Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Tattoo (1995) User Reviews

Chakotay remembers his roots and the Doctor catches the flu

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 8 July 2010]

When Voyager detects a warp signature they follow it to a planet hoping to negotiate for needed supplies, however they can't contact anybody on the surface and every time they try to beam down to the surface a storm starts up. Unable to transport Chakotay leads Tukok, B'Elanna and Neelix as they take a shuttle to the surface. Once down Cakoptay keeps seeing things which remind him an expedition he went on in the jungles of Central America with his father. Neelix is injured and beamed back to Voyager and after a storm hits Tuvok and B'Elanna beam back too, Chacotay loses his com badge and is stuck on the surface. He later meets an alien with a similar tattoo to his own and learns that this is one of the legendary Sky Spirits who visited tribe millennia before. In a secondary plot the Doctor gives him self a case of flu after Kes accuses him of not empathising with his patients, he programs it to last twenty nine hours but when he doesn't recover after that time he demands attention thinking his program is failing.

This was a reasonable episode which taught us a bit more about Chakotay, we learnt that he wasn't always the spiritual man we know and as a youth was uninterested in his heritage, but gained a greater respect for it after his father was killed. The sub plot was fairly entertaining Robert Picardo always puts in a fine performance as the Doctor and it is nice to see him get to do something different.

And the cats in the cradle and the silverspoon.

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 5 April 2020]

I enjoy a good dad episode and I feel I have a better understanding of the understated personality of Chakotay after watching this episode.

I had a strained relationship with my dad when I was a young man that overtime softened to a true respect and admiration for the man that he was and is and I feel the character of Chakotay portrays that emotional journey well in this episode.

I think it's righteous that Chakotay has the face tattoo to honor his father and his traditions. The episodes hints strongly that his father was killed by the Cardassians 'trying to protect his home' and provides legitimate reasons for why Chakotay fought with the Maquis.

I'm not a spiritual man but I am intrigued by an exploration of the subject. One of my crazy friends often tells me about his theory that we evolve into a corporeal type of being upon death --- like that one episode of voyager from last season. The spiritual idea to think of everything in nature as sacred is a righteous belief system that I have plenty of respect for.

It's a bit of a stretch for this alien society to travel 70,000 light years to interfere with the evolution of early humankind ---- but i'll let it go.

Random observations:

• The doctor embarrasses the entire medical profession in this episode by telling a pregnant woman to 'suck it up sweetheart --- don't be a whimp'. YIKES!
• Janeway's hair gets a 7 out of 10 for high school superintendent style.
• We see our first buttcrack in trek history?

Dr to the rescue

[twanster-97655 · 7/10 · 20 March 2021]

The doctor really was a gem in this series. This is another episode that is mostly remembered because the holo doctor gets the scify equivalent of "manflu" and thinks he's dying. The main story is abit silly, not bad but silly, we are led to believe that these aliens visited earth 45,000 years ago and then settled on a planet that just happens to be in the path of the only other "native" from earth.. By the time voyager ends they've rewritten everything about earth from dinosaurs making spaceships and leaving earth (voth) to the origins of natives being from space aswell.. What next.. Bill Gates created the Borg?

PC Pow-Wow

[Bolesroor · 2 February 2011]

"Me and my brother were talking to each other about what makes a man a man..."

Chakotay ventures to a rain forest-like planet where he meets a tribe of natives similar to American Indians. This triggers a series of flashbacks to an expedition he'd made with his father, who was sort of a cross between Graham Greene and Indiana Jones.

It seems that Humans (read: Americans) have gotten a bad reputation throughout the galaxy: the Natives fear them as murderous conquerers, looking to steal their land and abuse their resources. Chakotay convinces the natives that the Voyager crew means them no harm by laying down his weapon, stripping off his clothes, and singing "Lean On Me" while playing the harpsichord. Okay, I made up the harpsichord part but the rest is all true...

Just in case you forgot this was Voyager and were missing your weekly nightmare moment Neelix gets his eyeballs pecked out by a vicious eagle patrolling the skies. The episode reaffirms the Native American culture: humility before nature, respect for animals and the land... the flashbacks are nice, and do a wonderful job of fleshing out Chakotay's culture and beliefs while never being preachy.

The only problem here is that it's a rather unengaging affair: the finale, with the ship being caught in a cyclone, feels tacked-on and contrived. Otherwise a good show.

