st voyager mortal coil

Mortal Coil (episode)

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Title, story, and script
• 3.2 Cast and production
• 3.3 Continuity
• 3.4 Reception
• 3.5 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Co-star
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stunt double
• 4.7 References
• 4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

Neelix is very busy in the mess hall , offering Ensign Harry Kim strong coffee to finish his ops report and Seven of Nine some nutritional supplements made with Talaxian spices , which she complains are pungent. Commander Chakotay offers Neelix the opportunity to survey a class 1 nebula containing protomatter , which Neelix is very intrigued about. Neelix is then called away by Ensign Wildman who asks for his help putting Naomi Wildman to bed. Seven of Nine is confused as she states there are no crew members called Naomi, and Neelix explains that Naomi is a child who was born on Voyager and he is her godfather. In Ensign Wildman's quarters Neelix delights Naomi with vivid and entertaining stories of the Great Forest , where Talaxians go to when they die. Neelix then joins the away team of Chakotay and Thomas Paris aboard a Type 6 shuttlecraft . While in the nebula , the protomatter transport goes awry and a beam of energy strikes Neelix, killing him.

Act One [ ]

Paris continues to examine Neelix, and, disappointed, decides that some of the usual measures of keeping someone alive won't work. He's suffered too much brain damage. Chakotay must call him back to the chair so they can pilot out of the nebula.

The Doctor pronounces Neelix dead, shocking and saddening the crew. Janeway vows that he will be mourned according to Talaxian customs, but Seven suddenly enters the room, bluntly asking if his neural pathways are intact. With everyone confused, she proposes a revival procedure using nanoprobes from her bloodstream . After Seven discuss it with The Doctor and Captain Janeway , the Captain orders The Doctor to proceed, even though Neelix has been dead for 18 hours . Seven quickly modifies and administers the nanoprobes, they proceed, and, after some touch and go, Neelix is revived. He has no recollection of what happened and where he has been and wonders why he is in sickbay .

Act Two [ ]

Neelix is incredulous at his revival, and is taken aback by the Borg nanoprobes in his system. Janeway informs him the protomatter mission was a failure, and despite his protests, orders him to take some time off. As Janeway walks Neelix to his quarters, he insists on continuing preparations for his planned celebration of the Talaxian festival of Prixin , and she relents.

In his quarters , Neelix takes a moment to himself, then kneels before the tree statuette from the Great Forest and wonders why his sister Alixia wasn't there when he was dead. Meanwhile, Tuvok and Seven discuss perceptions of mortality in the hallway. Seven sees death as a natural biological function, though she also muses that, since her memories are still part of the Borg Collective , part of her will always exist.

Chakotay, Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres work on investigating the accident, and Chakotay and Neelix proceed to the holodeck to simulate the events. Neelix observes his own death in the simulation. Freezing the program, he reveals to Chakotay he saw no afterlife, that is, the Great Forest, as he was taught and believed his whole life. Chakotay tries to console him, telling him he was probably pulled back before any of that could happen, but Neelix feels that he should have experienced something in the eighteen hours he was dead. He didn't, and now he feels that his beliefs were myths.

Act Three [ ]

At the Prixin celebrations, Tuvok addresses a bustling celebration in the mess hall with the traditional salutation. Paris and the party toast Neelix, telling him how glad they are to still have him around. Neelix, who is still distressed, puts up a brave front and tells everyone to enjoy the party. He also tells Chakotay he's fine now, but Chakotay can sense Neelix is still troubled and offers to be there if he needs to talk.

Janeway entreats Seven to join the festivities, suggesting she starts by joining a discussion. Hearing Ensign Wildman discussing Naomi's rapid growth (due to her Ktarian genes) with The Doctor, Seven informs them that Borg children develop in maturation chambers. Somewhat taken aback, Wildman excuses herself and talks with Neelix telling him that Naomi has missed him for the last few days. Desperate to leave the party, Neelix decides to pay her a visit and tuck her into bed. Naomi again insists on a tale of the Great Forest as she dreamed about it the previous night, and Neelix tells her of its beauty but does do dishearteningly now that he no longer believes in it.

Later, Seven meets Neelix in the mess hall for a blood scan. Neelix blows up at Seven, insisting he hadn't asked to be revived, but almost immediately his body begins to necrotize again, and Seven escorts him to sickbay.

Act Four [ ]

The Doctor reports that Neelix's body was rejecting the nanoprobes, and reports more extensive medical care will be needed. Neelix requests Chakotay aid him in a vision quest . Neelix prepares a medicine bundle , and meets Chakotay in his quarters.

Neelix's vision shows him in the mess hall, trying to get to his dead sister, who keeps running away from him. He chases her down the hall and into the Great Forest, where she talks with him. She tells him it is a lie, created from a fear of death. His sister mocks him, and dies as in the metreon cascade . The Forest goes dark, and Neelix finds himself dead on a slab.

Before he awakens, all the characters in the vision insist on the pointlessness of his existence, and that he knows what he has to do.

Act Five [ ]

Naomi dreams of the Guiding Tree

Neelix goes to astrometrics and apologizes to Seven, assuring her she's surrounded by people who care about her and that she's a fine addition to the crew. Seven picks up on his implication he may be leaving, but he brushes off her questions. Later, Chakotay finds Neelix in the mess hall cleaning, and reminds Neelix that vision quests are not a one-time event, and are subject to interpretation. Neelix closes up the mess hall.

Neelix then attempts to beam himself into the nebula. Harry Kim stops his initial attempt, but Neelix holds up a tricorder and states he has an unblockable site-to-site transport rigged up. Chakotay faces Neelix in the transporter room . Neelix reveals what really happened in his Vision Quest, and Chakotay tries to convince him the vision is open to interpretation and shouldn't be taken at face value. Neelix tells Chakotay that when he lost his family in the war, all that kept him going was knowing that he would see them again in the afterlife and now he's lost that hope he doesn't know how he can go on. Chakotay tells Neelix that there's no way of knowing what awaits him after death, and that the crew of Voyager are his family now. Ensign Wildman then coms Neelix, and while Neelix tries to ignore it Chakotay tells him that his life is trying to call him back. He tells him that even Seven of Nine understands how important he is to the crew, and that he isn't only valued for his skills, talents, or knowledge, but for the way his compassion and kindness makes the crew aboard Voyager seem connected like a family and that is something worth living for. Ensign Wildman then arrives (having used the computer to locate him) unaware of what Neelix was about to do, asking him to tuck in Naomi again. Neelix finally accepts that he still has things worth living for and hands Chakotay the tricorder. Neelix then tucks in Naomi, who sleeps with happy dreams of the Great Forest .

Memorable quotes [ ]

" How's Neelix? " " He's dead. "

" Dead? " " For 18 hours, 49 minutes 13 seconds. Congratulations, Mr. Neelix. You've just set a new world record. " "You mean I lost consciousness, I was in a coma?" "No, you were dead." "I'm stunned, I'm amazed, I'm grateful, thank you, Doctor." "You can thank Seven of Nine, the procedure was her idea." "Yours?" "The Borg assimilated the technique from species 149, I simply modified it, but you are welcome."

" Duty calls. "

" Neelix, you've just returned from the dead. Go easy on yourself. "

" I didn't ask to be brought back! " " You were dead at the time. "

" You will be assimilated. " " No time for that now, maybe later. "

" As long as I don't start assimilating the crew or sprouting Borg implants, I guess I can live with it. "

" Suffice it to say the list is extensive. "

" Having fun? " " No. "

" Children assimilated by the Borg are placed in maturation chambers for seventeen cycles. " (awkward pause) " Interesting… well, if you'll excuse me, I need to go talk to Neelix. " " In these… maturation chambers, the development of conversational skills is, I suppose, a low priority? "

" You are a peculiar creature, Neelix. " " Thanks. "

" Potent stuff! "

" Even our Borg understands how important you are on this ship. "

Background information [ ]

Title, story, and script [ ].

• This episode takes its name from part of the " To be, or not to be " soliloquy from William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet : " For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pause… "
• This episode underwent numerous rewrites. Although the episode does not credit her for her work, freelance writer Kathy Hankinson pitched the premise that would eventually develop into this installment. Her original idea involved a death fetishist with an immortal, regenerating body who, merely for fun, repeatedly fooled The Doctor into killing him. The members of Star Trek: Voyager 's writing staff immediately found this plot concept appealing, thinking it was "interesting" and "weird." They subsequently began to contemplate its primary theme of death, wondering both how they could do an unusual spin on a near-death experience and exactly how the revived person would be brought back to life. ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 )
• The writing staff then came up with the idea of having Borg technology be the revival method. Co-executive producer Brannon Braga said of the episode, " It started off broad, bringing back the dead using Borg technology. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94) The writing staff also initially decided that the main character would be Ensign Samantha Wildman . Staff writer Bryan Fuller remembered, " We were going to do this Pet Sematary episode where Ensign Wildman goes on a shuttle mission and dies, and Seven of Nine brings her back to life using Borg technology, except that now she's 'zombie mom.' She's not all there. Wildman's more connected with death than life, and her only link to life is through her daughter. She wants to kill her daughter, though, to bring her back to 'life' so she can share that experience with her. Really a creepy, morbid story! I thought, 'This is going to be so much fun to write. There has been nothing on Star Trek remotely like that, ever.' So we broke the story, and everybody was pretty happy about it. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 )
• This early version of the story was ultimately deemed to be too extreme, however. While Bryan Fuller was working on the script over a weekend and was about halfway through the scripting process, he received a call from Brannon Braga, who told Fuller to stop working on the script and relayed news to him that executive producer Rick Berman as well as Paramount Pictures studio executives didn't like the story; they had objected because they didn't want to see a young mother die and try to kill her own daughter. " I can understand why, " Bryan Fuller remarked, " but now we have to re-examine how to tell the story. I was already halfway through it, and time was short. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 )
• The writing staff subsequently re-broke the story, at which time it was decided that Chakotay would be the person who was revived from death, influencing him to subsequently question his Native American beliefs. Bryan Fuller thereafter started to write this revised version of the story. After he spent four days of working on the rewrite, he again received a call to stop working on the script. He explained, " They decided to stay away from Native American spirituality. Plus, afterlife beliefs tend to be very paganistic and materialistic, and many Native American cultures frown on it. They think it's tasteless, because it becomes very prideful and egocentric. " As a result of the producers' objections, the story's main character finally changed to being Neelix. ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 ) Brannon Braga and staff writer Joe Menosky eventually worked on the rewrite. Menosky noted, " Brannon and I did rewriting on it, but Bryan did a really, really nice first draft. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94)
• At one point of this episode, Seven of Nine describes the Kazon as having been rejected for possible assimilation by the Borg , on the grounds that they would have "detracted from perfection." This may or may not be an in-joke by the producers, based on comments made by Jeri Taylor (in Star Trek Magazine ( citation needed • edit ) and elsewhere) that she had never really liked the Kazon as a major enemy for Voyager , and regretted having used them so heavily in the first two seasons. However, the Borg's view of the Kazon does contradict a statement made by Locutus of Borg in " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ", that the Borg "only wish to raise quality of life, for all species."
• The final draft of this episode's script was submitted on 17 September 1997 . [1]

Cast and production [ ]

• Bryan Fuller believed that, while this episode's thematic exploration remained grim, its impact was lessened via the use of Neelix as the protagonist. " Because it's this little hedgehog guy from outer space doing it, then it's much more palpable, " Fuller opined. " You can get in through the back door. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 )
• At one point during this episode's production stage, Joe Menosky was amazed by a certain performance that Neelix actor Ethan Phillips delivered. Menosky recollected, " I went down to the set when they were shooting that 'man on a ledge scene' when Neelix was in the transporter room, and I thought Ethan Phillips was awesome. Everybody had tears in their eyes on the set when he was playing that. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94)
• Brannon Braga, Jeri Taylor and Bryan Fuller were also delighted by Ethan Phillips' acting herein. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94; Star Trek Monthly  issue 36 , p. 12; The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 , p. 63) Braga said of the installment, " [It] became something very personal and very touching, in large part because of Ethan Phillips' performance. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94) Jeri Taylor commented, " Phillips does a fantastic job in this. He is such a good actor, and he really brought a great deal of depth and texture to that role. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 36 , p. 12)
• Ethan Phillips himself was particularly pleased with this episode generally. " I was so happy with that show, " he enthused. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 40 , p. 31) Phillips cited this episode among five "Best of Neelix" installments, commenting, " This was probably his greatest episode [....] It was an important episode, and I'm glad Neelix was at the center of it. " ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 179 , p. 77)

Continuity [ ]

• Naomi Wildman 's first name is finally revealed in this episode, a year and a half after her birth, which is depicted in the second season installment " Deadlock ". Samantha, The Doctor and Kes had previously discussed possible names for the as-yet-unborn baby in " Dreadnought ", but "Naomi" was not considered.
• This episode's reference to the Kazon is the first time they are mentioned since the third season opener " Basics, Part II ".
• It is mentioned in this episode that Ktarians , like Klingons , are prone to growing faster than Humans (which is used to explain how Naomi, who should only be eighteen months old at this point, resembles a six-year old child).
• This episode is similar (in some ways) to the sixth-season episode " Barge of the Dead ", in its addressing the concept of an afterlife, but different in that this episode seems to indicate that it does not exist.
• Neelix's experiences in this episode are somewhat followed up on in the fifth season episode " Night ", in which he is diagnosed with "nihiliphobia: the fear of nothingness" as Voyager travels through a starless black sector dubbed " the Void ".
• Seven of Nine mentions in this episode that the "alveoli in [Neelix's] lung are regenerating," in a reference to Neelix having only one lung following an organ donation by Kes in the first season episode " Phage ".
• Neelix mentions in this episode that he saw, 11 years ago, his "world and ruins" and his "family murdered". This is a reference to the Haakonian attacks on Rinax, which are a central plot element of the first-season episode " Jetrel ". However, that episode establishes that the war took place "fifteen years ago" at the time of that episode. Given that at nearly three years have passed since that episode, Neelix would seem to be around 7 years off.
• The shot of the transporter pad as Neelix begins to transport off the ship is virtually identical to a shot in " Caretaker " when Neelix first beams aboard.
• It is established in this episode that the Borg do not assimilate all humanoids, but make an assessment first of whether a particular humanoid culture is worth assimilation.
• The Prixin celebration is one of the very few scenes in any Trek series in which the crew is shown wearing casual clothing, rather than their uniforms, on the ship, other than in their quarters or on the holodeck. This is notwithstanding that other ceremonies and off-duty gatherings are depicted in the series. It is notable that not all crew present at the celebration are in casual clothing.

