Signed up just to jump in on this interesting conversation as I'm doing a non chronological rewatch of Voyager right now.
Going back to the conversation about what makes Neelix a terrible character - writing or performance. Is he written as a hapless boob, or played as a hapless boob, I want to compare with Rom, who most certainly was written as a hapless boob for at least the first four or five seasons of DS9, but from that hapless boob, Max Grodenchik was able to pull pathos and strength and love and courage, which was then reflected in the writing as Rom began to escape from Quark's dominant personality and got the reward he deserved in his marriage to Leeta and eventually becoming Grand Nagus. In fact, amongst all the amazing characters of DS9, I think it is Rom who develops the furthest from first to last episode. That is an example of a talented actor taking a character who exists for pure slapstick comedy relief and forcing the writers to develop the character through their on screen ability to connect with viewers. Rom and Leeta is a million times more believable than Neelix and Kes, and not just because of the rather silly Talaxian make up job. You can tell in every shot that Rom is head over heels with Leeta, whereas not once did I ever believe that Neelix felt a thing for Kes.
The fact is that the writers of Voyager didn't abandon Neelix. He didn't leave with Kes which would have been a very opportune time to get rid of the character. They kept him around and kept giving him chances to develop, less frequently as time went on, but he still gets more to do than Tuvok or Chakotay. Yet with all of that, Neelix almost never improves in terms of watchability. That has to lie with the skills of the actor, regardless of the writing. When you watch Voyager, you get the feeling that the only reason Neelix isn't just kicked off the ship is simply to spare his feelings because, far from being a good morale officer, more often than not he's actually an emotional drain on everyone around him, always needing reassurance or to be taught a lesson or to be tolerated for his over the top interpretations of everything.
Even that could have been worked into an excellent relationship with Tuvok a la Spock and McCoy which is what, I think everyone was aiming for, but Spock and McCoy worked because their barbs were mixed with grudging respect, while Neelix's needling of Tuvok often comes across like childish teasing. Neelix is indeed written like a child that everyone else has to parent, and it's rather embarrassing when Naomi Wildman comes across as more adult than him in scenes right next to him. And then it's made explicit in The Haunting of Deck 12 where Neelix is relegated to childminder for an entire episode - and it's probably his strongest outing.
