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TUVOK Family & Life Before Voyager
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TUVOK Family & Life Before Voyager
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LIFE ON VOYAGER, SPECIAL RELATIONSHIPS, INTERESTS AND MIND-MELDS
 [#13 Cathexis] | Around stardate 48734.2 Tuvok's body was taken over by the Komar, a trianic-based energy aliens who inhabit a dark matter nebula. While under their control Tuvok took Voyager into the nebula; the aliens intended to feed off the crew's neural energy for years to come. Torres prepares a magenton flash scan to reconfigure every sensor on the ship to emit a single burst at one moment to help locate the alien, and when this occurs it stuns Tuvok long enough for him to be subdued. The Komar then leave Tuvok's body. [#13 Cathexis]
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 [#26 Cold Fire] | In [#13 Cathexis] Tuvok suggested to the Ocampa Kes that he could help her focus her undisciplined telepathic abilities to better detect the hostile alien aboard more accurately using the Vulcan mind-meld (although the alien prevented that mind-meld). Tuvok and Kes had regular sessions which helped her recognise and focus her growing mental abilities. In [#26 Cold Fire] this went wrong and Kes accidentally boiled Tuvok's blood. |  [#26 Cold Fire] |
 [#44 Flashback] | When he first suffered the disturbing mental images of being unable to stop a girl falling to her death from a precipice [#44 Flashback], in his quarters Tuvok attempted a "keethara", a Vulcan term meaning "structure of harmony": a Vulcan meditates as he uses a special set of building blocks to build a such a structure. The blocks help to focus thought and refine mental control. The form of the constructed structure is not predefined but reflects the state of mind of the builder.
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 [#44 Flashback] |
 [#44 Flashback] |
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 [#44 Flashback] |
 [#44 Flashback] |
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| The Doctor believed that Tuvok was experiencing T'lokan schism which occurs when a subject is inhibiting a traumatic memory which begins to resurface. | |||
 [#44 Flashback] | Vulcan psychocognitive research suggests that the patient initiate a mind-meld with a family member to bring the repressed memory into the conscious mind. Janeway said that she is the closest thing Tuvok has to family on board and Tuvok requested that she enter a mind-meld with him and act as his "pyllora" during it - a pyllora is a guide that helps the subject reconstruct the memory in its entirety and objectify the experience, and they help the subject reintegrate the memory into the conscious mind; the pyllora is an observer and not a participant, so no one else but Tuvok would notice Janeway's presence as he relived the memory. [#44 Flashback] |
 Noss [#107 Gravity] |
Tuvok was the subject of Noss' romantic feelings [#107 Gravity]. They were just some of those drawn into a sinkhole where time ran faster inside the sinkhole than outside. Tuvok mind-melded with Noss immediately before saying farewell (pictured right). |  "Live long and prosper." [#107 Gravity] |
 [#56 Alter Ego] |
In [#56 Alter Ego] Kim approached Tuvok asking him to help him control his emotions and so overcome an attraction to the holodeck character Marayna. Marayna then switched her affections to Tuvok. He eventually learned that she was actually an alien in a space station who keeps a nebula stable so that her people can enjoy its beauty. |  [#56 Alter Ego] |
 [#1 and #2 Caretaker] | Tuvok meets Neelix [#1 and #2 Caretaker]. Tuvok first meets Neelix as Neelix experiences a transporter beam for the first time and is brought aboard Voyager where Tuvok meets him in the transporter room. Neelix finds the transporter "astonishing!" 