Reception [ ]

• This installment was Bryan Fuller's favorite from the episodes that he wrote during Voyager 's fourth season. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 42 , p. 18; The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 , p. 64) This was particularly because the episode addresses his opinions of religious doctrines he had discarded years before working on the episode. Citing his reasoning why this episode was his favorite from the ones he had written for the fourth season, Fuller stated, " It had these spiritual elements that were so much a part of growing up Catholic, and there was a great deal of me in that. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 , p. 64) Additionally, Fuller said of the installment, " It was a fascinating journey for me to watch and to write. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 42 , p. 18) He also believed that Neelix's predicament here could be universally related to and appreciated. " What would be worse, " Fuller rhetorically asked, " than having your own dead grandmother come back and say, 'You know, there is no God. This is all a figment of your imagination, you're going to die, and there's nothing after. You disappear, and that's that. See ya!' So that one, I think, really speaks to many fears. And in a way that's what Star Trek does best. It turns a secular element that runs through everyone's lives on its ear and tells it in a different way that you can appreciate, and you won't be offended by it. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 , p. 63)
• Brannon Braga was also pleased with how this installment turned out, calling it "a lovely show." ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 44 , p. 14) Additionally, he commented, " I was very happy with 'Mortal Coil' [....] That was an episode that I felt very close to. It dealt with religion, and loss of faith. I very much liked the fact that in the end, Neelix does not actually regain his faith, and yet he has passed on something to the little girl. The ability to imagine the world that he has lost is going to help this girl sleep at night. I don't know exactly what it means, but it felt real somehow. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94)
• Another staff writer who was pleased with the episode's final form was Joe Menosky. At the end of the fourth season, he raved, " It's my favorite episode of the year [....] I think 'Mortal Coil' was very, very successful, darkly strange, and magical, and melancholy, and very affecting. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 94)
• During the lead-up to this episode's first airing, Jeri Taylor predicted that the installment would be successful. " I think [it] should come out well, " she noted. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 36 , p. 12)
• This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 3.9 million homes, and a 6% share. [2] (X)
• Cinefantastique rated this episode 2 and a half out of 4 stars. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 30, No. 9/10, p. 93)
• Star Trek Monthly  issue 40 , p. 59 scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars.
• The unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 217) gives this installment a rating of 3 out of 10.
• Shortly after the completion of the fourth season, Ethan Phillips hoped for more episodes like this one. " Boy, if I can get one show like that every year, I will be a happy man! " he announced. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 40 , p. 31)

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 4.6, catalog number VHR 4627, 15 June 1998
• As part of the VOY Season 4 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Guest stars [ ]

• Nancy Hower as Samantha Wildman
• Brooke Stephens as Naomi Wildman

Co-star [ ]

• Robin Stapler as Alixia

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Brian Donofrio as sciences officer
• Heather Rattray as operations officer
• Andrew English as operations officer
• John Copage as sciences officer
• Heather Ferguson as command officer
• Keith Rayve as command officer
• Pablo Soriano as operations ensign

Stunt double [ ]

• Johnny Martin as stunt double for Ethan Phillips

References [ ]

2363 ; 2373 ; abort sequence ; acetylcholine ; akoonah ; alveoli ; AMU ; assimilation ; autonomic bypass ; bedside manner ; bloodstream ; blood pressure ; blood viscosity ; Borg Collective ; Borg drone ; brain ; bread ; brother ; cadaver ; class 1 nebula ; cell ; cell damage ; centimeter ; cerebral cortex ; cheese ; coffee ; collective consciousness ; colony ; companionship ; containment cylinder ; containment field ; cortical stimulator ; crew manifest ; cup ; curd ; cycle ; damage ; death ; Delta Quadrant ; Dunes of Talmouth ; father ; father's brother ; father's father ; father's mother ; fear of death ; fermentation ; firenut blend ; firstborn ; French language ; fruit compote ; Gand sector ; Great Forest, The ; Grid 6920 ; Guiding Tree ; heart ; heartbeat ; hematological scan ; holodeck ; Human ; immortality ; Kazon ; Kes ; Ktarian ; lung ; manifestation ; maturation chamber ; maturation cycle ; medicine bundle ; memory ; microgram ; milk ; mitochondria ; monster ; mother ; mother's brother ; motor neuron ; nacelle ; nanoprobe ; necrosis ; Neelix's cousins ; Neelix's father ; Neelix's mother ; Neelix's sisters ; neural pathway ; neuroelectric isopulse ; neurotransmitter ; nutritional supplement ; pattern buffer ; phase variance ; physical ; pizza ; postmortem analysis ; Prixin ; protomatter ; pungent ; recycling ; resuscitation ; root nectar ; site-to-site transport ; Shirk ; shock ; Species 149 ; Species 329 ; spoon ; suicide ; synaptic response ; Talaxian ; Talaxian-Haakonian War ; Talaxian spice ; taste bud ; term ; Thursday ; tissue ; toast ; tomato ; transporter beam ; transporter log ; transporter range ; transporter signal ; Type 6 shuttlecraft ( unnamed , hologram , illusory ); vision quest ; whey .

External links [ ]

• " Mortal Coil " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Mortal Coil " at Wikipedia
• " Mortal Coil " at MissionLogPodcast.com
• " Mortal Coil " at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Bell Riots

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Star Trek: Voyager

“Mortal Coil”

Air date: 12/17/1997 Written by Bryan Fuller Directed by Allan Kroeker

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

"Death is still one of the greatest mysteries there is." "I was there. I experienced it. There was nothing." — Chakotay and Neelix

Review Text

Nutshell: Relevant, probing, and well performed. The best Neelix show to date.

Once upon a third season there was an episode called " Sacred Ground " which tried to tackle a troubling situation of faith. That episode, alas, was not successful because it was all too convoluted and ponderous, and collapsed under the weight of its excessive dramatic devices and meretricious script manipulations. In "Mortal Coil" (a.k.a. this week's title's Hamlet reference), Neelix is zapped and killed during a shuttle mission, but is revived after 18 hours by a special Borg medical procedure that Seven of Nine enacts. Neelix effectively comes back from the dead, though his troubles are far from over.

Neelix is convinced he should have experienced the Talaxian afterlife during this temporary death. To the very best of his knowledge, however, he experienced "absolutely nothing," which leads him to seriously question a faith that he has held his entire life—a faith he says had "kept him going" through his difficult years during the Talaxian war when he lost his friends and family.

"Mortal Coil" proves a little obvious at times (Neelix stories are rarely subtle, and in addition this episode is, without a doubt, partly a meditation on people who have had near-death experiences), but I think its simple, in-your-face nature may be a big part of why the episode works so well. It builds its story around the actual crisis of one character, rather than trying to ask and answer so much in irresolute symbolic terms—the approach that was ultimately "Sacred Ground's" undoing. Instead of so hopelessly and unclearly trying to draw lines between "absolute reality" and "spiritual perception" in story terms (as "Sacred Ground" did), "Mortal Coil's" agenda is much more plausible from all sides of the table: It doesn't turn a religious situation into something that requires evidence to suggest a faith as necessarily "true" or "untrue"; it examines the far more practical approach of what happens when a person experiences doubt in his faith, looking at the specific difficulties experienced by a character faced with such a dilemma. In a sense, by being more simple, this episode succeeds at being deeper, finding its complexity under the surface.

In the broadest of terms, then, "Mortal Coil" is a tightly woven character piece about Neelix, using his faith crisis to offer insight to a part of him we rarely see. Faithful readers will know that I have never been a big fan of Neelix. Second season reduced his character to that of an utter annoyance with painfully shallow shows like " Parturition " and " Investigations ." Third season had the effective " Fair Trade ," but subsequently offered none of the necessary follow-up. " Rise ," on the other hand, was horrendous. And ever since, Neelix has faded into the background as a nondescript supporting personality with very little worthy of mention for good or ill.

That's why I was glad to see "Mortal Coil" supply this guy a meaty story (far meatier than even "Fair Trade"). Neelix is by nature a pretty transparent guy, and when used effectively that transparency can be the basis for good character drama. He's the guy who tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve, as they say. These emotions are almost always of cheer and optimism, but when the troubled side of Neelix emerges—as in this episode—the results can be quite engaging.

This isn't a story of audacious sci-fi twists or original plots; the real strength of "Mortal Coil" is its even-handed reasonableness, and the sensible sentiments it conveys. The problem grows out of a relevant, real-life issue and allows Neelix to react as a person rather than simply a plot device.

Specifically, there are two things that make "Mortal Coil" stand out: the writing and the acting. I know, that's a pretty general statement, because those two qualities can probably be attributed for the success of all drama. But Bryan Fuller's script is simply a solid piece of work—a tight, focused, confident story that puts Neelix through an understandable wringer while supplying the supporting characters with some reasonable reactions. Meanwhile, Ethan Phillip's performance is stellar work, and the supporting actors also turn in good performances, which could easily go overlooked.

One interesting facet of Neelix's dilemma is the way his conclusions concerning death are based on the worldly perceptions of the living. After being revived he expects to "remember" something he would've experienced in death. The fact that he doesn't is the source of all his distress. Does that mean there's no afterlife? Not necessarily. To expand upon something Chakotay tells Neelix, perhaps it's simply not something that the living can understand. From the agnostic's point of view, the afterlife represents the total unknown and, ultimately, the unknowable. Maybe Neelix is incapable of comprehending death in a living state. Does that mean his worries are unfounded? Absolutely not. A crisis of faith under a situation as unique and frightening as Neelix's strikes me as very realistic. And with interesting dialog (including responses like Chakotay's "Death is still one of the greatest mysteries there is") this episode did a great job of prompting me to think deeply about the issue at hand, which is an admirable feat.

Subsequently, Neelix's distress was very well conceived. Understandably, Neelix initially tries to forget his experience ever happened. He tries to go on about Business as Usual, but it doesn't work. Denial turns into introspection and introspection into despair. He tries to pretend he hasn't been affected, but he obviously has been; Neelix is not himself, and it's here where his transparency proves interesting. Chakotay offers to help him through his difficulties, which is a prudent move that rings true; the episode makes good use of the commander's spiritual side (something we haven't seen in quite a while), and Beltran's performance is carefully measured, appropriately understated and reserved.

Another performance that made me take note was Jeri Ryan's; the actress continues to impress me with her subtle style. Seven's role in bringing Neelix back from the dead harbors more human compassion than what one would've expected out of her immediately following, say, " The Gift ." Here Ryan accomplishes this with a single line or a glance—I particularly liked her line to Neelix about reviving him: She says it was a Borg technique that she simply modified ... "But you are welcome," she adds with a hint of genuine cordiality. This is noteworthy character growth done subtly and plausibly. The use of Seven for comic relief during the Prixin celebration scene also worked pretty well. She may be growing, but conversation is still definitely not one of Seven's strengths.

The celebration scene also did a reasonable job of showing Neelix hopelessly trying to ignore his problem and push on as if nothing happened; his preoccupied speechlessness made sense. Allan Kroeker's use of slow motion and other imagery also worked without going overboard; there were times that it felt as if Michael Vejar were directing. And Neelix's inability to bear his problem builds slowly and interestingly. Some of the details—like his certain but uneasy observation that "all of us" are going to vanish into nothing as did his own holographic rendition during a holodeck simulation—make all the difference. And when Neelix's repressed rage eventually comes to the surface, it explodes onto Seven in a fiery scene that made me wince. Although Neelix doesn't say it in so many words, what he believes he is missing because of Seven's intervention is his very soul.

Finally comes the time when Neelix accepts Chakotay's help in seeking subconscious images to help him understand his problem—something that the commander warns Neelix is not a "quick fix." In a surprisingly and compellingly dark turn of events, what Neelix finds when he looks inward is hardly comforting; everybody tells him that he has been lied to about his faith, and they ominously say, "You know what you have to do." Neelix concludes that life is meaningless, not worth living. He decides to commit suicide.

His suicide attempt (by way of transporter) is a genuinely tense moment that Chakotay tries to talk him out of. The performances here shouldn't go overlooked. Beltran conveys a sense of cautious urgency, trying to tell the Talaxian why he should go on living while not pushing the sentiments over the edge. Phillips, meanwhile, paints his character as confused concerning his intended course of action, as if to convey that Neelix killing himself would be the easy way out of a problem that requires time to be solved. Obviously, Neelix doesn't kill himself, but I did very much like the way his planned suicide was signaled in previous scenes. His "final" discussion with Seven followed by his "last" shutdown and lights-out of his kitchen were striking, foreboding moments.

A key part of Neelix coming to realize that he still has something to live for revolves around his importance to Ensign Wildman's young daughter Naomi. It's nice to see the writers acknowledge that Wildman and her kid still exist (" Deadlock " was the last use of them), and here they appear for the sake of benefiting the story rather than for the sake of making an appearance. Little kids fearing "monsters in the replicator" strikes me as a problem very much in need of a Neelix solution.

