Chakotay is a fictional character who appears in each of the seven seasons of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. Portrayed by Robert Beltran, he was First Officer aboard the Starfleet starship USS Voyager, and later promoted to captain in command of the USS Protostar in Star Trek: Prodigy. The character was suggested at an early stage of the development of the series. He is the first Native American main character in the Star Trek franchise. This was a deliberate move by the producers of the series, who sought to inspire minorities – specifically Native Americans – as was intended with Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series for African Americans. To develop the character, the producers sought the assistance of Jamake Highwater, who falsely claimed to be Native American. Despite first being named by producers as Sioux, and later Hopi, Chakotay was given no tribal affiliation at the start of the series, and eventually was assigned ancestry with a fictional tribe in the episode "Tattoo”. It wasn't until his appearance in Star Trek: Prodigy that he was formally identified as a descendant of the Nicarao people of Central America.
The character first appeared in the pilot episode of the series, "Caretaker". Chakotay continued to appear throughout the series in a main cast role, with his final appearance in the finale, "Endgame". He was featured in an ongoing storyline throughout the first and second seasons, which featured the betrayal of his former lover Seska (Martha Hackett) until her death in "Basics". Following his experience with disconnected Borg in "Unity", Chakotay was against an alliance with the Borg in "Scorpion", nearly leading to the death of Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). Despite this, by the end of the series, the two characters were in a romantic relationship. In the Voyager relaunch novels set after the vessel's return to the Alpha Quadrant, Chakotay is promoted to captain of the ship, but the relationship with Seven has ended.
Reviewers of Chakotay were critical of the stereotypical nature of Chakotay's Native American heritage. This led to comparisons with Tonto from The Lone Ranger, and that the inclusion of "Hollywood" versions of vision quests and meditation techniques were contrary to the character's in-universe tribal background. However, he was praised as a role model for Native American science fiction and called "ground-breaking", as well as the most prominent example of a Native American character within this genre.
Concept and development
The inclusion of a Native American character in Star Trek: Voyager was suggested at an early stage in the development of the series. The producers were looking for an ethnic background which had not been seen before as a main character in the franchise. It was hoped that a Native American character would prove to be an inspiration in the same way that the appearance of Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series later inspired Whoopi Goldberg and other African Americans.Poe (1998): p. 174 Executive producer Jeri Taylor said: "It seemed to us that Native Americans needed that same kind of role model and that same kind of boost ... the future looks good, you have purpose, you have worth, you have value, you will be leaders, you will be powerful. That was one character choice we had early on." Taylor's notes from the early production in July 1993 describe the character as "First Officer – a human native American male, a 'Queequeg' person who has renounced Earth and lives as an expatriate on another planet. A mystical, mysterious man with whom the Captain has some prior connection, not explained."Poe (1998): p. 176 A month later, this description was expanded with the line, "This man has made another choice – to re-enter the world of Starfleet."Poe (1998): p. 189 Chakotay was not the first Native American character to appear in the franchise, with "The Paradise Syndrome" in the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series showing a group of displaced humans following a Native American–like culture.Wagnar & Lundeen (1998): p. 178
The producers aimed to develop some conflict between the members of the crew to produce a scenario similar to the Bajoran / Starfleet relationship seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but wanted the characters to share the same ideals.Poe (1998): p. 200 To do this, the Maquis were created – a group of Federation colonists from the Cardassian border in a disputed territory who were joined by some Starfleet officers who joined them to fight for their rights.Poe (1998): p. 201 The producers had the Maquis introduced in other Star Trek series before Voyager in four episodes; two in Star Trek: The Next Generation and two in Deep Space Nine.
