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Jammer's Review
Star Trek: Voyager
"Tuvix"
***
Air date: 5/6/1996
Teleplay by Kenneth Biller
Story by Andrew Shepard Price & Mark Gaberman
Directed by Cliff Bole
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"There's an old axiom: The whole is never greater than the sum of its parts. I think Tuvix might be disproving that notion." -- Chakotay

Nutshell: It's amazing that a premise this outlandish can work, but it somehow does, though not without some significant shortcomings.

A very bizarre transporter mishap results in "symbiogenesis" and merges Tuvok and Neelix into a single individual who appropriately names himself "Tuvix" (after briefly considering "Neevok" as a name). Initial studies by Doc reveal that separating the two may not be easy--or even possible. Tuvix must subsequently face the possibility of his unique and permanent existence, realizing that the individuals Tuvok and Neelix may forever be lost.

We've had lots of high concept stories this season, from "Dual Voyagers must outwit the Vidiians!" to "Paris accelerates beyond warp ten and turns into a mutant!" to "Harry Kim travels to a parallel universe Earth!"--but "Tuvix" takes the cake with its single-sentence pitch in which "Tuvok and Neelix are combined!" Is high concept bad? Certainly not. Such shows can be interesting, new, and compelling so long as the single sentence is backed with good storytelling. Of course, if the show fails to deliver beyond its starting point, it simply becomes what may best be called a low concept--a bright idea that goes nowhere.

"Tuvix," fortunately, supplies some human writing behind its bright idea, and the show overall is better than I expected. While there are times when the episode wanders (there's an occasional sense that the creators are gambling that this weird combo-character walking around the ship will automatically prompt awe and wonder from us), "Tuvix" is mostly a character show. And it's a decent character show, even if a bit uneven.

The show could've centered around whether or not Tuvok and Neelix could be restored (which is a foregone conclusion), but fortunately, the real core of the episode centers around the consequences of doing just that. You see, Doc doesn't find a cure at first--it takes him over two weeks. And in this time, Tuvix begins developing his own personality and emotional ties. He takes Tuvok's post as tactical officer, replaces Neelix as head chef, and tries to resume a relationship with Kes.

Most of the characterizations are fairly good. There's a nice scene between Janeway and Kes that works pretty well, even if the subject matter (the obvious coping-with-death topic) isn't all that impressive. At the same time, Tuvix's plight for individuality is certainly agreeable. Tuvix is a surprisingly likable character. Tom Wright's performance is not always on-the-money, but he does do a respectable job of combining the two unlikely personalities together--not an easy task. There's a sense of both Tuvok and Neelix in Wright's gestures and demeanors. It's rather strange--and quite interesting.

And by the end of the show, Tuvix becomes a character all in himself. I actually found myself thinking of him as an individual and not a combination of two other characters. This is a respectable feat on the part of director Cliff Bole; since the end of the show centers around the question of whether or not Tuvix has individual rights, it's important that the audience have sympathy for him.

But despite the character-driven strengths in "Tuvix," this episode doesn't entirely click. There are some problems with how this show unfolds. The bottom line of "Tuvix" doesn't really center around whether or not Tuvok and Neelix will be restored, yet the first four acts still tend to revolve around this question. From Kes' coping with the loss of Neelix to the Doctor's frantic search for a cure (which, naturally, involves the usual technobabble and DNA tricks that border on total incredulity), there seems to be too much emphasis on the question of how to restore Tuvix back to two people.

Then in the fifth act, the show does a complete 180 when Doc finds a miracle cure and the story abruptly shifts focus to the morality question of killing Tuvix to save Tuvok and Neelix when Tuvix passionately expresses a desire to remain "joined." This part of the show is especially interesting, but the execution doesn't hold up very well.

For one, I think Tuvix is a little too adamant on living. Wouldn't his logic see both sides of this complex issue? The writers make Tuvix's position on this argument a little more concrete than it probably should've been. The lack of subtlety in his character may be explained by the bigger problem here--the way this whole argument is jammed into the final act of the show. It would've been much more prudent to dedicate more of the show to this argument rather than spending so much time on Kes' coping-with-death issue and Tuvix's initial fish-out-of-water dilemma. While all three elements of the show are certainly relevant, only Tuvix's sacrifice really holds any lasting impact. Unfortunately, very little of the episode focuses on the most important aspect.

