Tuvix
StarDate: 49655.2
Original Airdate: May 6, 1996
By Christina Luckings
The Story
‘Captain’s Log, Stardate 49655.2. Our sensors have
located a variety of flower which may prove to be a valuable
nutritional supplement. I have sent Mr. Neelix and Mr. Tuvok
to collect samples.’
Voyager’s resident plant lovers are enjoying the sunshine
and fresh air of a planet. Neelix is his usual ebullient self,
to the point of trying to get Tuvok to sing along with him to
the most cheerful song in the Vulcan database – a funeral
dirge called ‘Oh starless night of boundless black’.
Tuvok is his usual dispassionate self, and refuses to be drawn.
Down in the transporter room, Kim and Hogan are trying to sort
out a glitch in the molecular imaging scanners. They think they
have it fixed, and begin to transport the away team back, but
instead of two people and a container of samples, they get just
one person instead. A dark, tall, somewhat Talaxian looking being
with pointed ears and eyebrows, wearing a Starfleet uniform with
patterned gold shoulders. He identifies himself as both Neelix
and Tuvok, and goes to sickbay, which is the logical thing to
do.
The EMH confirms what the transporter records told Hogan, that
this being is an amalgam of Tuvok and Neelix, fused at the molecular
level, and with the orchids somehow mixed in. He recognises everyone,
and has the memories of both men, and he smiles gently at Kes
as she stares at this unfamiliar yet familiar face. With security
guards posted, just in case, Janeway orders a second team to
go down to the planet by shuttlecraft to collect more orchids,
while Kes conducts tests on the newcomer and the EMH studies
the genetic data.
In the science lab, Kes runs the tests while asking questions
such as – are there two separate minds inside you. The
answer is no, only one consciousness. Then she asks him for a
name, and after suggesting and dismissing Neevok, he decides
on Tuvix. When he calls her ‘sweeting’, Neelix’s
term of endearment for her, she is shocked and slightly repulsed.
He apologies.
‘Chief Medical Officer’s Log, supplemental. Extensive
microcellular scans on the merged humanoid have thus far yielded
no clues to either a cause or a method of separation.’
Twenty four hours later, the EMH has more than enough data to
be going on with, and informs the Captain that Tuvix is both
healthy and sane, and that as he possesses both Tuvok’s
irritating sense of intellectual superiority and Neelix’s
annoying ebullience, he would be grateful if she would assign
him duties elsewhere. Tuvix is keen to return to tactical, but
Janeway is not ready to have him on the bridge just yet. Instead
she invites him to the daily noon briefing session.
Torres and Kim give their findings that it was a perfectly routine
beam-out with correctly operating equipment. Kes found nothing
unusual in the orchids Chakotay brought back in the shuttle.
They are at a loss to explain what happened. Then Tuvix speaks
up. Sex. Janeway is shocked at the sound of the word, but Tuvix
goes on to explain his thoughts. Kes had mentioned the orchids
possessed lysosomal enzymes, which Tuvok’s research suggests
could be evidence of a rare reproductive process called symbiogenesis.
Andorian amoeba use it, merging with other single-celled animals
to create a third unique species. While Tuvok and Neelix and
the orchids were in the transporter matter stream, they were
in a state of molecular flux, and so the enzymes were able to
do their work. It is the best theory Janeway has heard so far,
and tells Paris to return to the planet for yet more samples.
He’ll depart at 0600, after night has passed at the location.
Tuvix is waiting for Kes in the corridor, to invite her to dinner.
It is Wednesday, when Neelix always makes Trellian crepes for
her, and why break with tradition just because of a transporter
accident? She accepts and they walk into the mess hall to a scene
of utter chaos. Swinn’s eggs are burning and Hogan can’t
find a spatula. Tuvix immediately takes charge, on the authority
of the chief of security or head chef, whichever you prefer.
Kim and Paris look up but say nothing. Kes giggles.
In an empty kitchen sometime later, Kes admits that the crepes
were less spicy than usual, which let the flavour of the mushrooms
come through. Tuvix has tidied up the galley, despairing over
Neelix’s disorganisation, then he takes her hands in his,
telling her how lost Neelix would be without her. Confused and
embarrassed, Kes makes her excuses and leaves.
