Beltran: Being Vocal About Chakotay

[TrekToday]

Star Trek: Voyager‘s Robert Beltran wasn’t happy with how Chakotay was used on Voyager, and was vocal about this displeasure in hopes of having the character improved. At first, the powers-that-be listened to Beltran. “During the Michael Piller-Jeri Taylor years, they listened intently,” he said. But the willingness to listen to Beltran’s complaints stopped with [...]

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[Avon]

so its the producers fault beltran's a wooden actor? did he want chakotay improved from 'pine table' to 'oak dresser'?

 

[Ian Keldon]

I think Beltran makes excellent points.

 

[R. Star]

It's not Beltran's fault the Chakotay character was never fleshed out beyond every insulting native american cliche you can think of.

 

[Timewalker]

Maybe he should have actually done some acting. If I were Janeway, I'd have wanted to be stranded with ANYBODY else other than Chakotay on "New Earth."

 

[R. Star]

Maybe he should have actually done some acting. If I were Janeway, I'd have wanted to be stranded with ANYBODY else other than Chakotay on "New Earth."

That's irrational. The foundation of a great character is built by the writer. The actor then enhances that. You could have had Sean Connery or George Clooney or whoever as Chakotay and he still would have been cliche, wooden and boring, because that was how he was written.

For example, I think Janeway is certifiably insane. I don't blame Mulgrew for that, she played the lines as told. The people who wrote those lines are responsible for that.

 

[Timewalker]

Maybe he should have actually done some acting. If I were Janeway, I'd have wanted to be stranded with ANYBODY else other than Chakotay on "New Earth."

That's irrational. The foundation of a great character is built by the writer. The actor then enhances that. You could have had Sean Connery or George Clooney or whoever as Chakotay and he still would have been cliche, wooden and boring, because that was how he was written.

How is it irrational if I think Robert Beltran is a crappy actor?

Look at the example of the 1984 David Lynch Dune movie and the later TV miniseries. Jurgen Prochnow played Duke Leto Atreides in the David Lynch movie, and William Hurt played Duke Leto in the miniseries. Jurgen Prochnow is THE definitive Duke Leto. He was PERFECT. William Hurt was as bland and boring as cardboard. Yet they spoke the EXACT SAME LINES, or a paraphrase of them.

A better actor than Beltran could have done something with the Chakotay character to make him less boring, less predictable. It wasn't all the fault of the writers.

 

[Deckerd]

Let's face it there was only one well written, developing character in the entire series. The rest of them were either all over the place or completely in a rut.

 

[Pindar]

The moral of the story is really never put Braga in charge of anything.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It is always Braga's fault.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Some people just don't change over seven years. Chakotay was one. It's unfortunate that the character was given to an ambitious actor.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

If he was all that ambitious he could have tried looking devastated when he found out about Seska's betrayal. Instead he looked he took home the wrong drycleaning.

 

[Lynx]

Beltran is right in his statements and I really admire him for having the guts to speak out instead of crawling for those in charge.

As for the character, Chakotay is a great character who could have been much more with better writers. There were hints of what might have been in seasons 1-3 but after that Chakotay was shoved aside with the most of the cast members, except for Seven, The Doctor and Janeway.

As for Beltran's acting, I find him a good actor.

 

[Mage]

Both parties can be blamed.

Beltran can act, he proved that in the beginning. He has sublety, he can deliver. The thing is, he got bored. Rightly so perhaps, since the show's focus changed and became about the dynamic trio Janeway/Doctor/Seven.

However....
I got bored at work sometimes. I still give 100% of what I can give, because that's my g**d***ed job. And Beltran himself stated that at the end he was just saying his lines without much gusto. So, although I can understand that he got bored, acting is still a job. And he got payed for a job. So either quite and find a new job, or STFU and do what you are getting payed for and stop being an attention whore.

 

[propita]

Going by reports of how lively Beltran is in real life, any alleged "woodenness" in his acting would therefore NOT be his normal state. IOW, he would be acting as the character was written and as he was directed to act.

A poster commented on the two versions of "Dune"; how the lines were almost identical but the results were vastly different. The poster assigned fault to an actor. But this says nothing about what the director is ordering on the set during filming, and what orders the director has been given by the studio/producer/etc.

I've read that, in Voyager's case, orders came down from above that the actors of human characters were told to act far less emotionally, so that the non-human characters would be different. I don't know if this is true, but think about it--volatile B'Elanna is sedate; Janeway is clearly emotional only at the extremes (making her appear a bit nuts); Tom/Chakotay/Harry are so downplayed, the actors are accused of not being able to act; Tuvok has an excuse; Neelix is transformed into a clown. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Seven get to chew scenery. I'm not blaming those two actors--why wouldn't they want the opportunity to act?--but if the others were directed to act like their characters are sedated, you can't blame them for doing so and likely being pretty unhappy about it.

 

[The Dominion]

I wouldn't say Beltran was the best actor ever, but he did have personality when he was allowed to show it. My earliest impression of him in the series was that he was like a more subtle, disciplined version of Riker. The problem with his character was that he didn't really have a role to fill for much of the show. Just barely.

The Maquis presence dwindled so much that B'Elanna felt like virtually the only Maquis crew member on board by season 3. Chakotay was the leader and head representative of an impalpable demographic. They cold have made B'Elanna the sole Marquis stowaway and changed the plot device that drew Voyager to the Badlands, and hardly anything would have changed. Chakotay had nothing to do but sit by Janeway and grin for seven seasons, there really was no use for his character.

 

[Captain_Nick]

I've noticed that in Next Gen as well. Riker is only good for two things - raising shields and having sex with women.

 

[R. Star]

Part of it was also that Janeway got the spotlight so often, that she's the female captain, all must look upon her in adoration, Chakotay by default was pushed into the background.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Chakotay had nothing to do but sit by Janeway and grin for seven seasons

Heh, this struck a bit of a chord with me. Something I've always remembered about Chakotay after the first couple of seasons is that if one were to "take a drink", as they say in the world of drinking games, every time the camera trots over to his face just to see Beltran giving an "assuring smile" (or something), one would be quite drunk after a handful of episodes.

It's almost as though the writers had little notes attached to a bunch of the scripts.

"We need to make Robert earn at least a smidgen of his pay, so we've enclosed this request for you, the director, to reassure the audience that Chakotay is alive, well, and approves of whatever technobabble plan is underway. Please be sure to remind the audience that he is smiling at the crew's jokes, curiosity and eagerness. Do this at least twice, please. We can't think of anything else to do with him this episode.

PS
If you can do something about Harry, that'd be great.

 

[lurok]

Just recently watched The Fight for first time in years and disliked as much as ever. God, that's a bad episode. That Boothby continuity error is horrendous even by VOY standards (within half a season - wtf?). But made me dream how much better would have been if they'd done that nuBSG boxing setup instead. So much pent-up antagonism to release, and would have loved to have seen Tuvok vs Neelix or Seven vs BLT. Any other grudge matches?