Why were the writers so inconsistent while writing Neelix?

[R. Star]

We don't know how, why or when they broke up.

#310 Warlord Tieran breaks up with Neelix.
#311 The Q and the Grey
#312 Macrocosm
#313 Fair Trade Neelix episode. if they were together he should have consulted her about everything he got up to with Wixiban and his feelings of uselessness would have been clearer in the episode if it had been mentioned that Kes had just dumped him, but it wasn't.
#314 Alter Ego
#315 Coda
#316 Blood Fever Tom almost declares his love for B'Elanna.
#317 Unity
#318 Darkling Kes goes on a date with not-Neelix.

Yeah we do. You said it yourself. In Warlord, while possessed she dumped Neelix. She doesn't get back with him once she's back in control. The only speculation is the why.

I can only imagine that she realized the Tiernan had some good points when he called Neelix on his possesiveness.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Prove it.

The writers left it hanging.

We can only assume that they broke up in Warlord because 8 episodes later they weren't together.

In Unity there is zero indication that there were still not together 7 episodes afer warlord. So, 7 weeks and there's fine, but 8 and they've been over for two months.

It's only in hindsight that you are making a "likely" deduction.

In truth the dumping probably happened between Warlord and the Q and the grey where Neelix dumps her because even though she wants to get back together becuase the hitleresque sociopath who freejacked her was clinically and %99 of the reason that he extracted himself from that relationship witht he hedgehog was that he liked pussy.

Neelix is a pussy.

(Shut up.)

But Neelix would say that Tieran didn't make all that shit up, and even though he loved her desperately and forever, that it was unfait to force her to mantain their union if she really was just going through the motions and didn't know how to quit him.

I don't know how to quit you

(Shut up.)

Tiren was actually willing to experient with dick, becuase lets face it, if he wanted a replacement body for Kes in 6 years, who better but his own Ocampan child and it's ridiculous not to try out the plumbing according to the owners mannual directions before he made some choices that...

I mean were Wil Riker and Bev Crusher an item just because a Trill inside Riker controlling him was mounting her and declaring his love with respectively Wil's thighs and mouth?

 

[R. Star]

What do you mean prove it? Prove they're not together? You're asking me to prove they're not an item... offscreen?

That's like me declaring Tuvok and Janeway were having an affair behind the scenes. Then telling you to prove they're not when you say that's absurd. There's no burden of proof on things that didn't happen.

Kes and Neelix broke up in Warlord and didn't get back together. Everything on the show points to that and there's no proof to the contrary.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Sorry.

By "prove it" I only meant that I would like you to supply a quote.

What we do is all about canon and manipulating canon.

I can say they didn't nail it down, but my memory is far from perfect and I could have forgotten 10 seconds of dialogue that happened on screen inbetween Warlord and Darkling, but I doubt it.

This is something that should have been on screen, and it's crime that it wasn't, and if they thought that it was, then they're emotionally redundant morons. We are not emotionally redundant morons of course, we just have to take what we are given with a smile because we have few to zero choices.

 

[sonak]

I would argue that Neelix was one of the more consistent characters. Jack-of-all trades, resourceful extrovert who could get on your nerves with his good cheer and way of pushing himself on you or situations where he didn't belong.


Now Chakotay and Janeway, there were some inconsistent characters.

I'll agree with the point of Chakotay and Janeway.

Janeway in Alliances... "We must never ally with thugs, and stay true to our Federation values no matter the cost!"
Janeway in Scorpion... "We must ally with the Borg and help them defeat another species in a war to get what we want!"

Janeway in Phage... "Even though you stole my crewman's lungs, I'm not going to do anything more than give you a stern lecture because we're more evolved than that"
Janeway in Equinox... "I'm going to kill you if you if you don't tell me how to find your captain so I can kill him for betraying the Federation's principles."

Janeway in Meld... "You killed someone Mr Suder... we don't tolerate that here... go to your room!"
Janeway in Tuvix... "I'm going to kill you to restore Tuvok and Neelix. It isn't your life and you don't have a choice."