Janeway's decision to force Tuvix to submit to a procedure that would kill him in order to save two crewmen is a powerful turn of events. And the subsequent fact that the Doctor will not harm Tuvix against his will leads Janeway to actually carry out the procedure herself--and having to live with the consequences of what Tuvix labels "murder." This is all very interesting, but it also brings up a number of troubling questions that the episode does not begin to address. This is too bad--if the show had found its focus on this issue sooner, it could've been a compelling installment. As the episode stands, it feels unfinished, uneven, and underutilized.

"Tuvix" is an entertaining character show that tries to say something, but overall it isn't what I would call an excellent or even impressive show. It's a missed opportunity in some ways, while it works in other ways. Three stars seems about fair, I guess--but just barely three stars.

On a minor, unrelated note, I didn't like the teaser at all. I'm getting sick of Neelix's badgering of Tuvok over the fact that he is unemotional. It's getting very, very, very old. Why can't Neelix just accept Tuvok for what he is? For compensation of this scene, I think I'll dig up my tape of "Meld" so I can watch Tuvok strangle the annoying little Talaxian again.

Previous episode: The Thaw
Next episode: Resolutions

43 comments on this review
Stefan - February 11, 2008 - 09:25 pm (USA Central Time)
I found the crew's change of heart toward Tuvix absurd. Originally, the crew likes Tuvix. Then Captain Janeway decides that Tuvix must die and he refuses to comply. At that point, the crew suddenly despises Tuvix. That makes no sense to me.

The episode gives the impression that the crew's feelings toward Tuvix were linked to those of Captain Janeway. Was that a Federation crew or the Borg Collective? Some of the crew should have resisted Captain Janeway's order of execution. The resolution of the episode was very disappointing to me. Captain Janeway committed murder and the crew had no problem with that.
Big Jones - March 23, 2008 - 05:51 am (USA Central Time)
This certainly could have been a fascinating episode. Your analysis of the short-changing that the 'Tuvix dilemma' gets is spot on. I believe the Kes angle was basically intended to be a device for taking some heat off of Janeway. Remember, Kes basically comes to Janeway right before she takes Tuvix away and pleads for Neelix to be returned to her. This wasn't fleshed out that well (like most of the episode) but I think that was one intent of that story-arc.

I wonder if the producers were concerned that the more philosophical aspects of this episode would confuse or bore viewers? It's very unfortunate that such a great opportunity was missed.

Stefan, in the previous comment, makes a great point. The episode is held back primarily by the brevity afforded to the interesting issue, but the reaction of the entire crew is bewildering. Another thing that bothered me.. Tuvix, for having the knowledge and ostensibly some of the intellectual power of Tuvok did very little to argue for his life.

I know it would never fly, especially in only the second season of the show, but this could have easily been a two-parter (the second hour dealing mostly with the psychological repercussions of Tuvix's murder on the crew, Janeway and Tuvok especially).

