Template:Realworld After being killed on an away mission and then revived by Seven's Borg nanoprobes, Neelix is left questioning his beliefs of the afterlife.
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 protomatter nebula, which Neelix is very intrigued about. After putting Naomi Wildman to bed with dreams of the Great Forest, Neelix joins the away team. While in the nebula, the protomatter transport goes awry and a beam of energy strikes Neelix, killing him.
Act One
- "Captain's log, stardate 51449.2. After receiving a distress call from Commander Chakotay, we've sent a beacon into the nebula and we're in the process of tracking down the away team."
The Doctor pronounces Neelix dead, but Seven proposes a revival procedure using nanoprobes from her bloodstream. After discussing it with the Doctor and Captain Janeway, Janeway 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. Neelix insists on continuing preparations for his planned celebration of the Talaxian festival of Prixin.
In his quarters, Neelix 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.
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, as he was taught and promised. Chakotay tries to console him, but Neelix is convinced that he was dead, and his beliefs were myths.
Act Three
Tuvok addresses a bustling celebration in the mess hall with the traditional salutation. Paris and the party toast Neelix. He's distressed but puts up a front, telling Chakotay he's fine now.
Janeway entreats Seven to join the festivities by chiming into a discussion. Seven disturbs Ensign Samantha Wildman with images of Borg maturation chambers. Wildman excuses herself and talks with Neelix, who proceeds to tuck Naomi into bed. Naomi insists on a tale of the Great Forest, which Neelix proceeds to relate disheartedly, though Naomi said she had dreamed of 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
Neelix goes to astrometrics and long-windedly apologizes to Seven, implying he may be leaving. 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.
- (Log entry made by Neelix) "And finally, Mister Tuvok. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to win your respect. Your strength and your wisdom were an inspiration to me, and I can only hope that your memory of me will serve to inspire you in some way. It was an honor to spend my last years on Voyager, with this crew. I want to thank all of you for your kindness and companionship. Goodbye. Computer, end log and code for delivery to Captain Janeway in one hour."
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 stalls Neelix until Ensign Wildman arrives to ask Neelix to tuck in Naomi again by explaining that Neelix's vision may have just been a reflection of his own anxieties. Neelix hands Chakotay the tricorder.
Neelix then tucks in Naomi, who sleeps with dreams of the Great Forest.
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Memorable Quotes
"Dead?"
"For 18 hours, 49 minutes 13 seconds. Congratulations, Mr. Neelix. You've just set a new world record."
"You mean that I was unconscious, 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, it was her idea."
"Your idea?"
"The Borg assimilated the procedure, I just improved upon it, but you are welcome."
- - Neelix, Seven of Nine, and The Doctor
"Duty calls."
- - Neelix, recurring
"I didn't ask to be brought back!"
"You were dead at the time."
- - Neelix and Seven of Nine
"You will be assimilated."
"No time for that now, maybe later."
- - Seven of Nine and Neelix in a vision
"As long as I don't start assimilating the crew or sprouting Borg implants, I guess I can live with it."
- - Neelix, later on
"Suffice it to say the list is extensive."
- - Tuvok, during his "traditional salutation" of the first night of Prixin.
"Having fun?"
"No."
- - Janeway and Seven of Nine, on socializing
"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?"
- - Seven of Nine, Ensign Wildman and The Doctor, when Seven attempts small talk at the Captain's request
Background Information
- Naomi Wildman's first name is finally revealed in this episode (a year and a half after she was born).
- It is mentioned in this episode that Ktarians, like Klingons, are prone to growing faster than Humans.
- 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 is similar in some ways to "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 5th season episode "Night", where he is diagnosed with "nihiliphobia: the fear of nothingness" as Voyager travels through the starless black sector dubbed "The Void".
- During the resurrection process Seven of Nine mentions that the 'alveoli in his (Neelix) lung are regenerating'. This correctly corresponds with the fact that Neelix' original lungs were stolen by Vidiians in the episode "Phage". Afterwards, Kes donated a single lung to Neelix so he could live on.
- The Kazon are mentioned in this episode for the first time since "Basics, Part II". Seven of Nine describes them 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 Monthly 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.
- The shot of the transporter pad as Neelix begins to transport off the ship is virtually identical to the shot from "Caretaker" when Neelix first beams aboard.
Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 4.6, catalogue number VHR 4627, 15 June 1998.
- As part of the VOY Season 4 DVD collection.
Links and References
Guest stars
Co-stars
Uncredited co-star
References
acetylcholine; akoonah; AMU; assimilation; autonomic bypass; bread; class 1 nebula; cerebral cortex; cheese; coffee; containment cylinder; containment field; cortical stimulator; death; Dunes of Talmouth; firenut blend; fruit compote; Gand sector; Great Forest, The; Grid 6920; Guiding Tree; hematological scan; Kazon; Kes; Ktarian; maturation chamber; medicine bundle; microgram; milk; mitochondria; monster; nacelle; nanoprobe; necrosis; Neelix (hologram); neuroelectric isopulse; neurotransmitter; nutritional supplement; pattern buffer; phase variance; pizza; Prixin; protomatter; root nectar; Shirk; spice; Species 149; Species 329; Talaxian; Talaxian-Haakonian War; tomato; vision quest
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Star Trek: Voyager Season 4 |
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