If I recall correctly the writing staff on Voyager should have known he was a charlatan, as he had been repeatedly exposed since the 80s.
I think they started receiving complaints at some point so they toned down the references to that part of the character later in the series, it was a big embarrassment at the time, considering Star Trek has always tried to project a progressive image.
This man was the Golden Indian … he made gold, he made money. It's about stolen voices … he blocked millions of dollars in funding to real Indian writers. We ended his federal funding and TV contracts, but he's still an Indian author, he sold more books than Vine Deloria, his work is still taught in schools and universities to Native and non-Native students. He died an Indian, his lawyer handles his estate and all its Indian royalties. At least this ends it for sure … it finishes his career as an Indian and an Indian expert. He's Jack Marks…not Jamake Highwater.
Remember that. He's Jack Marks … not Jamake Highwater. There never was a Jamake Highwater.[1]
IIRC, the whole Chakotay/Seven romance was the result of Beltran making some unreasonable demands in an attempt to get fired and the people in charge just deciding to to along with them.
IIRC, the whole Chakotay/Seven romance was the result of Beltran making some unreasonable demands in an attempt to get fired and the people in charge just deciding to to along with them.
LOL, it shows. I can't really think of a moment they had anything more than a passing interaction before that mess. Seven and the Doc had such a great chemistry.
IIRC, the whole Chakotay/Seven romance was the result of Beltran making some unreasonable demands in an attempt to get fired and the people in charge just deciding to to along with them.
I have a hard time believing Beltran's demands were unreasonable. They did nothing with his character. I dont blame him for being angry about it.
Go through all those auditions. Get the role as first officer. Then nothing. Compare Chakotay to any other first officer on Trek and his anger is understandable.
Also, if you want a good anti-Harry, reverse example of an auxiliary male characte on a sci-fi Show going from kinda mediocre to progressively more awesome as the show went on on please see Zack from Babylon 5. Guy goes from being little more than Garibaldi's security sidekick offering a few quips now and then to
helping stop a fascist takeover of the station by pulling a daring bait 'n switch on the bad guys,
eventually gets promoted to security chief over Garibaldi (and ends up being way better and more competent at the job too), briefly dates
Lyta the telepath and offers her encouragement when nobody else will
and then in the series finale gives one of most amazing, and tear jerking speeches of all time.
Apparently the showrunners were going to get rid of him for this very reason (and they were adding Seven of Nine and felt the show didn't have room for an additional character without getting rid of one) but then he was featured in... People's?... sexiest people alive issue and they reversed the decision and booted Kes (Jennifer Lien) off the show instead.
You have got to be kidding me. Just when I think I've seen it all when it comes to examples of Berman, Braga and their ilk being awful and incompetent.
Yup, my respect for Kate Mulgrew went waaaaay down after I found out about that. Just makes Janeway seem even more unlikeable and bland. Also it's really irritating that Jeri Ryan and Seven got dogged for being "just added for sex appeal" when the show's storylines and conflicts actually got better thanks to Seven of Nine. If it weren't for Seven, the Doctor and Tuvok the show wouldn't be worth watching.
Kim and, at least according to this thread, Kes are the only truly useless/pointless characters. I liked Kes though, there was a nice sort of naivety to her and Jennifer Lien is cute. But she's not a very good actress. :(
Also, if you want a good anti-Harry, reverse example of an auxiliary male characte on a sci-fi Show going from kinda mediocre to progressively more awesome as the show went on on please see Zack from Babylon 5. Guy goes from being little more than Garibaldi's security sidekick offering a few quips now and then to
helping stop a fascist takeover of the station by pulling a daring bait 'n switch on the bad guys,
eventually gets promoted to security chief over Garibaldi (and ends up being way better and more competent at the job too), briefly dates
Lyta the telepath and offers her encouragement when nobody else will
and then in the series finale gives one of most amazing, and tear jerking speeches of all time.
You have got to be kidding me. Just when I think I've seen it all when it comes to examples of Berman, Braga and their ilk being awful and incompetent.