GRADE: B-

Poncho from Predator, Chakotay strips, and the Doctor gets man-flu

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 27 July 2022]

A Voyager away team discovers a symbol on a planet that Chakotay recognises.

This is a reasonably good episode with some interesting concepts.

I like how the story unfolds seamlessly between flashbacks and the present time period. This is down to good editing, transitions, and selection of a young actor who bares a plausible resemblance to what a young Chakotay would look like.

I think there are a few aspects you must overcome for it to be enjoyable. Firstly, of all the gin joints, in all the quadrants, in all the galaxy, Chakotay beams into this one. If you can accept this premise you are halfway there.

Secondly you need to get past the stereotypes. Compared to other representations I do not think this one is hideously bad, but it has problems, such as showing no distinction between indigenous groups and generalising all Native Americans as peaceful, respectful of the land, and heavily spiritual.

Naturally this culture could not have evolved without the help of the 'sky-spirits', which feels quite patronising. It is the type of concept seen before in Star Trek episodes like 'Who Mourns For Adonais' and 'Requiem For Mathusela', but 'Tattoo' does it slightly better.

When the crew on board Voyager gets into a bit of jeopardy towards the end, it feels a bit tacked on to increase the excitement level, but it's fairly well executed nonetheless.

The b-plot involving the Doctor contracting a holovirus is good fun and feels like a parody of the type of unsympathetic male who goes to pieces when given a dose of what the ladies call "man-flu" where I come from.

Roberts Beltran, Katie Mulgrew, and Robert Picardo stand out in this one.

The one where Chakotay does it *again*

[GreyHunter · 4/10 · 13 December 2019]

For the second time this season, the writers are so focused on using Chakotay as a plot device to illustrate cultural sensitivity that Star Trek is supposed to explore that they make him an idiot...again. First his insistence on treating the Kazon child as he would some human kid with anger issues should -- and if any logic had been applied -- would have gotten him killed. Now he insists that his team leave their weapons behind (and given that they fled so quickly once the storm started, it's not clear that they even retrieved them, leaving deadly technology where a potentially-dangerous species could retrieve it) and places himself and his companions in unacceptably perilous circumstances.

I get it -- the openness to other cultures and other species, erasing genders and racial divides, etc etc are an important part of the Star Trek ethos. But that doesn't mean people have to behave like idiots. Captain Janeway,for instance, does a fair job of balancing this issue with considerations for practicality and the safety of the crew. She respects the ethos without being an idiot. If she represents the ethos in application, Chakotay apparently represents the ethos in caricature. The writers do him, and the series as a whole, no favors in their depiction.

But this episode is weak overall. The fact that twice (in one season, again) a Federation starship in the Delta Quadrant encounters a direct connection to Earth suggests that the writers may have a grasp of straight-line distance (70,000 ly is a long way) but doesn't have a grasp of breadth, because a region comprising a full quarter of the galaxy is huuuuuuuuge. Not only do these intrepid explorers keep encountering human connections, they keep encountering ones that just happen to directly apply to the Voyager crew (Janeway is a huge fan of Amelia Earhart, Chakotay is a devout descendant of the people who were shaped by these aliens.) The odds against this happening even once, let alone twice, let alone in such a brief time, are absolutely staggering to a degree that the human mind can barely comprehend.

Other issues include the fact that the two people *least* likely to leave Chakotay behind did so. Tuvok, stickler for Starfleet regs would never have ordered an emergency beam-out without ascertaining Chakotay's situation and Torres, utterly loyal to and madly in love with Chakotay would be even less likely to do so. The writing was so bad that the writers made sure this was one of the rare times the request to be beamed up carefully omitted the number of people to beam. Awkward and transparent. And what did the aliens offer that led Chakotay to thank them for what they did offer even if it wasn't what the Voyager requested? That was never cleared up. The substance was multiple kilometers beneath the surface, so one assumes the aliens didn't just tell Voyager they could blast through the sacred land, but only a little.

All in all, a less-than-mediocre episode. Lots of touchy-feely but little substance and less credibility. Pretty much the only highlight was the moment in Sick Bay when Kes admitted she'd added a couple hours to the Doctor's illness. That was a fun moment.

There's a good reason you might find Chakotay episodes cringey

[bgaiv · 3/10 · 26 June 2022]

The adviser the production hired to develop the Chakotay character was a faaaake. Jamake Highwater.