The episode's final shots of Neelix and Naomi are hopeful—perhaps even too hopeful, because they seem to bring about Neelix's self-reconciliation faster than what may prove ideal. I'd like to see the events of this episode play a role in the way Neelix's character is painted in future episodes, but this ending makes me fear that such follow-ups will not happen. At the same time, however, we probably can't end the episode on a note of desperation. The ending works, though I also hope that these problems are not so quick and easy for Neelix to sort out. As Chakotay said, they need to take time. I just hope I don't get burned with nonexistent follow-ups the way I did with the aforementioned "Fair Trade" and with Doc's "family" in " Real Life ."

But regardless, "Mortal Coil" is a winner that relies on complex writing undertones and thoughtful acting rather than gimmicks or standard premises—very nice work. I have a new respect for the writers' portrayal of Neelix.

Next week: " Nemesis " airs again. Then, in a few weeks, Voyager phones home. Hopefully they'll dial 10-321 for an extra-low rate.

Previous episode: Concerning Flight Next episode: Waking Moments

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101 comments on this post.

Awesome to see Neelix die, a shame they brought him back though.

Scrumdiddly

Yes kids, this is exactly how it works! He attempts suicide, only to have Chakotay talk him down, and by talk him down I mean he changes his mind for no apparent reason, and then everything's fine! Roll the next episode! It's just offensive...

Yes kids, this is exactly how it works! He attempts suicide, only for Chakotay to talk him down, and by talk him down I mean he changes his mind for no apparent reason. Then everything is fine! Roll the next episode! It's just offensive...

"Then, in a few weeks, Voyager phones home. Hopefully they'll dial 10-321 for an extra-low rate." I had to laugh at this reference. God we used to see those commercials every single commercial break, this or 1-800-COLLECT. I don't think they even exist anymore.

grumpy_otter

What's really sad about this episode is that it proves Ethan Phillips is capable of providing a subtle, thought-provoking, and nuanced performance as Neelix. So the nightmare that has been Neelix is not his fault. Every once in a while, we see the potential Voyager could have explored. And then they get back to the usual business. Sigh.

I would never have imagined a Neelix-focused episode would be tolerable but this episode was great. Seems to me that the on-going plot issue is that every time someone "dies" it would be, "Can Seven / the Doctor use the Borg nanoprobes to fix them?" It also raises the question given the Doctor et al were already thoroughly familiar with nanotech (Wesley was playing around with it in TNG) as to why the Federation wasn't doing this stuff already. Then again, that's always been a Trek problem. Magical tech that should make things utterly different mysteriously leaves the players still philosophically and emotionally stuck in the late 20th Century in all the important ways. (IMHO, Voyager gets too much flack for ignoring Trek Tech implications and concentrating on story on character. It's my favourite Trek precisely because they tried to play to the characters and it often worked very well.)

little Talaxian girl in his vision was super creepy looking.

I can see why this is Phillips' favorite episode... it's definitely one of his best performances. I was surprised to learn that this episode went through so many rewrites - first as a Samantha Wildman show, then as a Chakotay show, and then finally focusing on Neelix. My only real criticism would be that the importance of Neelix's faith doesn't quite ring true because it's never been mentioned before, and as far as I can remember, was never mentioned again.

This episode is amazing. I liked it well enough the first time I saw it, but I totally bawled my eyes out rewatching it for the first time yesterday. Make no mistake: for an American television show this episode is *stunningly* bleak, even by today's standards. I don't think Neelix is 'fixed' by the end, I think he's barely hanging on, for Naomi's sake, and that's the whole point- that's all we have to hang on for. That's damned bleak, especially for Trek- this may be the darkest episode Voyager ever does, philosophically speaking. I guess the reason Neelix's faith was never mentioned again was because he lost his faith in this episode. As for the 'nanoprobe death cure', can we point to a subsequent death where this treatment would have been applicable?

I don't know. If I were Neelix I'd probably realize that the afterlife may exist, just that if it does any memories are wiped before returning to the real world.

You know, you really shouldn't patronize a child living on Voyager when she asks you to check for monsters. Between the Kazon, the Kradin, spatial anomolies, not to mention the Borg...there might just be one.

Jo Jo Meastro

This was a great episode, I loved it and the dark personal avenues it explores. I loved the vision quest which was surreal, creepy, metaphorical and radiating with a strange dreamy aura. I'm a fan of David Lynch, so I enjoy this sort of bizzare thoughtful imagery. I liked that they skimmed over the technical aspects of the story (his death and revival) and knew not to try to convince us Neelix was actually dead for good. It was an emotional and heartfelt humanistic episode, so it worked very well for me. I'd be tempted to go for 3.5/4 because it does a really good job in what it sets out to be. I must add I think season 4 is coming along very smoothly with only 1 real miss so far in my opinion. Its certianly the most consistent season so far. Looking at the star ratings for the remainder of season 4, I'm not too concerned if this consistency is going to taper off or not. So long as there's a low number of mind-numblingly dull episodes I'll probably be satisfied (after all I'm the guy who took some enjoyment from Threshold even when it was pretty misguided!). So yeah, I think this could be the season which Voyager has turned a corner for me!

Good episode. My favorite lines involved Seven: "Children assimilated by the Borg are placed in maturation chambers for 17 cycles." "You will be assimilated." "No time for that now. Maybe later."

One nit: Seven doesn't know what Prixin is. But a few episodes earlier, she told Neelix that the Borg had assimilated thirty or forty Talaxians. Shouldn't the Collective -- and, by implication, Seven -- have thereby gained all their knowledge?

This is a quiet episode, and as a kid (the last time I saw it) I didn't realise how good it is, but it's stellar. Can only echo the comments above, especially Destructor's which I completely agree with. Neelix's faith is gone and he is only hanging on at the end for the sake of others. The crisis is not resolved; he's essentially forced out of his plan because he doesn't want Lt Wildman to see him like that, because he wouldn't kill himself in front of her. Ethan Phillips excellent, Jeri Ryan too (as usual) and Robert Beltran. (What a raw deal two out of the three of those actors got out of the series.) The episode's quietness and introspection are its strength and the script is simply superb, all the more so for not truly resolving Neelix's crisis by the end. Is this the only episode in the franchise in which a member of the main cast realises life is meaningless and attempts suicide? I think it is.

I'm really enjoying Seven and her deadpan delivery, providing me with the comic relief I need. She and the doctor are the reliable fun characters of the series, and I've surprised myself laughing out loud many times. This episode's attempt to join conversation were appropriately hilarious: funny but realistic and not trying too hard to turn it into a joke. I enjoyed the Neelix story, although I'm pissed that once again a non human species resembles human Americans so closely: Not only do they believe in the after life but they ALSO believe in heaven exactly the way Christians do! The only difference is that it's a forest! What a crazy coincidence, coming from species half a galaxy apart from each other...

@Jons Is it really so surprising? After all, an afterlife with a monotheistic god isn't so hard a conclusion to necessarily come to. Sure, not all that likely, but not all that unlikely either. Or maybe there's Christians on the ship Neelix knows. I dunno. In any case, the book Life After Life by Dr. Ray Moody was written on this topic. He interviewed several people who had died but were later rescussitated, and their visions after death were strikingly similar. Very fascinating stuff.

Nanomachines would not be able to revive someone after that length of time. Not even theory allows for it, unless the nanomachines knew how the neurones were connected before damage, which is impossible. They are used here as a lazy deus ex machina, and they introduce a major issue... from now on, whenever the crew are in peril, we can just go "It's okay, nanomachines can sort it".

Other than that, it's a pretty good episode. But Trek really doesn't know how to stay consistent or believable. It pushes the boat out and goes lazy.

Such a touching episode, very good. Amazing plot, deep debate behind the story. Loved it. Even more because FINALLY someone was not able to beam without authorization, or to steal a shuttkecraft and etc. Hope it happens again other times when it is not Neelix the one trying. However, I also thought that the nano-tehnobabble was littel credible and I totally agree with DLPB's comment above, about the ex machina and the issue it introduces. What saves us from any fear is to know that in Voyager it will not have consequences later anyway...

A good episode. It challenges Neelix's belief in the afterlife, but doesn't come to a clean resolution. There's any way of re-interpreting the afterlife to be compatible with his lack of experience. But even if there is no afterlife and this is all there is, is it truly of no value? While Neelix doesn't resolve his question of whether or not there is life after death, he does appear to accept that even if there is no afterlife, this life is still of value. If this life is all we have, it is precious. Imagine you had the last bottle of wine on Earth. Is it valueless, just because it won't last? Or is it something of great value to be saved for a special occasion, and shared with friends? It's quite realistic that Chakotay was able to talk him down from the ledge, so to speak. It's a common enough phenomenon in real life, after all. It doesn't mean that everything is going to be perfect afterwards. I would have liked the closing scene to be Chakotay and Neelix doing the ritual again.

Elliot, where are you? Elliot has single handledly convinced many to watch Voyager and fall in love with it. Anyway, onto "Mortal Coil". I found this to be a touching episode, and a strong four stars. It is also one of the most atheistic episodes, and radically political. "Duty calls," Neelix says, duty to one's fellowman revealed to be the highest spiritual ideal in the absence of God.

Hi Corey, I'm glad you enjoy my posts. I've heard the criticism lodged at Voyager that in blindly following the ideals of early TNG, it lacked an ability to be critical and thus truly creative in its artistic efforts ("derivative" is a favourite term). I would remind these critics that religious art is as "derivative" in this sense as Voyager is--unquestioning in its approval and dissemination of a point of view on how and why the Universe works and how it SHOULD be. Yet, we don't accuse Veronese or Bach of being derivative artists for their loyalty to a vision. Also, those artists worthy of respect who criticise the religious mandate within their work, like Michelangelo or Wagner or Mann, did so from a deep and committed understanding of the subject they criticised, not by simply objecting to or circumnavigating the belief (I'm looking at you Ira Stephen Behr).

Deep, thoughtful, and about as dark an episode of Star Trek as I've seen, 'Mortal Coil' is more than the 45 minutes of middling entertainment most Voyager outings were. It is an achievement, both in writing and in execution. I loved it. With the majority of American viewers still identifying as Christians, many shows would shy away from a premise of someone dying and seeing no vision of an afterlife at all, dealing with a crisis of faith that is virtually inescapable. The fact that it concerns Neelix, the last character you would expect in such a serious plot, is another bonus. One of my favorite Trek episodes yet. And the best thing about it is that it has no rosy ending. Neelix doesn't simply shrug off the incident because his 45 minutes are up. His Talaxian afterlife is a shattered dream. When he repeated the story of the Tree to Naomi, his feelings of doubt--even hypocrisy--were tangible. He ultimately hangs on for the sake of Naomi and his crew, but it's clear that Neelix has changed. Even if it was never addressed again on Voyager, at least it was conceded here.

Wow, I just watched this and it is a really good episode! In many ways, perhaps the bravest story I've seen Trek do. I could go into philosophical specifics, but sufficed to say, I think what is portrayed here may very likely be the truth. If only more people realized that, there would be a lot of re-prioritizing going on in our lives. I can't believe I'm about to type this, but Neelix was actually compelling in this episode! Add to that some wonderful direction, innovative cinematography (for Trek) and a haunting orchestral underscore and you've got a winner here. A **** installment for any free-thinking sci-fi fan. Side note: by the way it was written, it was implied that Neelix's vision was a result of his subconscious trying to say what he was repressing. It would have been interesting if they'd used the same psychological microscope when it came to scripting Chakotay's spirit quests (or the one Janeway took with George Costanza's mom).

Deep, probing, prescient, relevant, heartbreaking. Outstanding episode on every level highlighted even further because of Ethan Phillips. Highly recommended. 4 stars.

This episode could have had the shortest synopsis ever in TV Guide: "Neelix dies." A guaranteed ratings success!

I also thought this a great episode. Usually I feel annoyed by Neelix, but accept him as part of life on this ship, but here he actually becomes a worthwhile character. A lot of comments above say that Neelix lost his faith in the afterlife so it was somehow contrived that he could go on living -- but as I see it, he realized that he could go on living for his god-daughter Naomi. Living for the sake of an afterlife is a Christian teaching, however living for the sake of children and the future is a far more powerful agenda. Chakotay's dream quest led Neelix toward death, but then Naomi's dream quest brought him to life. I think we can all learn from the words of the Japanese poet Basho, "Apply your heart to what children do."

I do fully agree that this is a great episode that goes deeper than most. But I was really let down by the resolution. Neelix is so distressed, has come to the conclusion that his life is meaningless, and has made all the preparations to end it. I found it hard to believw that a simple talk with Chakotay could have made him change his mind, and the argument of the child and the monsters didn't really make his life sound so important. Not to mention, had Neelix talked to Chakotay about his vision, which would have made sense, we wouldn't have come to the dramatic confrontation at the end. It was still a story pregnant with meaning, and I thought that the monster was an analogy with depression, especially at the end where the child asks Neelix wether he had been taken by a monster. Except that "come on, don't you see how important you are?" is definitely NOT something you should say to someone who is about to commit suicide.

I couldn't stand Neelix but I have to admit this was a good ep.

It is a great episode. My only complaint is that in the end, when Chakotay tries to talk Neelix out of his suicide attempt, nothing he says convinces Neelix. It's not enough, Neelix says. But then ensign Wildman walks in, looking for Neelix to help her with her daughter, without knowing what's going on and that's what convinces Neelix to stay. Basically, I'm unsatisfied with this. Neelix questions the meaning of life and whether or not his faith is worth believing in and comes to the conclusion that life is, in fact, not worth living because as he understands it, everyone will just fade away into nothingness. Why does Naomi change that for him? Neelix seems convinced that all life is meaningless and that his faith is a farce. He loses the will to live but then he continues living anyway, because Naomi needs someone to 'help chase away the monsters'? I'm just not buying it. It's too simplistic. Neelix was facing a very complex, serious crisis of faith. He shouldn't be able to get over that for a significant amount of time. But I suppose if they made him brood and be introvert all through the season, he wouldn't be Neelix anymore.

