While exploring a planet, Chakotay discovers his roots.
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By BrianB on Friday, July 09, 1999 - 6:33 am:
WARNING! TV-14 RATED POST
SCROLL DOWN OR BACK OUT NOW TO AVOID POSSIBLE OFFENSE!
It's reported Robert Beltran's fanny was digitally masked in this ep. and the crack was digitally drawn in and the FX cost $4,000. What for?
Whatever the case, it could be headlined in the newspapers "UPN spends $4,000 on Crack!"
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By Mark Swinton on Tuesday, October 26, 1999 - 12:47 pm:
AH, THANKS FOR THAT.
On a more viewer-friendly note:
I'd like to nominate the closing scene, in which Chakotay reconciles with his Father through the aliens, as one of Voyager's more moving moments.
Whatever anyone else thinks, it does stick with me as a great moment.
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By Aaron on Friday, December 24, 1999 - 7:24 pm:
Does anyone else find it odd that a species that has warp technology still lives in caves?
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By rachgd on Saturday, December 25, 1999 - 6:57 am:
Aaron: Short answer? Yep.
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By Bob on Saturday, December 25, 1999 - 4:22 pm:
BrianB- there's a whole other meaning to that post when you consider the British meaning of fanny.
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By DonnaL on Monday, March 06, 2000 - 3:53 pm:
I liked the episode, but I would have liked it more if the Central America Rubber Tree people didn't have forehead/nose ridges. So were they supposed to be pure-bred aliens? I don't get that. And why did the "Sky Spirit" guy in the Delta Quadrant say they couldn't find any of their people when they visited earth a few generations ago?
Interesting that they had such control over the environment, yet it took them just as long to travel to Earth as it will take Voyager.
Also, why didn't Chakotay know at least some of the ancient language. Sounded like his tribe spoke it all the time. Seems like he would have picked it up as a child.
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By Jwb52z on Monday, March 06, 2000 - 4:53 pm:
::I liked the episode, but I would have liked it more if the Central America Rubber Tree people didn't have forehead/nose ridges. So were they supposed to be pure-bred aliens? I don't get that. And why did the "Sky Spirit" guy in the Delta Quadrant say they couldn't find any of their people when they visited earth a few generations ago?
Interesting that they had such control over the environment, yet it took them just as long to travel to Earth as it will take Voyager.:: DonnaL
You should remember that all the Indian tribes moved off Earth to avoid destruction of their customs. The aliens probably didn't know where to look for them. Technology doesn't always develop far in all areas also.
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By DonnaL on Tuesday, March 28, 2000 - 10:46 am:
Right, but Chakotay's Father took a group back to Central America and found remnants there of the original tribe. Why couldn't the "Sky Spirits" find that same Central American tribe that stayed on earth?
Also, I hate to cast doubt on BrianB's report of a digitized fanny, but I'm thinking the naked guy was a stand in. His waist looks narrower to me than Robert Beltran's. Of course, maybe the stand-in's was digitized, but then what would be the point--
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By Trekteen on Sunday, April 23, 2000 - 5:45 pm:
I noticed that when they were landing that they did not go to blue alert when they were landing.
I'm 12 and I know more about ships operations then they do. Is that not the most pathetic thing you have ever heard?
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By Trekoldie on Monday, April 24, 2000 - 12:07 am:
No, the most pathetic I've ever heard is that you say you're a teen yet you're still 12.
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By TrekMiddleAger on Monday, April 24, 2000 - 9:22 am:
Yes it is pathetic, but not because of what it says about TPTB.
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By Aaron Dotter on Friday, March 30, 2001 - 5:19 pm:
Chakotay was accepted to the Academy at 15? I wonder how that happened...even Picard did not get in at 15. (Just a side question.....how young does one have to be to get into West Point, USAF Academy, etc.?)
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By Palandine on Tuesday, April 03, 2001 - 8:10 am:
Robert Beltran seems genuinely respectful of Native American history (I don't know whether he's actually Native American or not), so I'm surprised he went along with this premise.
I'm far from PC, but this sounds a lot like Eric von Danikken's (sp?) "Chariots of the Gods" type philosophy from the 70s. What he said at the time was essentially that the Egyptians and Maya and so on were basically too savage to have built the pyramids and other monuments to their culture, so they must have gotten help from aliens.
Here in "Tattoo" we have lily-white forehead aliens who came to Earth and gave the savages gifts so they would not be like the others. These tribes "sky spirits" are basically white guys from the Delta quadrant.
Also, Chakotay says here his father died fighting the Cardassians. However, in a later episode (season 6 or 7), doesn't he say his dad had the crazy gene and went insane?
Palandine, who may read too much into Star Trek episodes
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By margie on Tuesday, April 03, 2001 - 11:39 am:
Maybe his dad went crazy & then went to fight the Cardassians?
IIRC, Robert Beltran is Hispanic. However, when the Spaniards came to the New World, many of them mated with native women, so a lot if Hispanics do have Native American blood in them.
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By Vicky on Wednesday, July 18, 2001 - 12:03 pm:
Hey there,
Robert Beltran is actually a Christian and has no interst in Native American beliefs. At least, that's what I read.
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By Captain Obvious on Wednesday, July 18, 2001 - 9:01 pm:
"Beltran" is a Mexican name, and IIRC from the pre-show publicity, Chakotay was supposed to be a Mexican Indian.
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By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Monday, April 01, 2002 - 3:22 am:
Kes says the Doctor has never experienced fear or pain, but he experienced both in Projections.
Chakotay mentions Captain Sulu. Hikaru Sulu or one of his descendants?
Tuvok wanted to tell Janeway to move the ship into a better tactical position. What would that be? A lower orbit? A higher orbit? Warping away from the planet?
I don't know. Some strange guy comes to my planet, takes off his clothes & says he wants to be 'friends'. Sounds like a pervert to me.
The alien mentioned that they respected the early humans respect for nature & that they had later moved to a new continent (the Americas). So were the descendents of these enlightened paleoindians the same ones who hunted various North American animals (mammoths, mastodons, etc.) to extinction?
"Just a side question.....how young does one have to be to get into West Point, USAF Academy, etc.?" Aaron
I'm pretty sure the absolute minimum age is 16, with a HS diploma or GED, but the typical age is 18, since that's the age most people graduate HS. Although it is a more advanced age, it's highly doubtful anybody is getting into SF academy at fifteen.
Backpack design has become awful, as seen while Chuckles was a boy. They're just big rectangles with white dots on them. I would hope that designs will become more ergonomic and creative, not boxy and unoriginal.
Chakotay sees a tree falling and all he does is hold up his hands. Also, his communicator is knocked off during the fall. How many times has this happened in Trek? I can't think of a single other time, and if there is none that tree should've done more damage. When he gets up and pulls out his tricorder the sound effect comes on a couple seconds before he actually opens it.
This ep is the third time I've seen a regular character from Seinfeld on Voyager, the 'sky spirit' who talked was Elaine's boss.