Actors make a lot more money than most of the rest of us do.
Robert Beltran complains... forever!
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
- Start date
Actors make a lot more money than most of the rest of us do.
Voyager was most of the cast's best job and what brought them fame, with the exception of Kate Mulgrew who was already a known commodity and who has continued to be successful. The second most successful actor from the show has been Jeri Ryan.
I doubt that Beltran has gotten a bigger paycheck in his career than the one he got for Voyager. It's OK to offer constructive criticism, but not OK to continually whine about one's job, particularly in such a competitive and tough field as acting. Many actors would have given a kidney to have the opportunity to be a regular in a Star Trek series. I like Beltran, but enough already with his complaining. If he hated his job that much he should have quit.
I doubt that Beltran has gotten a bigger paycheck in his career than the one he got for Voyager. It's OK to offer constructive criticism, but not OK to continually whine about one's job, particularly in such a competitive and tough field as acting. Many actors would have given a kidney to have the opportunity to be a regular in a Star Trek series. I like Beltran, but enough already with his complaining. If he hated his job that much he should have quit.
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Beltran has a lousier attitude and a dryer sense of humor than me, and I tip my hat to him.
He's one of my favorites to listen to at con panels on You Tube, because he almost seems to have turned his dislike for his old job into a Lewis Black-esque comedy routine. Though all of the Voyager actors have complaints about the show, great senses of humor, and hilarious stories to share. Seriously, don't even bother with the official DVD interviews, they're boring and fake compared to all the juicy information and funny conversations of the convention panels!
As for Betran's crimes against "Star Trek," he probably did things I myself would not recommend doing on your job. But that's his own problem, not ours. I don't judge celebrities any differently than I would judge my neighbors or co-workers. Beltran didn't go on any racist rant like Mel Gibson, or endanger a child like Michael Jackson and the Crocodile Hunter. If the worst thing anyone can say about the old Voyager cast is that Jennifer Lien did marijuana, Jeri Ryan had sex with someone, and Robert Beltran was kind of a dick, then congratulations, you just described my graduating high school class.
He's one of my favorites to listen to at con panels on You Tube, because he almost seems to have turned his dislike for his old job into a Lewis Black-esque comedy routine. Though all of the Voyager actors have complaints about the show, great senses of humor, and hilarious stories to share. Seriously, don't even bother with the official DVD interviews, they're boring and fake compared to all the juicy information and funny conversations of the convention panels!
As for Betran's crimes against "Star Trek," he probably did things I myself would not recommend doing on your job. But that's his own problem, not ours. I don't judge celebrities any differently than I would judge my neighbors or co-workers. Beltran didn't go on any racist rant like Mel Gibson, or endanger a child like Michael Jackson and the Crocodile Hunter. If the worst thing anyone can say about the old Voyager cast is that Jennifer Lien did marijuana, Jeri Ryan had sex with someone, and Robert Beltran was kind of a dick, then congratulations, you just described my graduating high school class.
His acting fluctuated. Some episodes he gave a great performance, others he acted like he was possessed by Keanu Reeves. You were probably just remembering the former.
A lot of people do jobs where the only thing that their contributions really amount to is money in the bank. He just got a lot more of it than the average Joe does.
He had the same options the rest of us do. Quit and find something better. If he stayed for the money (understandable) that was his decision. No one made it for him. He should have sucked it up.
What is bad is the first few times I watched Voyager through I didn't notice how Chakotay sort of faded into the background. As long as he was there to do what the Captain said and had the occasional moment he was just not on my radar. I guess I am guilty of focusing on Seven/The Doctor/Janeway with moments of Paris and Torres focus (the last two not always together) and once in a while Kim. The character probably could have disappeared completely and I wouldn't have noticed. I didn't hate him the character. I just didn't notice him and I didn't notice that I wasn't noticing him...if that makes any sense.
If Beltran put more effort into his character, the writers would have followed suit. Worked for Picardo.
Actors do make more money than us but have notoriously bad job security.
Actors do make more money than us but have notoriously bad job security.
The writing on that show was bad for most of the characters. Chakotay's role was essentially "Janeway's whipping boy" and every Native American stereotype/cliché possible. Harry Kim spent most of the series getting dumped on by everyone (especially Janeway). Neelix, ugh I don't even want to think about him.
So yes, I can see why he was not happy. They really didn't do much with his character.
So yes, I can see why he was not happy. They really didn't do much with his character.
Yeah, I doubt that very much. It was the writer's who seemed to lack effort a lot of the time. And it's not like many of the other characters were much better.
Robert Picardo? I know him from older and younger shows.
As for Beltram: yes, it was both wooden acting and a boring character. I don't know if he was bad because they didn't give him anything to do or the other was around.
But there were a lot of things to complain about Voyager.
Most
of the characters were either boring (Kim, Chakotay) or annoying/cheesy (B'Elanna, Neelix) or both (Paris, Kes). I always found that very sad. Sometimes (rarely though) one could hope for something interesting. Like the last episodes with Kes. But at the moment when Kes became interesting, they kicked her out.
