Robert Beltran's performance in "Coda"

[Dane_Whitman]

Hi all,

I recently rewatched Coda, which has a very nice scene were Chakotay is resuscitating Janeway and screaming his lungs out lamenting her 'passing away'. Back when I first saw this episode and even now this scene strikes me as particularly strong work from Beltran, an emotional outburst with an intensity we rarely saw from him.

It came across as very raw and genuine, a feat we rarely saw from the soft-spoken, restrained Commander. Anyone else fan of this scene and Beltran's particular performance?

I wish we could have seen more of this from Chakotay... Some of my favourite Chuckles moments (and there aren't many of them) centre around his showing some emotion, like in Learning Curve when he punches crewman Dalby (LOL) and in Maneuvers when he's taunting Culluh.

 

[teya]

I recently rewatched Coda, which has a very nice scene were Chakotay is resuscitating Janeway and screaming his lungs out lamenting her 'passing away'. Back when I first saw this episode and even now this scene strikes me as particularly strong work from Beltran, an emotional outburst with an intensity we rarely saw from him.

It came across as very raw and genuine, a feat we rarely saw from the soft-spoken, restrained Commander. Anyone else fan of this scene and Beltran's particular performance?

I found this scene to be scenery chewing at its worst.

Now I do particularly like Beltran when he's less restrained--like the scenes you mention in "Learning Curve" and "Maneuvers."

But not this one. It felt fake and overwrought to me.

 

[Red Ranger]

I only vaguely recall the ep, so I have to rewatch it, but I enjoy it when Chakotay gets his dander up, like when he nearly came to blows with Tom Paris a few times; or when he was quieter but no less emphatic in Scorpion, Pt. 1, when he recounts the old fable to Janeway about the nature of the scorpion; or when he and Tuvok are discussing how Seska fooled both of them, and when Tuvok doesn't understand how his failure would make Chakotay feel better, he ruefully replies, "Misery loves company, Tuvok." -- RR

 

[Tachyon]

That particular scene in Coda is appreciated by J/Cers, obviously. I think he did alright with that one. And you are right. We did not see many scenes where Chakotay was showing raw emotions and I think that was one of the downsides of the job for Beltran as well.

I personally prefer Chakotay in Maneuvers. There Beltran showed us side of Chakotay I would have liked to see again. His perfomance was fierce. Also in Extreme Risk where he puts B'Elanna to her place was good.

 

[BORU]

I enjoyed this scene and it has nothing to do with me being a JCer - although I am. I thought it was kinda nice to see the big strapping Trek dude show emotions other than the strong silent misery where the only emotion is the tick in the cheek!

Now I'm gonna probably catch flak on this but my favorite scene with Beltran was in The Fight where he is talking to his grandfather. He projected such love and frustration in those scenes that you got a great feel for why he was so scared of what may be his future.

When he leaned in and touched his forehead to his grandfather's forehead it was incredible sweet yet you could see the frustration on Chuckle's part. He loves the man but he's also the "crazy old man" that he may have been a wee bit ashamed of and afraid of becoming.

 

[teya]

Now I'm gonna probably catch flak on this but my favorite scene with Beltran was in The Fight where he is talking to his grandfather. He projected such love and frustration in those scenes that you got a great feel for why he was so scared of what may be his future.

When he leaned in and touched his forehead to his grandfather's forehead it was incredible sweet yet you could see the frustration on Chuckle's part. He loves the man but he's also the "crazy old man" that he may have been a wee bit ashamed of and afraid of becoming.

Call me stupid, but I liked "The Fight." I found his performance in "Broken Sky" reminiscent of the scene you describe above.

My favorite Beltran performance was in "Nemesis." It's almost as if he was unencumbered by the Chakotay character.

 

[Tachyon]

I like "The Fight", too.

 

[Mareika]

I think, Robert did a good job in this episode.
We just spoke on another bord about that scene (which I very like) and one of the fans gave us this quote by Sue Henley (Kate`s stan- In).
Although I think that many of you already know it, I will post it here, because I very like it:

""She (Sue Henley) played Janeway both standing next to Chakotay and lying on the ground when she was dying on the planet. "Standing next to Chakotay so my legs could be Kate while she was lying there dying was not easy," Henley shudders. "I have never seen Chakotay too emotional, so watching him cry at her death made me cry. I had a hard time watching that."

 

[Gates]

I recently rewatched Coda, which has a very nice scene were Chakotay is resuscitating Janeway and screaming his lungs out lamenting her 'passing away'. Back when I first saw this episode and even now this scene strikes me as particularly strong work from Beltran, an emotional outburst with an intensity we rarely saw from him.

It came across as very raw and genuine, a feat we rarely saw from the soft-spoken, restrained Commander. Anyone else fan of this scene and Beltran's particular performance?

I found this scene to be scenery chewing at its worst.

