Robert Beltran | Cons

line

Reported by Lynda (originally posted on the ORB message board)

The Day Robert Beltran Rocked My World

Sydney convention, August 25 2001

Part 2

Q: Regarding C/7…would you care to elaborate on that final scene?

Hoots and whistles abounded as Robert pretended ignorance. What? Oh the kiss? Oh that. Hehe, yeah, that.

He shrugged nonchalantly. (We weren’t fooled). “It was just a kiss,” he said, smiling innocently. (Why is it, that when some people smile innocently, I get chills up my spine? LOL).

“Now, Jeri Ryan is an attractive woman,” he began.

“I didn’t *mind* it,” he offered. Half the guys in the audience were pulling their hair out by now. It was a very funny moment.

Someone asked him to rate it on a scale of 1-10. Robert described how the scene actually played, reminding us that they were standing in a very sterile atmosphere, with 30 guys looking on and salivating. We all cracked up of course, and the blokes in the audience just wouldn’t let it drop. Robert demonstrated how the moment occurred, as they stood next to each other, then the call for ‘action’, then they began to kiss. He smirked a little, and said it doesn’t happen exactly like that when “in the privacy of my own house.”

Someone very boldly went that little step further, and asked “what does go on in the privacy of your own house?”

Huge roars of laughter as Robert’s jaw dropped. Smiling, and a little determined, he replied “*that’s* got nothing to do with Star Trek!!!”

“How many takes?” he was asked. Robert started to look a little desperate by now, but was playing along beautifully. Oh to hear what he’d have to say around a dinner table, instead of within the constraints of a stage! “Now… I have to admit…” he said (you guessed it, with an innocent expression), “I just kept goofing it up.” He shook his head in mock shame at himself. “I guess it was 30,” he said (lying through his teeth). Well, the guys in the hall went crazy, and Robert just stood there with that satisfied grin plastered on his face.

More questions! “No, the studio is not conducive to romantic feelings,” he said.

We thought the topic had finally died down, until Robert just couldn’t resist one more line. “You can get a rise once in a while, but it’s rare,” he said, with a diffident shrug.

Oh, I thought I’d fall off my chair laughing. Tears streaming down my face. Oh, he’s good. Evil and wonderful. I love it.

“Quick! Give me another question!” he begged.

Q: How much input did you as an actor have in the development of your character?

“Obviously very little,” he said wryly. He said he didn’t have much input. He did ask the writers to be a little more specific with Chakotay’s background, make him from an Indian tribe south of the border. He suggested Mayan to Jeri Taylor, as they were advanced mathematicians and astronomers. He wasn’t pleased with the ‘Rubber Tree People’. “Who were they?” he asked rhetorically. “The first to invent the condom, or something,” he muttered darkly. He shook himself, then apologised, “Sorry about that, but…” you could see his frustration was real, and I for one felt for him.

He said he did call the writers occasionally and ask them to change a line here or there. He thought that during the first four seasons, they were fairly receptive, but not after that. He shrugged again. Brushed it off a bit. Said that in the end “I didn’t really care. I didn’t bother myself about it.” He just said what he was told to “no matter how stupid the lines were.”

Now, there are in this world some people who think that everything Voyager is gold. There were apparently one or two of these non-discerning types in the audience. I admit freely that I was groaning and getting angry as a few audience comments were ‘offered’ to disagree with Robert’s assessment. I mean, really! They can’t see the difference between wheat and chaff? Guess not.

Robert looked astounded, shook his head in disbelief. “Really? You think so? Ok, *all the lines were gems*”, he said, not bothering to comment further, or waste his time.

Q: Tim and Garrett have already dobbed you in (dobbed? Oh, told on me!). Would you tell us about some of the pranks on the set?

Robert didn’t stay on this answer for long. “There weren’t really any ‘pranks’” he explained. Nothing so deliberate as that. “Oh, except for Tim, I suppose,” he said, remembering with a grin. “And the Irish dancing…” “Naa, we just goofed around. Nothing was set up, it was more spontaneous.”

Q: Why are you known as Chuckles?

Huge laughter around the room, as Robert’s eyebrow rose. “Am I?” he drawled. 'You learn something new everyday.” Accusing fingers gleefully pointed to our MC Peter, and it was rapidly explained to Robert that Peter uses Q’s nickname for Chakotay at every opportunity.

