So, who was Travis Mayweather?

[MrPointy]

From what I can gather, the dude piloted the ship, was born on a cargo transport, liked rock climbing, pranked Hoshi on occasion and slept with a very spunky reporter/Starfleet spy who didn't take her bra off during sex.

Why does he make Harry Kim look well rounded and developed?

I mean, one of the few things I liked about ENT was that the characters seemed interesting, even if their development wasn't entirely realised.

Except for Travis Mayweather. He wasn't more than the pilot.

 

[Smiley]

They did interesting things with the pilot on VOY, so there's really no excuse for not using Mayweather. If the actor wasn't working out, then they could have swapped him out after Season 2.

 

[Kegek]

Acting, maybe. Anthony Montgomery had a likeable, optimistic charisma but fell flat when being serious. Understandably they pushed him to the sidelines. They may not have let him go because they do still need a pilot and may not have been able to think of alternatives.

After a while the show was the Archer/Trip/T'Pol show anyway, with even genuinely interesting characters like Phlox being sidelined - so why pay attention to Travis?

 

[JiNX-01]

MrPointy said:
From what I can gather, the dude piloted the ship, was born on a cargo transport, liked rock climbing, pranked Hoshi on occasion and slept with a very spunky reporter/Starfleet spy who didn't take her bra off during sex.

Why does he make Harry Kim look well rounded and developed?

I mean, one of the few things I liked about ENT was that the characters seemed interesting, even if their development wasn't entirely realised.

Except for Travis Mayweather. He wasn't more than the pilot.

Well, in "Horizon" we learn he and his brother had issues concerning his decision to join Starfleet. He likes some kind of MRE version of strawberry shortcake. And he had ambitions as a kid to be an explorer. And it turns out he's pretty good as an engineer (he upgrades the cargo ship's weapons).

He likes to tell ghost stories (Strange New World); he's interested in history (Terra Nova); he's a skilled spelunker (The Breach), and he loves "the sweet spot" (and no, it's not a dirty joke -- see cooleddie for those. ) And he's a weightlifter (Bound).

 

[Corran Horn]

Again, I think people need to re-watch season one and two. Travis didn't really start getting short-changed until season three. In the first two seasons he's featured as often (if not more so) then some of the other regulars.

And I don't just mean an 'aye sir' here and there.

 

[Nebusj]

MrPointy said:
From what I can gather, the dude piloted the ship, was born on a cargo transport, liked rock climbing, pranked Hoshi on occasion and slept with a very spunky reporter/Starfleet spy who didn't take her bra off during sex.

Why does he make Harry Kim look well rounded and developed?

Well, all the stuff he did that was interesting, like pranking Sato, was done off-screen and we only heard about it an indeterminate time later when someone was trying desperately to think of an actual trait of Mayweather's. So what we actually saw was that he claimed to be a great rock-climber, and before we can wonder how he could possibly have any skills in climbing rocks, he gets his leg broken and he's left out of the rest of the episode while the player-characters carry on without him.

 

[Trekwatcher]

Corran Horn said:
Again, I think people need to re-watch season one and two. Travis didn't really start getting short-changed until season three. In the first two seasons he's featured as often (if not more so) then some of the other regulars.

And I don't just mean an 'aye sir' here and there.

I dunno.I am just about finished rewatching S1 and S2 and it seems like with Travis it is all half measures, even early on. They keep trying to include him in the action, but he never really seems to be a key player or integral to the resolution of the plot. I think that a good example is "The Seventh" which I recently started a thread on. He is part of a 3 man away team, with Archer and T'Pol being the other two, and he really gets to do nothing while the others get all the dialogue and dramatic moments.

If they had kept building him the way they did in "Fotunate Son" he would have been much more interesting. That was a good episode, that put the Boomer thing to good use, but it was an exception and not the rule.

I wonder if Anthony Montgomery was bored/upset/frustrated by his role or if he just shrugged his shoulders, showed up each day, and collected his check.

 

[JiNX-01]

Trekwatcher said:
I am just about finished rewatching S1 and S2 and it seems like with Travis it is all half measures, even early on. They keep trying to include him in the action, but he never really seems to be a key player or integral to the resolution of the plot. I think that a good example is "The Seventh" which I recently started a thread on. He is part of a 3 man away team, with Archer and T'Pol being the other two, and he really gets to do nothing while the others get all the dialogue and dramatic moments.

What dramatic moments? It was one of the dullest episodes in all of ENT.

 

[Diesel Micky Dolenz]

What people don't seem to realize is that in the third season, due to budget cuts, actor Anthony Montgomery was actually replaced by a sock puppet.

