Chakotay's Animal Guides

[GulBahana]

I just watched the first season episode where Chakotay teaches Janeway about animal guides. What do you all think of this? Did this go too spiritual for Trek? Does anyone know what Beltran thought of this?

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's a Peyote machine that constructs a hive mind.

1. Borg, much?

2. Chakotay was stoned, on the bridge, how often?

 

[Refuge]

I loved it.

I would like a wolf as mine but suspect I wouldn't be so lucky.

 

[cosmic mouse]

It's a concept that I wish had been explored further in the series since I enjoyed that first foray into the spirit realm.
I suspect my spirit animal would be a cat (if they exist and despite my avatar)...

 

[Refuge]

It's a concept that I wish had been explored further in the series since I enjoyed that first foray into the spirit realm.
I suspect my spirit animal would be a cat (if they exist and despite my avatar)...

Yeah, I recall asking folk what animal they would like and what they would actually get. I figured I would actually end up getting a house cat.

 

[NovaStar]

I thought it was pretty neat. They don't do much with it though. I don't think Beltran quite enjoyed it because from what I know, the Native American they hired to help them better understand the culture was a fake.

 

[Dukhat]

I just watched the first season episode where Chakotay teaches Janeway about animal guides. What do you all think of this? Did this go too spiritual for Trek? Does anyone know what Beltran thought of this?

It was exactly what Star Trek Voyager needed to be different from past Treks. Unfortunately the producers and writers decided to go in completely the opposite direction later, drop the spiritual aspects of the show, and go right back to the technobabble bs everyone was already accustomed to from TNG.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I just watched the first season episode where Chakotay teaches Janeway about animal guides. What do you all think of this? Did this go too spiritual for Trek? Does anyone know what Beltran thought of this?

The only thing I've heard Beltran (repeatedly) say about that aspect of his character is that he wish he could've broken that flute that was always playing in the background as soon as he started doing anything spiritual.

 

[at Quark's]

Spirituality -to me- is discovering what your inner core is, what your relation to the universe /the others / The Other/ is.

I don't see too much of that in their vision quests - not saying it wasn't there, but it seemed to focus on the 'wow look at them, now they're contacting animal guides!' factor. Which made it seem more 'new-age-y' than 'spiritual' to me.

In that sense, I thought the EMH actually came a lot closer to it with his repeated 'am I really only an algorithm, or am I something more? What is my purpose for being?'- crises.

 

[Lynx]

Nothing wrong with Chakotay's spiritual rituals. I only wish that the writers would have studied Native Americans beliefs and customs before making up Chakotay's background and beliefs.

One strange thing: In most of the Voyager books there are hints that Chakotay's animal guide is a wolf, cougar or bear. But in the book "Pathways" by Jeri Taylor, his animal guide is a snake!

Nothing wrong with a snake but for Chakotay I would have gone for the bear.

As for me, if I have an animal guide, then it must be a lynx!

 

[gakelly]

Why make Chakotay a caricature of a Native American?
The writers were so lazy that they just fell on the stereotypes that people have concerning Native Americans and just threw those out there every chance they had when they were writing about Chakotay.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Chakotay's spiritualism could've sparked what I wanted on Voyager was to create their own sub-culture; I would've loved to be introduced to more of Chakotay's Animal guides and how that guide would effect others or related to personnel other than humans.

 

[Refuge]

It amused me that Janeway's was a gecko... Janeway really did seem to have a connection with lizards It was also funny that Chakotay reckoned B'Elanna tried to kill her guide

 

[Zander]

I think the animal guides are a bit of harmless fun. Too spiritual for Trek? Ehh... a little stereotypical perhaps (the Native American character is into spirituality and flutes play whenever he is around...) but having spiritual elements in Trek helps show the diversity of other cultures they encounter. Not everyone's going to solely follow science.

I like how Chakotay tells Janeway you don't get to choose your spirit animal; it chooses you. So everyone wanting cool animal guides may have to suck it up, lol. I wanted a tiger but when I tried a Chakotay-style meditation (complete with flute sounds, of course), I ended up with an elephant

 

[Refuge]

I think the animal guides are a bit of harmless fun. Too spiritual for Trek? Ehh... a little stereotypical perhaps (the Native American character is into spirituality and flutes play whenever he is around...) but having spiritual elements in Trek helps show the diversity of other cultures they encounter. Not everyone's going to solely follow science.

I like how Chakotay tells Janeway you don't get to choose your spirit animal; it chooses you. So everyone wanting cool animal guides may have to suck it up, lol. I wanted a tiger but when I tried a Chakotay-style meditation (complete with flute sounds, of course), I ended up with an elephant

I think elephants are magnificent! You should be proud

 

[publiusr]

It amused me that Janeway's was a gecko... Janeway really did seem to have a connection with lizards It was also funny that Chakotay reckoned B'Elanna tried to kill her guide

That's funny.

I wanted a tiger but when I tried a Chakotay-style meditation (complete with flute sounds, of course), I ended up with an elephant

Roll Tide and carry on.

Mine was Bear Bryant