In developing Chakotay, the producers sought the assistance of Jamake Highwater,Poe (1998): p. 199 a writer of more than 25 books of both fiction and non-fiction related to Native American myths and traditions. Highwater was a controversial choice of advisor, having been exposed by Hank Adams and Vine Deloria, Jr. as taking a fake Native American ancestry to sell books.Vizenor (1994): p. 181 Around September 21, 1993, Highwater gave seven pages of notes to producers regarding Chakotay's backstory, but his tribal ancestry was unresolved.Poe (1998): p. 206 By the end of that month, Michael Piller drafted the first version of the writer's bible for the series in which the character was named "Chakotoy".Poe (1998): p. 208 By the time Piller wrote the first draft of the story that eventually became the Voyager pilot "Caretaker", the character was known as "Chakotay" and been made a Sioux. By the third draft of the story, submitted at the start of November, he had become a Hopi, but by the following February, he once again had no tribal affiliation.Poe (1998): p. 221
Winrich Kolbe, the director of "Caretaker", was involved in casting the main cast for the series. He described the casting process for the part of Chakotay as difficult due to the lower numbers of Native Americans who were in the Screen Actors Guild. The casting process came down to two actors, and the producers decided on Robert Beltran, who until then was best known for appearing in the soap opera Models Inc. and was of Mexican heritage.Treviño (2001): p. 365 Beltran was not familiar with Star Trek before auditioning, and went along on the strength of the "Caretaker" script which showed the character becoming the second in command of Voyager after both their vessels are stranded in the Delta quadrant.Booker (2004): p. 126 Beltran explained the audition experience: "I felt neutral about the audition, didn't much care one way or the other. I went in the first time and wasn't really trying to get the part. They asked to see me again, and they wanted to see more of an edge to the character."Poe (1998): p. 279
Chakotay was originally written as a "calm, stoic" character, but Beltran expanded on the character during the audition process, something that Kolbe credited him for. The writer's bible described Chakotay as a very traditional Native American with an altar and traditional art in his quarters. It also mentioned his spirit guide,Berman; Piller; Taylor (1995): p. 13 something which was picked up in the media report in TV Guide. Beltran wore a facial tattoo while playing Chakotay, which was applied with make-up. The design was created by Michael Westmore, who deliberately created it so it did not represent any particular tribal culture.Poe (1998): p. 283 The in-universe story of the tattoo and Chakotay's tribal origins were explained in the episode "Tattoo".Wagnar & Lundeen (1998): p. 180
Beltran gained the reputation on-set as a comedian. Following the first season and during a group interview with The Washington Times, Beltran joked that he was asked to perform in Hamlet during the summer in Albuquerque, but had been asked to wear Chakotay's facial tattoo. During that time, he worked on the Oliver Stone film Nixon (1995). During the period when Voyager was run by Taylor and Piller as the executive producers, Beltran gave feedback on the character which was taken into account. He later explained that this ended following the introduction of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine onto the cast and Brannon Braga taking over from Taylor and Piller. Beltran felt that Chakotay was one of the characters alongside Harry Kim, Tuvok, and Neelix who were left behind by the new writers, who tended to concentrate on Janeway, Seven, and The Doctor.
Beltran said that he was not aware of the effects this was having on the rest of the cast, saying: "For me it was like, 'OK, you can fire me if you want to. Go ahead, and I'll leave.'" He compared his experience on Voyager to working in a car factory, and said that the repetitive scenes meant that it limited his creativity. Beltran explained that it did not affect his relationship with the other actors, and in the end, he felt the producers decided to keep him on the cast as it did not make "very much difference, except to a very, very small percentage of fans who maybe didn't like what I said."
In an interview to publicize the final episode of Voyager, "Endgame", Beltran said: "We all had a great relationship with each other and we've all said how much we enjoy our crew. We have a terrific crew. But at the same time, I'm looking forward to what's next. It's exciting to know that something unknown is next." The final episode introduced a romance between Seven of Nine and Chakotay. Ryan found this relationship confusing for the characters, as although it had been suggested in the episode "Human Error", in the intervening episodes, the producers had told her and Beltran to ignore it.
Appearances
Background Chakotay's backstory was explained during the course of Star Trek: Voyager. He was born in 2329 on a Federation colony near Cardassian space in the demilitarized zone. While young, he was looked after by his grandfather. At the age of 15, Chakotay visited Earth with his father, who sought to find his tribe's ancestral home in Central America and the descendants of the Rubber Tree People. He was resistant to this, and instead dreamed of going into space and had heroes such as John Kelly, a pioneering astronaut in the early 21st century. He chose to enter Starfleet Academy against his father's wishes, and his entry was sponsored by Captain Sulu.[A] He attended Starfleet Academy from 2344 to 2348, where he engaged in the sport of boxing. After graduating, he was assigned to a starship. One of his earliest away missions resulted in a diplomatic incident on Ktaria VII, and he was also on the team that made first contact with the Tarkannans.
He was assigned as an instructor in Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander. Following the death of his father in 2368 while defending his colony from the Cardassians, Chakotay resigned his Starfleet commission and joined the Maquis. At the time of his resignation, one of his students was Ro Laren. After he joined the Maquis, he became captain of a vessel named the Val Jean, with a crew which among others included his lover Seska (Martha Hackett), B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), and Tuvok (Tim Russ), who was actually Captain Janeway's Chief of Security, on an undercover mission to infiltrate the Maquis.
Star Trek: Voyager
The Kazon and Seska