Neelix

Neelix
Portrayed by	Ethan Phillips

Neelix is a fictional character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. He is played by actor Ethan Phillips.

Overview

Neelix is a Talaxian originally from Rinax, a moon of the planet Talax, in the Delta quadrant, although his great-grandfather was Mylean. His entire family was killed in a conflict with the Haakonian Order. This forever haunts Neelix, although he masks it with his bright, constantly cheerful personality.

In the pilot episode "Caretaker", Neelix and his Ocampan girlfriend Kes are rescued from the Kazon, and they join the crew of the USS Voyager. He arrives with his personal craft The Baxial, which is utilized in later episodes. Neelix offers his services to Captain Kathryn Janeway, as a guide to the Delta Quadrant. He promptly appoints himself "Morale Officer" and soon takes over the mess hall and becomes cook, as replicator usage has to be rationed in light of Voyager's limited power supplies. Janeway tolerates Neelix with a mixture of amusement and mild frustration.

While Kes and Neelix are involved in a romantic relationship when they come aboard Voyager, Kes ultimately stops seeing Neelix because of his jealousy and possessiveness. The two remain good friends, however.

Neelix considers Security chief Tuvok a friend, and is always trying to "cheer up" the Vulcan. Tuvok, in turn, tolerates Neelix, his attitude hardly changes even after being fused with the Vulcan, creating a hybrid dubbed "Tuvix" during a transporter mishap. But, they eventually resolve their issues, and become friends. Neelix is also close to Samantha Wildman and her daughter Naomi. During an event when Tuvok was seriously injured and lost his ability to control his emotions, he spent every second with Neelix. He told Neelix he respects him and considers him a deep friend. He initially refused to undergo a procedure to regain his control telling Neelix he didn't want to go back to just "tolerating" him instead of being his friend. When Neelix decided to leave the ship to stay with a group of his own people, Tuvok gave him a final show of respect and appreciation by doing a small jig with his foot after Neelix declared earlier in the episode he would get the Vulcan to dance before their journey was over.

Neelix's religious views are never fully discussed, but for most of the series he believes in a Talaxian version of the afterlife. In the episode Mortal Coil he loses this faith after being clinically dead for several hours, and having no vision of an afterlife, after being brought back to life with Borg technology employed by Seven of Nine. Neelix is so distraught by this that he considers suicide, but Chakotay convinces him that life is worth living regardless of an afterlife.

Neelix leaves the USS Voyager in the final season episode "Homestead", when he goes to live on an asteroid-based colony of exiled Talaxians. Janeway appoints Neelix as the "official" Ambassador for Starfleet in the Delta Quadrant, and he bids the crew a fond farewell. He has a cameo in the series finale, "Endgame", establishing that Neelix does indeed stay in contact with his friends.

External links

• Neelix at Memory Alpha