Reportedly, Beltran was infuriated with the stereotypical way his character was written, and it's not hard to see why.

His "spiritual" episodes tended to come across like the notorious TNG "Code of Honor". But TNG was well aware that episode was an embarrassing disaster. In that case, it stemmed from the director being a flat out racist who was fired for that reason.

Unfortunately Voyager never realized this adviser was a faaake, so the show has multiple "Codes of Honor".

Indigenous People in Space!

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 15 August 2018]

I'm pretty liberal in my acceptance of the events that take place on sci fi television. But one must understand the immensity of space. Begin with the idea that there is a tribe that Chakotay would emulate in the far reaches of the galaxy, and that these explorers would haphazardly run into it. This is kind of a homage to those in our world who have been discounted. But the plot is so weak and so full of holes, it's beyond any sort of verisimilitude.

I hate these episodes

[joekinplaya · 2/10 · 24 April 2017]

I actually like Chakotay's character but whenever he goes on his Native mumbo jumbo it gets annoying. According to sources, the Star Trek studio's source was an "expert" who was outed as a fraud.

I really like Chakotay's character at first when it was obvious he was a Marquis officer and was kind of forced into Starfleet once again. Then despite clashes of ideas and loyalties, Chakotay proves he's a capable and worthy officer of Starfleet. THIS is what I like about Chakotay. He does what is right and will not let it slide even if it might involve his lover who is a Cardassian traitor.

Again screw this Native mumbo jumbo. I'm inclined to respect your heritage and roots but this is a sci fi, not re-explore some pseudo spiritualism that's not even legitimate by spiritualistic standards.

Tribal mumbo jumbo

[tomsly-40015 · 2/10 · 13 December 2023]

In short: This is a typical sci-fi episode where the protagonist encounters an alien race that once travelled to earth and helped our ancient ancestors to evolve while becoming gods or spiritual beings in their stories and beliefs afterwards.

Unlike other Star Trek series, Voyager has lots of boring, bland, uninteresting or even annoying characters that cannot carry a whole episode without boring the viewer to death. Paris is one of those characters, Kim, Neelix, Torres and Chakotay as well. Chakotay is uninteresting and in this episode we learn why. As a young boy he refused to accept his native heritage and left home to join Starfleet. Later he joined the Maquis to protect his home. His father died and Chakotay got his tattoo as a remembrance to his father - although he never had any connection to his heritage. So basically the whole tribal and mystic mumbo jumbo we saw so far in other episodes was just a big eyewash. Chakotay isn't really a spiritual man.

We also see some dumb decissions again. Obviously this alien race is able to control the weather and starts a storm whenever they try to beam to the planet or land with a runabout. The idea from Janeway? Just take the whole Voyager spaceship and land it on the planet! And why? To rescue Chakotay! So Janeway not only risks like 150 other lives on board to save just one, she also risks to lose the Voyager in this attempt and with it the only hope to ever return home! What is it with Star Trek captains always coming up with stupid decissions?

Isn't the character Chakotay evidence that Star Trek had jumped the shark?!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 12 February 2015]

Perhaps I am a mean old cuss, but I always thought that the character Chakotay was a bit silly. After all, all of his pseudo-American Indian talk of spirit guides and the like sounded to me more like some white person's idea of what a native sounded like than anything else. Here, the away team lands on a planet and Chakotay recognizes symbols from a spirit journey. Does this REALLY sound like good sci-fi or just evidence that the show really had trouble coming up with good plots? I would say the latter.

What follows are a bunch of flashbacks where Chakotay remembers his childhood and his father. All of it seems to have nothing to do with sci-fi and comes off as silly filler. Overall, a rather terrible episode and one I don't ever want to see again.

Plot holes

[jaredd · 1/10 · 9 April 2012]

Madness from the writers continues here. We are forced into watching the major meetings take place in the woods and dark caves, as if actually discussing things in town over a cup of tea is somehow taboo. Plenty of time is spent showing how these people's technology is so advanced that they can control the weather and use it as a weapon to keep people away. But what about all those broken trees caused by the high winds?? What do you think all the animals and birds do when the weather goes haywire?? Yet these same people also feel obligated to write primitive symbols on the ground whenever they disturb some rocks to simply build a fire pit. Another case of too much time being P.C. and not enough time checking the script...