Chakotay suffered from the problem, not so much of being inconsistent as not being fleshed out at all. He's a native American Indian... so instead of giving him a tribe and culture, they just use every concievable Indian stereotype on him. Otherwise he's just there to smile and nod at Janeway's orders because they had to have a first officer. It's funny you can always tell when they're on a holodeck/alternate reality because Chakotay is amazingly more lifelike.

Exactly right on the Janeway examples, and there are of course many more as well. What I was thinking about with Chakotay was the whole "I'm a warrior defending my rights!" Maquis thing, to the almost quasi-pacifist route he would go at times, like in "initiations." You're a man of peace who joined a militant rejectionist organization?


So yeah, compared to some of the other VOY characters, Neelix stats pretty consistent from season 1-7. Of course they have to find new roles to give him, like ambassador or morale officer after he's no longer useful as a guide, but both those positions are pretty appropriate for his character.

 

[R. Star]

Sorry.

By "prove it" I only meant that I would like you to supply a quote.

What we do is all about canon and manipulating canon.

I can say they didn't nail it down, but my memory is far from perfect and I could have forgotten 10 seconds of dialogue that happened on screen inbetween Warlord and Darkling, but I doubt it.

This is something that should have been on screen, and it's crime that it wasn't, and if they thought that it was, then they're emotionally redundant morons. We are not emotionally redundant morons of course, we just have to take what we are given with a smile because we have few to zero choices.

I'll agree with you there, that the writers could have done it better to say the least. A scene at some point about Neelix confronting Kes over the warlord dumping would have brought a bit of closure to it. I'd normally take a shot at Voyager's writers over this inconsistency, but even DS9's did things like this when they went "Oh by the way, the Dominion wiped out the Maquis"

I would argue that Neelix was one of the more consistent characters. Jack-of-all trades, resourceful extrovert who could get on your nerves with his good cheer and way of pushing himself on you or situations where he didn't belong.


Now Chakotay and Janeway, there were some inconsistent characters.

I'll agree with the point of Chakotay and Janeway.

Janeway in Alliances... "We must never ally with thugs, and stay true to our Federation values no matter the cost!"
Janeway in Scorpion... "We must ally with the Borg and help them defeat another species in a war to get what we want!"

Janeway in Phage... "Even though you stole my crewman's lungs, I'm not going to do anything more than give you a stern lecture because we're more evolved than that"
Janeway in Equinox... "I'm going to kill you if you if you don't tell me how to find your captain so I can kill him for betraying the Federation's principles."

Janeway in Meld... "You killed someone Mr Suder... we don't tolerate that here... go to your room!"
Janeway in Tuvix... "I'm going to kill you to restore Tuvok and Neelix. It isn't your life and you don't have a choice."

Chakotay suffered from the problem, not so much of being inconsistent as not being fleshed out at all. He's a native American Indian... so instead of giving him a tribe and culture, they just use every concievable Indian stereotype on him. Otherwise he's just there to smile and nod at Janeway's orders because they had to have a first officer. It's funny you can always tell when they're on a holodeck/alternate reality because Chakotay is amazingly more lifelike.

Exactly right on the Janeway examples, and there are of course many more as well. What I was thinking about with Chakotay was the whole "I'm a warrior defending my rights!" Maquis thing, to the almost quasi-pacifist route he would go at times, like in "initiations." You're a man of peace who joined a militant rejectionist organization?


So yeah, compared to some of the other VOY characters, Neelix stats pretty consistent from season 1-7. Of course they have to find new roles to give him, like ambassador or morale officer after he's no longer useful as a guide, but both those positions are pretty appropriate for his character.

Well, this is just the every concievable Indian sterotype coming back into play. Whenever they bother trying to "flesh" him out, the writer of the week just applies some generic Indian sterotype to him, not even bothering to pick a tribe and stick with it. He's a fierce hunter one week, an enlightened pacifist the next few weeks(even though he enjoys boxing and is a terrorist leader), and whenever he tries being a medicine man with his Indian parables, it just sounds so artifical you wanna facepalm.