Thank you for your review Jammer as always. I'd like to ask why you thought the plot of this episode was unoriginal though..I don't remember any other episode of Trek dealing with someoe being brought back to life after being confirmed dead for a while..or any other sci-fi show..Does anyone know if this plot is really derivative? Yes resurrecting people is obviously a common sci-fi trope going back to who knows when..but I can't remember any specific storyline this steals from or resembles that much..Is it derivative of Hamlet? I'll confess I've never read it..

I'm sure Neelix had lost his faith by the end of the episode. It's not surprising that the writers would have someone lose or gain belief in an afterlife based upon memories near/at death or the lack of memories. It happens all the time to ordinary people. A commenter mentioned a book of interviews of people reporting such memories, a book with a dedicated fan base I'm sure. Yet another commenter saw a similarity between the Neelix's concept of an afterlife and that of mainstream American protestant Christians. What I never understood was why it should make any sense at all that, stipulating this dimensional, physical concept of afterlife is true, your mind and/or body should have any evidence (physical or memories) of being there? I don't say this to people because it upsets them, but that's what I think. Again I have to say that, as with so many other episodes of Star Trek where religionists are portrayed as superstitious ignoramouses, this episode portrays an infantile and illogical manifestation of a character "of faith". I doubt Neelix's faith was very strong to begin with, or else common (albeit painful and disturbing) events in the living world would not so easily shake it. The afterlife is ostensibly *after* life, and we know for certain that, in death, the body remains and the mind is inactive. Everyone knows or has seen this happen. By what stretch of the imagination would someone be recussitated and actually have a memory of somewhere they never were and their eyes and mind have not seen? But we coddle this notion so as to placate people who are sad or scared.

I kind of agree with you. If there is an afterlife I don't think it's something that our minds would be able to comprehend upon "resurrection". I liked this episode and thought it was a good showing for Neelix but I might have gone darker. His faith in the afterlife is so strong that he's certain it exists and is depressed because he thinks his soul is there already because of how long he was dead and that now he's just an empty shell.

Boy, the first time we EVER hear of religion WRT Neelix and BOOM... he's a hard core believer. This just reinforces trek's "religion is bad" theme. ... I.E. the person that is religious does something stupid (commit suicide), or IS stupid, blah, blah. In this case, Neelix so blindly believes he's actually going to SEE his family again when he dies that he's willing to commit suicide after it's been proven false? ... Really? This is the only reason he wants to live? ... serving the crew of Voyager and Janeway don't really mean that much then? So Neelix's actions in the last "Neelix episode [Fair Trade] was just crap? COME ON!! I'm not sure I can rate this as high as (it seems) everyone else here. Didn't we have basically the same thing before? ... where Harry got caught up in that transporter thingy? [Emanations] Someone not ending up where they are supposed to be after they die? Did we get ANY reaction from Neelix then? "Great Forest" ... what/why? ,,, because the Talaxian's look like rodents? Guiding Tree? ... preamble to Avatar here? Neelix had all but talked himself out of this belief and Chakotay just couldn't leave well enough alone... Rock.. spirit guide... burp... enter Indian stereotype crap... whatever. I thought Neelix' reaction as well as Ethan's acting was over the top here. Neelix is the most unselfish guy on Voyager, are we really supposed to believe that he would commit the most selfish act of all? ... suicide? I would have had more respect for this one had Neelix not been "fixed" by just Naomi needing him (although getting him "down" using her was fine). For all the effort Neelix has put forth for this crew, you'd think a large number of them would have lined up to help him. Neelix' recovery here should have taken some serious time (if you believe he actually WAS going to commit suicide) as it was, I believe the ending killed this one. Who the hell came up with "sweeting"? (God I hate that...) 1 star.

Nic, I know your post is 4 years old but that has been an argument for me as well. A concept pops up suddenly to help the storyline limp along only for it to disappear without a trace and never mentioned again. Where to begin? Let's see... S2's Alliances where that race the Trabe had been the ones to scatter the Ka-zon into the nomads they are and never once shown again. After Basics neither were the Ka-zon for that matter. I suppose they could say they were leaving their region of space and it was played off as such. Fair enough. But what about those tricobalt missles they used in the pilot to destroy the caretaker array that we never heard from again except in S6's Voyager Conspiracy ep... Or the Malons that were so fond of their toxic waste dump sites in S5... Or the Vaadwaur that were hyped to have been a new threat to the quadrant in S6's Dragon's Teeth that Seven awakened yet somehow we never heard from them again either... We never learned what happened to the remainder of the Equinox crew that survived and were subsequently demoted. Not to mention it would have been nice to see Lessing's reaction to serving under a captain that was very willing to feed a Starfleet officer to the wolves... Come to think of it we never even learned the fate of Ocampa either after the Caretaker's passing. Keep in mind they were the reason Janeway destroyed the array which stranded the crew in the Delta Quadrant in the first place. All to help a race with an 8 year life span. I'm sure there are others I missed that you or other fellow trekkies could think of. These were just off-the-cuff ones I remembered. Truthfully I'm surprised some of the Starfleet crew didn't mutiny before (or after) that fateful decision. The Maquis it should have been without saying. It certainly would have made for a more interesting journey home to see this. Was it against Starfleet ideals? Of course. But the Maquis had little use for those ideals to begin with. That's partly the reason they formed. And with the decision the Captain made to strand them there it sure gave their cause a bit more credibility. But I digress. Between this one and Jetrel it's nice to see Neelix was not just an annoyance at the worst of times. He can be deadly earnest when he wants to be but that would be quite a downer to see that all the time. And I know Ethan Phillips wasn't looking to be Clint Eastwood. I remembered him as a kid in the sitcom Benson and surprisingly in the movie Lean On Me. Comic relief even in that. But did anyone really believe for one minute he was going to succeed in beaming out to space? There can only be suspense when you don't know the outcome, at least for me. The best we could hope for is the reason why he decides not to beam out into space is good enough to raise it from standard fare. Now for a good twist as he was beaming out our trusty can't-get-a-lock kim would live up to his namesake and cause the tricorder scattering field to displace itself, thereby saving Neelix but instead it's shifted itself around chuckles beaming HIM out into space with no chance of retrieval. Now that would have been must-see TV! As it is 1.5 stars is all I can give this, despite this yahoo serious side of Neelix we only got from time to time.

"Proto-matter - a highly unstable substance which every ethical scientist in the galaxy refuses to work with," according to Saavik from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. But here, proto-matter is considered a very popular resource for all species. Oh well, I guess history has been changed again. The Krenim did it. Oh yeah, so Neelix is supposed to be getting regular injections of nano-probes for the rest of his life or he will die again? And yet we never reference this fact again. Oh well. The Krenim did it.

Totally agree with your review Jammer, spot on! This was a great character episode for Neelix, and Ethan Phillips was definitely up to the task. I am a little puzzled by your only giving it 3 stars. From what I can tell, you really liked this episode and had very few negatives to point out. I would have given it 3.5 stars, perhaps even 4. Thought-provoking stories that are brilliantly written and acted are what Star Trek is all about, and this one ranks right up there with the best of Trek.

Diamond Dave

You can't help but think the writers were tipping a wink to the audience in killing off Neelix, and then giving them the finger by resurrecting him. But what they did do was come up with a genuinely excellent episode. Here we have indeed something which is deep, reflective, extremely well acted, and nuanced. That it's the normally ebullient Neelix that suffers this crisis is doubly interesting. And, as others have noted, this is about as dark as it gets - we'll see whether Neelix is back to normal next episode, but here, at least, I have sympathy with those who think he is barely hanging on by the end. Strong stuff, and means I can't even use the "Having fun? No" line. 3.5 stars.

How's Neelix. He's dead . Yeah right Shields are down so why show shields working as they are getting away from the proto matter? Oh great. Another what's supposed to happen after death episode. Been done to death. Mercifully fell asleep during Neelix 'attempted suicide

George Monet

While this was an excellent episode, it wasn't without its flaws. Chiefly in that the Doctor once again decided to resurrect the dead, resulting in the newly risen having a crisis of faith that led to them trying to commit suicide via teleporter. Remember how well that worked out in Emanations? You'd think that the Prime Directive would have something to say about bringing back people from the dead. That at least would explain why people are left for dead after only receiving a superficial wind. A wind that they wouldn't have received if they were wearing some type of personal force field. Or armor, or anything.

"Turns out your friend here is only MOSTLY dead." (guess the reference). Chakotay sits down and... Cue panpipes. Hate those funking things. But a good episode nonetheless. I'm with Jammer: 3 stars.

If Neelix would have stayed in his seat, the energy blast would have just passed in front of him. And there was zilch reason for Neelix to have bolted out of his seat.

A great episode that can make both Chakotay's vision quests and Neelix work. I really like when Trek explores different things like the Great Forest / Barge of the Dead / Stovol 'Kor / and yeah even the Divine Treasury. And it goes to show that Ethan Phillips is actually a pretty good actor too!

Just to pose a dissenting opinion here, I really found this episode mediocre at best. Voyager seems obsessed with doing stories on the afterlife and dream realms -- and this one isn't the worst, but isn't hardly among the best either. Ditto for Neelix episodes; I thought his role in "Phage" and the show where he turns unscrupulous to get a space map were both stronger than this episode. Two stars from me for "Mortal Coil," at most, and 1 1/2 stars may be more just. Unlike the character-driven approach of TOS and DS9, Voyager puts concepts above people, and there's often a cold and clinical feeling to its exploration of themes that borders on cynical. It's like they come up with an idea-driven story -- "near-death experience causes crisis of faith" -- and throw it at a random cast member more or less out of fancy. This week, Neelix unveils a previously unheard-of and likely never-to-be-mentioned again Talaxian belief in the afterlife, a fact that doesn't track with anything we know of his character from the past. Unlike Kira on DS9, whose religious convictions are part of her character, Neelix has never displayed any king of spiritual belief. Of course, Klingons believe in the afterlife and there's an established lore there, but I suppose centering this episode on Torres would have made too much sense for Voyager. For me, "Mortal Coil" feels contrived and unconvincing, making Neelix more of a cipher who represents abstract ideals than a fully fleshed out character. Phillips puts in a game performance, but the suicide attempt comes out of left field, like most of the story. And the subtext about people of religious faith, as compared to the rich Bajoran mythology of DS9, feels shallow and insulting.

I've never seen a Trek ep with such certain anti-religiousity. Given the demographics of the US and large parts of the world this was certain bold. Not that I agree but it takes confidence anyway.

@Caedus - It's interesting you saw it that way. I'd personally assume that any God powerful enough to run an afterlife would be able to tell if you were about to be brought back by Borg nanoprobes or not. And if you were, do you need to go the afterlife yet? I personally never felt it weighed in on religion either way, but only what might happen to a person for whom religion is a primary source of comfort and what happens if that person loses their faith. In that way it's actually a positive message for religion in some ways. For all the bad religion does (and I don't want to get into a political discussion at the moment, but there are plenty of sins that can be attributed to organized religion) it's a pretty powerful message that a man can watch his entire family be murdered and find the strength to go on purely on the faith that they'll be together in the afterlife. Religion does bring people that level of strength and peace.

So, uhm... This was good. Like, really good. While watching, I was constantly expecting it to fall on its ass and no. This is genuinely touching character piece and for a character towards I, like most people, feel apathy to outright disdain most of the time. I got fucking teary eyed at the end. That's INSANE, especially for me. Okay, one complaint I have is that Neelix's religion has never been mentioned before buuut, I give it pass since they did connect it to his backstory from Jetrel. And Seven's necromancy probes is one of those things that are so gonna be forgotten later, but that isn't this episode's fault anyway. Yeah, really like this one.

A powerful, poignant ending made this episode for me. Prior to that, I felt it wasn't anything particularly noteworthy (similar to "Sacred Ground") with Neelix examining his faith etc. Wasn't sure where it was going... Good acting all around especially from Phillips and Beltran (Neelix and Chakotay) - they had some solid lines. But especially Phillips who showed how his lack of belief in faith was subtly changing him -- he blows up at 7 of 9, is very circumspect at the party when being honored -- and then ultimately tries to commit suicide (with some ominous foreshadowing). The fact that Neelix is a godfather wound up playing a critical role -- the whole point of the little girl was building up to show Neelix does not have to commit suicide. I've never had a serious issue with Neelix's character -- maybe he was a bit obsessive about Kes -- but clearly Phillips is a very capable actor and more should be done with Phillips/Neelix. Starting to like 7 of 9 as a character as well -- much better than Kes. "Mortal Coil" would have gotten 2 stars but for the ending with Chakotay preventing Neelix's suicide and how it tied up what looked like loose ends, I think this episode is worth 3 stars. Really strong ending and good character episode for the Voyager crew, bringing them closer together around Neelix.

Prince of Space

Ok, hang on... I'm still digesting all the super-serious (supercilious? haha) reviews of this episode. So many "I can only give it X stars" and "I must disagree in a somber tone, here's why..." comments. Alright, enough buffoonery, perhaps I should reveal MY thoughts on the episode. To begin, I found Neelix's crisis of faith to be indicative of the inner struggle all sentient beings must have when objectively considering their existence. Much like when I look at so-called fine art in a museum, this episode made me cross my arms and rub my chin while having a deep thoughtful look upon my face. In other words, it spoke to me. It conjured up my inner child while also liberating my inner geriatric. Like a mobility scooter with dangly colored tassles on the ends of the handlebars. I laughed, yet cried at my own shallowness for having done so. I found the plot both specious and special, sometimes simultaneously. But, I digress. I cannot in good conscience rate this episode any higher than 2.5 stars. NAY, try not to change my valued opinion... you must learn to accept my final judgement. I suppose given the right flight of fancy on a pristine Autumn afternoon, I could whimsically decide to raise my score to 3 stars but until such day, my verdict stands! IT STANDS, KNAVES!! Now go... our time together must necessarily be concluded, for I must regenerate my immense mental faculties. GO! ... there are other episodes than this...

