I'm right about towards the end of the second season (out of seven) as we speak and maybe I'd seen about 3 or 4 of these before. Seriously! I remember the first few with the whole set up to the show where the Voyager and the Maquis ship are sucked into the Delta Quadrant by the Overseer matrix and the initial problems with the Kazon. But these would have been episodes that would have been rebroadcast frequently so it's not unexpected. I remember a couple of the episodes with the freaky alien race afflicted by the "phage" and I remember the very weird episode with Paris and Janeway evolving into big slug creatures that mate and have babies. That's about it. All the other episodes I've been watching recently (about 35) I've never seen.
I guess most of the episodes I watched back in the day were from 1998 on when I had a little more leeway in my schedule to watch the prime time broadcast since I worked a daytime shift then.
But so many of these early episodes are really, REALLY, good. I've been brought to tears by many of them. Especially tonight's selection: Tuvix.
On stardate 49655.2, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips) are sent to collect botanical samples from a discovered Class M planet. When beamed back aboard Voyager, the two men and the orchidaceae they collected are merged at the molecular level to become a single lifeform which names himself Tuvix (Tom Wright). After ruling out transporter malfunction, the crew discovers that when demolecularized in the matter stream, the genetic material of the alien orchids acted as a symbiogenetic catalyst and is the culprit for the combination of the two crewmembers. Unfortunately, the process cannot be reversed, and Tuvix is accepted as a member of the crew with the rank of lieutenant,[7] functioning as chief tactical officer in Tuvok's stead.
Kes (Jennifer Lien) reacts poorly to Tuvix as his existence deprives her of both Tuvok and Neelix, her mentor and boyfriend respectively. Her displeasure lessens over the course of the episode, but never completely goes away. Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) accepts Tuvix in his role as an excellent chief tactical officer and "an able advisor, who skillfully uses humor to make his points". Tuvix himself, having the combined memories and personalities of his constituents, melds the previously intractable qualities of both and improves upon them, flexing either muscle as the situation requires: "Chief of security or head chef, take your pick!"
Two weeks after the accident, the Doctor (Robert Picardo) develops a contemporary equivalent to barium sulfate (BaSO4) radiocontrasting using a custom radioisotope with which he can identify the disparate DNAs of the two original crewmen and use the transporter to disentangle the two. Tuvix denounces the procedure however. He argues that he has rights and that he doesn't want to die, for to restore the two lost crewmen would require his execution. After discussing the situation with Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Kes, and Tuvix himself, Janeway ultimately decides to proceed with the separation, acting in absentia to protect the rights of the two original men. Tuvix makes a final emotive plea for support from the crew, but finds no supporters. After the Doctor refuses to take Tuvix's life in compliance with the medical precept of doing no harm, Janeway performs the procedure herself and succeeds in restoring both Tuvok and Neelix.
WOW! Mind blown!
As I watched this play out, I couldn't help but put it in the context of today's sensitivities about individualistic determination and the complexities of identity advocacy. It was a bit weird that the Tuvix character actually looked a bit trans. Yes, I'm talking about the current hot topic of gender identification. There are a lot of parallels in this story. Bear with me.
Say you're born "Tuvok" and go through many years of your life as "yourself," develop relationships and friendships as "yourself" but then, suddenly, one day, you decide that you're "Tuvix." But wait, there's a medical "cure" for your "dilemma" and it can get you to revert to the familiar (and expected) Tuvok you've been in the past. Would you want to take it?
What about if you're a child born with anatomically male sex organs but later in life, after you've been living as a "man" for many years, you realize you feel you are actually a woman. And if there were a drug that would make you feel like a "man," would you take it?
I know the Voyager episode doesn't equate to the same thing exactly since there were two lifeforms that got accidentally merged into one. But the fact remains the lifeform they became, Tuvix, felt comfortable and sentient in his current form. Who are we to say that's wrong? But, then again, what about Neelix and Tuvok? Who's to say what they'd want?
We in 2019 think we're dealing with mindbogglingly new concepts regarding transgender? This episode teaches us that the future is going to present us with far bigger dilemmas to deal with.