Crew Bio: Chakotay

Name: Chakotay
Nickname: Chocolate Day
Rank: Commander (field commission)
Place of Origin: Unstated
Primary Responsibilities: Telling stories that don't really go anywhere, kind of like Grandpa Simpson. Reminding the captain their plan is really stupid. Breaking bad news to Torres.
Psychological Disorder: Self-induced audio-visual halucination addict. Al Gore syndrome.

In '93 when President Clinton took office, he created a Cabinet that he said would "look like America." By that he meant that it would contain a bunch of minorities, such as women, latinos, and hobbits. The creators of Voyager had the same idea and devised a crew that was very diverse, complete with a female captain. It's a shame that the series became the joke that it was, because the show's diversity is a handy scapegoat. That's ridiculous; the much loved original series included a diverse group, and nobody hated it. The diversity was a non-issue for the audience.

Chakotay is the exception to this rule.

I love how, in Hollywood, you can stereotype any group as long as you portray them in a positive light and use a PC term. Chakotay is completely off the rack. Fifty years ago he would have worn the long feather headress and smoked a peace pipe. In the nineties he goes on spirit walks and is in touch with nature. Please. How exactly is that less racist than portraying him as a drunk? Chakotay's job was to serve as this cypher, and if you don't believe me, look at his develpment, or lack thereof. He was outdone in the character development department by a bitchy Klingon, an elf, and a piece of software. He was every positive stereotype you can think of for an American Indian, even down to the littlest details, like that he was the spiritual one, and an anthropologist, and loved nature too much to needless hunt an animal. The only deviation I can think of that lasted more than one episode was that he liked boxing; that's it. I'll bet Robert Beltran had to fight to get even that little detail added.

There is perhaps no greater symbol of just how ridiculous his character conception was than in the idea of his spirit journeys. Even now, nearly a decade later, I still shake my head and laugh. I still remember distinctly watching him lying with a broken leg and someone in the room yelling "Why don't you spirit walk out of there!" Originally he was supposed to have a wolf as an animal spirit guide, but thankfully they realized they were reach stereotype critical mass, and tossed that out (at least, we never see that it's a wolf). By the way, we find out that Chakotay is Mayan. I don't claim to be an expert on ecology, but I don't think there's that big of a wolf population in Guatemala. Let's face facts, Chakotay is about as strong as such other notable characters as Tonto from the Lone Ranger and Aztec Chief from Superfriends.

Another thing Chakotay loved to do was tell stories, especially if they came from "his people," whoever the hell they might be that week. It would be like Tom Paris one week saying "My people tell the story of a great wooden horse used to invade the city of Troy," and the next week "My people tell the story of how Wodin gave up his one eye in exchange for the wisdom to lead the gods against the frost giants." If you've ever heard the Abe Simpson "onion tied to my belt" bit, that's what each Chakotay story is like. For brevity I will usually just refer to a generic "the god of the hornet snot" story, as it saves time trying to recount the usual dumb thing he has to say this week.

Why am I harping on this race thing? Well, one big reason is that they spent so much time "developing" this that they completely sucked the potential out of what he could have been. Did you know that not only was Chakotay an instructor at Starfleet Academy, but specifically taught Advanced Tactical Training? Now wouldn't that have made for an interesting dynamic, a newly commissioned captain and an expert in tactics, struggling for what each feels is best for the ship? Or just to have Chakotay maybe, you know, once in a while, actually come up with a tactic? This is a fine example of the Informed Attribute, which is telling the audience someone is highly skilled in some area when there is no actual evidence to support this. Chakotay an advanced tactical expert? Based on what I've seen I doubt he could coordinate a wedding reception.

Chakotay had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with the captain. In addition, he was Harry's primary back-up for the falling in love with the alien we know isn't going to be around for another episode plot. Both these attempts at character failed; it only shows us that "yeah, Chakotay likes to whip it out as much as the next guy." Near the end of the series the writers decided to hook him up with Seven of Nine. I'm not sure what their thinking was, since Seven had only slightly more contact with him as she did with Kes (and that would have been more interesting). Maybe it was that her popularity would rub off on him. Maybe it was to go for the unexpected. Maybe it was just a final "f**k you" to the viewers. Whatever the reason, the idea that Seven might be bumping uglies with Chakotay now that the series is over is about as believable, well, as Chakotay leading the French to a successful conquest of a McDonald's.

So, how useless was Chakotay? Well, while he wasn't able to stop many of the captain's boneheaded plans, he was able to help clean-up the mess afterwards fairly well. However, that he didn't mutinee and toss her in the brig or out an airlock says that he's not capable of doing the right thing if it involves confrontation. Perhaps if he'd employed a bit more of those tactics and less looking like he fell asleep on a waffle iron and joined the Ghostbusters, he'd be more useful.