Geek. Bourgondiër. Belgistani. Add label here.

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 20th, 2023

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  • To save Tuvix was to murder Tuvok and Neelix.

    They could’ve attempted to recreate the Riker accident. Copy the datastream before it’s split. Surely there’s the technical knowledge to do it.

    It’s also interesting that at the end of the episode, they never go into Tuvok and Neelix’ memories of the whole thing - they don’t seem surprised to be in sickbay instead of the transporter room, so they’re clearly aware of what happened. They could have at least asked them at that point whether they’re happy to be back of if they would like to be merged again - they’ve shown that it’s just a matter of having the orchid in the same transport.

    In fact, that they’re not confused by the - for them individually - new memories, like Tuvix was when he first came into being, could actually suggest that they were both actively present to some degree inside Tuvix’ personality…

    Aside from all that, the way they explain the orchid’s effect means that it would never have been safe to have Tuvix in a shared transporter stream: the orchid’s means of reproduction is basically to merge with another species through the use of a particular enzyme, so it stands to reason that Tuvix is the orchid’s offspring and also possesses that enzyme.


  • I’m going to add to that, as this post made me rewatch it as we speak 🙂

    The two very first lines Tuvix speaks, when challenge 6 for his identity, are “I am luitenant Tuvok. And I am Neelix.”

    He really didn’t realize he was a person yet - he thought he was two persons.

    Had you asked, in that initial time, whether he would like to be split up, I’m sure he would have answered in the positive.

    Of course he’s allowed to change his mind as realization grows, so the whole thing remains a dicey proposition, but imo it just reinforces the fact that it was Janeway who triggered his (becoming aware of his own) personhood.



  • I think that’s an oversimplification of what GP was getting at.

    Tuvix was an accident, knew and accepted that fact, and initially was voluntarily assisting in finding a way to undo it. He seems more than capable of grasping, even at that early point in his existence, that undoing the accident means the end of him.

    GP made the argument that his demeanor started changing as he got a name, a job, responsibilities etc. All the superficial hallmarks of a “person” in the very limited environment of the ship.

    Nobody is saying he wasn’t a person from the start, but getting assigned all the trappings of what he saw to be individual persons undoubtedly started him thinking of himself as a person as well instead of just an accident to be corrected.