I like the Tuvok character, but being rid of Neelix was a fair exchange. ;)
Dirk Hartmann - April 1, 2008 - 09:56 am (USA Central Time)
I never interpreted the crew's reaction as one of "despising" Tuvix when he showed that he wants to live. To me, they rather seemed simply stunned by the sudden and unexpected dilemma, thus mostly doing nothing (which is a psychologically common reaction in such cases). If Tuvix would have been "understanding", this would have subtracted from the dilemma (which is no good in the "drama" genre). To such a dilemma, there is no real "solution". In the end, one has to chose between two evils. The reason that Janeway took the decision all by herself was that she wanted to spare the crew, taking all the guilt onto herself.
Stefan - April 1, 2008 - 01:03 pm (USA Central Time)
At minimum, the crew was "cold" to Tuvix after Captain Janeway's decision. Wasn't the crew "stunned" prior to her decision? The sudden change in the crew's attitude, and that none of the crew (other than the Doctor) dissented, didn't strike me as believable.
Dirk Hartmann - April 3, 2008 - 12:00 pm (USA Central Time)
@Stefan: Yeah, well, maybe you're right and I have to stretch what we see on screen a tad too far in my attempt to make the crew's reaction fit character. But I basically liked the episode and found it quite thought-provoking, even though its execution surely was a bit "rough" around the edges ...
Stefan - April 3, 2008 - 05:25 pm (USA Central Time)
I liked the episode as well. It was only the crew's reaction to the Captain's decision, and Tuvix strong dissent, that struck me as inconsistent.
chrychek - May 17, 2008 - 12:25 am (USA Central Time)
This show shocked and appauled me. It is not like Janeway to violate the prime directive in such a personal way, and by forcing the separation of a new combined sentient being, the moral dilemmas are harsh and the fall fast. I have to say that I felt sick when Janeway gave the order, and I also felt sick by the cries of mercy from the new sentient being, Tuvix. It is too bad that Tuvix couldn't have been cloned and send off in a ship somewhere to be weird on someone else's time.
Ravi - May 31, 2008 - 02:32 am (USA Central Time)
I thought the crew's reaction to Janeway's decision was spot on. Sure they had come to like and respect Tuvix but they had only spent a few weeks with him. But Tuvok and Neelix had been on the ship for almost two years and the crew's bond for them would be stronger then the one for Tuvix. I don't think they despised Tuvix, they would rather have Neelix and Tuvok back. It was a pretty good moral dilemma. Whatever Janeway's decision was, someone was going to end up dying.
Stefan - May 31, 2008 - 08:03 pm (USA Central Time)
The Voyager crew was always supposed to be the "good guys." The end of this episode showed the crew wanting to murder a fellow crewmember. That shouldn't have been allowed to be the desire of the "good guys." Approving of the Captain murdering Tuvix is not the "spot on" reaction of the "good guys."
matt - June 22, 2008 - 10:49 am (USA Central Time)
This is a great episode until the decision at the end to execute an innocent man pleading for his life. When i catch reruns of this episode I turn it off at the last scene because it is just too disgusting to watch. The writers of voyager really screwed up here, lost there moral compass, and shamed star trek, the series, the whole voyager crew, and especially the Captain. I don't even consider it part of star trek cannon, its just a mistake some writers made. I just can not say strongly enough how horrible the ending of this episode was.
impronen - July 28, 2008 - 02:22 pm (USA Central Time)
It seems that this episode has done it's job well. It's pretty obvious that inflicting such extremely difficult choices to our heroes, the writers have desired to spark the audience thinking. To do so on a television show is quite commentable.

To me, the crews reaction is quite logical. Let's just think about it for a while. They have known both Neelix and Tuvok for a long time and have made friends of them. They get used to this new guy and accept him, becouse it's established that he's going to be there and those two are gone.

But then there is a chance that he (Tuvix) could bring they're old friends back by giving his own life. He refuses to do so. Well, you cant blame him for wanting to live but the crew understandably loves and cares about they're old friends more. It's very human to do so. It's going to be murder both ways and the crew's hearts are with Tuvok and Neelix. And so are captain Janeway's.

It's a pretty damn impossible puzzle to solve "right" in a ethical standpoint. I bet Tuvok and Neelix would have had the exact same arguments about the right to live that Tuvix had. One murder or two? I would go with Janeway on this one. For once, she shows the guts to go against the Federation code of conduct and do something that is slightly less bad.
Jonathan - September 7, 2008 - 02:31 pm (USA Central Time)
I agree with what's been said here about too little time being spent on the Tuvix dilemma here to make the show worthwhile to watch.

However, there's something I think everyone's missing.

Voyager, and for that matter, all of Trek, isn't just about a wagon train to the stars. It's about hiding relevant and controversial issues under enough pretense of fiction to make them "okay" to talk about in the public square. It's about dealing with life, death, spirituality, racism, war, and any issue you can think of. I agree that the cheap ending cheapens the episode, and makes it barely tolerable. But I think that, rather than dealing *more* with the Tuvix-separation dilemma, it should have dealt with it *less*. At the beginning of the show, separating Tuvix was a non-issue. Why did it have to become an issue at all? They could have had Tuvix ask the question, and realize that separation was the only logical thing, and accept it, and all ends well, while having even more time to deal with issues that people really deal with -- let's face it, bizarre transporter merges aren't something you deal with every day.

In summary, I think they took what could have been a great episode, pondering loss of friends while having a great character to laugh at it with, and turned it into an execution scene.
Mike - October 6, 2008 - 03:05 pm (USA Central Time)
It's fascinating reading these comments. Let's take the premise seriously for a second. Let's say your best friend and your wife/husband were somehow combined into one person. Would you treat this new person like a complete pariah? Possibly, but it wouldn't be fair if the transformation wasn't his/her fault. Now, let's say there is almost no chance of getting the two people back. Would you completely blow off the new person? Especially given that they have all the memories of your best friend and wife/husband? That would probably be very difficult to do; hanging out with and talking to the new person would be as close as you could get to the lost people.