Chakotay could have been so much more. He should have been a man, while morally good, willing to do anything to achieve his aims and protect his people. Wasn't that the whole point of having the Maquis on Voyager to begin with? To have a different crew dynamic than normal? There could have been great dramatic potential on this show, and for a couple episodes there were. Prime Factors was an episode I liked, not because of the actual plot so much as it had the Maquis doing what they should. Being willing to go behind Janeway's back, break the rules to do what needs to be done. There's little of that at all in Voyager, and almost none after season 3. Heck, Janeway breaks the rules far more often than Chakotay.

 

[Anwar]

If they wanted to do that, they shouldn't have made Chakotay an Ex-Fleeter to begin with. Especially not one so principled that he formally resigned and THEN joined the Maquis, not betraying any secrets in the process.

 

[Guy Gardener]

In TNG and DS9 people joined the Maquis because the had principles.

Their sense of fairness and justice was so extreme that they didn't want to see the little guy getting screwed over by assholes, especially if it was they already who were the little guys getting the screwing.

Then Voyager comes along who really doesn't get it and the Maquis are just a bunch of thugs that found a loophole which allows them to express their psychotically criminal tendencies.

No shades of grey.

Just black and white.

The Maquis are supposed to be disenfranchised farmers not rapists and serial killers.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

Say nothing of the fact that Tom was quite blatantly hitting on a three year old

That's a stupid thing to say. Kes was the equivalent of someone in her early twenties, her actual chronological age is irrelevant. The Ocampa don't mature physically or mentally at the same rate that humans and other similar species do.

Personally, I found Neelix incredibly irritating some of the time, and less so at other times. It depends on the episode and the situation, but I don't think that really means the writers were inconsistent with him. He was pretty consistently annoying. But as annoying as he was, I didn't find him to be morally reprehensible like you seem to, R.Star. His largest flaw was simply being annoying.

I think you're misinterpreting his relationship with Tuvok. He wasn't "trying to cheer Tuvok up" because he was racist and wanted to get a rise out of the Vulcan. He simply didn't get it, simply did not understand why Vulcans choose to suppress their emotions. To my knowledge, Tuvok never once said: "Listen, Neelix. If I don't control my emotions, I'm likely to have a psychotic meltdown and go on a murderous rampage. So that's why Vulcans don't smile, or laugh, or play silly games." If Tuvok (who, by the way, was the most irritating Vulcan ever) had said something like that instead of brushing Neelix off like he was dealing with an annoying child, Neelix would have backed off a little. He still wouldn't fully understand, and being Neelix, he would still feel that Tuvok needed to loosen up.

Neelix's actions towards Tuvok, while annoying, are not the bigoted racial slurs you make them out to be. Neelix just doesn't get it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The wonderful thing is that we can have it both ways.

When Kes is the human equivalent of a 20 year, emotionally and physically despite having barely more than zero life experiences to account for this emotional maturity Tom is not morally irresponsible for bumping fuzzies with a 2 year old Ocampan.

But when Kes is the human equivalent of 108, emotionally and physically despite still having barely more than zero life experience to account for this emotional maturity Tom is now as creepy for making sweet sweet love with a nine year old Ocampan as he is for making the sex with a 108 year old Human.

Linnis Paris was checking out Harrys package when he was changing her diapers if when Linnis still had the body of a one year old human while she simultaneously had the sexual curiosity of a 12 year old human.

Lets just remember that the entire crew of Voyager started off being raped by an alien thousands of years old who was so fricking senile that he had the emotional and mental maturity of an 8 year old human child.

On Supernatural when Dean got a new body from the angels after his first one got used up in hell, that he claimed that now that he was back on earth that it was time for him to lose his reginity.

What about TNG Rascals?

Miles refused to sleep with Kieko, but Picard who was being played by at least a 16 year old actor could have gone on the prowl and bedded someone, even Beverly since she's about as younger than Picard usually was as he was that day younger than her, quid pro quo.