I thought the episode had potential, but it took too long with narrative exposition that establishes the conflict. By the time the conflict at the center of the episode is truly visible, the end is near and shortly thereafter the episode ends. I would have liked to see Neelix chew over the different ramifications up his near death experience and vision, perhaps adding a second vision, and then come to some sort of peace with an amended believe system. Overall there is good material here, but I feel like a full conversation never took place.

I should correct my first sentence to read: "I thought the episode had potential, but the writers took too long with narrative exposition that establishes the conflict." Still the writers were on the right track.

Agreed, the episode was sluggish until the last act which is some of the finest acting and writing of Voyager. They really knocked it out of the park wrt any Trek.

Yanks: '"Great Forest" [...] Guiding Tree? ... preamble to Avatar here?' Whoah... Avatar crossed my mind as well, but not from the tree stuff... During the vision quest, when Neelix's sister "dies", the forest changes from day to night and the way everything was glowing along with the animals sounds strongly reminded need of Avatar when Neytiri drenched Jake's torch and it got dark then Jake started seeing everything differently. --- One thing the episode veered close to doing but mostly avoided was making Neelix's quest "comical" in the way Trek typically handles Ferengi. I credit Ethan Phillips' stellar acting with keeping this all "real", so to speak.

jammer why do you think the plot of this episode is not original? i don't remeber another trek episode about a character being dead for so long and not experiencing an afterlife and then coming back??

Peter Swinkels

While this is a very nice episode, seeing yet another incident where a shuttle is easily damaged makes a wonder how the crew still even dares to take on of those things outside. Yes, I know, a necessary minor contrivance for the story to get going. But still... Sigh.

The quote: "In these maturation chambers, the development of conversational skills is, I suppose, a low priority?" ... and the Doctor's delivery of it !!! I laughed loud at least 10 straight seconds. :)))))) I am not as high on this episode as Jammer. Nor on Beltran. His reaction (or non-reaction) to Paris's "Nelix is dead" news in the shuttle was as dull as acting gets. And the last scene where Beltran talks Neelix out of suicide, did nothing for me. Neelix had good moments for character development but that's it. I would certainly put "Fair Trade" above this one.

I've fallen pretty far behind, but I wanted to talk about this episode. So, in the comments a few people have pointed out that we hadn't heard about Neelix's belief in the Great Forest before, or even that he has (religious) beliefs. It's also been suggested that Neelix's crisis of faith is not all that plausible a "crisis of faith," because most people of religious faith would not let their faith be shaken so easily. I can see both points, I can, and I'm willing to grant the possibility that this episode doesn't work as a meditation on religion per se. However, to me, the central element of what goes on with Neelix isn't the loss of faith in God or Gods, but is very *very* specifically focused on the loss of his family. That is something we've known about Neelix since Jetrel, and it's made clear in Jetrel and Rise (e.g.) that this is a core aspect of his character and one of the central reasons he does what he has. So rather than looking at religious belief as a whole, it's focused on the specific role that belief in heaven (or equivalent) plays in helping people cope with tremendous loss, particularly in the absence of enough in this world to help them come to terms with it. The tragedy of what Neelix experienced when he was younger combined with his relative isolation among the crew -- no one else can understand what he's gone through, and he's the only Delta Quadrant native on the ship (besides, notably, Naomi) -- mean that this story makes perfect sense as a Neelix one, to me, not because of the religion but because of the under-processed loss he's experienced. Neelix's behaviour here seemed so consistent with what I knew about him, to me, that I had to go back and check the Rise transcript to confirm that he didn't specifically mention anything religious/spiritual when describing his sister Alixia. What he actually says is that he talks with her (and the rest of his family) every night, and I think I had mentally added that he does so in a kind of prayer in ways consistent with his beliefs, though checking it Rise doesn't make this idea explicit and so it is a bit of a retrospective element of this episode. And so, okay, yes, the episode certainly goes out of its way to sell Neelix's connection with Talaxian customs (through the festival week material and his statement about the Great Forest to Naomi), in ways that previous episodes didn't, which smacks of contrivance. And yet -- we know that Neelix has mixed feelings about his homeworld from his own unresolved feelings about the war; we know that he loves Talaxian spices and that suggests some desire to continue to link to his cultural heritage; in Day of Honor, he told B'Elanna he's generally a fan of traditions. And in the scene with Naomi, I can understand why he'd open up to a child about his beliefs in a way that he wouldn't to a crew largely composed of adult largely secular scientists. Even there, though, the specifics of his belief don't seem that important to me for the story: what's important is the idea that Neelix had found a belief system which gave him hope that he would see his family again, and that the pain of losing the notion of ever seeing them again would send him into a huge crisis, and make him not want to continue living. It just makes so much sense to me that Neelix would have patched himself together, imperfectly, to deal with his huge war-trauma of the loss of his entire family, and his eventual separation from everyone of his own kind; with Kes' breakup and her leaving entirely, he loses his last connection even to anything near what he considered home, as well as the possibility of romantic love and maybe even a family (which he did consider forming with Kes back in, ack, Elogium). Things just keep being taken away from Neelix, and several episodes (Jetrel, Fair Trade, Rise) make clear that his cheery exterior cannot really hold indefinitely, and that there is an abyss of sadness inside. I'll add that the nanoprobes element, and the total unfamiliarity of Seven of Nine and Borg technology, further cause alienation of him from his own body, which remains the last element of him which remains of Talax/Rinax (and of his family), so that in bringing him back Neelix feels that even his own body has betrayed him. I don't think of Neelix's suicide attempt as being contradictory to his wanting to be a part of the Voyager family, or of his panicky actions in Fair Trade to maintain his place there, either. Neelix *does* eventually listen to duty (to Naomi) as a reason to stay in this world, after all. But he also indicates part of the problem when he says that that Neelix has already died. Neelix's varied roles for the crew depend on him keeping the faith, keeping a cheery exterior, and if he can't do that, what use is he to them? This is a self-centred perspective, because of course people don't *only* value Neelix because of his upbeatness (and in some senses would value him more if he were a little less obnoxiously upbeat), but with his family being taken from him *again* and the reality of his loss (and loneliness) hitting him, I think he really can't imagine having to live the life in the identity that he's formed for himself on Voyager. To give an example, if Neelix really could not shake his despair, what use would he be as a babysitter to Naomi, who would surely sense the sadness under his exterior and learn that the universe is a horrible place, and not one that it's worth fighting to stay in? Even after Fair Trade, Neelix still doubted his usefulness constantly, just in a different key, and I think in his grateful suicide note we get the sense that he values what the crew have done for him, but does not *really* believe that he's going to be missed all that much, and just hopes that maybe they'll have fond memories of him. Even Janeway's telling him "you won't get off that easy" and keeping him on the ship in Fair Trade could be seen in retrospect as an act of pity. Neelix knows that they mostly don't take him seriously, and there are all kinds of signals throughout the episode that despite his hard work, most of the crew does take him for granted. More to the point, I think Neelix understandably thinks that they don't really understand him, and can't really understand or support him in his recognition of what his family's death -- and of his newfound realization that maybe he won't ever see them again, in any form -- and why he so readily jumps to turning inside himself, lying to others, and eventually breaking down and lashing out. There's a parallel to O'Brien in Hard Time lashing out at Molly, but here Neelix lashes out far less -- in his yelling at Seven -- but I think that Neelix feels a similar brokenness in himself after that point, and no longer believes himself to be the person the ship needs, and so feels he has nothing to live for. Chakotay's reaching him at the end is contingent on someone showing real need for him, but even that need is selfish, and there's a sadness to Neelix having to put aside his own despair purely because he's needed by others, and not because he wants to continue; but the ending, in which Neelix tells Naomi the story again, manages to recast the (apparently literal) belief that he will see his family again into a myth which he passes down to comfort a child who is scared of the dark -- a metaphor, of course, for us being afraid of what it is that lies for us in the unknown. Naomi invents monsters so that Neelix will come to save her from the dark (the void; nothing; death) and give her comfort by telling her stories; what adults have to do is to learn to tell themselves the stories, and to maybe half-believe/half-not-believe them. I guess I will say that making Neelix's role as godparent to Naomi central to the episode maybe is a bit of a cheat since *that* hadn't been established in previous episodes (or even Naomi's name), but to the show's credit, Voyager *does not* drop this element of Neelix's character. I also think that it does seem plausible to me that it could work its way into one of Neelix's amorphous "duties," and also that since we see Neelix with less frequency than we see the other main characters, that we might not have known about it before now. As far as the content of Neelix's crisis of faith being largely ignored in upcoming episodes: well, I'll wait and see. (SPOILERS: I think Homestead maybe pays some of this off by showing Neelix finding other Talaxians who have suffered similar losses? But then again, maybe not. I forget.) Other aspects of the show are sometimes obvious -- I found Neelix's vision quest to be a little too rote, for instance, and I find Samantha Wildman's showing up in the transporter room after Neelix doesn't answer his commbadge for a minute to be very obnoxious -- and so I don't think this is a full classic. But I think it's a really moving character tale about a maligned and often mis-handled character. 3.5 stars.

Startrekwatcher

2 stars I never liked Neelix so you can guess what I thought of this episode.

I really hate that VOY introduced borg nanoprobes. They become a panacea, and this is probably the worst example of it in the whole series. They could have just made him dead for 15 or 20 minutes or something and had the same episode without making nanoprobes into resurrection robots. Which they never use that way ever again, of course. This would have been a 3 star episode without that nonsense. So 2 1/2 stars from me.

I should maybe clarify what I meant. If he had been dead only 15 or 20 minutes, they could have had some technobabble explanation that let the Doc revive him, like he did that one from 'Emanations'. Instead of having him dead for 18 hours and using nanoprobes. It would still be nonsense, but easier to swallow nonsense, that doesn't involve Seven performing a miracle.

I think this is a good example of a character story feeling both real and significant despite the series being very episodic-it makes sense that Neelix's religious/afterlife beliefs would suddenly be focused on in the circumstance despite the lack of focus before and the episode does nicely build on and use Neelix's background, especially the importance of his family. This episode was also one of the few to use well the idea of Voyager as a closer and less formal crew/community, especially Chakotay as a colleague and counselor-like role to Neelix.

I Hate Janeway

Ignoring the typical inconsistent science stuff (Borg nanites that are never heard from again in future episodes), this is one of the best episodes of Season 4, because it focuses on the characters. Neelix is an underrated character, and I also liked Chakotay in this episode. Plus the theme of dealing with religious beliefs that make no sense in light of scientific evidence. Too bad more episodes aren't like this.

Jammer's synopsis: "Neelix is killed" Five stars!

@Prince of Space "NAY, try not to change my valued opinion." Why talking like Yoda are you?

I have to admit. As much as the Neelix character annoyed me at first, Ethan Phillips really did a fantastic job all through the series. It certainly wasn't his fault the character was a little annoying. It was the way the character was written. I doubt anyone could have done a better job with the material than he did. Sometimes you have to see some bad acting to appreciate the talent it takes to make even an annoying character completely believable.

This episode perfectly sums up voyager. It has so much potential, and it almost reaches its potential, only to fall flat. The story is working up to something very big, very emotional, yet at the end it takes a little dump on the viewer's chest. "Life is meaningless but, hey, we need you here!" Nah man. You're going to have to give me something a lot more thoughtful and poignant after such great build up with all the great afterlife stuff, Nelix's crisis of faith, his sense of lifelessness, chakotay's spiritual advice etc. etc.

I think that's kind of the point though. No-one was going to be able to give Neelix a profound reason to carry on living, a grand insight into the meaning of life, or restore his faith and believe in the afterlife. They just reaffirm the value of basic human connection, reaffirm to him that he's part of a community of people who love him and to whom he matters. At the end, Neelix's crisis of faith isn't resolved - he merely acquiesces to carrying on living for other people. Sometimes, that has to be enough.

Yeah, I get that's what the writers thought was the point--and that's why it's so bad. We've moved quite a long way from the philosophy and writing perspective of Gene Roddenberry at this point in the franchise when things end in such a fizzling manner. The idealism of star trek embodied by Roddenberry's hopeful vision would always infuse these situations with a deeper meaning, enriching the mythology and uplifting or at least transmitting a hopeful message to the audience. The turn away from that writing style is one of the big reasons why the franchise began to decline in popularity so precipitously. Also, it's simply not executed properly to convey the message that your thinking. In the case of "reaffirming the value of basic human emotion." OK, that's a good idea, but the writers are going to have to manifest that much better than simply having Naomi's mom come in at the very last minute asking for Neelix to tuck her child in bed. The emotional depth and level of crisis of Neelix's faith is too deep to be believably resolved so abruptly.

The afterlife wasn't as Neelix expected and he's upset. An interesting set up for exploring the concept of Death, and the importance of living in the present. It seems one of the main reasons Neelix was managing to stay alive was because he knew day it would be over and he'd see his lost loved ones again. Now, he's not so sure, so he has to find enough purpose in the present to continue you want to live. Young Naomi helps. He's needed. He has a purpose in this life that isn't related to, or dependant on, the existence of an afterlife. The ep gives us no answers about the afterlife, which is good. No preachy stuff, just an exploration, which VOY often seems to do so much better than TOS, ENT, or TNG (haven't seen enough DS9 yet). Well done.

Jeffrey Jakucyk

Derivative yes, but still enjoyable. The only things that brought it down for me was the silly vision quest nonsense, and Naomi really needs some Sudafed.

Ensign Babyface

This episode started out promising, with the whacking of Neelix. However, it quickly disappointed, with the resurrection of Neelix. 2 stars, at best.

Terrific little episode, let down only slightly by the all too tidy resolution. I don't mean to relitigate any old arguments here, but it's a shame we never got to see Fuller's vision for Discovery realised after episodes like these.

