Darth Jar Jar was the original plan, Lucas changed it after the backlash against the character. He was supposed to be the new trilogy's foil to the goofy character in a New Hope, Yoda. Lucas has said that he was making the new trilogy rhyme with the original, no other character matches with that initial Yoda introduction. That is also why Grievous and Dooku come out of nowhere despite supposedly being big characters, to fill the gap.

Oh come on! Not a compelling story? He's a space scavenger, his people are nomadic because OF GENOCIDE, who are wandering space in search of a new home.

He's an ex-soldier, ex-criminal, who can't quite come to terms with his past because he wants to be morally and ethically good, he has SEVERE "people pleaser" issues and tries to be everyone's friend - BUT is not so weak that he can't fight or stand up for himself or his friends. He's multi talented, but doesn't always know when to reign it in and he serves as a motivational character for the Voyager crew who are lost in space -- and actually does a good job of it!!

This is the character of our generation. Wtf do you mean "not a compelling story"?

Bad acting? Actually agree, but you can also say that it's the mannerisms of his people, because it seems to be a mainstay that they are all sort of "whimsical forest creatures" - for lack of better terms - which could be a writeoff in terms of acting.

But Neelix is just so endearing to me. To see how Tuvok struggles to understand him or even accept him - being the "LoGiCaL VuLCaN" that he is - is just one of those Star Trek duos that's up there with Bashir and Garek, Kirk and Spock, etc.

He might not be everyone's cup of tea, but a bad character, bad story? That's boulderdash. Now cut a little jig and make a pot of space weavels - bring some light into your friends life, you low energy having, negative nancy ass bastards.

Be like Neelix.

You know what? The real world is filled with people like that. On any given day, you might be one. Embrace mediocrity.

Associate Producer

DAN SCHNEIDER

Darth Jar Jar was the original plan, Lucas changed it after the backlash against the character.

Was this ever confirmed? I just thought it was a fan theory.

That said, if Lucas had actually gone down this path, it would have totally redeemed Jar Jar.

Oh it's just a fan theory, but it makes sense and matches with comments Lucas has made with regards to the overarching themes. It also explains odd things the character does, which must have been intentional since he was a CG character.

Lucas will probably never confirm or deny it officially because it would confirm that either he got scared and made a huge mistake abandoning that plotline and making the story worse in the process, or that he made a bad character a pivotal linchpin of the storyline since Jar Jar is the deciding vote that gives us the Empire.

Still no

Tom Paris is the worst character on Voyager, fight me.

If you took a spoiled 6 year old from the 1950's and suddenly turned him into an adult, that child would be Tom Paris. He's overly childish, and not in a cute way. He character has practically zero depth. He's like Wesley Crusher if Wesley was an idiot.

Voyager cultivates the bio-neural cheese, making the smartest and most delicious cheese in the Delta Quadrant.

Cheese sales used for diplomacy, barter, and bribes. All Delta Quadrant species like this cheese.

Janeway, recognizing the power of the cheese to get home quickly, looks at a nutrient rich nebula in wonder saying "There's cheese in that nebula!"

Bio-neural cheese easily defeats borg nanos in one-on-one nano deathmatches. Whole borg cubes left disconnected and smelling of cheese.

Neelix makes a fondue that becomes sentient for a few days. Janeway establishes diplomatic relations with the cheese. Neelix is now the ambassador of cheese.

Voyager gets home in 3 years, with borg defeated. Multiple successful diplomatic first contacts, and trade deals. Dramatic increase in all cheese related technology, and basic civil cheese rights across the Federation.

Robert Picardo ended up exactly where he was needed.

Neelix is awesome.

Yeah it's like they were going to give him a strong character arc by showing him growing up side by side with Harry Kim... But then the writers forgot to actually grow their characters. So they're just children the whole time.

Robert Picardo even says this

Edit: also this, meant only as a jest 🖖 :

Tom Paris was a pseudonym. His real name was Nick Lacarno and he got kicked out of the academy while Westley Crusher was there.

Balderdash* no boulders were harmed.

The thing about Voyager is all the characters kinda suck but all the actors portraying them were pretty fucking great. Excellent cast; film school writing.

Tuvok danced for him on the last episode

Nah, all those dancing swimsuit ladies are of legal age.

"Please state the nature of the acting emergency."

A pseudonym cleverly concocted to avoid paying royalties to Naren Shankar, the writer of TNG 5x19: The First Duty, who was let go after TNG finished its run.

Bashir and Garek, Kirk and Spock

How about Quark and Odo? I love both of these stick-in-the-mud cop vs lovable rogue duos!

Quark and Odo <3

Lower decks squashed that theory.

That's like saying Brunt of the FCA and Weayun are the same person.

Lower decks is barely canon, much like Clerks was barely a movie.

/s

Wesley Crush is already really shallow character like the rest of tng

Look, Lower Decks might have featured another person with the same name as Nick Lacarno, but that guy looked completely different, so it was obviously a new character.

He was better on Benson.

HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS ABOUT NEELIX

He's also responsible for all the awful Captain Proton episodes that I always skip.

Yep, that's one of the main reasons I compare him to a 6 year old from the 1950's.

Tom Paris is the kind of character that would sleep in a racecar bed and think it made him cool.

"if" doing a lot of heavy lifting there

He should have played Picard.

Ah yes, Captain Robert Picard.

Like Boimler, I don't see the resemblance between the two.

EDIT: Posted too soon as I see someone else made basically this same joke below. Leaving it here as both a testament to my unoriginality and to save everyone from thinking that God deleted my comment

Avenue 5 was taken from us too soon. I'm just glad that we got to see douchey-Josh-Gad sorta reprise his role in Wonder Man.

pan flute music intensifies

"bitches", is what I assume is the end of that sentence. You bring shame to Jonathan Frakes.

I wouldn't say it's bad acting? It seems right in line with an anxious people-pleaser who doesn't know when to quit. I thought he was spot on.

…new headcanon unlocked.

tom paris is imo easily the most forgettable character amongst the main cast

There's so much comedy in the Quark/Odo relationship that's played perfectly and isn't at the expense of either of the characters.

The uptight lawman/morally good criminal will-they-wont-they frenemyship is one of my favorite dynamics in the show and is up there with Garak/Bashir or even La Forge/Data.

Yup! He was only familiar with TOS and assumed the Spock-type role would go to Tuvok (not an unfair assumption to make).

Only near the end of the Voyager game did I realise there was a tab for tom paris logs, I'd gone the whole game missing them. What a pleasant discovery that was.

Neelix is a subdued, cerebral character compared to what I've seen from the Starfleet Academy show's trailer.

Besides, it's called a mess hall for a reason.

The thing i do like about tom, is that hes a pilot, and wants to be a pilot. Making a hot rod shuttle, building old muscle cars on the holodeck. Wanting to enter a star race... just wants to go fast.

I think he could act, but that's the only part I disagree with.

But he is so goddamn unbelievably annoying.