At least one day later, Tuvix has changed his patterned clothes
for standard Starfleet uniform, and is on the bridge, informing
the Captain that he has solved a glitch in the proximity detectors
thanks to a hunch he had. Kim calls him down to the transporter
room for the tests. Janeway and Chakotay are both impressed by
the way he is fitting in so quickly. On the planet surface, Torres
and Paris have brought a collection of plants from Kes’s
airponic garden with them, to allow the symbiogenetic orchid
to work it’s magic on via the transporters. They put one
chrysanthemum, one clematis and one orchid into a sample container,
Kim beams it up, then gazes at a single plant on the transporter
platform.
After 100 tries as separating single plants back into three,
the EMH has to admit defeat. Tuvix likens the complexity of the
situation to trying to turn a cake back into flour, eggs and
water after it has been baked. He doesn’t seem too upset
that he could be like this forever, although the EMH says that
he will continue to try and find a way of reversing the condition,
he is not optimistic. He feels as if he has lost two patients.
Janeway goes to inform the crew, while Kes tries to take in just
what this means.
Kes is burning prayer tapers for Tuvok and Neelix in her quarters
when Tuvix comes to talk. The two most important men in her life
on Voyager have gone, to be replaced by him, a stranger. Tuvix
has a dilemma. He carries both Tuvok’s love for T’Pel
and Neelix’s love for Kes inside him. If it takes the EMH
years to find a way to bring them both back again, that could
be the whole of Kes’s lifetime. He wants her to know that
he is here for her. She asks him to leave, but before he does,
he kisses her gently on the cheek.
Late that night, Kes goes to see the Captain in her quarters.
Kathryn is having difficulty sleeping, and is reading some of
Tuvok’s old letters to her from when he was assigned to
Jupiter Station. Kes tells her about Tuvix’s visit, about
his protestation of love for her, and wants to know how she copes
with being separated from her loved ones, not knowing if she
will ever see them again. Kathryn gets choked up as she explains
how sometimes she is optimistic about getting home, but then
sometimes, after dreaming about Mark, she gets so depressed at
the thought that she might never see him again. Should she give
up on Neelix, asks Kes. I can’t tell you that, is the reply.
Give yourself time. Relieved, Kes leaves Kathryn to her letters
again.
‘Captain’s Log, Stardate 49678.4. It’s been
two weeks since the transporter accident that created Mr. Tuvix.
And, while it’s still not entirely clear that he’s
with us permanently, he’s certainly been doing his best
to settle in. The crew seems to be growing accustomed to his
presence, and he’s proving to be a very able tactical officer
who isn’t afraid to express his opinions. While he’s
forging relationships with many of the officers, he seems to
be keeping a respectful distance from Kes, allowing her to adjust
to the circumstances on her own terms. As for my relationship
with Tuvix, I’ve found him to be an able advisor who skilfully
uses humour to make his points. And although I feel a bit guilty
saying it, his cooking is better than Neelix’s. My taste
buds are definitely happy to have him around.’
Harry is practising his clarinet when the EMH calls with a question.
If he could attach a radioisotope to specific strands of DNA,
could the surgical transporters be reprogrammed to lock onto
only them? Probably, Harry replies, then realising that this
is about Tuvix, he hurries out to the sickbay. In Sandrine’s
Tuvix is soundly beating Chakotay at pool when Kes comes in and
gestures with a nod of her head that she wishes to speak with
him. At a table, she apologises for her distance recently, but
tells him that she wants to be friends, and maybe have that friendship
grow. Although this isn’t quite what Tuvix wants to hear,
it is better than nothing, so he assures her that he isn’t
going anywhere. Then the EMH summons him to sickbay.
Kim and the EMH explain to Janeway, Kes and Tuvix that they
have come up with a variation on the baryon drink used the in
twentieth century to make the lining of the intestine visible
to x-rays. This isotope will attach itself to the DNA of one
of the merged species but not the other, making it possible to
separate them. They have tested their theory on a merged flower,
and it worked perfectly. Janeway smiles, and Kes says that it
is wonderful, but there is one problem. Tuvix does not want to
die.
