The bottom line is Tuvix had to go.

When explaining Voyager to friends and acquaintances, I often find myself reciting this familiar old trope:

"There's the right way, the wrong way, and then there's the Janeway."

This time Janeway did it the right way. So I'm with her on this one, all the way.

Voyager might have been a more interesting show with Tuvix in addition to Tuvok and Neelix.

Even then, canon offered several ways to orchestrate that outcome.

But if the writers were actually serious about that, I knew they likely would have positioned the episode as a season finale or premiere.

Somehow it looks even worse from a production standpoint.

Replacing Tuvok and Neelix with Tuvix would have been a gigantic slap in the face to:

- the characters
- Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips
- the rest of Voyager's cast, and
- the audience

for multiple reasons each.

It comes down to CONSENT.

Neither Tuvok nor Neelix would have agreed to be merged knowing it could not be undone, except under duress.

Even if The Doctor was certain upfront that it was safe and reversible, there's only a narrow set of circumstances in which they'd both do it entirely by choice.

What makes Janeway's decision hardest on the audience is that Tuvix is gigawatts more charismatic and compelling as a character than either Tuvok or Neelix.

We want to keep Tuvix around.

But the moral logic of this accidental sci-fi mishap cannot permit it to continue once it can be reversed.

I agreed with Janeway's decision from the moment it aired -- both for the reasons presented on screen and for several of my own.

I was 15 years old and near the end of my high school freshman year when Tuvix aired.

This was not a hard call for me then, and my position on it has not wavered since.

I'll be moving on from the Star Wars franchise, and haven't decided what's next.

I may turn my focus toward a writing project.

For now, all I want to say is this:

May the force be with you. We're going to need it.

I wanted to see The Rise of Skywalker alongside the other sequel films because of this:

Palpatine's role in the story is another data point confirming one of my longtime theories of what's happening to our country and the world.

Knowing nothing about the plot beforehand, I suspected as much.

This is just one person's critical opinion, and I am not here to convince anyone of anything.

We don't all have to be fans of the same things.

The Star Wars films are widely beloved landmarks of cinema and culture, and I have great respect that.

Here's why I've never been into the original Star Wars films:

1) They often come off as juvenile and lack narrative focus.

2) The moral binaries they set up feel too simplistic.

3) Star Wars frequently substitutes action in place of potentially more interesting things.