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Thoughts regarding the portrayal of Neelix

posted 3 years ago by JackalopeCash57 (92)
6 replies | jump to latest

Hi folks! So first off, I want to preface this by saying how I am a lifelong fan of Star Trek. While my favorite incarnations of Star Trek are hands down the first 6 TOS films, my favorite Star Trek television shows are a tie between DS9 and Voyager (the 90s = the golden era of Star Trek on televisison, in my opinion anyhow)

So upon my most recent rewatch of my favorite Voyager episodes, something stuck out to me about the Neelix character - the Star Trek character who is the most hated (aside from Wesley) and is often considered to be the Jar Jar Binks of Trek. Now, I will admit - Neelix really does often kill the mood/tone of the episode whenever he appears on the show. However - - I have come to the realization that while he is a pain in the ass to the viewers/audience of the show, in real life he would more than likely be the person who would be enjoyable to cross paths with, especially in a gloomy situation such as being 70 years away from home with no certaintly of ever seeing Earth for the rest of your existence on this plane of existence. I feel like having a Neelix around during an ordeal such as this would probably keep lots of folks from slipping deep into a very depressed state.

Thoughts on this?

[–] PaladinNJ (20373) 3 years ago

When the show was on Neelix was hardly the most hated character. He was actually quite a fan favorite. Has that changed over time?

Kes was the character fans could not connect with and was subsequently disliked. Personally though I think the way she was removed was badly done.

[–] JackalopeCash57 (92) 3 years ago

Neelix really gets hated on as much as Wesley does, at least on the bulk of the fan forums I have checked out over the years lol.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

When the show was on Neelix was hardly the most hated character. He was actually quite a fan favorite.

Wrong. I watched the show in first run and visited the forums regularly. He was the most consistently hated character throughout the entire series. Here is the most popular Trek BBS forum talking about it: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/has-ethan-phillips-ever-commented-on-the-neelix-hatred.279015/

Here is a Reddit post from Reddit, from 10 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/f21ek/god_dammit_i_fucking_hate_neelix/

[–] TandyMan (10433) 3 years ago

Neelix rules! But I like the point you're making. It's kind of like Red Dwarf, where Holly brings back Rimmer cause pain in the ass Rimmer is the only thing that would keep Lister sane in their terrible situation.

[–] McQualude (4231) 3 years ago

Also a lifelong fan, first I'm hearing that Neelix was hated, he was quite popular and easily one of the most "human" on the ship. Technically he was a pedophile though.

[–] TexasJack (12515) 3 years ago

I always enjoyed Neelix.