 

[Lynx]

I don't think they were that inconsistent when they wrote about Neelix. I think they actually managed pretty good with him.

Remember that Neelix was a very complex character. His background story reveals some real tragic events in his past to which he tried to compensate by trying to be as friendly and helpful to anyone he encountered. On the other hand, he also had some dark sides. He was (or is) self-possessed, jealous and his eagerness to please could easily become annoying.

I think that the comments on Neelix's back may have been all about how his crewmates regarded him. I think many of them did find him annoying sometimes and they probably hated his food. On the other hand, I think they felt sorry for him in many ways and actually appreciated his will to help the crew and for showing support to anyone in trouble. Or to make it short: They found him annoying sometimes but still liked him.

So their attitude aren't as inconsistent as it first might seem.

Except there are many episodes where Neelix acts like a jerk or an idiot for no good reason. Its why sfdebris usually has a stupid Neelix moment in almost all of his reviews of Voyager.

Neelix acted like a jealous psychopath and attacked Tom Paris for no reason in Parturition, almost destroyed Voyager with cheese in Learn Curve, got Ensign Hogan killed in Basics part II due to his massive incompetence and those are just some of the examples of him screwing up. He is a threat to himself and everyone on board the ship, his back story doesn't even begin to justify his incompetence and boorish attitude.

I think we can agree that Neelix did have some problems.
And I can also agree that his background story doesn't justify that behavior.

Still, I think that Janeway and the crew felt sorry for him and that's why he got away with lot of things he caused.

It was very important for Neelix to contribute and be useful. While Kes quickly settled into her new life on the ship and started to work with the Hydroponics Bay and as The Doctor's assistant, Neelix with his obssesion to be important for the ship and crew had to come up with own ideas about how to be useful, hence his role as cook, Morale Officer, journalist and all that. That was probably a reason why Janeway let him go along with all his whims. Not to mention that it was easier for Janeway to have him in the galley or pretending to be Morale Officer than to have him pestering her with constant visits in her ready room with suggestions for missions he could take part in.

"Fair Trade" is a good example of Neelix being so scared that he couldn't contribute anymore so he had to participate in illegal schemes to get things for the ship and contribute.

Here we also have clear examples why Kes and Neelix broke up. Their lives started to go separate ways as soon as they became members of the crew. Kes obviously had a crush on Neelix who she saw as her hero who saved her from the Kazon. But after a while, she started to see his dark sides, the jealousy, his over-protection of her and his constant interference in all her doings. Tieran may have finally ended the relationship but as we can see in the later half of season 2 and in season 3, the relationship had more and less ended with the two of them living separate lives.

As for Neelix's attitude to Naomi Wildman (or Greskrendtregk as I often call her), there are those who label Neelix as a pedophile. But I don't think so. I think he used Naomi as an excuse to come close to Samantha Wildman. Now wouldn't they had been a nice couple?

 

[Draculasaurus]

Compared to what they had Corrin Nemic wearing on Parker Lewis Can't Lose at almost the same time, Neelix was a little bland.

How many suits did Neelix have?

Were there a few duplicates, were they washing it constantly? it's just hardly flair if Neelix is in the same suit every day, but maybe he considered "that" suit to be a uniform and that if he changed his clothes it would scare the humans who never seemed to change their clothes?

Quark had dozens of suits because the DS9 wardrobe department knew that he wanted to keep looking pretty and special.

Speaking of Neelix's laundry-
I wonder how long it took him to get ready in the morning.
Does his hair just always look like that, or is there hairspray involved.
He clearly doesn't brush his teeth, but he must have to trim up those neckish sideburns every so often.

 

[R. Star]

I'm critical of Neelix in a lot of ways as evidenced in this thread, but did someone seriously call him a pedophile with Naomi? Sure I crack a joke at how creepy it is that Paris and Neelix are fighting over the affections of a three year old as creepy(which one person "called" me out on, obviously didn't get it or just wanted to wave his...), but there's zero evidence that he was anything toward Naomi other than a mentor/father type figure. There's enough not to like about him without making stuff up.

