Anyone else not notice anything amiss about Beltran's performance?

[sonak]

So to clarify: did Beltran admit that he was phoning in performances in later seasons, or from the beginning of the series overall?

Or was he just ripping the writing while still doing his job?

Because if he was deliberately underachieving while ripping the writing, but still taking every cent of his paycheck, it's hard to have much respect for the guy. That's like an athlete getting a huge contract but not putting a full effort on the field because he doesn't like the personnel decisions of the team.

Either leave the team by asking to be traded or let go of your contract, complain a lot but still give 100%, or better yet, be a professional and earn your money, and address your concerns about the direction of the team in a private and appropriate manner.

 

[exodus]

Without knowing anything about behind-the-scenes problems, first time I watched VOY I put Beltran's 'subdued' performances in later seasons (5-7) down to poor writing and character being marginalised by the Doctor/Seven show (ditto for Neelix). Felt to me he rarely got anything good to do. 'Timeless' is one of few exceptions. Of course, rewatching with new knowledge does put more interesting spin on it...

I'm going to call you Prof. X. because you just read my mind.


Shut up, I know it's corny but I said it anyway.

 

[janeway59]

I don't think Chuckles bad acting can be blamed on writing alone. He actually was animated in the first couple of seasons, Initiations, Faces, Elogium, Manuvers...But when he decided things weren't going his way we get Unforgettable, The Fight and that episode with the half borg people. He became the original wooden Indian and I'm sorry, thats 90% on him and 10% the writers. A good actor does the best he can with what he's given, Chuckles didn't even bother to learn his lines, half the time you can tell he's reading off of what is in front of him.

 

[exodus]

So to clarify: did Beltran admit that he was phoning in performances in later seasons, or from the beginning of the series overall?

No, just much later in the series.

I had the pleasure of meeting Beltran when Voyager did a promo tour after the s2 wrapped. While Beltran isn't a die hard fan of sci-fi, he was very enthusiastic about playing the role of Chakotay.

The Beltran folks describe later in the series, isn't the man I meet that day. If you had too, there'd be no doubt something went wrong somewhere.

 

[ColeMercury]

Because if he was deliberately underachieving while ripping the writing, but still taking every cent of his paycheck, it's hard to have much respect for the guy. That's like an athlete getting a huge contract but not putting a full effort on the field because he doesn't like the personnel decisions of the team.

Either leave the team by asking to be traded or let go of your contract, complain a lot but still give 100%, or better yet, be a professional and earn your money, and address your concerns about the direction of the team in a private and appropriate manner.

I think he did try to leave the show but they wouldn't let him break his contract.

 

[Tomalak]

I think he did try to leave the show but they wouldn't let him break his contract.

Seems odd to keep an unhappy actor in what was by then a minor supporting role. They could have killed him off, given him a great death scene, and introduced another hot woman in a catsuit to replace him.

Chakotay was only interesting when he was opposing Janeway anyway, like Equinox or Scorpion.

 

[sonak]

Because if he was deliberately underachieving while ripping the writing, but still taking every cent of his paycheck, it's hard to have much respect for the guy. That's like an athlete getting a huge contract but not putting a full effort on the field because he doesn't like the personnel decisions of the team.

Either leave the team by asking to be traded or let go of your contract, complain a lot but still give 100%, or better yet, be a professional and earn your money, and address your concerns about the direction of the team in a private and appropriate manner.

I think he did try to leave the show but they wouldn't let him break his contract.

well that sucks for him, but he should still do his job in a professional manner.

 

[exodus]

I think he did try to leave the show but they wouldn't let him break his contract.

Seems odd to keep an unhappy actor in what was by then a minor supporting role. They could have killed him off, given him a great death scene, and introduced another hot woman in a catsuit to replace him.

They kinda felt they couldn't because Beltran had a fan base and he was to appeal to the romantic female demographic. He was loosely Voyager's male sex symbol and they didn't want to loose that part of the audience or anymore viewers in general.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I got the first couple of series of Voyager on tape and it lost credibility for me after the '37s when the entire crew, including the Maquis decided to stick with a potential lifetime of wandering rather than join the human colony in the DQ, so saying the writers abandoned the core concept of the show seems pretty fair.