Robert got a decidedly wicked look on his face then. The look of a predator who has just spotted easy prey. “So, you’re the son of a b**** who calls me Chuckles!” he roared in mock anger. The body language was a scream. He does alpha male very well (grin). “I don’t like it, and DON’T CALL ME CHUCKLES!!” he demanded, while we clapped, cheered and laughed, and Peter looked sheepish.

Robert’s attention was drawn to a woman in the front row, holding a newborn baby. They had both had their photos taken with Robert earlier too, (a beautiful shot, by the way), so obviously had had quite a chat earlier on. Robert told everyone, “His name is Jean-Luc.” Claps and laughter. “It is!” (and it is). “But he has more hair.” Which was true too.

Q: Would you say that you were still close to the other cast members since Voyager finished?

Robert proceeded to name all the cast, and describe where they were at socially at the moment. “Garrett and I had lunch, the day I left to come here. Haven’t seen Robbie lately, but we talk on the phone. I’ve talked to Picardo,” (and here Robert launched into a brilliantly funny impersonation of Robert Picardo. Had the crowd in stitches. I was so impressed. It really was voice tone, facial expression and attitude perfect.) “Haven’t seen Kate. Talked to Roxanne briefly. Went to see Johnnie in a play. He leaves me very strange messages on my answering machine!” (Now he’s got me sooo curious!) “Yeah, I’d say we’re still pretty close.”

Someone in the audience piped up that they’d be close by soon too, as they’d be in Los Angeles (hint hint). “Ooooh….. great!” he said, with big wide frightened eyes. “Oh, nooooo”, he muttered sotto voce. “Um, I’ll be gambling somewhere,” he said in mock apology.

“Oh, and at the Galaxy Ball this year, everyone will be there too. Should be great. Yes, and Louis will be playing,” he confirmed, to someone who asked.

Robert also said there was a faint possibility he’d be joining Garrett, Jeri and Roxanne in London, but negotiations were still underway, and his participation might not happen. (I did hear later why, but I guess I’ll leave that bit alone.)

Q: What were the odds of the Voyager cast being in a movie?

Hmmm. Interesting answer Robert gave. This is where he really started to open up about his current relationship with the franchise, his previous actions and comments, and the fallout. Let me give this guy full marks for honesty, pride, and for dealing with his life in a rational way that makes sense to his self-integrity. Yes, I’m an acknowledged supporter of Robert’s take on TPTB, and I would like to remind all that if you don’t agree with his attitude, that’s your prerogative, but live with it, because he does.

He said that he doubted that there would ever be a Voyager movie, but even if there was, he wouldn’t be asked to be in it. “The writers don’t like me very much,” he said, slowly. He went on to talk about the things he’s said in interviews, and that have been reported over the Internet. He acknowledges that, if he were in their shoes, he wouldn’t be very happy with him either. But, he felt that what he’d said was right, and stands by it. The result of course, is that he won’t be asked to work for them again, and he can’t seem to feel unhappy about that. So, it’s up to him to work on his own projects, and live with the consequences. “I would be surprised,” he finished, referring to any future offer of a movie role.

Q: What are your thoughts on the final episode.

Hold on to your seats (grin)…

“It SUCKED, SUCKED, SUCKED!” he cried. Then grinned. “Oh, c’mon. It was bad. It was horrible!”

There were a few comments traded between himself and the audience over the various merits of the ep, but he didn’t back down.

Peter piped up with a long diatribe on the way the writers put no thought behind it, and wrote what was basically an episode that could almost have fitted anywhere in the series, that didn’t address most of the issues that begged to be written about.

“I could have used you, to write some letters,” Robert commented.

Q: Garrett told us that you always gave him a hard time.

Feral grin. “He deserved it!” Robert snarled, delighting us as he beamed at our laughter. Asking for more detail, it was explained that Garrett had complained that Robert would throw unwanted merchandise from his trailer into Garrett’s, often hitting him on the head.

Robert nodded his head sagely. “Yes, I would do that,” he confirmed, with mock seriousness. “It was sort of a love/hate thing,” he added, eyes twinkling. “Garrett was a relatively new person to acting, and I was trying to make him a little less… starry-eyed.”

Robert then acted out the sorts of things he would do, and I must admit, I was almost in pain from laughter as he said in a thoughtful, serious voice, “… and if I threw it just right, at just the right angle, it would ‘CAROOM’ off the door, and hit him right in the head.” Robert just nodded fondly as he reminisced, playing the scene to the hilt.