As for Neelix and Samantha Wildman? I dunno. One assumes she's still with that Ktarian and is holding out for him if they ever get home. As far as the "happy couple ending" goes for Neelix, I think he got his. How convienent that colony of Talaxians was there 1000's of light years away from Talaxia. But yeah, that was literally his last chance to be with his people, and his role on Voyager by season 7 was rapidly diminishing, so who can blame him for taking it there.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

which one person "called" me out on, obviously didn't get it or just wanted to wave his...)

Excuse me? Wanted to wave my what? If you have an issue with something someone says on a forum, talk to them, not about them. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your comments, it's hard to tell what you are and aren't being serious about in this thread.

I totally agree about Naomi, though. Anyone who thinks Neelix was acting inappropriately towards her is seeing things that are not there.

 

[R. Star]

which one person "called" me out on, obviously didn't get it or just wanted to wave his...)

Excuse me? Wanted to wave my what? If you have an issue with something someone says on a forum, talk to them, not about them. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your comments, it's hard to tell what you are and aren't being serious about in this thread.

I totally agree about Naomi, though. Anyone who thinks Neelix was acting inappropriately towards her is seeing things that are not there.

It's a public message board, the comment was there for you to read. I don't see how you can get all riled up on that when you dismissed my post as "stupid." I said you didn't get it or were waving something. If you don't know what, I'm sorry but I'm not going to draw a picture.

Judging by the comment of yours I quoted, it's probably the former.

 

[sonak]

I don't think they were that inconsistent when they wrote about Neelix. I think they actually managed pretty good with him.

Remember that Neelix was a very complex character. His background story reveals some real tragic events in his past to which he tried to compensate by trying to be as friendly and helpful to anyone he encountered. On the other hand, he also had some dark sides. He was (or is) self-possessed, jealous and his eagerness to please could easily become annoying.

I think that the comments on Neelix's back may have been all about how his crewmates regarded him. I think many of them did find him annoying sometimes and they probably hated his food. On the other hand, I think they felt sorry for him in many ways and actually appreciated his will to help the crew and for showing support to anyone in trouble. Or to make it short: They found him annoying sometimes but still liked him.

So their attitude aren't as inconsistent as it first might seem.

Except there are many episodes where Neelix acts like a jerk or an idiot for no good reason. Its why sfdebris usually has a stupid Neelix moment in almost all of his reviews of Voyager.

Neelix acted like a jealous psychopath and attacked Tom Paris for no reason in Parturition, almost destroyed Voyager with cheese in Learn Curve, got Ensign Hogan killed in Basics part II due to his massive incompetence and those are just some of the examples of him screwing up. He is a threat to himself and everyone on board the ship, his back story doesn't even begin to justify his incompetence and boorish attitude.

I think we can agree that Neelix did have some problems.
And I can also agree that his background story doesn't justify that behavior.

Still, I think that Janeway and the crew felt sorry for him and that's why he got away with lot of things he caused.

It was very important for Neelix to contribute and be useful. While Kes quickly settled into her new life on the ship and started to work with the Hydroponics Bay and as The Doctor's assistant, Neelix with his obssesion to be important for the ship and crew had to come up with own ideas about how to be useful, hence his role as cook, Morale Officer, journalist and all that. That was probably a reason why Janeway let him go along with all his whims. Not to mention that it was easier for Janeway to have him in the galley or pretending to be Morale Officer than to have him pestering her with constant visits in her ready room with suggestions for missions he could take part in.

"Fair Trade" is a good example of Neelix being so scared that he couldn't contribute anymore so he had to participate in illegal schemes to get things for the ship and contribute.

Here we also have clear examples why Kes and Neelix broke up. Their lives started to go separate ways as soon as they became members of the crew. Kes obviously had a crush on Neelix who she saw as her hero who saved her from the Kazon. But after a while, she started to see his dark sides, the jealousy, his over-protection of her and his constant interference in all her doings. Tieran may have finally ended the relationship but as we can see in the later half of season 2 and in season 3, the relationship had more and less ended with the two of them living separate lives.

