VOY: Mortal Coil Review

[Darth Wedgius]

I didn't know how much of the anti-Neelixism was heartfelt and how much was entertainment. Now...

Now I feel a need to crowd-fund a movie starring Neelix, Jar-Jar Binks, Wesley Crusher, and, possibly, Scrappy Doo. If those pesky weapons of mass destruction treaties don't get in the way. Just for the review...

Funnily enough, Scrappy Doo was the only bit of Scooby-Doo I ever really liked. As a child. I'm still not a huge fan now, but I can give credit where credit is due for some of the later series (e.g Mytery Incorporated). Cannot STAND the original series, though.

I, by the by, though him being the villain in the first live-action movie was HILARIOUS. Maybe a little mean-spirited, but HILARIOUS.

Scrappy probably gets too much flak, to be fair. Ratings did go up for a bit, and there were other changes made to the format of the show that disappointed fans of the old format (myself included),and he was available as a symbol of that disappointment. Though I grew to despise "Ta ta ta ta! Puppy power!" with the burning fury of a thousands badgers stepping on legos during a root canal.

[Aotrs Commander]

I, by the by, though him being the villain in the first live-action movie was HILARIOUS. Maybe a little mean-spirited, but HILARIOUS.

Fun Fact: Warner Bros forced that twist on the crew of the live action Scooby Doo movie. Originally it the ultimate antagonist was supposed to turn out to be old man in the Luna Ghost costume from the beginning of the movie, which is why the Luna Ghost's shadow is so prominent on all the posters and vhs/dvd covers. Tim Curry was actually supposed to play the villain role that Rowan Atkinson had (Curry is a big Scooby Doo fan) but when he was told that the script was being rewritten to include Scrappy in the movie he quit.

Huh.

Personally I never hated Scrappy, kinda weirded me out when I found out just how many people disliked him,

Yeah, it surprised me as well.

Scrappy probably gets too much flak, to be fair. Ratings did go up for a bit, and there were other changes made to the format of the show that disappointed fans of the old format (myself included),and he was available as a symbol of that disappointment. Though I grew to despise "Ta ta ta ta! Puppy power!" with the burning fury of a thousands badgers stepping on legos during a root canal.

See, I think this is the key issue. I always found the original Scooby-Doo series to absolutely awful even as a kid, and the format change plus Scrappy made it... Watchable (but really only because as a kid in the 80s, you watched a fair bit of telly because it was the only thing that was one.) The only series of Scooby I actually liked (at the time) was 13 Ghosts.

[Artabax]

Do you think that in-universe the NX-01 had a decon chamber just for heavy petting? And this BTW is the Star Trek universe, where encountering shit that can bend the laws of physics is a weekly occurrence so don't go trying to make out the risk is small.

Yes decon is indeed just for heavy petting. T'pol caught Space-Plague and easily escaped decon.

Fair play anything can be a Negative space Wedgie, but the rest of the Crew never bother with safety checks. That would be as bad as tying down heavy barrels to stop them falling on people and then you wouldn't deserve that uniform.

[bronnt]

Did I mention this episode aired just before Christmas?

Also, fun fact- Bryan Fuller agrees that the episode was nihilistic af, but said he thought it was less bad because it happened to Neelix (not because he disliked Neelix, but because Neelix was a funny little alien- "Because it's this little hedgehog guy from outer space doing it, then it's much more palpable").

Fuller, Braga and other writers have all said they loved the episode and liked the ending too.

And I'm also fine with the nihilism, but you can't introduce a suicidal character without providing some resolution. You can use Naomi as a bit of emotional blackmail to talk Neelix off the ledge...but Jesus, think of the poor guy. His sister is dead, his parents are dead, his significant other left him and is presumed dead, he's never going to see his home again and there's no hope for him ever seeing a Talaxian again.

If you want to kill him off, fine, but if you're going to keep him around, he needs actual reasons to keep living. "We're depending on you," is just putting pressure on someone suffering from PTSD. It's not just a matter of him needing counseling-he sought spiritual counseling and it utterly backfired, which is what made him to decide to commit suicide!

If you liked Neelix at all, you probably needed a stiff drink after this episode because is existence is the most bleak thing ever. When you're writing a character such that the only thing he has to live for is his JOB, you need to acknowledge how fucking depressing that is.

[clearspira]

Do you think that in-universe the NX-01 had a decon chamber just for heavy petting? And this BTW is the Star Trek universe, where encountering shit that can bend the laws of physics is a weekly occurrence so don't go trying to make out the risk is small.

Yes decon is indeed just for heavy petting. T'pol caught Space-Plague and easily escaped decon.

