How Would You Fix Neelix?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I think Competence would be good. Give him something he does well rather than bragging about all the skills he doesn't have. Heck, just being a good cook instead of cooking so bad it almost destroys the ship would be a start. Help us understand why Janeway hasn't shoved him out the airlock.

[Deledrius]

I think something like the approach JMS took on B5 could have helped here. Once Neelix has moved past the area he's familiar with, bring in a new expert on local space, like how they kept changing command staff officers.

It's really rare that shows do that kind of thing on purpose. Most of the time on B5 it wasn't an intentional change, but outside forces that the show would usually recover from fairly seamlessly.

I think Competence would be good. Give him something he does well rather than bragging about all the skills he doesn't have. Heck, just being a good cook instead of cooking so bad it almost destroys the ship would be a start. Help us understand why Janeway hasn't shoved him out the airlock.

It always seemed like a problem caused by not thinking things through. They wanted him to be a decent cook, or at least an enthusiastic and inventive/resourceful one. But they also wanted to make jokes about "the cook makes strange food" which would often morph into "the cook makes inedible food". Eventually, that trend undermined the original intent of the character.

[Madner Kami]

Making him an honest idiot was the big mistake they made with the character. They should've kept the (apparent) first impression the character leaves in Caretaker: He's decently competent, but he's also a con-artist who is not beyond using people and tricking people into being useful to him. His character-arc would be to get around to the Federation-thinking and stop being a con-artist and become an actual people's man.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

You could fix Neelix by giving him a bar instead of a kitchen. Also make him a ferangi.

[Winter]

Making him an honest idiot was the big mistake they made with the character. They should've kept the (apparent) first impression the character leaves in Caretaker: He's decently competent, but he's also a con-artist who is not beyond using people and tricking people into being useful to him. His character-arc would be to get around to the Federation-thinking and stop being a con-artist and become an actual people's man.

Interesting, many comments here, (mine included) seem to lean more towards making Neelix a bit more anti-social or, at the very least, more manipulative of others. I wonder if this is a subconscious way of making him less like Quark and Garak, both of whom are more people persons even if they are a bit rude and untrustworthy.

[Darth Wedgius]

Interesting, many comments here, (mine included) seem to lean more towards making Neelix a bit more anti-social or, at the very least, more manipulative of others. I wonder if this is a subconscious way of making him less like Quark and Garak, both of whom are more people persons even if they are a bit rude and untrustworthy.

In essence I would have liked to see him a lot like Quark in one respect -- someone with his own ethics, but not Starfleet's ethics. The crew would see him as basically decent but not quite trustworthy, and he'd see them as basically decent but with a naivety born of coming from what looks to him like a utopia.

And he could point out that they were no longer in their utopia. They were on one little ship, and that ship was in his world now.

If the ship getting damaged meant that it had stayed damaged, if they'd run out of shuttles before building the Delta Flyer, if they'd had problems filling out positions vacated by severe injury or death and having to make do with less trained, less experienced personnel, that might have worked.

Someone might have even thanked him for not saying, "I told you so," and he could have said that, seeing them hold to their principles so tenaciously, he'd been coming around to their way of thinking.

[clearspira]

Instead of Quark, maybe make Neelix a bit more like Rygel from Farscape. They are both self-serving assholes, but Rygel has rushes of competence.

[Karha of Honor]

Instead of Quark, maybe make Neelix a bit more like Rygel from Farscape. They are both self-serving assholes, but Rygel has rushes of competence.

You have to change the makeup. He has that pathetic goofball face.

[clearspira]

Instead of Quark, maybe make Neelix a bit more like Rygel from Farscape. They are both self-serving assholes, but Rygel has rushes of competence.

You have to change the makeup. He has that pathetic goofball face.

True. Rygel looks more realistic than Neelix somehow.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

Buffoons just don't come across well in modern, non-comedic fiction, not unless it's a very well-written work or you're dealing with a very minor character. Comic relief can be tricky under any circumstance, but it usually seems to come across much better if the character is competent.

With Neelix, the idea of an alien guide across the Delta Squadron is a pretty good one, especially if you're intent on bringing an alien or two on board as part of the permanent cast. It's fine to have the character be unaware of Starfleet procedure or how to run a starship, but I don't think such a character should be the go-to for comic relief. Make him warm and affable- Janeway and the rest of the crew are most concerned with getting themselves home, so I would put Neelix in the position of being the voice of the Delta Quadrant and bringing their perspective to the table.