poster meant to be sarcastic. But you have to admit the character does get crapped on a lot.

Interpreted it as such, and yes, I agree there seems to be a considerable amount of Neelix hate out there.

I myself don't like early Neelix that much, when he was still looking mostly for what he could get out of the situation, and his comedic relief was doubtful at best. But he became a lot more sympathetic over the years (sometimes I think this was the intent all along, to show how Starfleet 'redeemed' him). And it's a shame that exploring his character from a more serious angle only happened in a precious few episodes such as as Jetrel, Fair Trade or Mortal Coil.

 

[Lynx]

I wrote this about Neelix some years ago and like to publish it again:

First of all, I like Neelix!

I can joke about him sometimes, criticize his behavior sometimes, laugh at his way of being sometimes but I actually like him.

Why? Because the character had more depth than I think many people realize.

His whole "comical" behavior was actually a result of a terrible trauma in which he lost his whole family. To cope with that horrible experience, he took on his duty to help, to cheer people up and to be as useful as possible for the Voyager crew.

OK, he was overdoing a lot of things which gave the opposite result of what he wanted and he screwed up his relationship with Kes. But that was also a result of the trauma which affected him deeply. He was a very complex person.

If Voyager had had a counselor, that person would have had to spend a lot of time with Neelix because the poor guy really did have some "issues".

Neelix desperately tried to "fit in". Obviously he did know deep down inside that his skills were limited so he tried to compensate for that with a lot of ideas and whims, like his self-made role as "Morale Officer", how he became almost obsessed with the idea of being an "investigating journalist", the Talaxian resort he created at the holodek (which Harry and Tom totally changed) and his bragging about his skills as guide while his knowledge about the Delta Quadrant was limited. That was also one of the reasons why he and Kes started to drift apart as soon as they came on board Voyager.

Kes found a purpose for her life on the ship. A new reality, new people, the Hydroponics Bay, her work in sickbay and an ardent will to learn and explore.

Neelix on the other hand found his skills rather limited and therefore did all he could to get attention, like "look at me, see what I can accomplish". His jealousy over Kes probably had something to do about being jealous of how good Kes did adapt to the new life and become an useful member of the crew while he did find himself limited. Not to mention that his control over Kes started to vanish as soon as they joined the Voyager crew.

I also think that he still had bad memories about what happened to his family so in an attempt to keep those feelings away he tried to be positive, cheerful and tried to cheer up everyone on the ship, like "I want happiness around me so smile!".

Of corse he over-did almost everything he was involved in. His pestering of Tuvok was actually horrible and annoying (but fun to watch) and I can understand Tuvok's frustration over those current attacks from Neelix. But his intentions were good.

So I can't help feeling a lot of sympathy for the furry guy, despite his sometimes annoying behavior.

As for his departure from the ship, I don't think that he became any happier on that asteroid. It wouldn't surprise me if he started to regret it after a couple of months and went away to find Voyager again.

 

[Sophie74656]

I wrote this about Neelix some years ago and like to publish it again:

First of all, I like Neelix!

I can joke about him sometimes, criticize his behavior sometimes, laugh at his way of being sometimes but I actually like him.

Why? Because the character had more depth than I think many people realize.

His whole "comical" behavior was actually a result of a terrible trauma in which he lost his whole family. To cope with that horrible experience, he took on his duty to help, to cheer people up and to be as useful as possible for the Voyager crew.

OK, he was overdoing a lot of things which gave the opposite result of what he wanted and he screwed up his relationship with Kes. But that was also a result of the trauma which affected him deeply. He was a very complex person.

If Voyager had had a counselor, that person would have had to spend a lot of time with Neelix because the poor guy really did have some "issues".

Neelix desperately tried to "fit in". Obviously he did know deep down inside that his skills were limited so he tried to compensate for that with a lot of ideas and whims, like his self-made role as "Morale Officer", how he became almost obsessed with the idea of being an "investigating journalist", the Talaxian resort he created at the holodek (which Harry and Tom totally changed) and his bragging about his skills as guide while his knowledge about the Delta Quadrant was limited. That was also one of the reasons why he and Kes started to drift apart as soon as they came on board Voyager.

Kes found a purpose for her life on the ship. A new reality, new people, the Hydroponics Bay, her work in sickbay and an ardent will to learn and explore.

Neelix on the other hand found his skills rather limited and therefore did all he could to get attention, like "look at me, see what I can accomplish". His jealousy over Kes probably had something to do about being jealous of how good Kes did adapt to the new life and become an useful member of the crew while he did find himself limited. Not to mention that his control over Kes started to vanish as soon as they joined the Voyager crew.

I also think that he still had bad memories about what happened to his family so in an attempt to keep those feelings away he tried to be positive, cheerful and tried to cheer up everyone on the ship, like "I want happiness around me so smile!".

Of corse he over-did almost everything he was involved in. His pestering of Tuvok was actually horrible and annoying (but fun to watch) and I can understand Tuvok's frustration over those current attacks from Neelix. But his intentions were good.

So I can't help feeling a lot of sympathy for the furry guy, despite his sometimes annoying behavior.

As for his departure from the ship, I don't think that he became any happier on that asteroid. It wouldn't surprise me if he started to regret it after a couple of months and went away to find Voyager again.

Oh my god


I COMPLETLY agree with you. Except for the last bit. Watch the episode before you judge it

 

[Lynx]

Oh my god


I COMPLETLY agree with you. Except for the last bit. Watch the episode before you judge it

Wonders never cease to happen!

But I don't think that I would change my mind about the last bit even if I do watch the episode.
I want Neelix on Voyager.

 

[Sophie74656]

Wonders never cease to happen!

But I don't think that I would change my mind about the last bit even if I do watch the episode.
I want Neelix on Voyager.

You haven't seen the way he leaves and how lovely that episode was. Neelix finally got the thing he lost and has always been looking for

 

[Refuge]

You haven't seen the way he leaves and how lovely that episode was. Neelix finally got the thing he lost and has always been looking for

They gave him the respect he deserved. Like an honour guard... and Tuvok doing the little foot shuffle

We get to see him via telecommunication with Seven in Endgame too. Wonder if he knew what happened to Voyager in the end.