He admitted that he thought all the franchise paraphernalia was ‘useless’, and that it used to ‘infuriate’ him when boxes of it were dumped in his trailer by well-meaning people. He’d go through it, pick up an item and see a Neelix doll, or a Tuvok doll, or a book with a lurid cover on it, with Chakotay and Janeway looking at each other with these sickly expressions (here he demonstrated, and it was plain to see how stupid he thought the whole deal was). So deciding what to do with all this ‘useless’ junk, he ended up tossing them all at Garrett. (Note to Robert: maybe you could have stored the boxes for the Galaxy Ball, you know some of that stuff would get eaten up in the fund raising auction. Ah well, never mind…)

Occasionally they’d get a new bright-eyed and eager Production assistant, who’d bounce unsuspectingly up to Robert’s trailer and say cheerily “Here you are, Mr. Beltran, your box of new merchandise…” Robert just smirked at us and murmured “Let’s just say, they learnt to leave it when I wasn’t there.”

Q: What are your thoughts on J/C.

(Disclaimer – I do not want to hear from disgruntled shippers. Okay? Not my problem).

Robert said that during the first season of Voyager, he doesn’t think he went to any conventions, while the others did. Consequently, he wasn’t aware at first of the J/C groundswell that was building up amongst some fans. The first he heard of it was at the studio, from Kate. (By the way, Robert’s Kate impersonation at this point was funny as hell. Seems they can all caricature ‘that voice’ (grin)). He was sitting in his Chakotay chair at 7 in the morning, waiting for rehearsals to begin, when Kate suddenly leaned over and asked out of the blue “Robert. Do you think Janeway and Chakotay should… get it ooooon?” The raunchy, funny drawl he used at this point had me reaching for tissues to wipe my eyes. He said that he blinked in astonishment, trying to find an answer. “Um, I don’t know Kate, why, do you?” he prevaricated. “They all want it Robert. The fans. They’re screaming at the conventions, demanding that Chakotay and Janeway get it on.” It really was an hilarious impersonation.

He said that it made him feel a little self conscious, but that Kate was always one to ‘push the envelope.’ That the idea was played with for a while, but not seriously. He mentioned “that episode where we get stuck on that planet. I mean, really. Chakotay and Janeway think they’re on that planet for keeps, and they write that Janeway prefers the monkey?” He rolled his eyes, and shook his head. Writers! He added that he thought the episode was written to “toss a bone to the fans”.

Robert’s mood was getting increasingly heated, talking about his frustration with the writing. But as usual, he turned his responses into something playful, and easy to misinterpret if you’re only reading this, and weren’t watching him live. Basically, he started play acting a scene where he might confront Braga now, to ‘discuss’ their relationship on the show. “Yeah, maybe I should smack Brannon,” he said grinning. “I can just see it, meeting up in Vegas,” he went on, warming to his scenario. “C’mere,” he snarled, grabbing an imaginary arm. “No, don’t hide behind Jeri, c’mere!” The audience was in fits. “You neglected me.” His growl as he said this did wonderful things for me (grin).

Then he shrugged, and turned serious again. “Yeah, I suppose they hold a grudge. I was outspoken, and I suppose if I was in their shoes, I’d hold a grudge too. But, it’s just a TV show, you know?”

Yes Robert, I do know. There’s going to be a few who don’t see that, but that’s life, and everyone’s entitled to their opinion, Robert included.

He continued. “Many times, *I* was insulted. And not only me. When the show started to concentrate on Seven, Tim, Garrett, they all suffered. It turned into a Captain-Seven dialogue. “You will do what I want!” “No Captain, I won’t.” “Yes, you will.” “No, I won’t.” He said “We would turn to each other and say ‘will she do it?’ ‘Don’t know, maybe she will.’”, making light of the plight of the rest of the cast.

Robert then mentioned that in his opinion, the major fault of the show lay in poor planning, in not having a story arc. That you would think that the writers would read what others had written for the show before them, and carry it on, but no. Seven would regain some small but important aspect of her humanity in one episode, only to have it disappear as if it had never been, in the next.

Of all the comments he’s made over time, Robert said, “Everything I said was true, in my book anyway."

He thought that the writers maybe were “suffering under a delusion. Maybe someone spiked the water bottles in their office or something. I don’t know. It was very strange. It was ok for the first four seasons…”

“No,” he said. “There was no building after that. The show sucked.”

Q: What do you want to be doing now?