In the briefing room, Captain Janeway muses over her dilemma
with Chakotay. At what point over the past two weeks did Tuvix
cease to be a transporter accident and become a person? The subject
of their conversation arrives, and Chakotay leaves. She explains
that she wants to get his input before making a decision on whether
or not to sanction the separation. Tuvix does not think that
it is her decision to make. He is a living individual, guiltless
of any crime, with all the requisite responses and emotions that
make up any person. She has no right to order his execution.
The Captain counters with the argument that allowing him to continue
would be like killing Neelix and Tuvok, two people who cannot
speak for themselves at present. Tuvix does not accept this.
They are his parents, but he is not willing to sacrifice himself
for them. He has the will to live of two men, and the right to
live.
Knowing that it is not looking good for him, that Janeway has
already stated that she wants Tuvok and Neelix back, Tuvix heads
off to the mess hall where Kes is having a meal. He pleads with
her to intercede with the Captain, thinking that she has transferred
her love for Neelix to him. Kes looks sad and says nothing. She
goes to see Janeway in her ready room, and explains what has
happened. Distressed, she confesses that she feels so guilty
for saying this, that Tuvix doesn’t deserve to die, but
she wants Neelix and Tuvok back. Kathryn takes sobbing young
woman in her arms to comfort her. He should never have put her
in the middle like this.
Tuvix walks onto the bridge, and relieves the Ensign at tactical,
who does not move until Chakotay nods. Every one is waiting for
the Captain to announce her decision, but Tuvix is still the
tactical officer until then, the first officer points out. Captain
Janeway emerges from her ready room and asks to speak to Tuvix
alone. She has reached her decision. Afraid, Tuvix insists that
she says her piece in public, and refuses to accompany her to
sickbay. She calls security, who arrive just as he makes a last
desperate appeal to the rest of the bridge crew to stand up for
him, but gets no answer. Knowing there is no means of escape,
he piles one final load of guilt on his audience, and tells them
that he forgives them.
In sickbay, the EMH goes through the Hippocratic Oath, stating
that a physician must do no harm, and that he cannot perform
the separation against Tuvix’s will. Captain Janeway is
bound by no such code of ethics, and knows exactly how the procedure
has to be done. Kim hands her the isotope, she injects it then
sets up the surgical transporters and energises. Within moments,
instead of one Starfleet officer sitting on the biobed, there
are two, and Kes rushes over to kiss Neelix. Janeway tells the
pair that it is good to have them back, but her face is downcast,
and she walks straight out of sickbay, knowing that she will
have to live with this decision for the rest of her life.
Review:
I think you can get an inkling of how I feel about this story
from some of the descriptions I have used in the story narrative.
There is an awful lot of emotion going on here, from the grief
of loss to the guilt of accomplices to the joy of reunion. It’s
not a unique premise in Trek, but thanks to Tom Wright’s
performance, it is powerfully handled here. Allowing events to
be spread over weeks, not hours, we see the acceptance of the
presence of Tuvix on Voyager, not the least Kes’s acceptance
of him as a potential substitute for her lover and her mentor.
Eventually. But not yet. Janeway too misses Tuvok more than she
likes to admit, reading his old letters as if he were a boyfriend,
not a work colleague. We also finally get some insight into Janeway
the woman, separated from her fiancé, and how she must
fight not to let her personal feelings get in the way of her
duty as Captain.
I loved the way Tuvix’s inner emotions were carefully
mirrored on the actor’s face. The disappointment when Kes
talked about friendship, when he had hoped to step straight into
Neelix’s slippers, the optimism when she held his hands.
As for the final act, the expression on Janeway’s face
as she marches out into the corridor, trying hard to hold it
all together… you could believe that she is about to burst
into tears immediately she steps out of camera shot.
And talking of cameras – the final bridge scene as Tuvix
makes his appeal for support has just that air of swirling desperation
to reflect the inner turmoil that must be going on in every one
else.
But you know that there is no reprieve. For a start, Russ and
Philips have contracts and title billing. I wonder if either
of their characters will have memories of Tuvix’s brief
existence in future episodes?
Grade: 8/10
Cast:
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran as Chakotay
Roxanne Biggs-Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
Jennifer Lien as Kes
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Tuvok
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim
Guest Cast:
Simon Billig as Hogan
Bahni Turpin as Swinn
Tom Wright as Tuvix
Creative Staff:
Director: Cliff Bole
Teleplay By: Kenneth Biller
Story By: Andrew Shepard Price & Mark Gaberman
