The Cutprice Guignol

Now, I know I am utterly, completely and humiliatingly late to the game, but I have spent the last few months working my way through the Star Trek series. And, with my dear co-writer and partner covering Star Trek over on our other site, I figured it was time for me to turn my attention to the iconic sci-fi series.

And there’s so much to write about with regards to the show, I hardly know where to start. Whether it’s the game-changing diversity that served as such a central tenet for the series, the epoch-defining impact it had on fanfiction (no, I’m not joking), or just the damn good sci-fi storytelling, it has been, almost without fail, a total and utter treat.  

But there is one character in particular who jumps out – a character from my current favourite iteration of the show, Voyager. No, not Janeway, though she is the Katherine Hepburn-intonation captain we all need, or Chakotay, even though, if Robert Beltran is reading this, he should refer to the contact tab above expeditiously. Even though the entire main cast (and, let’s be honest, much of the supporting cast too) are utterly outstanding, there’s something I want to focus on – Neelix.   

Neelix (played by Ethan Philips) serves as the morale officer and cook on Voyager, and he was a character who jumped out at me nearly at once. As both the chef and the self-appointed morale officer, I related to him at once (and not just because of his slightly mottled complexion and stringy hair) – a man so charming he can’t help but delight everyone to the point of official capacity, and a great cook to boot? Why, it was like seeing myself!

Nah, but seriously, what I love so much about Neelix is how brilliantly he embodies that oft-disastrous “comic relief” character – and how Voyager turns him into such a central and vital part of the crew and story.  

Because Neelix is that comic relief character, you know the one – the one who’s there to grate on the other characters and serve as an eye-rolling laugh for the audience. In large ensembles like Voyager’s, it’s only natural that they have one too. You need someone who can come in and balance out the tone of the darker episodes and character beats, of which Voyager has its fair share. 

But these characters are so often the stone-cold worst part of any show that they’re a part of. A wacky square peg shoved into a genre-fiction round hole, they so often serve to create this unpleasant texture that doesn’t balance the tone as much as confuse it – because, when it comes to writing comic relief, it seems so often that writers forget the character part. 

And that’s what makes Neelix my objective ideal of this trope in fiction. The combination of the writing and Philips’ witty, deft, but ultimately warm performance. The quirks and oddness to his character feel like a genuinely baked-in aspect of who he is – his demeanour and attitude makes sense, because the show goes out of its way to show us what has led him to that point (including some genuinely brilliant Neelix-centric episodes early in the show, like Tuvix and Jetrel). 

I would love to hear what you think of my beloved morale officer – and if there are any other standout characters from either Voyager or Star Trek at large that you have found yourself glomming on to as I have with my dearheart here. Drop into the comments and let us Trek out as a collective (or is that term a little too loaded for Borg-era Trek?).

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(header image via Weekend Notes)