Much like any franchise that’s been around as long as Star Trek has, its various series have made some… let’s just call them controversial choices. Whether it’s the Star Trek: The Original Series episode where Kirk and Spock visit a Nazi planet or the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine installment where Sisko tacitly agrees to falsely blame the Dominion for a bombing they didn’t commit, the show has constantly sparked conversation amongst both the series fandom and the larger world of pop culture. But nothing compares to the (still!) ongoing debate about Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvix, which has essentially become the franchise’s ultimate ethical debatecnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Many (most?) Star Trek fans probably know the basic beats of this plot. In the Star Trek: Voyager season 2 episode “Tuvix,” crewmembers Tuvok and Neelix are sent on a mission to collect some botanical samples. But when the pair beam back aboard the USS Voyager, the two are accidentally merged into a single being. Though he is a perfect combination of the personalities of the two characters who formed him, the newly created Tuvix has a personality all his own and quickly becomes a trusted member of the crew. He lives among them for weeks while the Voyager team searches for a way to reverse the accident, and when a method is finally discovered, Tuvix refuses. He, quite naturally, doesn’t want to die. So it falls to Captain Janeway to make an impossible choice, decreeing that Tuvix must die so that Tuvok and Neelix might live. (Not for nothing, she also performs the procedure herself, after the Doctor refuses on moral grounds.)But did Janeway choose correctly? Should Tuvix have gotten the chance to live? Is his life somehow worth less than the characters who were accidentally sacrificed to create him? The story raises questions regarding everything from identity and personhood to the impossible burdens of command, so it’s not that surprising that many people are still passionately arguing about this story to this day. Even up to and including the series’ stars. Speaking at the recent Trek to New Jersey convention, Voyager stars Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ were both asked about Tuvix and the controversial circumstances surrounding his death, and stood firm behind the captain’s choice.“Janeway did the only thing she could do,” Mulgrew said. “Was she going to keep Tuvix over those two guys? I loved those two guys. Easy choice. Had to make it look tough. But easy, easy. Thank you for that question. Is there a follow-up about God, or sex, or something?”Asked about Janeway’s decision during his own panel, Russ not only agrees with her actions but also points out how difficult having to make said choice in the first place must have been for her. (Loyal to the end, that Tuvok.) “Yes, [Janeway] did make the right decision, absolutely. Sorry. Her responsibility is that of her crew—the health, safety, and welfare of her crew. That is the captain’s responsibility,” he said. “So you know, the very last end shot in that episode, when she walks down the hall after the sick bay doors close, the look on her face tells you everything right then.”But just because two of Voyager’s stars have weighed in on the moral dilemma at the center of this episode doesn’t mean the debate surrounding it will die down any time soon. (It certainly hasn’t thus far!) A season 4 episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks made its own attempt at addressing the issues at the center of this story, and a forthcoming survival game (Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown) will let players decide for themselves whether to let Tuvix live.The idea of Star Trek as a sort of futuristic morality play has been embedded into its DNA practically since its inception. And “Tuvix” is perhaps the Platonic ideal of this sort of story—one in which there is technically no wrong answer, just a set of uncomfortable choices and characters who have to live with the consequences.The post Thirty Years Later, We’re Still Debating Tuvix’s Fate on Star Trek: Voyager appeared first on Den of Geek.