As the result of a transporter accident, for two weeks Tuvok and Neelix became one person; he/they rejected the name "Neelox" in favour of "Tuvix" [Tuvix]. More in: |  [#40 Tuvix] |
Neelix to Tuvok: "You have no feelings for me, but you have feelings against me. For three years you've ridiculed me, and made it obvious to everyone that you have no respect for me. And I've tolerated it. You know why? You know why? Because you are smarter than I am, Tuvok, and more logical and stronger and superior in almost every way. And I admire you. But you don't have any instincts, you don't have any gut feelings, and you don't really understand people." [#61 Rise]
 [#32 Meld] | To better understand the feelings of murderer Lon Suder (pictured left), Tuvok mind-melded with the Betazoid. But the experiment backfired as Suder's violent tendencies transmitted themselves to Tuvok. He suspended himself from duty and locked himself in his quarters which he trashed. |
| During his attempt to regain mental control, Tuvok ran a holodeck program in which he strangled the irritating Neelix after Neelix's effort to cheer him up proved too much (pictured right). |  [#32 Meld] |
 "I feel!" |
 "Oh, it must be working, because I feel very strong, very powerful, quite euphoric." |
Above and below: Following the transfer of violent impulses from murderer Lon Suder during their mind-meld, and with the failure of the Neelix holodeck program, Tuvok is forced to undergo neuro-synaptic therapy in sickbay - his powers of mental control and telepathic suggestion are removed, to compel him to work through his violent tendences and try to re-assert control. The screenshots show moments that occur during the therapy in which he insults Janeway and threatens the Doctor. At first it seems the treatment does not work, as Tuvok tries to execute Suder, but Tuvok's inability to complete the act of murder showed that his suppression systems were starting to function again. As a result, Janeway ordered him not to engage in mind-melds in future without her permission.
 "You are not invulnerable, hologram." |
 "Liar!" |
 [#30 Alliances] |
Tuvok is one of Janeway's most valued and trusted friends, and this she specifically mentions at the end of [#10 Prime Factors]. She goes to him when she most needs advice; for example in [#30 Alliances] (pictured), Janeway discusses the proposal that Voyager make an alliance with a Kazon faction. Tuvok illustrates his point by showing Janeway a hybrid flower he grew by grafting a Vulcan favinit plant with a South American orchid: "I doubted the graft would take and indeed the plant was sickly at first, but after a few weeks both plants adapted and became stronger than either had been". Janeway is holding a cup of hot Vulcan spice tea from Tuvok's replicator, which he gave her when she entered. |
In [#10 Prime Factors] Janeway tells Tuvok: "You are one of my most valued officers and you are my friend. It is vital that you understand me here. I need you. But I also need to know that I can count on you. You are my counsel, the one I turn to when I need my moral compass checked. We have forged this relationship for years, and I depend on it."
In an alternative timeline, [#76 and #77 Year of Hell], Tuvok and Seven became close, and when Tuvok was blinded Seven helped guide him round the ship. A braille control panel was installed for him at his tactical station on the bridge.
 [#81 Waking Moments] | The viewer is privy to Tuvok's nightmare - when summoned to the bridge he arrives having forgotten to put on his uniform; later Kim, Torres and Paris speculate what would constitute a nightmare for a Vulcan. Tuvok reluctantly tells Janeway what his nightmare was. |
Life on Voyager for Tuvok includes the occasional teasing and practical jokes inflicted by Tom Paris with accomplice Harry Kim. Tuvok does not share their amusement and reacts negatively, which increases the perpetrators' fun. Examples:
Paris: "What's wrong?"
Tuvok: "Someone has altered one of my holodeck programs. Again."
Paris: "Are you sure it isn't one of these malfunctions?"
Kim: "Everything on the ship's been affected including the holodecks."
Tuvok: "The Oracle of K'Tal isn't programmed to wear pyjamas."
Paris: "Maybe he overslept."
Tuvok: "I am not amused by your practical jokes, Mr Paris."
Paris: "Why do you always think it's me?"
Tuvok: "Mr Kim?"
Kim: "I'd like to claim credit, but I'm innocent."
Tuvok: "The next time I visit the holodeck I expect to find my program restored to its original parameters."
Paris: "I'm telling you, Tuvok, we didn't do it." Not convinced, Tuvok leaves.
Kim to Paris: "I wonder how the Oracle would look in a sombrero?"
EPISODE DATA INDEX: 
Tuvok's Mind-Melds synopses of Tuvok's mind-melds;"Live long and prosper" episodes in which these words are heard