Haven't read through everything everyone has said, because I know Voyager doesn't get much respect on this site, but I do want to add to jammer's commendation on Phillips' performance. I lost my brother to suicide many years ago, and when I talk about it to others now, they always ask the same question: Couldn't you see signs of it, before he did it? The answer is, of course, no, because suicides aren't like they are often pictured, emotional and desperate. They are, in fact, quite pleased with themselves for making a decision. The desperation occurs earlier; when it's gone, that's when they're dangerous. My brother seemed lighthearted, better than normal, because he thought he'd found a solution to his problems. Phillips shows that in this episode, that calm, frightening composure that often precedes a measured but deadly response. That did not come from the writing alone, I suspect. It made this episode much more poignant for me.

Once again, Trek demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of psychology (in-universe). A guy dies and is resurrected, and nobody except Chakotay even suggests he might need some counseling? They're all like, "Glad you made it, dude, now go ruminate alone in your quarters!" That man needed immediate and intensive therapy to process that experience. I've been where Neelix was, in some ways. And I think that his decision to live for someone (Naiomi) instead of commit suicide was a measure of his bravery and was realistic. Killing himself would have been easy. Living with the pain of his slaughtered faith, living for someone else, not for himself - that took strength. I think it is easy to forget that the happy-go-lucky personality of Neelix is his way of concealing the agony of losing his family. Sometimes, the person with the biggest smile is the person with the greatest pain.

Great comment M.

It is a common problem, as you indicate. In the Nitpicker's Guides, Phil Farrand has a running gag about TNG (especially) and its "teflon crewmembers" who can suffer repeated, horrific traumas with no lasting effects. One of my favourite examples in Thomas Riker, who's tossed in the officer's pool after years of complete isolation. No wonder he went rogue.

Harmen Breedeveld

M, in response to your point, I get what you say, I have been myself in a dark time in my life. But we live in 2020. This episode is from 1997, I think. Much has changed in the West concerning treatment of mental trauma in these 23 years, and for the better. Depression, PTSD, men showing emotions, it has all become a bit less of a taboo. We are not there yet. But we have come some way in 23 years. I hope that if someone watches this episode in 2043, he or she will wonder why Neelix was left to figure this out all by himself, instead of having received the standard support programs. On a personal note, warm greetings and a warm hug from the Netherlands. Respect and my compassion for what you have experienced.

If you strip away all the technobabble, the nanoprobes, the protomatter and whatnot, this is really a beautiful episode about the human condition and what it means to come to the realization that those stories we're told growing up.... things meant to comfort us and take away our fear... may just be so much b.s. It's because of this, I think, that the Naomi Wildman scenes are so poignant. At the beginning of the episode, Neelix is telling her about the great forest as a believer, by the end, he's realizing it's all just empty chatter, but recognizes that she still needs that reassurance, that he can't tell her, "kid, it's all a lie." We all want to protect our children from the dark realities of existence, to tell them there's no monster under the bed and that if we behave there's a place we all go when we die where all our loved one are awaiting our arrival. It sucks to come to the realization that may not be so. The writers managed to convey all this without getting excessively maudlin or weepy. I think that restraint kept this show from slipping into melodrama. I'd have given it four stars.

Doc said Neelix being brought back from death after 18 hours was a world record. Which world? :)

@ Ola I just came to say the same thing 😂. I’m sure others noticed that to. That’s quite a big oversight on the writers behalf. Someone should have spotted that and had him say “universal record” or something. Besides that flub I thought this was a great episode. Probably my favorite of the season so far. If this same episode featured someone besides Neelix I think many people would hold this episode in higher regard but Neelix is hated. I don’t know why. I like him just fine

What a grim episode. It always feels to me like the writer had a spiritual crisis and turned that into a story for one of the Voyager characters. I'm not sure any of the main cast would have been suitable for this story other than Neelix, with the possible exception of Chakotay, given how humanistic the standard Starfleet belief system is. It's odd how Star Trek so often has to use one of the alien characters to explore religious beliefs when religion is so typical of human experience throughout history. But maybe a fictional alien belief system is a way to get around stepping on the toes of any real world beliefs, and that's probably for the best. I've long since moved past any dislike for Neelix, and so I'm often rooting for him when we get an episode focused on the character. Ethan Phillips showed how good his performance can be back in "Jetrel" and he demonstrates it again here, showing once again that Neelix's cheerful front is just that, and that there's a lot of anger and sadness beneath the surface. Any of us who have been through a crisis of faith can understand his despair in this episode, and the struggle to work through it. Chakotay makes an appropriate sounding board for Neelix since he's the only other character on the show with anything resembling spiritual beliefs, and I was glad to see him argue against Neelix abandoning his faith. The idea that a living mind might not understand what's on the other side of death is a logical argument to make under the circumstances. I'll admit I'm not quite sure how Neelix finally resolved his dilemma at the end other than to choose to live for the sake of others. Did he lose his faith, or is he still working out exactly what he believes? I'm not sure it's ever addressed.

I’ve watched this several times, and I think this is one of Trek’s finest hours. I’m not a huge fan at how Chuckles is played— it so often feels like cheesy stereotype of an American Indian, but this one works. The Vision Quest thing still feels kind of cheeseball, but the whole thing is dealt with in very real seeming terms. It highlights the risk of dealing with one’s problems with hallucinogens. Not in a cheap way— Chuckles is trying to help Neelix, and it shows the risk of this approach. In the show’s terms, it depicts the very real risk of someone not understanding the “visions” they are dealing with, because they are completely, literally, alien to the visions they are shown. This actually feels like what Voyager should have depicted a lot more. Fish out of water in an alien part of the galaxy, trying to do what they feel is right. Chuckles attempted to help, not fully realizing how another species would handle it. This is solid stuff, and great a basis— Seven’s cold blooded attempts to help, and later when Neelix comes to Seven, her severely limited ability to read his extremely severe emotional state rings 100% true to her character. This is really good stuff.

As the very comment above says, this episode started off on a very promising note. Neelix snuffed it. Oh no. How sad. Champagne for everybody! Then they revived him, 18 hours later... - because neurons don't degrade or anything. Well, it was nice while it lasted. In fairness, yes, the premise is very, very interesting. Unfortunately, the Neelix character is so unlikable (or at least polarizing) that getting past that antipathy in order to engage with this story arc borders on the impossible. Come to think of it, I don't know if any main character could've pulled it off. They're all too one-dimensional and forgettable (other than Tuvok and the Doctor) that, honestly, you could bump off any of them and they'd not be missed in the subsequent episodes. Maybe Lameway or Paris or even Harry "Can't-Get-A-Lock-On-Anything" Kim could've done it and it would've served to add a dimension to their character (so they'd be 2D rather than 1D) but too late now, I guess. Anyway, I skipped the episode when the Big Oaf Chakotay started his buffalo mind-trip. This is the kind of a story that would've worked fantastically in Battlestar Galactica. Now THAT show knew how to develop characters that were complex and interesting, and that the viewer actually cared about and wanted to know more about.

Neelix, like most of Voyager, was such a colossal wasted premise. Consider his backstory developed through really solid outings like Jetrel and Fair Trade. The character whose overexubrance (to the point of annoyance) is a mask for someone who has lived a life of tragedy and misery. Who clings to his jailbate girlfriend like he clings to his new shiny Starfleet crew, desperately aware that he'll never be worthy of them, that one day he'll become the scrap peddling hobo again he always knew he deserved to be. Mortal Coil could have been something of a turning point for this character, a midpoint to his arc. But while a decent outing, nothing ever coalesces and Neelix just spins his wheels in his Kookie the Klown persona for another three seasons. And Ethan Phillips had the talent to pull ot off too. What a waste.

The Real Trent

IMO this episode is a masterpiece. One of my favorite classic films is Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and Whispers". Set mostly in a dimly lit bedroom, it watches as a woman tortuously dies of cancer in a secluded house. While she dies, some women watch over her and attempt to ease her suffering. One of the women is an atheist, the other a fervent Christian. Throughout the film, the non-believers treat the dying woman in a cold, dispassionate, dehumanizing way, while the believer overflows with grace, hope and kindness. Bergman was himself a militant atheist. His father was a Lutheran minister, and the elder man's oppressiveness, lies, outbursts, and the alliances between the church and the Swedish monarchy, led to big feuds between father and son. When his father lay on his death bed, Bergman refused to visit him. He gave the old man the coldest of shoulders. When his father finally died, Bergman then felt overwhelmingly guilty. The man who'd raised him, who loved him for decades, died believing his son cared not about the old man's suffering. "Cries and Whispers" was intended as an apology, the message being that atheism can lead to a kind of nihilism, or dehumanizing or anti-social behavior. The dying woman in Bergman's film is a good woman - not as brutal as Bergman's Lutheran father - but even she is not worth much attention from the film's non-believers, who view all life and death with a kind of cold, existential shrug ("You're suffering? Eh, what's the point?"). Voyager's "Mortal Coil" presents the inverse of "Cries and Whispers". We watch Neelix - who essentially believes in heaven, God and an afterlife - happily going about his daily routine. He helps people, and is always cheerful, always content in the knowledge that his dead loved ones are in "paradise", and that the "religious" fairy tales he tells a sleepy child are true. Neelix then gets zapped by technobabble, dies, loses faith in the existence of "paradise", and promptly becomes suicidal. He suffers a kind of subjective destitution, hopelessness, and experiences what Saint John famously called a "dark night of the soul". The episode climaxes with the lesson of the big early 20th century existentialists (Sartre, Camus etc); if nothing matters, everything matters. Neelix resolves to build paradise in the real world, aboard Voyager, helping others and minimizing suffering where he can. The spiritual fantasies which under-girded his spiritual behavior aren't abolished, but reconfigured. Existentialists like Sartre and Camus both admitted that their philosophies boiled down to something as absurd and irrational as religion (human behavior is only ever rational - if at all - within contexts that are themselves irrational). But in the face of what Camus called the only serious question - suicide - both nevertheless advocated "the absurd courage" of living and "helping". In the real world we saw similar trends; 19th and 20th century utopianism dovetailed with a loss of faith in the church, with, ironically, both secular and religious factions then degenerating into the callousness Bergman warned about. What "Voyager's" "Mortal Coil" shows is what happens when that secular "spirituality" (an oxymoron, yes) works out perfectly. God is dead, but the Federation lives; here's your duty roster and some replicator rations. Go forth and do good work! And so in the way Neelix promptly finds something life-affirming, meaningful and "spiritual" in working aboard "Voyager", "Mortal Coil" may be the most Roddenberry of all Trek episodes. This episode not only celebrates community, service and pro-social behaviour, but implicitly links this to the "death of God", and some kind of weird-ass, well-oiled techno-bureaucracy. Thus far - and if we ignore Chakotay's awful "religious episodes" - "Voyager" has been excellent at "existential" or outright "religious" episodes ("Emanations", "Sacred Ground", "Death Wish", "Mortal Coil"). "Mortal Coil" is the best of these. It's script in particular is perfectly structured. First we see Neelix tending to his community. This segment is filled with lots of symbolic dialogue. The first words are "thank you", Neelix is always "at your service", is preparing for the Talaxian "Celebration of Family", says "since it means so much to you, I'll do it" to a trio of crewmen, and his attempts to "open the eyes of the crew" (coffee stimulants in Kim's case, new foods in Seven's case) is ironically juxtaposed against his own spiritual blindness. Neelix then dies. Like "Emanations", it's science which brings him back from the dead, but here given a sacrilegious bent; the Borg - linked to devils and satan in "Scorpion" - with their genocides and their deadly takes on community, fill his veins and resurrect him. Seven then tries to talk smack to Tuvok: SEVEN: Too much importance is placed on death. There seem to be countless rituals and cultural beliefs designed to alleviate their fear of a simple biological truth. TUVOK: I take it the Borg have no fear of that biological truth. SEVEN: None. When a drone is damaged beyond repair, it is discarded. But it's memories continue to exist in the Collective consciousness. TUVOK: You are no longer part of the Collective. You are mortal now like the rest of us. Does that disturb you? SEVEN: My connection to the Borg has been severed, but the Collective still possesses my recollections, my experiences. In a sense, I will always exist. TUVOK: Fascinating. That must be a great relief. SEVEN: Yes, it is. Tuvok's sarcasm is razor thin and razor sharp. The guy's ten steps ahead of Seven, but never lets on. The middle section of the episode turns Neelix into a kind of zombie; he's alive-but-dead, overwhelmed with ennui and depression, and made to visit his own corpse on the holodeck. This scene is implausible - why would Chakotay subject Neelix to this? Is Starfleet so desensitized to death? - but also brilliantly demented. Played matter-of-factly, it's one of the most sinister scenes in all of Trek. Chakotay then gets some good, obligatory scenes designed not to offend believers ("Maybe we brought you back before you could visit heaven" etc), delivered with poise and compassion. We then get several great sequences, best of which is Neelix suicide attempt via transporter, and his argument with Chakotay regarding the futility of existence ("Your function on this crew is diverse. That's what Seven said about you! Even our Borg understands how important you are on this ship. It's not just the duties you perform, it's the way you make people feel when you're around."). This is a raw, naked, powerful and very sad scene, and probably the most emotional and visceral piece of Trek acting. Off the top of my head, only "Duet" comes close. Also special are scenes in which Neelix quietly "gets his affairs in order" prior to committing suicide. It quietly dawns on the audience that this is a man who's already committed to ending his life, and it's a shocking and sickening realization. The episode's final scenes then echo its first. Family and community are restored, and one's place within it, and also a new kind of belief. I'd say this episode's only flaws are some unnecessary technobabble, and some heavy-handed dream sequences. Other than that, I thought it was one of Voyager's best. Jammer's main complaint is that nothing carries over from this episode to the others, and that everything is too quickly resolved, but I think these facets have led to the episode aging really well. It's like a very good, self-contained short story.

