Can another black guy pull ENT's pants out of the fire?

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

A thought occurred to me while I was watching a DS9 rerun that featured Sisko and Jake. On Enterprise, the character Mayweather shares a few things in common with Sisko/Jake, such as their race, but in some ways they are so completely different. Can you imagine Mayweather being the Captain of the show instead of Sisko? I can't.

It seems like Mayweather is completely out of his element on Enterprise. It's almost a running gag how he almost never has any lines. Every character has been featured except for Mayweather. He's always just in the background...And it irritates me. Does Mayweather have more potential than this? How can we even tell if they don't try?

I get the sneaking suspicion that some of the characters on ENT may be a little bit on the racist side. They seem uncomfortable around Mayweather, accepting him but not really treating him like one of their own. He gets pushed aside and ignored. This is an all too familiar sight in today's world.

Is Enterprise in need of another black character to fix this problem and put some new life into the show?

On DS9, Captain Sisko had Jake, his former wife (and Prophet), and his love interest. All were black, and in his scenes with them we got to see Sisko the man rather than Sisko the Captain.

On ENT, we have no other black characters, so Travis Mayweather is all on his own. We have no clue who he is, because he has no other black guys or gals to relate to. If another black were added to the cast, we could see Mayweather have a friend, they could pull pranks on the rest of the crew and do whatever it is that friends do. They could be like Tom and Harry or Julian and O'Brien.

Anyone else agree?

PrankishSmart · **Thu Jan 23, 2003 9:11 pm**

The reason why he does not have any lines in the show is defaintly not because he is black.

Lindley · **Thu Jan 23, 2003 10:01 pm**

^Much as I hate to say it, it might be. I mean, what other reason is there? I've heard some rumors about treatment of Avery Brooks, which doesn't bode well for others. Heck, Micheal Dorn had nothing of consequence to do in Nemesis; he was there, but what he did was rarely distinctly "Worf". It could have been any security guy.

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

Yes, I also remember hearing that someone like Berman (can't remember who exactly) yelled at Avery and called him a n***** to his face. I'm amazed the guy didn't get his face punched in.

I don't know if it is racism that is keeping Travis Mayweather from getting lines, but I do believe the writers are more comfortable having black characters socialize mainly with other black characters. DS9 did this the best. As long as ENT is failing, they may as well try to introduce another black character, it couldn't hurt.

I would hate to think that the ENT producers only have one black character as a "token". That would be a sad misuse of Mayweather and an insult to the audience.

Pah-Wraith · **Fri Jan 24, 2003 5:06 pm**

Now most of you know what i'm about to say here if thats true about what Berman then he's a swine who can't realise that averys a person not a color, I hate to think that Star Trek the program which featured the first inter-racial Screen kiss (Kirk and Uhura) was racist but times have changed and perhaps Racists have gotten into the production team in any case I thought ds9s perception against racism was brilliant. We may be overlooking this Mayweather is also a Boomer and therefore may be difficult to get on with but either way I just hope that Star trek sets a good example and shows more ethnic Minorities getting high ranks in star fleet like Sisko and Chakotay.

Pah-Wraith · **Fri Jan 24, 2003 5:11 pm**

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

I don't remember if it was Berman or not, but I do recall that it was in the middle of a very heated argument. The fact that the man lives to have the tale told about him shows you how Brooks displayed almost miraculous self-control. Brooks is a pretty big guy, I can easily imagine him tearing the guy's head off. I wonder what would happen if that racist tried to pull the same thing with Michael Dorn?

On Enterprise, it really does get under my skin the way Mayweather always seems to be the "odd man out". The only difference between him and Reed or Tucker is his race. It's not like a pilot can't get good storylines, just look at Paris in Voyager.

TNG was probably run by a less racist group, since LaForge always had great scenes, and interacted well with Data (and you can't get much whiter than Data!). On the other hand, they never gave LaForge a successful love interest, which is disappointing.

Pah-Wraith · **Fri Jan 24, 2003 5:27 pm**

well in "All good things" future Laforge Married Leah Brahms the lady of his dreams who was not so attracted to him in an earlier episode

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

On the other hand, they paired Troi with Worf, so...

Pah-Wraith · **Fri Jan 24, 2003 5:42 pm**

Mayweather's character could have so many good plots there's only really been one i can think of and that was the one with the Nausicaan Pirates raiding a freighter.

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

I would love to see how they handle racism in the context of their century. TNG, etc. had little racism and took place hundreds of years later. So far, things don't look so good for race relations, as there seems to be an unspoken apartheid as far as Mayweather is concerned...

Pah-Wraith · **Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:10 pm**

LOL I still remember Jake's (Jimmy) line in the ds9 episode "Far Beyond the Stars" he came up "The only reason they'd take us up into space is if they needed someone to shine their shoes" it always cracks me up

Praetor

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

No, everyone's noticed that Mayweather has no lines. The reason I noticed it is not because of his color, but because members of the main cast are supposed to have lines, but Mayweather doesn't. And I am assuming that this is due to racism on the part of the producers, because there's no other explanation.

Praetor · **Fri Feb 07, 2003 9:16 pm**

He just had to wait for his episode. A new episode is coming out that features him, every main crew member has there episode he just had to wait.

thegame · **Fri Feb 07, 2003 10:20 pm**

Travis is a man with a story and an arc to go with, but he's gone no where so far.

Pah-Wraith · **Sat Feb 08, 2003 7:17 am**

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

Mayweather seems to be living proof that racism hasn't been eradicated. Everyone else has had an episode featuring him or her, except for Mayweather. And the second season is over halfway through. The reason is obvious; they're cutting out Mayweather. It's not as though the other characters on the ENT crew were particularly interesting or deserving of a story themselves.

voyagerlr · **Sat Feb 08, 2003 5:03 pm**

i agree with pah most racist issues will have been resolved by that era hell the federation is made up of thousands of species almost all co-existing in piece, if there was racism thier the federation would fall!

Pah-Wraith · **Sat Feb 08, 2003 5:46 pm**

voyagerlr · **Sat Feb 08, 2003 5:47 pm**

thats the one!

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

voyagerlr · **Sat Feb 08, 2003 6:36 pm**

your reading too much into it

Red Quacker · Captain Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 714

voyagerlr · **Sat Feb 08, 2003 6:43 pm**

your nasty too!!

sure some of their eps were that good but they have a reputaion to stick too 2 good then a season of bad