As for Neelix's attitude to Naomi Wildman (or Greskrendtregk as I often call her), there are those who label Neelix as a pedophile. But I don't think so. I think he used Naomi as an excuse to come close to Samantha Wildman. Now wouldn't they had been a nice couple?

Um, what? Who ever referred to Neelix as a "pedophile" for his attitude toward NAOMI? Kes maybe, because of the ambiguity between her sexual maturity and actual physical appearance.

But Neelix' attitude toward Naomi was paternal. He read her bedtime stories and checked for monsters under the bed. How is that anything more than fatherly? Or is any sort of caretaking behavior from an adult male to a kid that's not his biologically considered to have overtones of pedophilia?

 

[R. Star]

Except there are many episodes where Neelix acts like a jerk or an idiot for no good reason. Its why sfdebris usually has a stupid Neelix moment in almost all of his reviews of Voyager.

Neelix acted like a jealous psychopath and attacked Tom Paris for no reason in Parturition, almost destroyed Voyager with cheese in Learn Curve, got Ensign Hogan killed in Basics part II due to his massive incompetence and those are just some of the examples of him screwing up. He is a threat to himself and everyone on board the ship, his back story doesn't even begin to justify his incompetence and boorish attitude.

I think we can agree that Neelix did have some problems.
And I can also agree that his background story doesn't justify that behavior.

Still, I think that Janeway and the crew felt sorry for him and that's why he got away with lot of things he caused.

It was very important for Neelix to contribute and be useful. While Kes quickly settled into her new life on the ship and started to work with the Hydroponics Bay and as The Doctor's assistant, Neelix with his obssesion to be important for the ship and crew had to come up with own ideas about how to be useful, hence his role as cook, Morale Officer, journalist and all that. That was probably a reason why Janeway let him go along with all his whims. Not to mention that it was easier for Janeway to have him in the galley or pretending to be Morale Officer than to have him pestering her with constant visits in her ready room with suggestions for missions he could take part in.

"Fair Trade" is a good example of Neelix being so scared that he couldn't contribute anymore so he had to participate in illegal schemes to get things for the ship and contribute.

Here we also have clear examples why Kes and Neelix broke up. Their lives started to go separate ways as soon as they became members of the crew. Kes obviously had a crush on Neelix who she saw as her hero who saved her from the Kazon. But after a while, she started to see his dark sides, the jealousy, his over-protection of her and his constant interference in all her doings. Tieran may have finally ended the relationship but as we can see in the later half of season 2 and in season 3, the relationship had more and less ended with the two of them living separate lives.

As for Neelix's attitude to Naomi Wildman (or Greskrendtregk as I often call her), there are those who label Neelix as a pedophile. But I don't think so. I think he used Naomi as an excuse to come close to Samantha Wildman. Now wouldn't they had been a nice couple?

Um, what? Who ever referred to Neelix as a "pedophile" for his attitude toward NAOMI? Kes maybe, because of the ambiguity between her sexual maturity and actual physical appearance.

But Neelix' attitude toward Naomi was paternal. He read her bedtime stories and checked for monsters under the bed. How is that anything more than fatherly? Or is any sort of caretaking behavior from an adult male to a kid that's not his biologically considered to have overtones of pedophilia?

This pretty much. I think Neelix is a jerk in many ways, but he's not Jerry Sandusky.

 

[JoeZhang]

But Neelix' attitude toward Naomi was paternal. He read her bedtime stories and checked for monsters under the bed. How is that anything more than fatherly? Or is any sort of caretaking behavior from an adult male to a kid that's not his biologically considered to have overtones of pedophilia?

Look how he moves in on that miner lady in one of the final episodes to get to her kid, Neelix was clearly signing the intergalactic nonce-jotter.

 

[exodus]

I don't think they were that inconsistent when they wrote about Neelix. I think they actually managed pretty good with him.