As Robert started to answer, the microphone gave a squeal, one very familiar to us who’ve sat in that hall before. “There’s a strange anomaly…” he intoned in his Chakotay voice, laughing. People helpfully called out “You’re standing under a speaker, move to your left.” Ah, what a quality venue this is.

“What do I want to be doing? Screenplays. Ideally, work on my own projects. Do I want to be at the mercy of the idiots who run Hollywood? NO! I don’t. I just want to do some small film. And theatre. Maybe audition for films.” He shrugged and grinned ruefully. “A lot, I hope. I want to do things that will attract me. There’s too many idiots in Hollywood.”

Robert then gave a very interesting description of an audition he’d done, or probably a conglomeration of several similar ones in his past. He’d front up to the audition, initially very eager and positive. They’d look over his bio, and say with a curled lip “You’ve done lots of Shakespeare. Why did you do that?”

Robert rolled his eyes at us, shrugged and said, “What do you say?” He said that at first, he’d reply something along the lines of, “Well, you know, Shakespeare is great drama,” and try to keep the ball rolling. But unfortunately, he found out that they had no need of ‘great drama’ in their projects, it wasn’t high on their list of items required to get the job done. In the end, he learnt to answer, “Yeah, I did Shakespeare before. And I’ll probably do it again tomorrow. But what about this audition today?”

His contempt for the industry as perpetuated by the LA crowd was palpable. “There’s a lot of ignorant, illiterate people running Hollywood.”

Q: Did you want to leave after season four? Did you try to leave, and did you end up staying for the money?

Robert grinned at the question, by now his blood was up. “Yes, yes and yes,” he said, tossing his head.

He described the predicament he found himself in. In the middle of the season, he decided to ring up TPTB, and asked to be fired. He was as bored as hell, and honestly didn’t think he could keep awake any more, if he just had to sit there and punch buttons all day. He rang and said that as he wasn’t needed as a character, could he please be fired so he could continue on with other more interesting things. He got some response along the lines of ‘oh no, your character really is essential to the story…’. He said, listen, if you want to write the character as something interesting occasionally, then fine, he’d stay and do it. But not if he was gonna sit around in a chair for the rest of the show. He’d like to get on with the rest of his career.

“You know what I was told?” he asked, with incredulity in his voice. He shook his head, disgust on his face. “I had ‘First Officer’s Disease’! I couldn’t believe it. Like that was supposed to make it okay.” He shook his head again, and muttered, “so I said, if it’s a disease, then give me a shot, and get it the **** over with.”

He stopped, mortified, and looked over at the organisers. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that.” Shouts of “Don’t worry about it, you’re in Australia now!” rang out, amongst the cheers. “No, really,” he insisted. “I’ve never sworn onstage before, and I didn’t mean to now. I just forgot for a moment.”

That’s okay babe, we’re right behind you. No need to apologise to us who were there, it was very apparent how much feeling you have about the subject. And besides, Aussies like that sort of thing (grin).

He continued on. “It just made no sense. I waited, but for the rest of season six, there was no change. I was finding it hard to stay awake the whole day on the bridge. Katy would lean over and say “You don’t like the show, do you?” I’d reply, and she’d pat my hand and say “no honey, I know what you mean.”

Robert then explained that the actors were tied to a contract, and that if you left, they could sue you for millions of dollars. But they can fire you at anytime. “So I began a campaign to get fired,” he admitted. “I trashed the writers. But it didn’t work! I even implied that Brannon was gay!” he said, laughing. “Not that there’s anything wrong if he was,” he clarified. It was just a throwaway line, something he’d said in response to a question about Jeri and Brannon. His tongue in cheek reply to any knowledge of it was “Hell no. I thought he was gay!”

All his attempts to leave, however, didn’t work. “You tell them that they’ve got their heads up their ass, and it still doesn’t work,” he said. “So yes, you do take the dollars. What else am I supposed to do? You do the best you can, and you deposit the cheque. I wanted out,” he finished.

Robert then smiled and said that he didn’t suppose he was even welcome on the Paramount lot any more. “Not that I’ve tried,” he said. Apparently Robert has a friend on the lot who rang him about 2 weeks ago, and said “Hey man, you’ve got to quit trashing the show. You’ll be out of movies if you do.” Robert just shrugged again. He then described some noticeboards that are on the lot, the type where people put of photos and such. He’s been told that now the board is continually updated with ‘Quotes From Robert’ that staff have found on the net.