I remember Picardo when he was in China Beach. In fact when he showed up on Voyager my first reaction was "That's the Doctor from China Beach...
I knew Philips from Benson. I knew Robbie McNeil from TNG of course but had seen him before that. I looked him up ...he had guest spots on a lot of things in the 90s. Quantum Leap, L.A. Law etc...for whatever reason his stint on Murder She Wrote stood out the most. I remember thinking "I hope the cute guy isn't dead!"
Looking at Dawson and McNeil's list of directing credits I'm not so sure that I would call Voyager their 'best' job. Best acting job maybe but they both have gone on to have successful second careers.
I knew Philips from Benson. I knew Robbie McNeil from TNG of course but had seen him before that. I looked him up ...he had guest spots on a lot of things in the 90s. Quantum Leap, L.A. Law etc...for whatever reason his stint on Murder She Wrote stood out the most. I remember thinking "I hope the cute guy isn't dead!"
Looking at Dawson and McNeil's list of directing credits I'm not so sure that I would call Voyager their 'best' job. Best acting job maybe but they both have gone on to have successful second careers.
My point was not that the cast was totally unknown, but Kate Mulgrew was the one who had been the most successful one and continues to be so today. For most of the cast Voyager was their defining job, the one role for which the majority of people know them. Again, except for Mulgrew. She had already achieved a certain level of fame that started in her late teens when she was cast as Mary Ryan in Ryan's Hope. She had also been the lead in Mrs. Columbo and had appeared in movies, miniseries and quite a few TV shows by the time she was chosen to play Janeway. She can now add another iconic role to her long career with "Red" on OITNB.
On the other hand, Beltran had some minor roles and was not a known commodity when he was cast to play Chakotay. It was the highest paid role of his career to date. A little more gratitude and a little less complaining would have behooved him. In every job there's a chronic complainer, the more they complain the more the bosses dismiss him/her. Companies like team players. Having said that, I do like Beltran. I always hoped that he and Janeway would have arrived on Earth and become a couple (I choose to ignore the out of nowhere, last minute fling with Seven that TPTB concocted to raise ratings).
On the other hand, Beltran had some minor roles and was not a known commodity when he was cast to play Chakotay. It was the highest paid role of his career to date. A little more gratitude and a little less complaining would have behooved him. In every job there's a chronic complainer, the more they complain the more the bosses dismiss him/her. Companies like team players. Having said that, I do like Beltran. I always hoped that he and Janeway would have arrived on Earth and become a couple (I choose to ignore the out of nowhere, last minute fling with Seven that TPTB concocted to raise ratings).
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I discovered that gripe generator years ago. It's lots of fun.
I can`t agree. Robert Beltran is known for other roles before Voyager. Some of these movies became cultmovies and are still on the big screen, although they`ve been produced many years ago. They are also on Blue Ray now.
Night of the Comet is one of these movies. Last year they did the Blue- Ray and Robert is one of the actors who did a interview for the specials.
An other of these cultclassics is Eating Raoul, where Robert played the title role.
In the Chuck Norris`film Lone Wolf McQuade he belonged to the main cast.
He was in two episodes of Murder she wrote and had a big part in Models Inc.
This is a small part of his time before Voyager.
There are fans who know him especially for one of this movies. When I met him at a con some fans had DVD`s of Night of the Comet and Eating Raoul and they asked Robert to sign it.
And when Garret Wang was ask whom of the cast he had known before Voyager he answered: the dude (RB) from Night of the comet.
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Why those constant attacks on Beltran?
In my eyes, he's a hero!
Why?
Because he had the guts to stand up to the jerks who ran the show and tell them what he thought about them messing up everything.
I don't know if all the quotes in the "gripe generator" are true Beltran comments or just made up. But I did find myself agreeing with almost all of them.
Agreed. Beltran was speaking as person who saw the potential of the series and the writers continue to blow it. Equinox could have been a tale of how to recuperate a group of people who suffered loss and despair during their time in the farther end of the galaxy. The writers decided to stick it to the fans and create an abysmal story which supported the stupid thinking they had for the series. The writers really, REALLY wanted to be TNG and situations felt as if Voyager were meant to be in the Alpha Quadrant.
Voyager should've been meeting more friends than enemies, and exploring more. The crew felt more like meddlers than heroes, plus the way writers continue to have holodeck stories seemed they ignore the theme the crew of Voyager needed to preserve energy for their long journey home. "Get their heads out of their asses." Indeed.
I've been going through the series again with my husband who has not seen the show since it first aired. He is also home recouping from knee surgery so he is doing a bit of a binge. He likes it. We are on the second season and a comment was made about 'All Chakotay all the time'. I wouldn't go that far but he seemed to be everywhere in the second season.
No wonder RB grumbled about his part being cut back. Not that it was a 'bad' thing necessarily but it must have been a bit of a blow to go from being thought of as a 'main' character to an afterthought.
No wonder RB grumbled about his part being cut back. Not that it was a 'bad' thing necessarily but it must have been a bit of a blow to go from being thought of as a 'main' character to an afterthought.
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