Fair play anything can be a Negative space Wedgie, but the rest of the Crew never bother with safety checks. That would be as bad as tying down heavy barrels to stop them falling on people and then you wouldn't deserve that uniform.

Just because the decon chamber is crap doesn't distract from why it exists though.

[Jonathan101]

Did I mention this episode aired just before Christmas?

Also, fun fact- Bryan Fuller agrees that the episode was nihilistic af, but said he thought it was less bad because it happened to Neelix (not because he disliked Neelix, but because Neelix was a funny little alien- "Because it's this little hedgehog guy from outer space doing it, then it's much more palpable").

Fuller, Braga and other writers have all said they loved the episode and liked the ending too.

And I'm also fine with the nihilism, but you can't introduce a suicidal character without providing some resolution. You can use Naomi as a bit of emotional blackmail to talk Neelix off the ledge...but Jesus, think of the poor guy. His sister is dead, his parents are dead, his significant other left him and is presumed dead, he's never going to see his home again and there's no hope for him ever seeing a Talaxian again.

If you want to kill him off, fine, but if you're going to keep him around, he needs actual reasons to keep living. "We're depending on you," is just putting pressure on someone suffering from PTSD. It's not just a matter of him needing counseling-he sought spiritual counseling and it utterly backfired, which is what made him to decide to commit suicide!

If you liked Neelix at all, you probably needed a stiff drink after this episode because is existence is the most bleak thing ever. When you're writing a character such that the only thing he has to live for is his JOB, you need to acknowledge how fucking depressing that is.

Yes, but that version would be less nihilistic.

I'm saying the writers are actually kind of proud of how they ended that episode.

[clearspira]

Did I mention this episode aired just before Christmas?

Also, fun fact- Bryan Fuller agrees that the episode was nihilistic af, but said he thought it was less bad because it happened to Neelix (not because he disliked Neelix, but because Neelix was a funny little alien- "Because it's this little hedgehog guy from outer space doing it, then it's much more palpable").

Fuller, Braga and other writers have all said they loved the episode and liked the ending too.

And I'm also fine with the nihilism, but you can't introduce a suicidal character without providing some resolution. You can use Naomi as a bit of emotional blackmail to talk Neelix off the ledge...but Jesus, think of the poor guy. His sister is dead, his parents are dead, his significant other left him and is presumed dead, he's never going to see his home again and there's no hope for him ever seeing a Talaxian again.

If you want to kill him off, fine, but if you're going to keep him around, he needs actual reasons to keep living. "We're depending on you," is just putting pressure on someone suffering from PTSD. It's not just a matter of him needing counseling-he sought spiritual counseling and it utterly backfired, which is what made him to decide to commit suicide!

If you liked Neelix at all, you probably needed a stiff drink after this episode because is existence is the most bleak thing ever. When you're writing a character such that the only thing he has to live for is his JOB, you need to acknowledge how fucking depressing that is.

Yes, but that version would be less nihilistic.

I'm saying the writers are actually kind of proud of how they ended that episode.

Nihilism is the natural end of atheism though that's the thing. The moment you disregard the existence of God and with it design, then you are admitting you also believe that this is all there is. People like to argue against this fact because it is so bleak and it depresses them.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

Did I mention this episode aired just before Christmas?

Also, fun fact- Bryan Fuller agrees that the episode was nihilistic af, but said he thought it was less bad because it happened to Neelix (not because he disliked Neelix, but because Neelix was a funny little alien- "Because it's this little hedgehog guy from outer space doing it, then it's much more palpable").

Fuller, Braga and other writers have all said they loved the episode and liked the ending too.

And I'm also fine with the nihilism, but you can't introduce a suicidal character without providing some resolution. You can use Naomi as a bit of emotional blackmail to talk Neelix off the ledge...but Jesus, think of the poor guy. His sister is dead, his parents are dead, his significant other left him and is presumed dead, he's never going to see his home again and there's no hope for him ever seeing a Talaxian again.

If you want to kill him off, fine, but if you're going to keep him around, he needs actual reasons to keep living. "We're depending on you," is just putting pressure on someone suffering from PTSD. It's not just a matter of him needing counseling-he sought spiritual counseling and it utterly backfired, which is what made him to decide to commit suicide!

If you liked Neelix at all, you probably needed a stiff drink after this episode because is existence is the most bleak thing ever. When you're writing a character such that the only thing he has to live for is his JOB, you need to acknowledge how fucking depressing that is.

It is bleak, but I took the message of the episode as- you find what you need to to keep going. One of the reasons I wouldn't classify this episode as anti-religious, or even really about spirituality per se, is because Neelix never gives his old beliefs a fair shake. It's not like he thought rationally about his worldview and came to a logical conclusion. He instantly panics and lets his worst fears consume him, as reflected by the way in which those fears manifest themselves in his vision quest. He doesn't leave crisis mode until the very end of the episode. That doesn't necessarily mean Neelix gets his faith back, but I think the main goal is simply for Neelix to find something he can hold onto to guide him away from the ledge.