Now, let's say the situation suddenly changes; you go from thinking you'll never see your friend and wife again, to knowing exactly how to bring them back. But, to do this, the new person will no longer exist. From reading these comments, it appears some people think that the new person would happily accept his/her murder, which is bizarre. On the other hand, some people think that everyone should protest Tuvix' murder, despite the fact that such a protest might lead to you never seeing your best friend and wife again.

I think the writing and the cast play this exactly right. Perhaps there could have been more on the morality of Tuvix' murder, but I have little doubt that everyone would have abandoned their new found friend in favor of their friends for two years.
anonymous - March 6, 2009 - 12:58 am (USA Central Time)
This episode makes absolutely no sense. It's not even possible to suspend disbelief long enough to get caught up in. Besides, every time they use the transporter, they're killing the person being beamed. Why is it an issue now?
Ian Whitcombe - March 6, 2009 - 01:39 pm (USA Central Time)
Anonymous, while that is the actual scientific theory behind transporter technology, for all intents and purposes in the Star Trek canon the subjects who dematerialize are the same people who re-materialize.
Stefan - March 6, 2009 - 05:42 pm (USA Central Time)
The claim made by anonymous is debatable. Remember, the matter and energy which is being transported is reassembled so it's the same as it was pre-transport. If I disassemble a car, move the pieces to a different location and then put those pieces together so they connect to one another as they did before I disassembled the car, would I have the car at the end that I did at the beginning? I say I would.

Therefore, I don't believe a standard transport kills the transported person. On the other hand, when Tuvix was transported you didn't get that matter and energy forming Tuvix at the end of that transport and so I believe Tuvix was murdered in that case.
Dan - April 19, 2009 - 10:29 pm (USA Central Time)
I don't understand the doctors stance in this episode. At the end, he says he cannot take a human life...then why look for the "cure" to begin with?
matt - April 19, 2009 - 10:42 pm (USA Central Time)
perhaps to the procedure, he perhaps could have used the cure if tuvix was willing to self sacrifice for the sake of neelix and tuvok, its hard to be sure of exactly how is ethicl sub routines work tho, some doctors will assist suicide some wont
Bligo - July 16, 2009 - 06:25 pm (USA Central Time)
Hey if they have a holographic dokter,a sentient robot,a merge between a dead trill and a changeling something like Tuvix seems to fit in.

Maybe next week Harry gets injured,loses his legs and they decide to use transport logs of last week to make him whole again while killing the injured Harry.Suits the canon.
Jay - August 1, 2009 - 11:05 am (USA Central Time)
What is the material component here? Does Tuvix possess all of the combined mass of both Tuvok and Neelix, and therefore is he twice as "dense", giving him an almost superheroic stamina?
Jay - August 1, 2009 - 11:17 am (USA Central Time)
I just don't get the "taking of a life" aspect of Tuvix. It's anon-issue to me. A life isn't being taken...two are being restored. A life is not being taken...two individuals are being restored to individuality. Frankly I found the notion that Tuvix had a say in it to be quite offensive. It's akin, IMO, to saying that a viral infection or a cancer has a say in whether an individual can be treated.
James - August 1, 2009 - 11:22 am (USA Central Time)
At the people saying Tuvix should have been able to live on at the expense of Tuvok and Neelix - would you also let an alternate personality in someone with mutiple personalties decide to decline medical treatment?

I can't even get my head around the defense of "Tuvix" here.
Nic - August 8, 2009 - 09:07 am (USA Central Time)
There are at least three things wrong with this episode:
1) Janeway committed murder. Whichever way you put it, Tuvix had the right to continue living if he wanted to, it wasn't his fault that meant losing Tuvok and Neelix.
2) I think that if Tuvix really was a combination of both Tuvok and Neelix (something they seemed to forget in the last act - treating him as just a 'new' person), he would eventually have decided to sacrifice his life to bring them back.

