Neelix is #2 on this list of "The 5 Most Annoying Star Trek Characters

[rocketscientist]

Saw this poll on my browser's news page of someone's ranking of the 5 most annoying Star Trek characters on Looper.

https://www.looper.com/1988132/star-trek-annoying-characters-ranked/

Neelix came in at #2. The list also included Lwaxana Troi at #3 and Wesley Crusher at #4.

To me, Neelix is the singlemost irritating ST character ever. Lwaxana could definitely be grating and, yeah, as much as I always liked Will Wheaton, the writers generally did a terrible job developing the Wesley Crusher character, especially during the first couple of seasons of TNG (he wasn't alone in that as the first 2 seasons, especially the terrible season 1, didn't treat any of the characters especially well). IMO, Crusher came out ok in the end, but the writers didn't do that character many favors (IIRC Ron Moore said something to the effect that Wesley Crusher was never written well as a kid and that they really tried to do better with Jake Sisko's arc on DS9 because of it).

What was interesting with the Neelix entry was this:

"We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Neelix's uncomfortable relationship with another character, Kes, played by Jennifer Lien, who would leave the show due to serious issues with her mental health. Kes is an alien who only lives nine years and, at just 1 year old, behaves like a pre-teen. Nevertheless, she is involved with the very much middle-aged Neelix, whose behavior borders on controlling. Today we may even see his actions as grooming."

Looks like I and a few others weren't alone in seeing how incredibly problematic and disturbing the Neelix-Kes relationship was. I still wonder how Berman, Pillar, and Taylor ever thought these two characters, especially with regard to their relationship, were good additions to Voyager. I'd be ok with Kes onboard. The character was too twee for my taste, being a TOS fan who bought into the western in space approach to of the original show, but if TNG could get away with Counselor Troi, then VOY would've been ok with Kes.

The relationship with Neelix, and the character itself, though, were truly insufferable. If I could remove 1 regular character from the franchise, it would be either Neelix or Adira from Discovery.

 

[Starflight]

Haha, screw that list, I love Lwaxana and think Alexander and Raffi are fine. Wesley's irritating but I like that he at least tells Picard to fuck off that one time. All are uniformly less annoying than the Discovery crew.

Looks like I and a few others weren't alone in seeing how incredibly problematic and disturbing the Neelix-Kes relationship was. I still wonder how Berman, Pillar, and Taylor ever thought these two characters, especially with regard to their relationship, were good additions to Voyager. I'd be ok with Kes onboard. The character was too twee for my taste, being a TOS fan who bought into the western in space approach to of the original show, but if TNG could get away with Counselor Troi, then VOY would've been ok with Kes.

Someone else will know more than me, but I get the strong feeling it was Piller pushing for it - I think Taylor's spoken negatively toward it, it doesn't seem like something Berman would have suggested, and the fact they drop it almost instantly (and entirely without ceremony) in "Warlord", having already backgrounded it for a season, makes me think it was something the writers never wanted in the first place. There's a quote from Ethan Phillips somewhere where he says he asked if there'd be a resolution to the Kes/Neelix, uh, "romance", and was basically told "no, let's just forget it and move on."

Not trying to paint Piller a certain way, but iirc he was also pretty insistent that Paris' main trait be lasciviousness, a fate the character was saved from when Taylor put her foot down and insisted he be written better.

 

[rocketscientist]

Haha, screw that list, I love Lwaxana and think Alexander and Raffi are fine. Wesley's irritating but I like that he at least tells Picard to fuck off that one time. All are uniformly less annoying than the Discovery crew.

Someone else will know more than me, but I get the strong feeling it was Piller pushing for it - I think Taylor's spoken negatively toward it, it doesn't seem like something Berman would have suggested, and the fact they drop it almost instantly (and entirely without ceremony) in "Warlord", having already backgrounded it for a season, makes me think it was something the writers never wanted in the first place. There's a quote from Ethan Phillips somewhere where he says he asked if there'd be a resolution to the Kes/Neelix, uh, "romance", and was basically told "no, let's just forget it and move on."

Not trying to paint Piller a certain way, but iirc he was also pretty insistent that Paris' main trait be lasciviousness, a fate the character was saved from when Taylor put her foot down and insisted he be written better.

I can take Lwaxana in small doses, and I'm with you regarding Alexander and Raffi. Were they great characters? I'd say no, but they didn't hate either of them. Alexander made Worf struggle at being a dad, which was a boon for the character and Raffi was a very imperfect person in the post-TNG future where people were seen to be largely too perfect, so I give that some respect. Again, I never found Raffi particularly irritating.

I don't know which of the 3 were responsible for Neelix and Kes, but you might be right about Pillar being the one. If it was, I'd ask him what he was thinking there.

 

[publiusr]

I liked Neelix myself.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Nellix was supposed to be annoying. Ethan did a fantastic job of following specific direction. His peculiar alien behaviour let the humans admonish "Thank frick we are human."

 

[AntonyF]

I never once found Neelix annoying. I can understand some of the optics on what they now say regarding Neelix and Kes, but as a character I liked him from day one.

I know these lists are meant to be harmless fluff, so shouldn't take it too seriously. But there is an irony that they address the "uncomfortable relationship" of Neelix and Kes and address her age, to then in the same article slamm the child actors and characters of Star Trek.

"It's no wonder Worf isn't a good father; he was handed a brat."

I mean that line is fucking special. A young kid, mixed race, mother stabbed to death... but yeah he's the brat and the adult Worf is the victim. For fuck sake. Who writes this shit.