The one episode that's bleaker than this is Fuller's episode from the next season- Course: Oblivion. I'd say it's the most nihilistic episode of the franchise, and easily one of Trek's darkest. I can't find any silver lining in that one.

[FaxModem1]

This is actually one of my favorite episodes. Yes, it is Neelix going through all this, but he's going through a very relateable experience. A near death, or post death experience, and is told by a dead relative in a dream that all you ever believed in was a lie and you're just going to rot after you die. We get to the core of who Neelix is, a very lonely man who has nothing, or at least, thinks he doesn't have anything. It takes reminding him that others do care for him, and that he isn't really alone, for him to move on.

He isn't healed, but he can breathe, because he has people who do care for him, and people he does care about. Naomi is a surrogate daughter/niece for him, and he realizes he can't abandon her, as she thinks the world of him.

But then, upon rewatching, I've always found Neelix to be a pathetic man, in serious need of help, hiding behind false confidence. There's a reason that he and Torres start to get along, they're very similar in that regard, her hiding behind anger, him hiding behind bravado, when in reality, they're both lonely and scared of something taking away what they've built up after all the other punches life has given them. And I think they see that in each other.

[CmdrKing]

And I'm also fine with the nihilism, but you can't introduce a suicidal character without providing some resolution. You can use Naomi as a bit of emotional blackmail to talk Neelix off the ledge...but Jesus, think of the poor guy. His sister is dead, his parents are dead, his significant other left him and is presumed dead, he's never going to see his home again and there's no hope for him ever seeing a Talaxian again.

If you want to kill him off, fine, but if you're going to keep him around, he needs actual reasons to keep living. "We're depending on you," is just putting pressure on someone suffering from PTSD. It's not just a matter of him needing counseling-he sought spiritual counseling and it utterly backfired, which is what made him to decide to commit suicide!

If you liked Neelix at all, you probably needed a stiff drink after this episode because is existence is the most bleak thing ever. When you're writing a character such that the only thing he has to live for is his JOB, you need to acknowledge how fucking depressing that is.

It is bleak, but I took the message of the episode as- you find what you need to to keep going. One of the reasons I wouldn't classify this episode as anti-religious, or even really about spirituality per se, is because Neelix never gives his old beliefs a fair shake. It's not like he thought rationally about his worldview and came to a logical conclusion. He instantly panics and lets his worst fears consume him, as reflected by the way in which those fears manifest themselves in his vision quest. He doesn't leave crisis mode until the very end of the episode. That doesn't necessarily mean Neelix gets his faith back, but I think the main goal is simply for Neelix to find something he can hold onto to guide him away from the ledge.

The one episode that's bleaker than this is Fuller's episode from the next season- Course: Oblivion. I'd say it's the most nihilistic episode of the franchise, and easily one of Trek's darkest. I can't find any silver lining in that one.

This entire episode casts Neelix in an interesting light and it's a shame that Voyager was allergic to long-term character beats. ALthough I dare say that everyone, with the likely exception of Ethan Phillips, failed to realize what sort of character they made Neelix with this arc.

The use of thinking like "the thought that everyone would be waiting for me gave me great comfort", combined with the sheer list of people who Neelix has lost (ie fairly literally everyone)? It's no stretch to say he was already suicidal, or at least experiencing suicidal ideation. Indeed, a series with more foreward-thinking writing would incorporate this into established role on the ship: spurred on by his religious beliefs, he'd decided to keep living as best he could on his own. And the opportunity provided by Voyager, to collect stories from the wider galaxy to share in the afterlife? That's a powerful idea.

But having that ripped away? That'll bring suicide to the front of your thoughts. And honestly the description of essentially a chunk of his soul being gone? That makes sense in the religious context of the episode, but it's also a pretty apt description of the physical/psychological sensations that accompany suicidal mindsets. Neelix plotting an elaborate suicide attempt is less surprising than Neelix having strong religious beliefs in the first place.

And in that light, yeah, the end of the episode makes sense: whatever gets you through to the next day is what you use. It's not a long-term solution, and again this is a huge missed opportunity owing to the show's unwillingness to do character growth: Neelix trying to rebuild himself around that hole in him, or searching for ways to restore his faith to some degree, or just facing head on what this episode revealed about him: intense, loss-triggered PTSD.

But it's Voyager, so conveniently everyone will forget that one time Neelix fucking died and spent days shaken to his very core by next week.