3) There's another missed opportunity you can add to your list Jammer: What did Tuvok and Neelix get out of all this? How has living together in the same body helped them understand each other better? How does it affect their relationship? Unfortunately their relationship in future episodes doesn't change at all, as if this didn't happen (too common in Voyager, unfortunately). And worst of all, it makes the teaser completely non-sequitur and that much more annoying for it.
Jay - August 8, 2009 - 04:00 pm (USA Central Time)
Saying that Tuvix had a right to live on because it wasn't his fault is like saying someone with multiple personality disorder has no right to seek treatment because the other personalities aren't to blame for the condition and deserve to live on.

Remco - August 12, 2009 - 08:39 am (USA Central Time)
Multiple personality disorder can't be magically fixed. It is a long process of integration, and involves all identities. The prognosis is very bad. Usually the condition is managed instead of resolved. Multiple personality disorder is a destructive condition which often leads to suicide.

Tuvix was not destructive at all. He was a fully functional being, a perfect composite of two people. It's actually rather like an incredibly successful rehabilitation of a multiple personality disorder case.

Killing him was wrong on every level. It's like giving someone multiple personality disorder.

If you condone killing him on the basis that he "shouldn't exist", and that two other lives "should exist", then what would you do in the following arbitrary case:

You're in a torture chamber like in Saw. You are in room A. Another person is there, tied to a chair. A needle with deadly poison is on a table. There are two people alive in room B. In 5 minutes, room A will unlock and room B will kill the two inhabitants.

If you kill the tied-up person in room A, then in 5 minutes both room A and B will unlock and you're free to go.

So either you kill one person, or the room kills two persons. You are always free to go. Will you kill someone, or will you let the person who built the room be a killer?
Jay - August 14, 2009 - 12:05 pm (USA Central Time)
That analogy doesn't hold because all of the persons involved are "supposed to be" persons.

Tuvix isn't "supposed to be". His continued existence is only made possible by two deaths. Nothing can change that.
Jay - August 14, 2009 - 12:11 pm (USA Central Time)
Nic, your 3 contradicts your 1.

Your 1 implies that Tuvok and Neelix are gone, and Tuvix is a new person .

Then in 3 you wonder why Tuvok and Neelix didn't gain anything from a experience in which they were for all intents and purposes not only absent, but nonexistent.
Remco - August 14, 2009 - 02:03 pm (USA Central Time)
What makes someone 'supposed to be'? Isn't everyone supposed to be? In my opinion, the only criterion for who is supposed to be, if not everyone, is what happens when you don't interfere. That's the basis of the prime directive.

The continued existence of the person in room A depends on two deaths. Nothing can change that. The continued existence of the persons in room B depends on a murder. Nothing can change that.

There is no optimal solution. So there are two options:

1. Do nothing. Let the situation play out the way it would naturally do.

2. Play god. Make an active decision about who deserves to live and who deserves to die. That can be:

* The prettiest,
* The youngest,
* The familiar
* The smartest,
* The most,
* The richest,
* ...

If you take option 2, you'll have blood on your hands, whether you perform the act of murder yourself or not. If the decision happens to be that the people in room B should die, you won't legally be a murderer. If the decision happens to be that the person in room A should die, you'll be imprisoned for life. Except on Voyager, where people will forget about it after the closing credits.
Jay - August 22, 2009 - 10:19 pm (USA Central Time)
"Supposed to be" is what's natural.

Your logic is like someone demanding they have the right to clone you because said clone will have a right to exist once it exists.

If I don't want myself cloned, that's my right.
Remco - August 23, 2009 - 07:25 am (USA Central Time)
No, you don't have the right to clone someone against their will. But once that clone exists, you also don't have the right to kill him.

The same is true for 'normal' reproduction. You don't have the right to force a woman to have a child, but once that child exists, you're not allowed to killed it.

Say a woman was raped, and she becomes pregnant. She doesn't abort the child, but when it is born, she can't look at her without seeing the rapist. Does your logic allow the mother to kill the daughter?