It's a shame that characters like Tuvok, Kim and Chakotay seem to have gotten sidelined as the show went on, but I've decided to finally buy the series anyway because I know there was still some good shows happening in there and I'm a sucker for good Trek. I'm sure watching them all back-to-back it will be pretty clear if there's a change in Beltran's performance; hopefully it won't be too glaring!

 

[exodus]

well that sucks for him, but he should still do his job in a professional manner.

If the audience wasn't aware of any of this while the show was on, how can we say he wasn't professional? It's not like what happened behind the scenes spilled over into the press and put the show in jeopardy like Charlie Sheen.

 

[Sean Aaron]

well that sucks for him, but he should still do his job in a professional manner.

If the audience wasn't aware of any of this while the show was on, how can we say he wasn't professional? It's not like what happened behind the scenes spilled over into the press and put the show in jeopardy like Charlie Sheen.

True and I don't think it's reasonable to expect someone whose job is all about emotion to not let emotional issues concerning the job affect their performance. They really should have either let him out of the contract or sorted the writing.

 

[exodus]

well that sucks for him, but he should still do his job in a professional manner.

If the audience wasn't aware of any of this while the show was on, how can we say he wasn't professional? It's not like what happened behind the scenes spilled over into the press and put the show in jeopardy like Charlie Sheen.

True and I don't think it's reasonable to expect someone whose job is all about emotion to not let emotional issues concerning the job affect their performance. They really should have either let him out of the contract or sorted the writing.

Agreed.
I don't understand why B&B would take the actors out to dinner, ask them what direction & stories they wanted for the characters they play and then ignore them. I can empathize with a few cast members being disgruntled about it.

However, I think Mulgrew fighting for equal or more scenes than Ryan I'm sure was a factor for the cutbacks in the rest of the cast too. Everybody couldn't get their way, so someone had to loose out.

 

[sonak]

well that sucks for him, but he should still do his job in a professional manner.

If the audience wasn't aware of any of this while the show was on, how can we say he wasn't professional? It's not like what happened behind the scenes spilled over into the press and put the show in jeopardy like Charlie Sheen.

I meant professional in the sense that it was his job to put forth a good-faith effort as far as his performance in the show. If he as much as admitted phoning-in performances, that's not being professional.


Just as if an outfielder in baseball admitted he wasn't doing his best to chase down flyballs or hit the cut-off guy because he didn't like the direction the team was going.


Now maybe he's good enough that you don't even notice that he's deliberately underachieving in the field until he comes out later and admits it. But it's still being unprofessional.

 

[Anwar]

I got the first couple of series of Voyager on tape and it lost credibility for me after the '37s when the entire crew, including the Maquis decided to stick with a potential lifetime of wandering rather than join the human colony in the DQ, so saying the writers abandoned the core concept of the show seems pretty fair.

So if they randomly had several crew members, including main characters (most likely) permanently leave the ship every few episodes, THAT would be sticking to the core concept of the show?

 

[exodus]

I meant professional in the sense that it was his job to put forth a good-faith effort as far as his performance in the show. If he as much as admitted phoning-in performances, that's not being professional.

No, that's not his job.
It's his choice.
His job is acting.
His choice is his behavior when doing so.

Besides, you can't really call him unprofessional if TPTB allowed it to happen.
They allowed it with Beltran.
They allowed it with Mulgrew
Thay allowed it with Wang.
This is how it is with actors.
This is how it was on the set of Voyager.
If they did see him as that much of a problem, then they would have let him out his contract.
The fact they kept him, shows it meant more too them to put up with it.

 

[Shazam!]

Saw a clip online a few days ago where Beltran comments about 'f***ing Star Trek fans"

lol that's awesome

 

[Anwar]

Well, I doubt Braga had much to do with anything. He was only Producer for like 2 seasons of the show, Berman would've been the one who wouldn't let Beltran leave.

As for why...I don't know honestly.

 

[exodus]

Well, I doubt Braga had much to do with anything. He was only Producer for like 2 seasons of the show, Berman would've been the one who wouldn't let Beltran leave.

As for why...I don't know honestly.

I like I said, I'm pretty sure it had to do with sex symbol status.

 

[Anwar]

Beh, I never found him all that sexy. You'd think Paris would've been a better shot at that...

 

[exodus]

Beh, I never found him all that sexy. You'd think Paris would've been a better shot at that...

......and that would explain why he was to appeal to women.