Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Neelix

Character descriptions weren't kind to Neelix in the beginning. At least one version of the series bible pre-Caretaker described him as "a strange one –– small, scraggly, toothless, and cunning," before adding that he was "part scavenger, trader, con man, procurer, and sage".

The first draft of Caretaker itself, dated 8 June 1994, was no better. In that, Neelix is "a short, plump, unkempt being" who has adopted "an air of cultivated elegance and charm that is at odds with his seedy appearance". In the episode that aired, he was less than honest with the crew of Voyager in the first place, lying by omission in order to rescue Kes, and to have a long soak in one of those newfangled baths.

Neelix was hardly a career criminal, but he did get up to a few shady dealings with the odd disreputable. In Fair Trade, for example, we found out that Neelix was once a contraband smuggler. His partner, Wixiban, had even spent time in prison for the crime. The basic premise for Fair Trade began life much earlier (without the Nekrit Expanse) in a script pitched by the same writers, Ronald Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias, back in season one.

In that version of the story, things were worse for Neelix. He had also spent time in jail with the unnamed, Wixiban-esque character. Wixiban, or thereabouts, then arrived on Voyager to bribe Neelix under threat of revealing his nefarious past. The script was put aside in favour of Jetrel.