Tuvok
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About
Tuvok is the name of a character from the 1995 Star Trek series Voyager. The character is played by actor Tim Russ who was a main character that stayed with the series through all seven seasons. In the show, Tuvok fills the role that would normally be filled by Spock or Data, in previous Star Trek series, making him an essential protagonist. In meme culture, the appeal surrounding Tuvok comes from his dialogue, which, as a Vulcan, is meant to be very distinct and iconic, as well as his unique mannerisms and demeanor. This can be seen in various image macros that use either original quotes from the show or photoshopped text on top. Tuvok's facial expressions have contributed to his use in reaction images.
Origin
Tuvok first appeared in the first episode of the Star Trek: Voyager series, which debuted on January 16th, 1995. His character, a Vulcan,[1] was used as an outside perspective on humanity and how emotions interplay with moral and logical reasoning (similar to Spock). Because the show had seven seasons before it was off the air in 2002, an Internet-connected generation was able to see new episodes and discuss them online, creating early recognition for the character and series as a whole. Tuvok began appearing in memes around the early 2010s, as seen with the post by Cheezburger user SimonKTemplar[2] (shown below).
Spread
Being an ongoing series during internet imageboard infancy, Star Trek was one of the prominent topics in the time period. Tuvok, being a main character, received his own brand of online recognition, which gets refreshed every time the Star Trek series is re-released on a new streaming app, or new movies come out which drums up interest in the old IPs. With the release of Star Trek Picard, a lot of attention has been given to earlier Star Trek series, which helps memes of this snarky main character to continue proliferating online. This can be seen with the post on imgflip by the user Nox_venit[3] posted on February 26th, 2021 (shown below).
In May 2016 an Anonymous Imgflip user posted a Tuvok meme[4] that gained 20,128 views and 17 comments, the earliest recorded post of Tuvok on the site (shown below).
Various Examples
Top Comments
The Sea-Dumpling
Apr 26, 2021 at 09:22PM EDT
MIMU
Apr 27, 2021 at 07:34AM EDT