Yup, my respect for Kate Mulgrew went waaaaay down after I found out about that. Just makes Janeway seem even more unlikeable and bland. Also it's really irritating that Jeri Ryan and Seven got dogged for being "just added for sex appeal" when the show's storylines and conflicts actually got better thanks to Seven of Nine. If it weren't for Seven, the Doctor and Tuvok the show wouldn't be worth watching.
She was the first female captain. And then the showrunners go and put Seven of Nine on her show. I'd be upset too. It was Mulgrews show and it was clear why she was there.
She wasn't happy that her show, which she was the captain, was completely going against what she wanted for her show. There were a lot of people that didn't think a female Captain could be successful without the "sexy" elements that was all over television at the time and all kinds of horrible sexist statements. Halfway through the show, she is put on the sidelines for a young and beautiful model that wears a skintight catsuit that is also dating the producer of the show.
It was unprofessional of her to have been public about those feelings with the cast and it wasn't Jeri Ryan's fault at all (Seven actually ended up being the most interesting character on the show, imho, and Ryan was a good actress to boot). But you can kind of see where Kate Mulgrew was coming from. I think Chakotay's actor wasn't happy with Jeri Ryan either (but he wasn't happy about anything). They all seem on good levels now.
This is the first time I've heard that the guy was constantly stoned. What I'd heard was that he clashed with Berman and Braga early on, and the latter decided his character would never be promoted or advanced in any way.
I only heard about it five or so years ago myself. It was at a con he was hosting that I was told by another person why his role in show was as weak as it was. Why he never did an director job while the others had etc.
He was demoted from his position as Chief Engineer because Janeway wanted to make her one and only concession to her new terrorist Yes Man First Officer, and promoted Chakotay's Engineer over her own. Even though B'Elanna Torres had just demonstrated her "teamwork" skills by breaking Carey's nose and nearly killing him. Remember kids, if you want to get noticed at work, simply assault your superior officer!
And then, after seven years of diligently doing his duty without complaint, Carey was tragically murdered. And when Future Janeway decided to rewrite the timeline because too many of her friends got killed the first time around, the time she picked for her destination was one week after Carey's death. Janeway never gave a damn if the guy lived or died.
Honorable mention: The rest of the Maquis on Voyager.
They got dragged along, and there was an episode about how Janeway successfully integrated them into her crew like one happy family.
A couple of years later, one of them was seen scrubbing plasma conduits, ostensibly the worst job on the ship, unsuitable for even holograms. Yeah, that's the kind of life that waits for you when you march under Janeway's flag. She'll make a big show about how great and valued you are, before assigning you to scrub the toilets when everyone's attention turns away.
Carey was never demoted; Voyager had a chief engineer who was killed when the Caretaker took them. He was the assistant to the chief engineer and the one who made the most sense for the position on paper though.
He was demoted from his position as Chief Engineer because Janeway wanted to make her one and only concession to her new terrorist Yes Man First Officer, and promoted Chakotay's Engineer over her own. Even though B'Elanna Torres had just demonstrated her "teamwork" skills by breaking Carey's nose and nearly killing him. Remember kids, if you want to get noticed at work, simply assault your superior officer!
And then, after seven years of diligently doing his duty without complaint, Carey was tragically murdered. And when Future Janeway decided to rewrite the timeline because too many of her friends got killed the first time around, the time she picked for her destination was one week after Carey's death. Janeway never gave a damn if the guy lived or died.
She was the first female captain. And then the showrunners go and put Seven of Nine on her show. I'd be upset too. It was Mulgrews show and it was clear why she was there.
I don't think Seven ever diminished Janeway's role- in fact they had a lot of great scenes together where Janeway acted as mentor.
Janeway was like the opposite of sex appeal. Remember the episode where she and Chakotay are considering having sex on an isolated planet? I'm still cringing.
Also I love that even though they're supposed to be low on power they can use the Holodeck because of some bullshit about it having it's own separate power that they never tapped into
en.wikipedia.org