Now I do particularly like Beltran when he's less restrained--like the scenes you mention in "Learning Curve" and "Maneuvers."

But not this one. It felt fake and overwrought to me.

Really?... I thought it was fantastic. Mulgrew's death scene in sickbay on the other hand seemed like she was eating the scenery... then again I've never been fond of her death scenes.

 

[neogothboy74]

Call me stupid, but I liked "The Fight."

I try not to call people stupid, but even when the word does pass my lips, I usually don't mean it. I'm not calling anyone here stupid.

But I loathed 'The Fight'. It's one of the episodes I pretend never happend, and I never intend to rewatch it.

Also, I like a lot of the ideas in 'Coda' (and I love the Vidians), but I find the episode itself kinda tiresome.

 

[crusher]

Loved the scenes in Coda with Beltran and wished the twits that be had used him more.

And i too loved The Fight, one of those rare shows where we learned a little background about a character.

 

[neogothboy74]

I know this isn't about "Coda", but I thought that this might be a good place to share this. My favorite Chakotay line, and a performance by him that I love is in Season 1's "Parallax". When he goes toe to toe with Janeway about B'Elanna being Chief Engineer.... I was loving the characters back then. My favorite line of his (and this was before the Maquis storyline was all but completely dropped from the show for no sane reason) was when during one of his arguments with Janeway about B'Elanna, he asked Janeway for permission to speak freely to which Janeway allows him (in another great line delivery) - and Chakotay says:

"I'm not going to be your token Maquis officer." - Love that. Love it.

I remember I was watching it with some friends and we all gasped. It was nice.

 

[Gorf]

Really?... I thought it was fantastic. Mulgrew's death scene in sickbay on the other hand seemed like she was eating the scenery... then again I've never been fond of her death scenes.

I agree. It's fantastic - very emotional and feels real, but the scene in sickbay...urgh. Makes me curl my toes in shame and pain every single time. I've been known to kill the sound even. The lady is fantastic, but she doesn't know how to die well.

Gates, you're using your 'old' icon. I LOVE it cause now I instantly know who you are. Funny how those icons really do put a face to the person so to speak. *huggles*

Oh and I'm one of those, who can't stand "The Fight " either.

@neogothboy74 - LOVE that line.

Too bad he lost that energy. He simply got more and more boring. I didn't notice it at the time, but a few years later when I rewatched some episodes I noticed that he delivered almost every single line the exact same way - with a big sigh first. It got old.

 

[neogothboy74]

@neogothboy74 - LOVE that line.

Too bad he lost that energy. He simply got more and more boring. I didn't notice it at the time, but a few years later when I rewatched some episodes I noticed that he delivered almost every single line the exact same way - with a big sigh first. It got old.

Indeed.

 

[freak]

I adored this scene with him. I was crying with him when I first saw this episode!!! So it really got me. And I started talking to the TV set saying something stupid like: "my poor baby is crying!!!" :P

 

[Lynx]

Hi all,

I recently rewatched Coda, which has a very nice scene were Chakotay is resuscitating Janeway and screaming his lungs out lamenting her 'passing away'. Back when I first saw this episode and even now this scene strikes me as particularly strong work from Beltran, an emotional outburst with an intensity we rarely saw from him.

It came across as very raw and genuine, a feat we rarely saw from the soft-spoken, restrained Commander. Anyone else fan of this scene and Beltran's particular performance?

I wish we could have seen more of this from Chakotay... Some of my favourite Chuckles moments (and there aren't many of them) centre around his showing some emotion, like in Learning Curve when he punches crewman Dalby (LOL) and in Maneuvers when he's taunting Culluh.

I agree. Beltran's performance in "Coda" is very good and so is his performance in "Learning Curve" and "Maneuvers" too.

It's sad that Beltran wasn't given too many opportunities to show his acting skills.

 

[Praetor]

I know this isn't about "Coda", but I thought that this might be a good place to share this. My favorite Chakotay line, and a performance by him that I love is in Season 1's "Parallax". When he goes toe to toe with Janeway about B'Elanna being Chief Engineer.... I was loving the characters back then. My favorite line of his (and this was before the Maquis storyline was all but completely dropped from the show for no sane reason) was when during one of his arguments with Janeway about B'Elanna, he asked Janeway for permission to speak freely to which Janeway allows him (in another great line delivery) - and Chakotay says:

"I'm not going to be your token Maquis officer." - Love that. Love it.

I remember I was watching it with some friends and we all gasped. It was nice.

That was wicked awesome.

 

[Tachyon]

I agree. Beltran's performance in "Coda" is very good and so is his performance in "Learning Curve" and "Maneuvers" too.

It's sad that Beltran wasn't given too many opportunities to show his acting skills.

You summed it up nicely.

 

[Boy Wonder]

It's easier to notice a horrible piece of acting when all one delivers is boring, inane line delivery like a plank of wood.