As others have said, it's strange that this resurrection technique was available for the rest of the series but never utilized again. Perhaps it's because of how unstable it is and that the person could spontaneously die again if the nanoprobes were maladjusted at any given moment. It would also mean that Seven would be the source of people's resurrected life and if she ever died then they would all die. I can only theorize. What is never addressed is how Neelix makes the transition from relying on the nanoprobes to seemingly never using them again. His existential crisis is averted temporarily in the transporter room but then we never return to this issue in later episodes, even in passing! That's what was unfortunate about Voyager. Rather than characters having cumulative psychological and physical damage from their time in the delta quadrant, the beginning of each episode is a magical reset. Even the ship itself looks as perfect as it did the day they left space dock. I think of a show like Battlestar Galactica. By the end of the series the ship was falling apart, the formal roles in society had all but vanished, and the boundaries between life and death were blurred forever. Everyone was scarred. Where are the scars in VOY? There aren't any. The only indications of trials overcome are in the memories of the viewers, not in the characters. Did Neelix need the nanoprobes forever? Did his body successfully take over? Why did Seven never use this technique again? A few lines of carefully placed dialogue could've resolved this. But... you know... magic reset button.

Hey, you've got to shoehorn Seven into the story somehow, right? As Skabob said above, they could have easily have just had the Doc revive him after 15 or 20 minutes and told the same story. But instead of doing that we now have the audience "why don't they just use nano tech?" every time some one is injured or killed.

@Grumpy_otter "What's really sad about this episode is that it proves Ethan Phillips is capable of providing a subtle, thought-provoking, and nuanced performance as Neelix. So the nightmare that has been Neelix is not his fault." https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-voy/s4/mortal.php#comment-1400 Even if your commet is 15 years out of date it was indeed valid. Now I must say that Chakotay is somtiems irritating me in the same way as the Nelix character but of a much much lesser degree. His esoterical / spirital approach does not always suit me. But here it works. His talking to Nelix convincing him to continue was very touching and convincing to me. Both Philip's and Beltran's acting are convincing and fine. A very thoughtfil and well executed episode over the diffuclt themes belief /doubt and suicide.

A very good episode but it points up one of the problems with a series that is made up of independent episodes. Everything has to go back to zero by the end of the story, and that precludes there being much ongoing development for the characters. Neelix "should" be permanently affected by having died, resurrected and then finding himself dealing with the challenge to his faith, but by next week, he'll be "Neelix" again without a sign of having been through the test of this story. That matter of "putting everything back in its place" by the end of each week's story is an ongoing problem with "Voyager." How many comments in these thread complain about "the reset button"? It's one of the reasons why Deep Space Nine is the superior series. DS9 developed a collection of ongoing stories within which the characters evolved over time. The best example was Nog who went from mischievious juvenile delinquent to Starfleet officer and was on track to become the first Ferengi Starfleet captain by the end of Season Seven. Damar is another example. But DS9, along with Babylon 5, were harbingers of the current age of the "ongoing saga" and marked a departure from the "one story; one episoode" format that held sway for decades. That's why in 2023, we can binge stream a series of DS9 shows, and they will generally hold together. By contrast, poor Voyager bounces from one new context to the next without a lot of logic in the transitions from one episode to the next.

dangerboy616

When I played Star Trek: Elite Force back in 2001 I never could get very far because every time I got the photon grenade launcher I couldn't resist lobbing one at Neelix.

This was an interesting episode. I know many people believe in an afterlife, and even many nominal Christians do, but that actually isn't supported by the Bible. I find that such unbiblical beliefs can be damaging. I think of the little girl's ideas too-many teach their children to believe in santa claus, the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, and other things-I know for me, that would be pretty damaging to trust if I was told something my parents, and trusted adults, only for it to not be true-to be honest, I remember when I got in trouble for something that I didn't do (and my parents were sure I did do) and how traumatizing it was to not be believed. I know as an adult that they genuinely made a mistake and really thought I was guilty. How much more so if it were something they told me because everyone does it. I realise that the afterlife falls into the former category and that does who espouse it truly believe in it, but it is why I use the Bible as my guidebook to life, not man's thoughts, or man's way of rationalising

@ Sean, I don't suppose it's worth asking what you make of Matthew 22:23-33 (taken from the Jehovah's Witness translation): "23 On that day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came and asked him: 24 “Teacher, Moses said: ‘If any man dies without having children, his brother must marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers with us. The first married and died, and having no offspring, he left his wife for his brother. 26 The same thing happened with the second and the third, through all seven. 27 Last of all, the woman died. 28 So in the resurrection, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her as a wife.” 29 In reply Jesus said to them: “You are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God; 30 for in the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but they are as angels in heaven. 31 Regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living.” 33 On hearing that, the crowds were astounded at his teaching."

@Peter That's a good question. The Bible speaks of a resurrection in many passages, for example John 5:28,29. So, those who have died that are in Jehovah God's memory will live again. But while they are dead, they are unconscious-not knowing or feeling anything in an afterlife as Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 says. But again, as Acts 24:15 says, there will be a resurrection. That is where I look forward to seeing my dead loved ones again. I really feel for people that have lost spouses, close friends, and relatives in death. At my age, I am fortunate to have my entire immediate family still living, but I know that if they die, the resurrection will be theirs, just as is the case for many friends that have died over the years. Thanks for asking, Peter G

@ Sean, To be clear, the contextual relevance of my question was in your comment that there is no afterlife, when the resurrection mentioned in those gospel passages IS the afterlife (i.e. the only kind Judeo-Christians are talking about).

@Peter G I'm confused. How do you define "afterlife"? Most people I speak to think of it as the soul living on somehow after death, not being brought back to life

@ Sean, "I'm confused. How do you define "afterlife"? Most people I speak to think of it as the soul living on somehow after death, not being brought back to life" Most people would define it simply as you are not utterly annihilated when you die. Anything at all that fits that criterion would be an 'afterlife'. What variety of afterlife would depend on a lot of factors. Afaik the only people who would not at all believe in any afterlife would be either materialists (particularly atheists, but not exclusively) or maybe Buddhists since it is possible in Buddhist to cease to exist as well.

@PeterG Then, that is what I said-under that definition, there is no afterlife. There is a resurrection, but while one is dead, they are not existing anywhere

@ Sean, "Then, that is what I said-under that definition, there is no afterlife. There is a resurrection, but while one is dead, they are not existing anywhere" I don't see how "the resurrection occurs after some delay" can (in plain English) translate into "there is NO afterlife." That being said, the idea that they are not existing anywhere in between is addressed in 1 Peter 3:19-20, also taken from the JW translation: "16 Maintain a good conscience, so that in whatever way you are spoken against, those who speak against you may be put to shame because of your good conduct as followers of Christ. 17 For it is better to suffer because you are doing good, if it is God’s will to allow it, than because you are doing evil. 18 For Christ died once for all time for sins, a righteous person for unrighteous ones,+ in order to lead you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 19 And in this state he went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who had formerly been disobedient when God was patiently waiting in Noah’s day, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water."

@PeterG Peter, I would LOVE to talk to you about this some more in a format that would be more conducive to discussion. Would you like to email me sometime? My address is [email protected]

