Stardate 49655.2: Tuvok and Neelix are sent on an away mission to collect samples of vegetation from a nearby planet. When they are beamed back up, a transporter glitch combines them into one being, a Vulcan-Talaxian fusion that eventually calls itself Tuvix. Tuvix has the knowledge, memories and personalities of both Tuvok and Neelix, from Tuvok’s expertise and logic to Neelix’s quirky emotions and his love for Kes. Despite the crew’s concerns about their two comrades, Tuvix is perfectly healthy and resumes both Tuvok’s tactical duties and even some of Neelix’s cooking. After several weeks, the doctor comes up with a means of splitting Tuvix back into his component parts, but Tuvix himself refuses to undergo the procedure. Janeway struggles with the implications of a decision that could amount to executing Tuvix to bring Tuvok and Neelix back, but Tuvix tries to convince the crew that the captain is about to commit murder.
teleplay by Kenneth Biller
story by Andrew Shepard Price & Mark Gaberman
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay ChattawayCast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Biggs-Dawson (B’Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Tom Wright (Tuvix), Simon Billig (Hogan), Bahni Turpin (Swinn)
Original title: Symbiogenesis
LogBook entry by Paul Campbell