How do you decide what's natural? Isn't everything that happens without your intervention natural?
Chris - October 11, 2009 - 07:37 pm (USA Central Time)
I agree fully with Remco.
Saying he isn't supposed to exist is a cruel way to look at things as he do exist (in the show). If someone told you that you shouldn't exist because you were concived through some kind of medical mistake would you think it's in our right to murder you?
He had the same right to live like everybody else does. Once you live you have the right to live, how you came to be really doesn't matter. What's natural and all that is all opinions, one could argue that everything that happens is natural. Logically speaking killing one person to save two persons is the correct decision, is it however morally right to actively murder someone to save two?
Will - October 27, 2009 - 12:29 pm (USA Central Time)
Oh my lord, another overrated episode. This can join Timeless and Tattoo. This episode has a great premise. Tuvok and Neelix get fused together. Cool. It's the second half it falls down on, the decision of killing Tuvix. Interesting moral dilemma. There's just one problem. NO ONE CARES ABOUT TUVIX. Hell, I'd rather have Tuvok and Neelix back. Better the annoying Neelix than this downright creepy, more-annoying-than-Neelix guy. I actually cheered when Tuvok and Neelix appeared again. Don't think I'm justified in saying this? I have a friend who stopped watching Voyager solely because of this episode.
Jeff - December 1, 2009 - 03:35 pm (USA Central Time)
Surely the death of tulix broke the Prime directive RVERY species has the right to survive ???
Nic - January 18, 2010 - 01:14 pm (USA Central Time)
Yes, I also agree with Remco. Nothing is "supposed to be" or "not supposed to be". My 3 doesn't contradict my 1. Creating Tuvix was an accident, yes, but once that accident happened Tuvix was a living breathing life form with rights equal to anyone else's. I believe I WOULD be willing to sacrifice myself to save two lives (though it always depends on the situation), but I would NOT be willing to KILL someone to save two lives (even if one of those two lives is my own), because I believe that the end does not justify the means. So in a way I disagree with Janeway's decision, but I ALSO disagree with Tuvix's decision.

My third point is simply that there was something interesting that could have been explored with Tuvok and Neelix's characters after they were separated. Did they both remember being Tuvix? Did they regret anything he did? After this ordeal, did they finally manage to understand each other better?

I think the fact that so many people have strong feelings about this episode (good and bad) proves it posed an interesting question. I just don't like that it didn't have an impact on the series.
Sadist - March 1, 2010 - 08:53 pm (USA Central Time)
I'm glad he's dead, my only regret is that he didn't suffer more before the end.
Dan P - March 13, 2010 - 05:31 pm (USA Central Time)
Firstly, I'll say that the guy who played Tuvix was fantastic!

But my jaw hit the floor in the final act. It was murder.
Adam - March 19, 2010 - 10:03 pm (USA Central Time)
@Remco: Wheather or not you'd "legally" be a murderer isn't really relevant to the moral debate.

@Matt, Nick, Remco & Stefan: Suppose you have the ability to bring dead people back to life. You find the corpses of two people who've met untimely deaths. You could easily restore them to life but decide instead to let them stay dead. Isn't that morally equivalent to murder? Aren't you just as evil as if you'd killed the two people yourself?

@Matt: Couldn't you also say the writers would have been losing their moral compass if they'd had the crew allow Neelix and Tuvok to stay dead (thus effectively murdering Neelix and Tuvok)?

@Nic: How does Janeway committing murder count as something "wrong" with the episode? If you have a problem with characters doing something morally reprehensible, why would you even watch this show, which often has villains in it? Besides, wouldn't Janeway also have been murdering Nelix and Tuvok if she hadn't murdered Tuvix? Also, your comment about the crew "forgetting" that Tuvix was a combination of Tuvock and Neelix and that Tuvix would have been willing to be seperate if he were a conmbination of people assumes that the idea of him being a person and the idea of him being a combination of two people are mutually exclusive ideas. I thought the point of the episode is that he's both.

@Matt & Stefan: Must the show be totally black-and-white? Can't the heroes make a mistake or do the wrong thing once and a while? And couldn't you just as easily argue that letting Nelix and Tuvok stay dead (and thus effectively murdering them)shouldn't have been allowed to be the desire of the "good guys"?

@Remco, Nic & Stefan: Yes, splitting Tuvix up was murdering him, but not splitting him up would have been murdering Nelix and Tuvok. There was no morally right action in this situation. Either descision would be murder.

@Jay: As others have pointed out, it's totally arbitrary to say that Tuvok wasn't "supposed" to exist. To decide that some people are "supposed" to exist and others aren't is to "play God", by which I mean we have no right to make that descision (I actually don't think a god has any right to make that descision either, but that's a separate issue). Tuvix is a person, not a cancer. Cancer isn't a sentient being, so your analogy is flawed. Even if that weren't the case, Tuvix existed as a result of two people already being killed, wheras cancer is IN THE PROCESS of KILLING someone, so wheras killing Tuvix is like shooting an innocent person to ressurect two other innocent people, treating a cancer is more akin to shooting someone who's about to shoot someone else.
Remco - March 19, 2010 - 10:27 pm (USA Central Time)
"@Remco: Wheather or not you'd "legally" be a murderer isn't really relevant to the moral debate."

