A transporter accident fuses Tuvok and Neelix into one person. When no quick solution can be found, "Tuvix" settles into life aboard Voyager. But weeks later, when it seems that restoring the two individuals is possible, a moral dilemma manifests.
Outside writers Andrew Price and Mark Gaberman pitched the story of blending Tuvok and Neelix in a transporter accident -- as little more than the comedic "Odd Couple" fusion that the opening scene of the finished episode would prime you to expect. But staff writer Kenneth Biller was keen to make it more serious. And when executive producer Michael Piller suggested a twist ("what if Tuvix isn't willing to be switched back?"), Biller crafted the ending that would make this episode notorious with fans.
This episode is almost literally the famous "Trolley Problem" (which The Good Place nudged into more mainstream thought). Captain Janeway can do nothing and "let two people die" (twist: they're already dead in this version), or she can throw the switch to divert the trolley and kill one person to save the other two. In the abstract, that is a challenging moral quandary.
But there's additional context here, of course. The most famous moral axiom ever taught by Star Trek is clearly in play here: "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one." It's Tuvix versus the lives of Tuvok and Neelix, and the loss felt by Kes in particular (and the rest of the crew). The deck seems pretty stacked there. And while Voyager has recently been playing with story lines that span multiple episodes, we're not yet at a sophisticated enough point in television where they'd dare to leave Tuvix around a few episodes: we know Tuvok and Neelix are coming back somehow by the end credits.
On the other hand: would you sacrifice Tuvok in order to have Neelix permanently off the series? Hmmm.... that's tempting.
Alright, kidding aside (but was I?), there is a lot to like in this episode. Kate Mulgrew and Jennifer Lien give some of their best work to date. They're great both individually -- Janeway indicates very subtle early discomfort with Tuvix that telegraphs her final decision, and Kes navigates the challenge of losing her boyfriend and her mentor, and having both reconstituted as one person. Mulgrew and Lien are even better in rare scenes that pair them together for deep, personal discussions. Their relationship is parental without being overly so; Janeway gives voice to feelings over losing her fiance that we've never heard before, and Kes must wrestle with whether saying what she wants makes her a bad person.
The idea of Tuvix on paper feels too wacky to be credible, but the episode pretty much pulls it off. The makeup is a compelling blend of Vulcan and Talaxian, and the "spiraled" Starfleet uniform he first appears in is a clever bit of costume design. Guest star Tom Wright gets a basically impossible assignment to believably mimic two regular cast members and fit in with the others as though he's always been there, all while under a mountain of makeup and appearing in almost every scene. Oddly, director Cliff Bole indicated in some interviews that he thought Wright was overwhelmed by this impossible task, but I think he does a pretty good job under the circumstances. (He's helped by solid dialogue writing that deftly includes both "Tuvokisms" and "Neelixisms.")
But for all that the episode does pull off, there's even more I feel it leaves on the table. Tuvix is far too functional an individual. Remember, Tuvok and Neelix do not get along at all. In a past episode, when dosed with post-mindmeld negativity, Tuvok literally fantasized about killing Neelix. The moral dilemma this episode poses is clever, but a dramatic exploration of schizophrenia, or quite literally being at war with oneself, is another direction this story could have taken.
Tuvix submitting to the separation in the end feels like it takes some of the responsibility off Janeway (and the rest of the crew). What if he'd gone basically kicking and screaming (as he basically was on the bridge) to the very end, having to be restrained or sedated? And most importantly of all, how do Neelix and Tuvok feel about all that happened once they're restored? Do they even remember being Tuvix? If so, what are their thoughts on Janeway's decision? And if they support it, do they carry any guilt for the sacrifice of Tuvix? Does either man retain any of the knowledge or memories of the other from being blended? The episode doesn't get into any of that.
Other observations:
- Tuvix is increasingly portrayed as "the best" of both Tuvok and Neelix. But it's quite fun when, early on, the Doctor suggests that actually he's the worst of both.
- When Tuvix is asked to "hold still" for a medical scan, he absolutely does not do that. To be fair, though, he's asked to basically sit holding his arm in the air without support for 20 minutes.
- Reportedly, in early pre-production planning for this episode, there was some discussion that Neelix actor Ethan Phillips would play Tuvix. Not doing it that way was such a smart choice on so many levels. The blending would have been skewed toward Neelix, no matter how credibly Phillips might have pulled off "the Tuvok half." And that decision would have essentially put Phillips in the position of performing in blackface. Yikes.
- It's a small but great moment that the Doctor refuses to perform the procedure he invented, because the patient himself does not want it.
That such a wild premise is at all "good" could well mean that "Tuvix" deserves the highest marks possible. But there are enough "roads not taken" here -- and major unanswered questions about how Tuvok and Neelix process this experience -- that for me, the episode comes out at about a B.
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