Best solution:
1: Sedate Tuvix. He must not be conscious for the next steps.
2: Make a transporter clone of him (like Riker/Boimler)
3: Separate one of the Tuvixes into Tuvok/Neelix, leave the other as Tuvix
Everyone wins!
Why sedate him? He willingly walked onto his execution pad.
The question to me isn’t whether Janeway murder Tuvix, but was the murder of Tuvix justifiable. In Star Trek 2 Spock famously states “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” in TNG Thine Own Self Troy learns that sometimes an officer must order a crew member into a situation where they know that person isn’t coming back.
Does the situation Voyager was in and the creation of Tuvix represent the same level of danger “to the many” that say an imminent warp core breach does?
I think the controversy of Janeway’s choice is largely due to the show’s failure to address the orchid of it all.
As I see it, Tuvix is not “Tuvok + Neelix,” but also isn’t “something new.” I maintain that Tuvix is primarily the orchid, which has subsumed the essence and personalities of two Voyager crew members and is asserting itself on board the ship.
All it would have taken is for Janeway to have maintained (or be convinced by another) that this was the case, and it would be the obvious choice to split them back up.
Of course that would negate the tension of the episode, but it could be left as “not everyone on board agrees that this is who/what Tuvix is, but Janeway believes it so that’s why her decision isn’t immoral.” We could have the same kinds of “was Janeway wrong?” debates, but some of the rough edges would be smoothed out, I think.
This was one of those episodes i never really gave another thought until reading about it on the internet.
I skip that episode. It’s just… eh… not my cup of tea.
New Trolley Problem: Would you cold-bloodedly murder a living being to save two of your buddies from certain death? Jameway say absolutely I do.
Yeah, it separated the wheat from the chaff. Janeway did nothing wrong.
Pretty harsh to call Tuvok “chaff” - the man’s chief of security!
It certainly didn’t live up to Federation ideals.
But then again Sisko should be a war criminal for using Biogenic weapons.
If you want to see someone do the ethically correct thing 10/10, even in the face of Starfleet failing to, Jean Luc is your captain.
I’ll bet Janeway and Sisko’s music playlists are a lot more fun though.
The whole theme of the show is the battle of the ideals which work great in the alpha quadrant vs the reality of their situation
That actually makes Sisko sound so much worse.
Yeah, he was largely operating in safe space and still made some unethical decisions.
Janeway was willing to make the hard calls that would best serve her ship and it’s future, having your cook and your third in command get fused isn’t exactly going to result in a functioning chain of command.
Plus since the operation could be reversed, you could argue that Tuvok and Neelix aren’t actually dead, merely suspended animation like storing people in a transporter buffer. You’re still killing Tuvix, but sacrificing one to save two is “the needs of the many” in it’s most simplistic form even without the added weight of hundreds of lives depending on Tuvok’s leadership and tactical skills.
I never once considered Janeway to be out of line given her circumstances. The crew always comes first even at the cost of her own humanity and ethics. She’s a good captain, willing to make the call that ends lives and live with it so that others may not have to endure those decisions and consequences. She didn’t ask anyone else to do that for her.
JANEWAY DID NOTHING WRONG
Sucks to be Tuvix, nobody should be judged on the circumstances of one’s creation.
But Tuvok and Neelix deserved to live, too.
If you have the ability to help them, you have the responsibility to help them.
Exactly! The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. Tuvok and Neelix are the many, Tuvix was the one. Simple math
I would have been on Tuvix’s side if they were cuter but I still see their face in my nightmares.
