Saturday, September 21, 2013

Tuvok and Neelix

Star Trek has a long history of frenemy relationships. In spite of Roddenberry's edict that everyone in the 23rd and 24th centuries get along, it just doesn't really happen. People are different. If you cram a bunch of folks with varying backgrounds and personalities into a spaceship and send them careening through space, they're likely to have a row now and again. McCoy/Spock set the precedent for this and it's never really let up. In Voyager, we get an interesting pairing in Neelix and Tuvok.

Neelix is basically a golden retriever puppy. He loves everyone. All the time. If you don't love him, his feelings are hurt and he tries relentlessly to make you love him.

Especially with Tuvok. Tuvok is the opposite of Neelix and that's apparent from the very beginning. Where Tuvok is reserved, Neelix is emotive. Where Neelix is gregarious, Tuvox is introverted. Tuvok is all business while Neelix appoints himself the crew's "morale officer." And, no matter what Neelix does, he just can't win Tuvok over. Nevertheless, Neelix can't help himself. He loves Mr. Vulcan and just won't give up on what he hopes will be a very special friendship someday.

I love both of these characters so much. I love them all the way through and I can't wait to watch their personalities and their relationship develop through the seasons. Just thinking about that made me want to do a little tribute to these two:
We're totally never going to get turned into one
guy in a wacky transporter accident, right? 

After doing The Doctor/Kes and this one, I'm thinking about doing more Voyager portraits. What characters would you like to see together?

9 comments:

  1. Cute portraits! What medium do you use? I’ve done lots of Trek paintings in acrylic- so fun.
    My favorite Tuvok-Neelix episode is from Season 3, “Rise”—exciting action, and Neelix gets to be the hero, saves Tuvok, wins praise from him at last…some of the best logic/ emotion dialogs between them.
    I like the pairing of Janeway and Chakotay when they get stranded together in ”Resolutions” from Season 2.

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    1. I've thought about doing Janeway/Chakotay. These portraits were done in photoshop. I usually use watercolor when I'm working with physical media. I love Rise, btw. I'm really looking forward to that one.

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    2. I loved "Rise". It was the first time I'd ever heard of an Orbital (or Space) Elevator and I was intrigued to discover that it was an actual thing (though not existing yet). Voyager gets a lot of flack for "rehashing" TNG episodes, but sometimes it really did throw some interesting, mind-blowing concepts at us. (ie: the elevator of "Rise", the water world of "Thirty Days", the earth probe "Friendship One" from the ep of the same name).

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  2. Oh yeah Tuvok and Neelix have love/hate relationship neither really got the other

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  3. Neelix was the perfect foil for Tuvok when you think about it (and proof of what an exceptional Vulcan Tim Russ played.) because what could be the biggest fly-in-the-ointment for an emotionally suppressed being? Cue bodacious Talaxian. In a show that was largely without conflict among the principal crew, Tuvok and Neelix were kinda like the big dog and the little dog from the Bugs Bunny cartoons... but the big dog cannot adequately express his annoyance for the little dogs attempts to please. They learn to really appreciate and respect each other throughout the run of the show. Who else but Neelix could make a Vulcan dance? (Even if it was just a single shoe shuffle!)

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    1. Yep, these two are perfect(ly terrible) for each other. I love both characters but hate how Tuvok treats Neelix and, likewise, hate how Neelix badgers Tuvok when he can't win him over. They're such a great pair.

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  4. Do a Seska and Chakotay portrait AshleyRose. (Just to be different.) She was one of my favourite Voyager villains. : )

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  5. THIS IS GREAT! I love these two, but I hate how a lot of (Supposed) Voyager fans hate neelix and think that he's annoying, when, in reality, he's adorable. (I swear when I saw this drawing I squealed and fistpumped beacuase I found another seemingly rare and elusive neelix fan)

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