25 Years Ago,Star Trek: VoyagerTackled One of Its Most Infamous Transporter Questions

Star Trek ’s populace raise a lot ofethical question — but its conveyer technology has always been one that strike at some of the most experiential . Are we the same people if all our molecules are map , broken down , and copy into a different location ? What happens if that mental process is disrupted ? And what happens if multiple people go onto atransporter digs , but only one entity gets beamed out ? That last one was present an answer in “ Tuvix , ” the time of year two installment ofStar Trek : Voyagerthat aired 25 years ago today .

That answer has had fans talking ever since . To surmise “ Tuvix ” is almost consanguineous to opening with a unearthly sitcom that transitions into existentialist revulsion within the quad of about five mo . Vulcan Lieutenant Tuvok ( Tim Russ ) does n’t like Voyager chef / Deta Quadrant travel guide Neelix ( Ethan Phillips ) ! One ’s taciturn and reserved , the other is gregarious and social ! Oh no , they ’re going on an outside mission together , how will they ever get along ? Then , literal oh no : the duo are beamed back from their commission , except only a singular humanoid is stand up in front of the dazzled Voyager crew .

Neither Tuvok nor Neelix , yet also both , merged by accident through plant samples they had pluck up in their deputation to form a new lifeform . The being settles on Tuvix ( Tom Wright ) for their name .

Tuvix is born.

Tuvix is born.Screenshot: CBS

Throughout “ Tuvix , ” the ethical implications of the titular character ’s existence are constantly put forward to the spectator . We ’re demo that by embracing and accept the strengths of the beings that created Tuvix , he can perform their prior duties admirably , and is eager and happy to do so . We ’re also shown that Tuvok and Neelix ’s champion and co-worker all begin to writhe with the thought of for good losing those individuals and that Tuvix ’s presence in their lives is an uncomfortable reminder of that passing . But Voyager is a Starfleet gang , and sprightliness goes on the way you ’d expect it to . Tuvix becomes take on and respected as a member of the work party over a matter of workweek , while Neelix and Tuvok ’s closest colleagues mourn them privately , and Tuvix himself is reverential enough to keep a aloofness from them in that process . Then suddenly , the episode turns .

Voyager ’s MD ( Robert Picardo ) has found a way to overturn the transporter accident , and everyone is on card with getting their crewmates back … except , you make love , the sentient being created by say car transporter fortuity . Tuvix , of course , does not want to go and is horrified by how chop-chop and how willing the people who had get to plow him as a colleague were quick to keep going what tantamounted to carrying into action . It is perhaps a deeply human feeling — the desire to bump off what is perceive as the abnormal , for the selfish delight of having someone who you knew and loved returned to you . But what perhaps feels so alien to Star Trek is that the response in favour of kill Tuvix is overwhelmingly supported .

This is far from the first sentence a Star Trek history has dealt with the moral complexness of forfeit — the age - old wisdom of the needs of the manyoutweighing the needs of the few . But it ’s a peculiar maxim to invoke on the intimate , microscale of Voyager ’s unequaled setting . This is just one ship , minuscule than most crew we ’d watch over at this point in time , and cut down off from the balance of Starfleet . It ’s fair to cast them as more of a category than a crew , and those personal look may spiel more of a factor despite Captain Janeway ’s ( Kate Mulgrew ) intent to run a Starfleet vessel , no matter how far from home they are . Janeway ’s ultimate conclusion to fetch two crewmates back to life by killing a new one is , in the broadest sense , saying the needs of a plurality outweigh the pauperism of one . Yet the conclusion still feels gutwrenching to look on unfold , especially when “ Tuvix ” apply type like Kes ( played by Jennifer Lien and Neelix ’s partner and fellow refugee aboard the ship , sweep up as part of the crew as he was ) to display Tuvix ’s own desire to subsist as a sentient being as selfish and unjust — that it is his demerit that they are distressed because they now have to , need to , sacrifice his life .

Screenshot: CBS

Screenshot: CBS

Only one being aboard Voyager , outside of Tuvix , protests Janeway ’s pick — the ship ’s MD , an Emergency Medical Hologram . Janeway overturn him by just simply doing the function herself , claim Tuvix to the transporter pad ( almost by violence , at first , until he finally yield that his last act will be to make the crew find guilty for their function in his death ) and beginning the process to separate him back into Tuvok and Neelix . What ’s wild about “ Tuvix ” above all however , is that it really just … is n’t call again . Voyager ’s nature as a mostly occasional show , moving from one plot of the week to the next , never really let its characters a consequence to meditate on some of the decision along the way in their journey . There are no mo twelvemonth down the line where Janeway turns to her nigh friend and adviser and goes “ I ca n’t forget the fact that I killed a homo to lend you back to this ship safely . ” So the fact that she is left to face the consequences of her action at law at the end of the sequence , only to never really do that , renders its conclusion perhaps much colored than it was ever intended .

It ’s that unequivocalness that perhaps create “ Tuvix ” still so hotly contested two and a one-half decades after . It was far from the first time , and will not be the last , that we ’ve see Starfleet captain do deep refutable things in the line of duty — and how Star Trek ’s penchant for occasional structure over serialization can sometimes recoil . And yet , perhaps for reasons unintended at the time , “ Tuvix ” stay on as one of the most hotly - debated morals play the enfranchisement will likely ever do .

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Screenshot: CBS