3d ago

Let's talk about how ruthless Neelix is

Minutes after Neelix chucks Michael Jonas into a plasma fire, thus disintegrating Michael Jonas, he's cracking jokes with Tuvok. That's like Khan Noonien Singh levels of cold if you stop and think about it. What does that jovial exterior actually hide?

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Everyone forgets how Neelix came to be on the Voyager. He was a genocide survivor, a lone wanderer in Kazon space, with a ramshackle little ship. You've got to be tough like a badger or an Ewok to survive a life like that. And the first thing he did when he met this powerful ship of desperate people with technology and capabilities beyond his understanding was to trick them into rescuing his sweetheart for him. He's got balls.
- Yeah, they flanderized him so hard he immediately lost all of his history and impact on the ship. Suddenly hes the "smelly food clown" guy.
  Motherfucker was a key navigator, negotiator, guide and scavenger. He is the main reason Voyager survived its first years at all, but they did him so dirty everyone hated him throughout the show.
  
  He did such a good job of pretending to be inoffensive and harmless that the writers themselves were fooled.
- He was also dating a 2 year old. Fuck neelix.
I forgot to include a picture of him minutes afterwards:
- "Hey this murder thing actually feels pretty good. We should do this again some time."
Everyone in Star Trek has PTSD, and also TSD. Their ability to “move on” is core to their ability to do the job. I wonder how Troi manages her schedule without being overbooked.
- Everyone in Star Trek has PTSD, and also TSD.
  And pre-TSD from thinking about all the away missions and the horrors those entail.
  
  Reg Barclay is the most real person on TNG no doubt.
  
  That's just regular old anxiety
The only ruthless thing here is how ruthlessly efficient the Voyager writers were. A multi-episode crewman traitor arc without any of the messy logistics of determining if or how they could confine him to the brig for years? Jonas didn't even get the Suder treatment.
I immediately recognized the screenshot since I watched this episode a couple days ago. On a re-watch of everything starting from ToS that I started a couple of years ago, now (I've taken a few big breaks. Voyager is a slog.) How crazy coincidental is that?
No one seems to ever suffer permanent trauma in Star Trek. O'Brian should by all accounts be practically catatonic after the events of Deep Space 9. Good therapy and drugs I suppose.
- Trauma is Sisko holding a perpetual grudge against Picard despite fully knowing þat Picard wasn't Picard when he killed Sisko's wife.
  
  That is one example. Sisko in general seemed to have more emotion than your average Star Trek authority figure.
- In fairness, there was a whole episode of ds9 about obrien struggling with his trauma.
  Maybe their therapy techniques are as advanced as their other forms of medicine?
Do they lay awake at night thinking of all the individuals who died in the starships they destroyed?
- Me erasing all the starship to starship combat memories:
He's just a Ferengi in deep cover.

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