He grinned sardonically, then said, “So, I’m persona-non-grata. So *what*?”

Peter chimed in about then, winding up the guest talk segment of the day, by saying “Hey, you can always say you were misquoted! When they ask “Why did you say we had our head up our ass?” you can say you said they were ‘just looking at the show from a different perspective.’”

Robert burst out laughing, and we all clapped and cheered as Robert left the stage to take a short break before signing for a very long autograph cue.

Autographs! The currency of fandom! We all stood and stretched, the excited buzz rising about the room as everyone talked about how great Robert was on stage, how honest. The usual Aussie attitude showed itself, with comments supporting ‘people who don’t take bull****’ and such. I know full well that Robert found a receptive audience for his story that day, and my opinion of him was only heightened by everything he had to say. I’m very glad I got to hear it first hand, and to recognise the man’s passion as he spoke his truth. And most of all, I think, to see how very down to earth he is, and full of humour.

We sorted out our photos in readiness, and took a quick break before our rows were called up to the table. Robert came back in to the hall, to another round of applause and cheers. The autographs began, and we chatted amongst ourselves as we watched him begin the arduous task of the day. Know what? He smiled and spoke to every single person, warmly and quietly. It was a pleasure to witness what a gentleman he is to his fans (even the very, very few who might have pushed the patience of a saint. He never gave a clue if he found offence – and that might have been hard to achieve at one point. But I won’t elaborate.)

My turn came eventually, and I noticed he was looking a little weary by now. (“He’s very jet lagged,” an organiser told me quietly, later). He looked at one photo I had, where he’s posing with Johnnie, Robbie, Garrett and The Rock. “I suppose I could be the wimpy little brother of The Rock,” he grinned, doubt in his voice. I choked. “Oh, not so wimpy,” I declared. “Not so wimpy at all…” I countered, with a smile. “Now, which one of these did you want personalised?” he asked. “This one,” I said (a little nervously), sliding my bound hard copy of one of my stories across to him. He picked up the pen and wrote my name, then “All my love” above his signature. I was grinning. “You know,” I offered, “we fanfic writers treat the characters are lot nicer that the VOY writers ever did,” I said, with a cheeky smile (or maybe it was a leer. No, I don’t think so). He grinned (thankfully), and my humble little C/P fic now bears something I’ll treasure forever.

We hung about, taking photos and such, and slowly people began to leave as their autographs were done. I couldn’t leave. Call me silly, but this was the first con when I just couldn’t stand to leave before the guest had completely finished for the day. I mean, how often am I going to see Robert? Not very. I made the most of every moment.

Finally it was announced that he was leaving the room, and he stood and waved to us as we cheered him out the door.

Quite unintentionally, my friend Ian and I were standing near one of the organisers as she packed up the gear. We chatted a bit (she was venting a little about something that had gone wrong), and we walked with her as she made her way to the dealer tables. As she handed over Robert’s gifts to be placed in a bag for him, I made a quick decision, and slipped a copy of my story in the bag. Oh dear.

We all walked away, and Ian and I grabbed some bags to help carry, as there were really quite a lot. We all just kept walking, outside the hotel, and around the back, towards the end of the alley. We got to the car, and waited. Then I realised. We were not only waiting for the other organiser with the keys, we were waiting for Robert too. They were about to drive him to the airport.

I looked up, and saw him walking towards us, looking tired. I felt awkward, and stepped back quietly to give him some space, trying not to stare. Didn’t want him to feel on display, now that the ‘show was over’. He made us laugh though, when he absent mindedly walked around to the right hand side of the car. We reminded him that that was the driver’s side in Australia, and he sheepishly made his way around to the other door, opened it and stood quietly as we finished organising where the bags would go, and who had the satchel (me!).

I figured it was time to leave. Ian and I said our goodbyes, and I thanked Robert for a wonderful day, wished him a good flight, and hoped tomorrow would go well. As I walked past him, I added “and thank you, you’ve been very generous today.” “Thank you,” he replied, then took my hand, leaned across, and we gave each other a kiss on the cheek. “Oh, thank *you*!” I said, barely breathing.

With a dazed smile, I wandered back towards the hotel entrance, a grinning Ian in tow, who had just shaken Robert’s hand, and was feeling very pleased with himself.

As the car pulled away, Robert smiled and waved at us, and as it disappeared, I don’t think there were two happier people in the whole of Sydney than Ian and I right then. I still haven’t climbed off cloud nine, and it’s possible I never will.

line