Star Trek: 10 Behind The Scenes Decisions We Can't Forgive

Neelix, Star Trek: Voyager's Talaxian chef, morale officer, and ambassador, is a beloved and iconic Star Trek character. And he's also very, very annoying.

To his credit, Ethan Phillips put enormous energy into his portrayal of Neelix, and continues to impress in his role as Spike on HBO's Avenue 5. However, the writers of Star Trek: Voyager vacillated between treating Neelix as absurd comic relief and a well-rounded individual the audience should sympathize with.

Early episodes of Star Trek: Voyager did nothing to help Neelix ingratiate himself to the audience, depicting him as stubborn, unfunny, and jealous in several ill-advised episodes. Neelix continually, intentionally irritated the Starfleet crew, not in a way that showed that these Starfleet officers could loosen up and learn something from their Talaxian passenger, but in a way that made Neelix look totally obnoxious.

Neelix's relationship with Tuvok was especially egregious, with Neelix frequently criticizing Vulcan culture and the show failing to show how hypocritical and intolerant Neelix's behavior was. Star Trek: Voyager didn't use Neelix, who was often the show's comic relief because of his own "crazy" Talaxian customs, to depict the irony of that cultural clash, it just had him unnecessarily getting in Tuvok's face.

The episode "The Cloud" features Neelix becoming so fed up with Voyager's frequent stops to explore unexplained phenomena, that he marches into Janeway's ready room and demands she let him off the ship for the duration of the mission. Naturally, Janeway shuts him down with the iconic "that's a Starfleet expression for get out" exchange, but this early episode showed Neelix to be less the snuggly teddy bear he appeared to be and more just a self-centered jerk.

And then of course there's Neelix's bizarre relationship with Kes. Without even touching the notion that she's less than two years old and in a committed relationship with a grown man, Voyager really did no work to establish why Kes would be in love with Neelix. The episodes "Phage", "Elogium", and "Parturition" depict Neelix overcome with jealousy over his perception (right or wrong) that "walking hormone" Tom Paris is trying to get into Kes' jumpsuit. But Neelix's jealousy of Tom is not rooted in his love for Kes, but rather possessiveness, and Kes is rightly put off this behavior.

Neelix would chill out as the series progressed, becoming less wacky and more goodhearted, but it's a bad sign when an episode like "Phage" – in which Neelix loses his lungs to the Vidiians – makes the audience root for the organ harvesting mutants, rather than Neelix.