 

[Trekwatcher]

JiNX-01 said:

Trekwatcher said:
I am just about finished rewatching S1 and S2 and it seems like with Travis it is all half measures, even early on. They keep trying to include him in the action, but he never really seems to be a key player or integral to the resolution of the plot. I think that a good example is "The Seventh" which I recently started a thread on. He is part of a 3 man away team, with Archer and T'Pol being the other two, and he really gets to do nothing while the others get all the dialogue and dramatic moments.

What dramatic moments? It was one of the dullest episodes in all of ENT.

Agreed, but Travis did nothing when they were on Menos' ship and during the confrontation on the landing field, which was about as dramatic as that show got.

 

[HRHTheKING]

He basically smiled.

And that was it.

Certainly one of the worst regular characters in Trek history.

 

[JiNX-01]

Trekwatcher said:

JiNX-01 said:

Trekwatcher said:
I am just about finished rewatching S1 and S2 and it seems like with Travis it is all half measures, even early on. They keep trying to include him in the action, but he never really seems to be a key player or integral to the resolution of the plot. I think that a good example is "The Seventh" which I recently started a thread on. He is part of a 3 man away team, with Archer and T'Pol being the other two, and he really gets to do nothing while the others get all the dialogue and dramatic moments.

What dramatic moments? It was one of the dullest episodes in all of ENT.

Agreed, but Travis did nothing when they were on Menos' ship and during the confrontation on the landing field, which was about as dramatic as that show got.

Frankly, I think the writers did Anthony a favor in The Seventh.

 

[Kegek]

Rewatch S1 and S2? Man, I was here when those were in first run. Jokes about his irrelevance on the show date back to at least "Oasis", where if memory serves he was just heard as a comm voice. (Or was that another early S1 episode?)

The point is, Travis was sidelined quickly, and the occasions early on when time was spent with him, the reasons for sidelining became apparent.

 

[mythme]

I'm rewatching the series myself to refresh (I'm up to "E2") and was paying particular attention to Mayweather. He does NOTHING throughout the entire Xindi arch (except figuring out how to pilot the Insectoid shuttle in "Azati Prime"). When he volunteers for the suicide mission to destroy the Xindi weapon, I wonder if the writers should have just let him get killed off at that point.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Travis reminds me of a bit from NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE.

"I'm only here because I'm a black guy!!!"

One of his best later parts wasn't actually him, but mirror universe him.

 

[nx1701g]

mythme said:
I'm rewatching the series myself to refresh (I'm up to "E2") and was paying particular attention to Mayweather. He does NOTHING throughout the entire Xindi arch (except figuring out how to pilot the Insectoid shuttle in "Azati Prime"). When he volunteers for the suicide mission to destroy the Xindi weapon, I wonder if the writers should have just let him get killed off at that point.

Reminds me of the scene in Twilight where Mayweather gets killed. T'Pol doesn't even acknowledge the body, just steps over it to take the helm.

 

[TheCoxinator]

Totally irrelevant character, they might as well of killed him off and used the budget to make the Gorn look vaguely realistic.
And yet, he's still a better developed character than Sulu or Uhura.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I don't mind irrelevant characters, as small a crew as Enterprise had, they could've used more recurring irrelevant characters, actually. Who was there? Unseen chef? The character whose actress sadly passed away (Kelly Waymire?)? Kelby?

What series didn't have an irrelevant character? Deep Space Nine? Jake Sisko's relevance came and went. Voyager? The already mentioned Kim. TNG? Worf started out irrelevant. Really? What has his first season role...bridge filler.

 

[Blueicus]

Well, Worf did growl a lot in the first season. He was sort of the guard dog of the bridge.

MeanJoePhaser said:
I don't mind irrelevant characters, as small a crew as Enterprise had, they could've used more recurring irrelevant characters, actually. Who was there? Unseen chef? The character whose actress sadly passed away (Kelly Waymire?)? Kelby?

What series didn't have an irrelevant character? Deep Space Nine? Jake Sisko's relevance came and went. Voyager? The already mentioned Kim. TNG? Worf started out irrelevant. Really? What has his first season role...bridge filler.

 

[Therin of Andor]

When actor's performances excite the writers, the writers start thinking of new scenes to write for them. So good scripts/scenes lead to good performances and good performances lead to good scripts/scenes.

If Shran and Tholos had been forgettable characters in "The Andorian Incident", the Andorians may have been one-hit wonders for ENT. Ditto Q in "Encounter at Farpoint" (TNG).

David Gerrold wrote "The Trouble With Tribbles" (TOS) assuming he was writing a return episode for Kor. Ditto Jerome Bixby and "Day of the Dove". John Colicos was unavailable both times. But in both cases, the performance of Colicos had inspired them.