By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Part of what makes Star Trek cool is that, like all good sci-fi, it forces viewers to consider perspectives that are very different from their own. After all, when characters like Kirk and Picard go in search of a new life and a new civilization, they don’t always find beautiful glasses of Earth culture. Often, they find worlds that are unknown in every sense of the word, filled with beings whose values are very different from those of humans.
In VoyagerThe clash of values came to a head in the Season 2 episode “Elogium.” This B-episode was concerned with whether or not Neelix (Ethan Phillips) and Kes (Jennifer Lien) were ready to have children, a discussion that became more intense as he faced a Ponn Farr-like mating drive. That seems related enough on paper, but the two have a considerable age gap way beyond problems. You see, Kes was only one year old in this episode, which cemented Neelix as (by human standards) the galaxy’s biggest sex nuisance.
The Bridegroom Has It
IA The plot of “Elogium” has to do with a ship trying to eliminate a mass of space filters that keep draining energy from vital areas like helmets and shields. In structure B, the wave somehow creates an early elogium in Kes. This is the name their people (the Ocampa) use for a special mating cycle when they feel the urge to reproduce. It usually only occurs in four or five year old Ocampa. Kes is only one year old, and she and Neelix are considering having children. They ultimately decide against it, and Voyager’s successful escape from the mess frees Kes from their influence.
These days, Kes’s age is a source of dark humor for Star Trek fans who joke about Neelix being a creeper by having a one-year-old girlfriend. Interestingly, screenwriter Kenneth Biller (whose success on “Elogium” earned him a position on the show’s staff as executive news editor) revealed that the producers were concerned about discussions about Neelix and Kes having sex.
In interview no It’s cinematicBiller revealed that he “wanted them to stay together and do it, but Jeri [Taylor] and Rick [Berman] he had some concerns about being so young.” Collectively, producers are concerned, “Are we sending the right message to say they’re screwing up?”
Alien Sex: It’s Even Stranger Than You Think
Finally, the producers assured Biller that “it would be more interesting if we showed the time they had to face first.” However, he felt that the idea that Neelix and Kes had not had sex was implausible, and was not given when “Elogium” was broadcast. You see, this episode was recorded for Season 1 but ultimately pushed back to Season 2. “I thought it started to feel unbelievable and weird to tell the audience almost a year later that these people have never had any kind of sexual relationship.”
Biller finally accepted that what may seem strange to us will not be strange to aliens. “Who knows what Ocampa mating is?” he asked. “Because they didn’t have a sexual relationship, it’s open to discussion and people can believe what they want.” These words became truly prophetic: decades later Voyager aired its final episodes, fans are still questioning whether or not Neelix and Kes had an apparently intimate relationship.
Neelix and the Week-Long Erection
Biller enjoyed that Kes’s story doubled as a metaphor for teenage pregnancy, but he particularly liked how the episode “tried to play with the weirdness of the opposite sex.” This included that the couple would have to be imprisoned for a week before any action: “he saw Neelix’s face that he would have to keep it for seven days.” Sadly, the show never returned to this level of sexual tension between the two characters again; they would later break up in Season 3 before Kes left the show to open Seven of Nine, arguably the biggest source of sexual tension throughout Voyager.
To this day, “Elogium” remains a Star Trek enigma. Like Voyager The episode, A Plot does a good job of showing how strange life on the final frontier can be, making for an interesting plot twist. Its IB Plot, on the other hand, focused on an Ocampan biological quirk that would give Neelix a pass to impregnate his one-year-old girlfriend. In that way, this obscure episode of Star Trek gives Neelix a new title. He was already a cook and a moral officer; now, thanks to “Elogium,” he’s also the biggest, sexiest nuisance in the entire Delta Quadrant.