Andrew Eastman

18 hours and 3 days.... “To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,” Before Shakesperare wrote of “shuffling off this mortal coil” in Hamlet’s famous soliloquy “To be or not to be”, Moses wrote of going to death as “sweeping” to a “sleep”: “Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.” NOG: Don't you get it? I can't go out there. VIC: Why not? NOG: I'm scared, okay? I'm scared. When the war began, I wasn't happy or anything, but I was eager. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to prove I had what it took to be a soldier. And I saw a lot of combat. I saw a lot of people get hurt. I saw a lot of people die, but I didn't think anything was going to happen to me. And then suddenly Doctor Bashir is telling me he has to cut my leg off. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. If I can get shot, if I can lose my leg, anything could happen to me, Vic. I could die tomorrow. I don't know if I'm ready to face that. If I stay here, at least I know what the future is going to be like. The Ferengi character Nog realised his own mortality in a deeper way after losing his leg in a combat situation. Death scared him, and the fact of its uncertain timing, he sought refuge in fantasy. He sought security in familiarity and what he felt comfortable in. This kept the idea of death away, at least for a time… In the Star Trek:Voyager episode called Innocence, Drayan children who realise they are facing imminent death, ask the Vulcan, Tuvok, if death is it, or if there is more: TRESSA: The scrolls say we should be happy. That when we die the energy inside us is set free. CORIN: Is it true? Is that what really happens? TUVOK: Vulcans believe that a person's katra, what some might call a soul, continues to exist after the body dies. ELANI: Do you believe that? TUVOK: When I was younger, I accepted it without question. In recent years I have experienced doubts. I do believe there is more in each of us than science has yet explained. TRESSA: I know we should have more faith. It's wrong to be afraid of death. Tressa says she should be happy because the scrolls say so, and she should therefore believe it so. The actor who played Captain Kirk in the original series of Star Trek, William Shatner, once interviewed the actor who played Captain Sisko in Star Trek:Deep Space Nine, Avery Brooks, in a film called The Captains: WILLIAM SHATNER: What happens when you die? AVERY BROOKS: Mm.. tell me... WILLIAM SHATNER: I wish I knew AVERY BROOKS: Mm WILLIAM SHATNER: Do you have a thought? AVERY BROOKS (playing jazz, the song “I Wish I Knew” by Harry Warren on the piano) WILLIAM SHATNER: It could be good. It could be bad. (listening to the music) That makes me smile. AVERY BROOKS: (smiling) I wish I do. One fan commented on the video in the Youtube comments section: “I cannot state in words how much better this video makes me feel about my bottomless black hole of a life.” The main actors in a show that explored humanity and death, did not have any basis for believing in any sure thing after one dies. Death can seem like a bottomless black hole. In season 3 of Picard, episode 4 (No Win Scenario) Riker talks to Picard also about believing nothing after death, in burying his son Thaddeus, with a darkness all consuming forever and the accompanying grief: RIKER: We buried our son. I watched the coffin being lowered into the ground. It was only six feet, but it was so dark. It was like infinite, emptiness. You and I have travelled to the far reaches of space, and yet there’s nothing, nothing to prove to me that there is anything after, and I’ve tried to shake that… In the episode Mortality Paradox, in season 3 of The Orville, New Horizons, the crew discuss the idea of immortality and facing one’s own death, after meeting with a member of a species, that had “sped up their advancement” to become one with the cosmos and not experience death. ED: You know it’s interesting as far beyond us as those people are, there’s one thing we have in common- neither of us can fathom our own mortality. We all know we’re gonna‘ die, but it’s impossible for us to visualise it. GORDON: Oh I can visualise it. Yeah, big funeral, lots of people, weeping, wishing they’d been nicer to me. ED: I’m not talking about your funeral. I’m talking about your actual death. I mean, it’s impossible. KELLY: You think it would be like a black emptiness ED: Yeah, but even in that scenario, you’re still there, as an observer picturing that void. Non existence is beyond our capacity to imagine. KELLY: The only difference is they don’t have to worry about it. We do. BORTUS: Death is an essential part of life. It is a noble rite of passage. ED: Yeah, that’s the conventional philosophical wisdom, but it doesn’t work for me, never has. KELLY: You’d live forever if you could? ED: Yep. GORDON: Why? ED: I wanna’ see what happens. William Shatner who hosted the show The Unexplained, said in an episode, Mysteries of the Bible, concerning the bible, having inspired millions of people around the world, “not because of the answers it provides, but because of the questions it inspires us to ask... questions about life and humankind’s unique place in the Universe, questions that may forever remain, unexplained.” Jesus Christ did demonstrate a sure thing after death. He did supply answers, such as rebuking the Saducees who wrongly said there is no resurrection. He saw and knows what happens. He did provide an answer that death is not it, the end. We can be inspired that Christ did beat death. The evidence is, Jesus Christ faced death like we all do, but His bodily resurrection, showed death had no power over Him, to keep Him down. Belief and confidence in the resurrection is not a blind faith because the scrolls say so, but a belief that Christ beat death, as evidenced by His appearance to the disciples after He had been crucified and placed in a tomb. There was no black emptiness, non-existence or void for Him. Our knowledge of what happens after death, is based on Him, not speculation. For the Christian, there is a sure hope of an inheritance that cannot be destroyed by death. As the psalmist wrote: “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” The so called bondage of death will not hold. A resurrection of the body will be a reality, like Christ, as the psalmist wrote: “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.” The answer is to the question, “Is there anything after we die?” is in the evidence of the person of Jesus Christ rising from the grave. The BBC series, Doctor Who also looked at themes in relation to humans dying. DOCTOR: Death, where is thy sting? In the episode Oxygen, the Doctor asks this question in relation to humans that have lost their lives to space-suits which have taken over their bodies, after sucking all the oxygen out. Doctor Who is actually quoting the apostle Paul, who in turn was quoting the Jewish prophet, Hosea, who lived hundreds of years before. The apostle Paul asked the same question from 1 Corinthians 15:55 in relation to the bodies that will never die in the resurrection in the age to come. Paul wrote in answer: “Our dying bodies will have been transformed into bodies that will never die.” This is a sure thing, not a wish, again based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not trying to take refuge in a fantasy, or make believe world as Nog did in It’s only a Paper Moon. The DS9 episode It’s Only a Paper Moon, was named after the song by the same name- written by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. Part of the song, which was sung by Vic Fontaine played by James Darren, has lyrics: “Say it's only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me.” Believing in Christ, who was resurrected, is not believing in “make believe,” wishing it to be true to try and ease the imminent death of ourselves and others. Christ is not a paper moon of our own creation. Paul wrote about a fulfilment of Scripture of our resurrection of the dead when Christ returns, also written by the Jewish prophet Hosea, many years previously: “O death where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting?” (Sheol being a Hebrew name for “the place” of death) Science can “stall” death, and help make our lives longer, (as we see with the increasing average age of people in many countries where allied health services are good), but science can never ultimately stop death. Deng Thiak Adut, said in an Australia Day speech on 21st January, AD 2016: “To know real fear gives special meaning and yearning to being free of fear.” Even though he was speaking about fear in the context of Aboriginals yearning for their rights in their land (unfinished business), it is also generally true of all fear. The actuality of a looming death, brings fear, even to those who may have “strength” from intelligence. REMNANT: You can't save them. We smell your fear too. The strongest of all. DOCTOR: You want fears? I've got a dozen lifetimes' worth. In another Doctor Who episode, The Doctor uses a metaphor of death as a shadow “creeping up” on people, and then overcoming them. DOCTOR: You begin your life, and it begins a journey towards you. It moves slowly, but it never stops. Wherever you go, whatever path you take, it will follow. Never faster, never slower, always coming. You will run. It will walk. You will rest. It will not. One day, you will linger in the same place too long. You will sit too still or sleep too deep, and when, too late, you rise to go, you will notice a second shadow next to yours. Your life will then be over. Later he stated: DOCTOR: But I. Er, I can't actually see a way out of this. I've finally run out of corridor. There's a life summed up. Oh, now this is new. I'm scared. I just realised that I'm actually scared of dying. And admitting he really was afraid of dying... DOCTOR: I told you I was scared of dying. And I wasn't lying either. Advantage, me! In the AD 2009 movie Star Trek, the Kobayashi Maru test devised by a young Spock was meant to see how a potential captain reacts in the face of imminent death. In the test scene, Kirk munches on an apple and acts calmly in the face of death, to the surprise of those conducting the test. He had knowledge that he would overcome the normal, expected result, and hence showed no fear. KIRK: I don't think you like the fact that I beat your test? SPOCK: Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test. KIRK: Enlighten me again. SPOCK: The purpose is to experience fear. Fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear, and maintain control of oneself and one's crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain. Kirk “beat” the test by installing a “subroutine to the programming code.” Hence he did not face the prospect of certain death in the situation presented. The so called “unwinnable” simulation test was beaten. However, knowing one will die in reality, not a simulated test, does not bring any advantage to beat death. Death will come. To try and ultimately beat death by one self is a no-win situation. Doctor Who admitted that he is afraid of dying. He is scared of death. He realises that his life is not, never ending, and when the “shadow” of death catches up to him, his life will be over. In the Doctor Who episode Heaven Sent, the writing is literally and figuratively “on the wall”. An ancient clay tablet with cuneiform writing, held in The British Museum, references a man called Belshazzar. The tablet is an: “administrative document (that) is dated to the 24th day of Kislimu in the 11th year of Nabonidus, King of Babylon’. It mentions a slave of Bel-sharra-utsur (Belshazzar), son of the king.” The tablet is a record of receipt for silver (balance of the price of slaves); the seller is Itti-Nabû-gūzu, courtier (ša-rēšu) of the crown prince (Belshazzar). We get the term “the writing’s on the wall” from the book of Daniel, who was a Jewish man who went with the Israelites into exile to Babylon. Daniel was brought to see Belshazzar (whose predecessor was King Nebuchadnezzar), on recommendation from Belshazzar’s wife, after mysterious writing had appeared on a wall. This writing appeared on a wall during a feast in which Belshazzar and many guests used gold and silver cups that had been taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, (during Nebuchadnezzar’s exile of the Jews) to drink wine from. As they did this, they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Daniel rebuked Belshazzar for giving praise to gods that: “neither see, nor hear, nor know anything at all. But you have not honoured God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! So God has sent this hand to write this message.” Daniel then interpreted the writing. “This is the message that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, AND PARSON. This is what these words mean: MENE means “numbered”- God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end. TEKEL means “weighed’- you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up. PARSIN means “divided” – your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.” Then we read what happened to Belshazzar: “That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.” In October 539 BC, the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon. Doctor Who knew his days were numbered, and so was scared. Death would come knocking. Being afraid of death is common to all people. Jesus Christ sets us free from the fear of death, for He died and rose again. “Because God’s children are human beings- made of flesh and blood- the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” TUVOK: We often fear what we do not understand. Our best defence is knowledge. We have knowledge of Christ's historical, bodily resurrection, not 18 hours , but three days after being crucified by the Roman military, under orders of Pontius Pilate. In the Star Trek : Voyager episode Mortal Coil, Tuvok has a conversation with Seven of Nine about the fear of death: SEVEN: Human attitudes toward death are perplexing. TUVOK: How so? SEVEN: Too much importance is placed on it. There seem to be countless rituals and cultural beliefs designed to alleviate their fear of a simple biological truth. All organisms eventually perish. At first Jesus’ disciples did not realise, or have the knowledge, that Jesus would not stay dead, so they mourned and were sad. Their fears were not alleviated. Jesus’ physical presence had left them. The One whom they loved had gone from them. DOCTOR : It's funny, the day you lose someone isn't the worst. At least you've got something to do. It's all the days they stay dead. The Doctor knows that death hurts those who are left, as those who have died are missed greatly by those who are still alive. Paul McCartney wrote in his song, Here Today, of the loss he felt over John Lennon’s death: “Well, knowing you You’d probably laugh and say That we were worlds apart If you were here today Ooh ooh ooh, here today But as for me, I still Remember how it was before And I am holding back the tears no more Ooh ooh ooh, I love you, ooh” Doctor Who did not have any hope of seeing Clara once she had died. The “worst” is “all the days they stay dead.” CLARA : Doctor, you are not the only person who ever lost someone. It's the story of everybody. Get over it. Beat it. Break free. What Clara does not state but possibly implies, is that there is no assurance of hope of seeing a loved one again, due to the no apparent basis of otherwise. In the Voyager episode Mortal Coil, Neelix’ belief on the “afterlife” is rocked when he dies for 18 hours, and does not meet his sister who had passed before. In a dream like state , during a “vision quest” such a belief is called a lie: NEELIX: When I died, I looked for you, but you weren't there. Why weren't you there? ALIXIA: Because it's all a lie. NEELIX: What do you mean? ALIXIA: You've wasted your entire life believing lies. The Great Forest? The afterlife? It's all created out of your fear of death. None of it's real. The writer of this episode, Bryan Fuller, brought his own beliefs in “nothingness” after one dies. He said concerning this favourite episode he wrote in Season 4 that there was “a great deal of me in that”. He went on: “What could be worse…than having your own dead grandmother come back and say- ‘you know there is no God. This is all a figment of your imagination, you’re going to die, and there’s nothing after. You disappear, and that’s that. See ya!’ So that one, I think, really speaks to many fears.” The apostle Thomas, who at first did not believe the reports that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead after three days, thinking such a “afterlife” was not real, had his beliefs shaken when he met the risen Christ: “Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” The historical record of the disciples meeting the risen Christ is real evidence of the so called “afterlife” or rather life after death. Their meeting him was not in a “vision.” In the book of Exodus, the Israelites were instructed: “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.” The physical resurrection of Christ, who the apostle Paul calls the “first-fruits” due to His resurrection and subsequent ascension, and fact of Jesus’ being never to die again. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Christ died once and for all, but beat death. Believers in Christ are not believing in a lie, and their hope of being with Him in a new body in the resurrection is not a hope built on a lie. In Mortal Coil, Neelix loses all hope at one stage, even though by the end of his life he is convinced to keep living. NEELIX: Eleven years ago, I saw my world in ruins, my family murdered. All that's kept me going is knowing that one day we'd be together again. That I'd see them again. But it's not true. And I can't live without that hope. Believers in Christ also are convinced to keep living in this world to do good, but do not give up on the hope in Christ. Believers have both reason to live now, and also a hope beyond the grave. In the episode called Innocence of Star Trek :Voyager, the Drayan character, First Prelate Alcia, greets the crew of Voyager: ALCIA: May this day find you at peace and leave you with hope. That's a traditional blessing from our ancient scrolls. After the disciples realised Christ was dead, it was as though they were without hope, as at that stage, they did not comprehend Christ’s words, and the ancient Jewish prophets’ words which had been recorded, that the Messiah would rise again. Christ was not lost. As one of us, He did experience death, but also did bodily rise, not just a spirit that exists in some other dimension, overcoming death. As believers, we do have hope in Christ that we will see those who have died again. We have hope that the dead in Christ will rise again to eternal life when He returns. We do have a basis of belief, and a precedent in Christ rising: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with Him the believers who have died.” As Paul the Apostle wrote elsewhere to the Christians at Corinth: “we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself.” Orosius, the historian, commented on the ancient Roman, Pliny the Younger’s observation of Christians’ hope in the resurrection: “Moreover, he said that none of them, sustained by their harmless belief, thought death a matter of grief or of dread.” As Jesus promised and taught concerning believers in Christ and the resurrection: “And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.”

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Published Dec 16, 2015

Voyager's "Mortal Coil" Aired 18 Years Ago Today

Neelix, for much of Star Trek: Voyager 's first four seasons, provided comic relief. However, in " Mortal Coil ," episode 12 of season four -- which aired 18 years ago today -- the Talaxian character was at long last given his dramatic due. Neelix died, only to be brought back to life thanks to Seven of Nine's Borg nanoprobes. Neelix's resurrection wasn't without complications, as he struggled physically, spirtually and emotionally in the days after.

The episode was powerful, thoughtful, dramatic and featured a terrfic performance by Ethan Phillips. Here are some facts, figures and anecdotes about "Mortal Coil" --

• Speaking to StarTrek.com in 2012, Phillips said the following about "Mortal Coil": "That was the deepest episode for Neelix, without a doubt. It was there he threw away some of the crap he'd been hanging on to. It showed that all that really matters is now and how we treat other people. I think that and ' Jetrel ' were the best episodes for Neelix in terms of being deep and dramatic and showing the core of the character, where the mask dropped off and we got to see who he was."
• Chakotay, at one point, was going to be the character who died.

• The episode's title, of course, is derived from Hamlet , by William Shakespeare. "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,/Must give us pause..."
• Fans finally learned Wildman's first name... Naomi.
• Mention is made of Neelix's "lung." Thus the story carries forward the continuity set in motion in " Phage ," in which the Vidiians stole Neelix's lungs, with Kes then donating one of hers to him.
• Brooke Stephens made her TV acting debut playing Naomi in "Mortal Coil." She was later replaced by Scarlett Pomers.

• Robin Stapler, who played Neelix's sister Alixia, later married (and divorced) actor Alfonso Ribiero.
• "Mortal Coil" is one of 38 total episodes of Star Trek directed by Allan Kroeker. He's still an in-demand helmer, having directed episodes of Battlestar Galactica, Pushing Daisies (from "Mortal Coil" writer Bryan Fuller), Bones, Chuck, Covert Affairs and, more recently, Grimm, Defiance and the Brannon Braga-produced Salem .

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Mortal Coil

Neelix is accidently killed by a protomatter discharge on an away mission  and then "reactivated" by Seven's Borg nanoprobes. He finds himself in a deep existential and spiritual crisis, questioning his faith and the meaning of his existence,

Brooke Ashley Stephens

Nancy Hower

Robin Stapler

Cast appearances.

Kate Mulgrew

Robert Beltran

Roxann Dawson

Robert Duncan McNeill

Ethan Phillips

Robert Picardo

Garrett Wang

Episode discussion.

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Mortal Coil

"Mortal Coil" was the 80th episode of Star Trek: Voyager , the 12th episode of the show's fourth season, first aired on 17 December 1997 . The episode was written by Bryan Fuller MA and directed by Allan Kroeker MA .

• 2.1 Characters
• 2.2 Starships and vehicles
• 2.3.1 Mythological locations
• 2.4 Races and cultures
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• 3 Chronology
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Summary [ ]

Neelix dies.

References [ ]

Characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], mythological locations [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], technology and weapons [ ], materials and substances [ ], ranks and titles [ ], other references [ ], chronology [ ], appendices [ ], connections [ ], external links [ ].

• " Mortal Coil " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Mortal Coil (Star Trek: Voyager) article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 Odyssey class
• 3 Typhon class

Mortal Coil Stardate: 51449.3 Original Airdate: 17 December 1997

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Star Trek: Voyager: “Mortal Coil” originally killed a different character

By rachel carrington | jul 7, 2023.

The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Mortal Coil” put Neelix through quite a bit of trauma, but it wasn’t originally about him. 

In the fourth season episode, “Mortal Coil,” the series tackled the topic of death and the afterlife with Neelix being killed on an away mission. He’s brought back to life with help from Seven of Nine, but after nineteen hours of being dead, he’s devastated that he didn’t go to the Afterlife Talaxians believed in.

While this was a powerful episode for Neelix and tackled heavy topics, including attempted suicide, originally the pitch for this episode, from freelancer Kathy Hankinson, involved a death fetishist who tricks the Doctor into constantly killing and reviving them throughout the episode. That idea was nixed, but Rick Berman and his team were intrigued with the idea of exploring a death episode, according to Whatculture . So a different story was devised.

Star Trek: Voyager almost put little Naomi Wildman in peril…from her own mother.

The creative minds put their heads together and came up with the death of Ensign Samantha Wildman. She would be killed on an away mission, and the Borg technology eventually used by Seven of Nine for Neelix would be used to bring back Ensign Wildman. But her revival is much more frightful than Neelix’s.

In the premise, Ensign Wildman was a much darker version of herself, being more connected to death, which basically meant she wasn’t fit to be alive. Her daughter, Naomi, was her only connection to life, but that didn’t please the ensign. Instead, she tried to kill her, essentially to extinguish even the tiniest bit of light. The writers were excited about the idea. Rick Berman and the studio weren’t as they had reservations about a mother trying to kill her child. So, after a few more bumps along the way, the story went to Neelix.

While I understand Berman not wanting to focus on Ensign Wildman trying to kill her daughter, I think if they’d turned Wildman’s focus onto another member of the ship, this could have been a powerful episode as well. Wildman wasn’t a main character, and there could have been many follow-up stories, especially if Neelix had taken over as Naomi’s guardian. That could have possibly given him some better storylines as well.

Next. The Raven originally had a bloodier story to tell about Seven of Nine. dark

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