What I was trying to convey with the "legally being a murderer" bit, was that this particular decision would be generally accepted as bad. Hence the law that says it's a bad decision. But yeah, legality does not always equal morality.

"@Matt, Nick, Remco & Stefan: Suppose you have the ability to bring dead people back to life. You find the corpses of two people who've met untimely deaths. You could easily restore them to life but decide instead to let them stay dead. Isn't that morally equivalent to murder? Aren't you just as evil as if you'd killed the two people yourself?"

Well, you're not *as* evil, but it surely is in the general direction of evilness. Doing nothing is not something that's always right. I can't think of something off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are situations in real life where it's illegal to do nothing. (Again, just to show that it's generally accepted as bad.)

I'm just saying that when you have a choice with exactly two options that are of about equal evilness, then you should let "fate" decide.

For example, if in your scenario the only way to resurrect someone, would be to take the life of another (think Carnivàle or Pushing Daisies), then the morality of resurrection becomes really questionable.
Matrix - May 4, 2010 - 09:30 pm (USA Central Time)
I think this was a great episode, although i do like original title which was apparently 'symbiogenesis', or so i heard. I think it was fantastic that there was no easy solution and the responses of kes, the captain and the crew seemed perfectly in line with knowing that whatever way they choose someone's going to get hurt. sure it would've been good to follow up on this but honestly it doesn't worry me all that much. what stays with me is the moment as janeway walks out of sickbay and you get that even though she did what she had to one way or another she's not okay.
Ian - June 21, 2010 - 05:53 am (USA Central Time)
The final decision by Janeway seems at odds with "Phage" in which she decided not to kill the Vidiian who stole Neelix's lungs. Tuvix, while having only existed for two weeks, is innocent.

Of course, in the context of the series, everything has to be back to normal in the end.
SiLL - July 2, 2010 - 09:52 pm (USA Central Time)
I just finished the episode and wow.. this is the very first trek episode where I despised the crew.

To call Tuvix' right to live "offensive" is the stupid thing I have heart for a while. He IS a sentient being! If he is killed and Tuvok and Neelix are thereby revived, it means that one innocent man is killed to save two other innocent man. That Tuvix is an actual combination of the two is of zero relevance for this.

And this is so incredibly morally wrong, that I couldn't believe it that Janeway even considered it. It made me sick how he plead for mercy and nobody did anything.

But in one regard this episode was really great, it (obviously ;)) got me thinking.
Chunky Style - July 10, 2010 - 11:47 pm (USA Central Time)
The Prime Directive is about non-interference with pre-warp cultures; it doesn't apply here. Now that that's out of the way ...

Tuvix had free will and he had a sense of self. That's typically enough in the Federation's eyes to grant an entity the legal authority to make decisions about its own fate. While I acknowledge that it's a tough call to the extent that Neelix and Tuvok couldn't come back if Tuvix was to live, it's not a tough call in that precedent supports Tuvix's rights. And if Janeway was correct that both Neelix and Tuvok would be willing to die in the line of duty, well, I guess they were happy with how things turned out, now weren't they? (Up to the point where an innocent being was killed to resurrect them; I like to think one or the other would have had a problem with that.)

Everyone on the ship was a bunghole; even the Doctor wussed out by neither performing the procedure nor lifting a finger to stop Janeway. This sort of thing wouldn't have happened on DS9 or on any of the Enterprises.
Fan - August 11, 2010 - 12:10 pm (USA Central Time)
I find may of the earlier comments about this episode curious. More specifically, everyone focused on deciding whether bringing Neelix and Tuvok consiututed "murder." Or, whether not restoring them constitutes allowing them to die.

Think about our society today. Don't we face complicated issues of a similar nature? For example, in a pinch, who gets to live? The mother or the child?

Accordingly, I like that fact that the writers found a way to bring a sort of futureistic version of this issue to the table.

We hate it when answers are not easy to answer. not black and white, especially when dealing with life and death. And, good for the writers to make an old issue, new and powerful! Even in the future!

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