2.20 tuvix

Neelix and Tuvok are merged as one new being, with some of the best characteristics of each (although he seems to have gotten all of Neelix’s bad hair). There seems no quick way to get Neelix and Tuvok back, so ‘Tuvix’ becomes part of the crew, and, after some false starts, Kes tries to become friends with him. But when the doctor finds a way to split Tuvix back into his 2 original counterparts, a dark side emerges; Tuvix has the will of two men, and wants to live. The captain makes the difficult decision to sacrifice his life to save the lives of her other two crewmen. The doctor refuses to perform the procedure (which just involves pressing a couple of buttons anyway), so Janeway does it herself. This is a tough episode to pull off successfully, as we begin to like Tuvix. When he is seen to be a selfish coward, who even asks Kes to speak to the captain on his behalf, we see his other side – although frankly it doesn’t really make sense to me that the ‘spawn’ of Tuvok and Neelix would react this way. It’s more likely a plot contrivance.