Tuvix

About

Tuvix is a character from an episode of the sci-fi TV show Star Trek: Voyager who is created when the main characters Neelix and Tuvok are combined in a transporter accident and is destroyed to bring back the main characters at the end of the episode. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the character gained popularity in Star Trek fan communities, especially in relation to memes about the unethical decision to kill him.

Origin

"Tuvix" was the 24th episode of Star Trek: Voyager's second season. The episode revolves around the ethical implications of Tuvix's existence as a new person made from two other people when he's created during a transporter incident that combined the crewmates Tuvok and Neelix. The ethical discussion reaches its climax when Captain Janeway makes the decision to sacrifice Tuvix to bring back Tuvok and Neelix, and Tuvix pleads for his life (shown below).^[1]

The earliest recorded meme about Tuvix was a piece of fan art (seen below) posted on July 14th, 2014, by Tumblr^[2] user kroykah, depicting Tuvix in the same style and post as Mario on the box art of Super Mario Bros. 2. The post was tagged "#JanewayMurderedTuvixAndNooneCanTellMeAnyDifferent" showing the ethical ramifications of the character were already the primary association fans had with him.

Spread

Throughout the mid-2010s, additional memes referencing Tuvix continued to spread online. The subreddit /r/TuvixInstitute^[3] was created on April 1st, 2016, when memes about Tuvix had become popular enough that there were complaints of oversaturation in more general Star Trek meme subreddits.

On November 4th, 2020, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replied to a tweet^[4] asking her about Tuvix's murder, saying she would need to rewatch the episode to weigh in on the ethics. The original tweet, as well as a reply by Kate Mulgrew (who played Captain Janeway), have both been deleted, but screenshots of both were saved before removal (shown below).

in 2021, official Star Trek spokesperson Jordan Hoffman wrote an article about Tuvix memes for Polygon.^[5] Many creators involved with Star Trek in general, as well as the episode in particular, were interviewed for the story. The article cites Ken Reilly, editor of the fansite TrekCore, as saying the memes "kicked into overdrive" in about 2016.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References