Remember that Neelix was a very complex character. His background story reveals some real tragic events in his past to which he tried to compensate by trying to be as friendly and helpful to anyone he encountered. On the other hand, he also had some dark sides. He was (or is) self-possessed, jealous and his eagerness to please could easily become annoying.

I think that the comments on Neelix's back may have been all about how his crewmates regarded him. I think many of them did find him annoying sometimes and they probably hated his food. On the other hand, I think they felt sorry for him in many ways and actually appreciated his will to help the crew and for showing support to anyone in trouble. Or to make it short: They found him annoying sometimes but still liked him.

So their attitude aren't as inconsistent as it first might seem.

Except there are many episodes where Neelix acts like a jerk or an idiot for no good reason. Its why sfdebris usually has a stupid Neelix moment in almost all of his reviews of Voyager.

Neelix acted like a jealous psychopath and attacked Tom Paris for no reason in Parturition, almost destroyed Voyager with cheese in Learn Curve, got Ensign Hogan killed in Basics part II due to his massive incompetence and those are just some of the examples of him screwing up. He is a threat to himself and everyone on board the ship, his back story doesn't even begin to justify his incompetence and boorish attitude.

I think we can agree that Neelix did have some problems.
And I can also agree that his background story doesn't justify that behavior.

Still, I think that Janeway and the crew felt sorry for him and that's why he got away with lot of things he caused.

It was very important for Neelix to contribute and be useful. While Kes quickly settled into her new life on the ship and started to work with the Hydroponics Bay and as The Doctor's assistant, Neelix with his obssesion to be important for the ship and crew had to come up with own ideas about how to be useful, hence his role as cook, Morale Officer, journalist and all that. That was probably a reason why Janeway let him go along with all his whims. Not to mention that it was easier for Janeway to have him in the galley or pretending to be Morale Officer than to have him pestering her with constant visits in her ready room with suggestions for missions he could take part in.

"Fair Trade" is a good example of Neelix being so scared that he couldn't contribute anymore so he had to participate in illegal schemes to get things for the ship and contribute.

Here we also have clear examples why Kes and Neelix broke up. Their lives started to go separate ways as soon as they became members of the crew. Kes obviously had a crush on Neelix who she saw as her hero who saved her from the Kazon. But after a while, she started to see his dark sides, the jealousy, his over-protection of her and his constant interference in all her doings. Tieran may have finally ended the relationship but as we can see in the later half of season 2 and in season 3, the relationship had more and less ended with the two of them living separate lives.

As for Neelix's attitude to Naomi Wildman (or Greskrendtregk as I often call her), there are those who label Neelix as a pedophile. But I don't think so. I think he used Naomi as an excuse to come close to Samantha Wildman. Now wouldn't they had been a nice couple?

I think this is a good post Lynx but I think you miss the most important part of why Neelix is how he is vs. the rest of the Voyager crew. Neelix doesn't have the benefit of a proper education. Everyone on Voyager was raised in a society that is well educated and multi-cultural. Federation schools educate their students in many of the ways and cultures of the Federation. Neelix is denied all this because he didn't recieve a proper educated because his society was wiped out during the age he would have been in schools. Also the DQ is very segregated. Other cultures don't interact with others in the DQ due to fear or mistrust. He learned what he knows from "living on the street". He's a war orphan. The Voyager crew understands this and tolerate him in the hopes their influences will rub off on him, which over time it did. Neelix is a better educated and more socially rounded person by "Homestead".

Neelix behaves the way he does because he wasn't taught any better. He didn't have the benefit of a Federation Education. If Trek fans and sfdebris understood what its like to be alone, hungry and homeless, they'd understand the character much better and quit thinking of the homeless as annoying.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Neelix is from a conquered world.

If he isn't nice to the aliens, they'd send him to a concentration camp.

Meanwhile since Tallax is occupied, the "Free" Tallaxians of the Delta Quadrant would been seen as Gypsy trash if it wasn't for the Kazon making the Tallaxians look like second, maybe third rate gypsy trash.