Major Star Trek Actors Controversy That Their Characters Were Secretly Dating
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Star Trek: Voyager it wasn't every fan's cup of tea, especially if you prefer a darker, more sinister set-piece Deep Space Nine. However, Voyager did one thing arguably better than any Trek before or since: show how strange explore the galaxy you can find. This is especially true in “Persistence of Vision,” an episode where the crew is forced to have strange visions that cause other characters to think about their past. This includes Captain Janeway, who sees a vision of the husband she left behind in the Alpha Quadrant. Other characters see with the eyes of the flesh in different ways, including Chief Engineer B'elana Torres.
Usually, this hot-headed half-Klingon is all business, especially during emergencies. However, she ends up having sex dreams involving Commander Chakotay, which many fans assumed meant she secretly had feelings for him. After all, Chakotay actor Robert Beltran thought the same thing, and thought that this episode might set up a relationship between their characters in future episodes. However, Torres' actress Roxann Dawson dismissed the claims, arguing that there is none. way that her character will fall in love with the ship's first officer.
Breaking His Warp Core
The premise of “Persistence of Vision” begins like many Star Trek: Voyager episodes: a ship prepares to communicate with an alien race. The Bothas disagree at first, but are willing to negotiate with Captain Janeway about safe passage to their little corner of the Delta Quadrant. Soon, team members start seeing negative ideas and don't know why this is happening. Eventually, it is revealed that these signs are caused by a telepathic Bothan. While everyone else is seeing strange things, B'elanna Torres has a particularly poignant dream involving Commander Chakotay.
Disappointingly, we find out that Bothan caused all these strange ideas just because he could. Janeway speculates that the stranger might be doing everyone a favor by forcing them to face buried feelings. Because of this, Chakotay actor Robert Beltran believed that Torres should secretly hold a candle to his character. In interview no The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazinehe said, “I was very interested in that because it revealed to Torres how he probably feels about Chakotay.
Carrying the Torch in the Delta Quadrant
In that same interview, Beltran speculated that his character might have secret feelings for Torres. “Maybe you'll feel the same way about him,” he said. “That's not guaranteed, but it's possible, and it sets the stage for the development of their relationship.” It is a provocative idea, which is also tested Methodsa Star Trek: Voyager book written “Persistence of Vision” screenwriter Jeri Taylor. However, one person who has been fighting this interpretation since the beginning is actress B'elanna Torres Roxann Dawson.
In interview no It's cinematicDawson said, “the power of that alien, the way he could reach us as humans, was that he understood the deep need…we all have to love and be loved.” She believes that her character's “dreaming” was not “a direct attraction to Chakotay” but rather a “desire to acknowledge a side that he doesn't readily admit to…I don't think that means he's always in her mind…
Red (Hot) Alert.
In other words, since Torres is half-human, half-Klingon, the telepathic trance brought out human traits (like cheering up lonely people) that he usually tries to suppress. In another interview no Star Trek Monthlyopened up about how weird it would be for her character to fall in love with Chakotay, someone who is basically her biological father. “I see Chakotay as a combination of mentor and father to B'Elanna. He may have romantic feelings for her in a Freudian sense, but I don't see them meeting on any other level than mentor and student.”
This is one argument that Roxann Dawson ended up winning. There weren't many sparks between B'elanna Torres and Commander Chakotay after this, and her character ended up being owned by Robert Duncan McNeil's Tom Paris. Chakotay remained unlucky in love, he never met Captain Janeway the lot of serious flirting. He ended up hooking up with Seven of Nine in the last four episodes of Star Trek: Voyagerbut they are apparently disbanded at the time of Star Trek: Picard. That's right, though: Chakotay would likely be tested in any romantic relationship as Robert Beltran was tested in his performance!
