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SST438: A bolt of energy from a protomatter nebula kills Neelix, and eighteen hours later Seven of Nine brings him back with Borg nanoprobes. He wakes up alive, grateful, and shaken, because the Talaxian afterlife he has believed in all his life, the Great Forest where everyone who loved you waits, never appeared. What does a man of faith do when death seems to have shown him nothing?

Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Jason Tyler, and Jimmy Akin take on “Mortal Coil,” the 12th episode of Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, in which Neelix dies and finds no afterlife. The verdict lands in the middle: a strong premise and some of Ethan Phillips’ best work as Neelix, undone by an ending that trails off and is never mentioned again. Fr. Jason points out that someone talked back from suicide does not wake up the next day with their mental health restored, and the panel contrasts Voyager’s reset button with the lasting consequences Deep Space Nine was giving its characters at the same time.

The conversation turns to the questions the episode raises and never answers. Was Janeway obligated to approve the revival? Jimmy and Fr. Jason both say yes: with no prior wish to the contrary, a simple, available procedure is ordinary care. Does coming back mean you were never really dead? Jimmy, who is teaching a course on near-death experiences, explains why real medicine now revives people hours after clinical death, why cooling and controlled reperfusion matter, and why the episode’s numbers look dated. He also takes on Neelix’s real problem: most people revived after cardiac arrest report no near-death experience at all, and he lays out how a character could have answered Neelix without dismissing his faith.

Along the way, the panel covers protomatter‘s history from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Seven’s claim that her memories make her immortal in the Borg Collective (cold comfort, as with the Trill symbionts in DS9’s “Invasive Procedures”), Naomi Wildman’s rapid aging into a recurring character, and Chakotay’s vision quest, which turns Neelix’s sister Alixia and his crewmates against him. They also ask whether a first officer can order a crewman to talk through a religious experience, and where the “silly old story” Neelix tells Naomi leaves his faith.

The episode closes with listener feedback on “Amok Time” and a letter on why classic Trek has more rewatch value than new Trek.

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