By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
On Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Janeway made many controversial decisions, but none as shocking as when she effectively killed the new lifeform Tuvix in order to save two of her crewmates. Fans constantly debate the morality of what Janeway did, but her actor doesn’t think the decision is even worth arguing.
At a recent convention (Trek To New Jersey), Kate Mulgrew declared that killing Tuvix was an “easy choice.” She’s completely right: facing an unthinkable decision, Janeway simply did what was right for her ship and her crew.
Two Become One
First, a little background: in the episode “Tuvix,” a freak transporter accident fuses Neelix and Tuvok into the same person (the titular Tuvix). To get those two crew members back, Janeway forces Tuvix to get back into the transporter so he can be separated. This successfully brings Neelix and Tuvok back to life, but it permanently kills Tuvix, and many fans are convinced that Janeway is a murderer because of this.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Janeway arguably is a murderer because her decision resulted in someone’s death. Kate Mulgrew didn’t say that killing Tuvix was a morally correct choice, but that it was an “easy choice.” She elaborated on this answer by pointing out that Janeway wasn’t “going to keep Tuvix over those two guys” because she “loved” Neelix and Tuvok, which is why the decision to kill Tuvix to get them back was so easy to make.
Janeway Was Right All Along
And she was right to do so because Janeway had to constantly face something that Starfleet captains almost never have to deal with: a painful lack of resources. For example, Neelix serves as the ship’s cook for the simple reason that the ship doesn’t have enough energy for the crew to use the replicators constantly. But the biggest resource shortage Janeway had to contend with was that she had a limited number of crew members, and she couldn’t replace anyone who died because Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
Tuvix may have been the same “new life” she is mandated to seek out, but his ongoing existence meant she would permanently lose two of her best crew members. And best is quite literal: Neelix is their only guide in the Delta Quadrant, and his skills as a cook literally keep the crew alive. Meanwhile, Tuvok is the Chief of Security whose Starfleet experience goes so far back that he and Sulu helped Captain Kirk during the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country!
Mathematics Over Morality
It sounds brutal, but what Janeway did was a matter of simple mathematics: she traded the life of one person who was still something of an unknown quantity for two proven officers who both help keep her crew safe, each and every day. Sure, Tuvix seemed to have all of the skills of both Tuvok and Neelix, but why swap out two capable officers for one guy who, at his best, can only do half of the jobs the others used to do?
In the absolute best-case scenario, Tuvix would be a decent tactical officer, but the ship would lose out on the cook who helps keep the crew on their feet. Or he would focus entirely on being a head chef, forcing Voyager to lose their best security officer. And even if everything somehow goes well, Tuvix is just one phaser blast away from dying, costing the crew two resources they can’t afford to lose.
Kate Mulgrew is right: Janeway did what she had to do, effectively sacrificing her morals for a decision that kept the ship safer. It seems quite likely that Voyager would never have made it back to the Alpha Quadrant without the help of both Tuvok and Neelix, so sacrificing Tuvix may have effectively saved hundreds of lives on the ship and countless other lives that Tuvok and Neelix helped protect over the years.
Real talk? If you have trouble believing why she might sacrifice one life to save hundreds of lives, that’s why she’s the captain and you’re just a guy complaining on the internet.
