Every series tends to have a character who’s main purpose is to explore “human spirit”, through the eyes of anther species.
- Spock
- Data (and maybe Worf)
- Odo
- Neelix
I always thought it was the Doctor more than Neelix. He was more comic relief.
They were both comic relief. The Doctor was better because his character was a deeper, more developed character that viewers cared more about, so the humorous situations he was placed in had more depth and situational resonance.
Neelix was a sight-gag first and a character second. For an actor, that’s a lot to work around. Certainly, Phillips was the guy for the job, and he had his spotlight moments in the series, but he was only really an endearing character sometimes and mostly at the end of VOY’s run. How his character was painted in the first three seasons made it really hard to like him at all. The writers eventually did his character right, but he’ll never be as beloved as other characters, especially the Doctor.
Edit: Phillips, on the other hand, has earned his place as ST royalty.
Star Trek has never been afraid of tackling the concept of “otherism” head on, challenging preconceptions, especially addressing when human society behaves badly, even shamefully.
It’s one of the things that makes it so good. Content that makes you step back and genuinely question yourself and your assumptions is objectively good content - change my mind
