Cast the Characters of Trek Literature

[captcalhoun]

Dimesdan wrote:

---

Just because T'Ryssa enjoys sex and enjoys sex with multiple partners, either at the same time or on separate occasions in no way shape or form makes her a "slag"

As for Liverpudlian = Asian, I suspect Allyn is actually meaning her attitude towards life, the universe and everything.

wrong type of SLAG!

[Turtletrekker]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

---

This is the most wrong thing I've seen all day.

Zooey is is perfection. She is just... Zooey. And that suffices.

For the record, I wouldn't cast Zooey as T'Ryssa. That would be a waste of Zooey's essential Zooey-ness.

And this is the most right thing I've seen all day.

[JD]

I have no idea what kind of a reaction this will get, but what about Michaela Conlin from Bones.

[Christopher]

No idea. I don't watch that show. I like Emily Deschanel even less than her sister.

[Allyn Gibson]

JD wrote:

---

I have no idea what kind of a reaction this will get, but what about Michaela Conlin from Bones.

The more I think about it, the more I think she would be passable as T'Ryssa Chen. She's not out-and-out wrong for the role.

[snakespeare]

As I mentioned in my last post, which is at the bottom of the previous page and was probably skipped over...

I don't see why T'Ryssa has to be played by an Asian actress. If she's Vulcan and she bleeds green, and she has black hair, then they could use makeup on whoever they would pick. I don't know that they would need to start with a Chinese face. Would they?

I originally thought her Chinese half was apparent (reading GTSS), but now it is clear that everyone confuses her with a full Vulcan (LtP).

[Christopher]

snakespeare wrote:

---

I don't see why T'Ryssa has to be played by an Asian actress.

Because her name is T'Ryssa Chen. Her human ancestry is primarily Chinese. And because p. 68 of Greater Than the Sum explicitly refers to her "tomboyish Asian features."

I originally thought her Chinese half was apparent (reading GTSS), but now it is clear that everyone confuses her with a full Vulcan (LtP).

How is that inconsistent? We've seen "white" Vulcans and "black" Vulcans, so why couldn't there be Asian-looking Vulcans? We've seen at least one full Romulan, Caithlin Dar, played by a Chinese-American actress, and there have been Asian extras cast as Vulcan background characters.

[Paris]

Christopher wrote:

---

How is that inconsistent? We've seen "white" Vulcans and "black" Vulcans, so why couldn't there be Asian-looking Vulcans? We've seen at least one full Romulan, Caithlin Dar, played by a Chinese-American actress, and there have been Asian extras cast as Vulcan background characters.

According to Memory Beta, Caithlin Dar was half-human/ half-Romulan. It actually says her dad was from Ireland, and mother was Romulan. I don't know where the asian features are supposed to come from. Maybe when the Irish mate with Romulans, you get asian looking Romulans? I assume this comes from the novelization of STV.

[apenpaap]

Paris wrote:

---

According to Memory Beta, Caithlin Dar was half-human/ half-Romulan. It actually says her dad was from Ireland, and mother was Romulan. I don't know where the asian features are supposed to come from. Maybe when the Irish mate with Romulans, you get asian looking Romulans? I assume this comes from the novelization of STV.

That begs the question, though: how can she be half human when humans didn't even know what Romulans looked like 19 years earlier?

EDIT: I looked her up, and it seems she is just one quarter human, which makes it even stranger.

[snakespeare]

I understood all that, what I didn't get was why she HAS to be played by an Asian, because makeup can make it work once the imaginary casting team chose someone based on talent.

[Paris]

apenpaap wrote:

---

That begs the question, though: how can she be half human when humans didn't even know what Romulans looked like 19 years earlier?

EDIT: I looked her up, and it seems she is just one quarter human, which makes it even stranger.

Where did it say she was 1/4 human and not 1/2? As to how it could be possible...there's no saying that her father knew that her mother was Romulan. He may have thought she was a Vulcan. There was no mention of her parents relationship, so it's possible that Caithlin is the result of a one-night stand. Or maybe her mother was a spy posing as a Vulcan, and then left without word and took her daughter with her...

who knows

[Christopher]

snakespeare wrote:

---

I understood all that, what I didn't get was why she HAS to be played by an Asian, because makeup can make it work once the imaginary casting team chose someone based on talent.

You're not seriously suggesting making up a Caucasian to look Asian?! Reverting to the days of Charlie Chan? That practice was not only racist, it was ineffective. You can't convincingly make a white person look Asian by sticking latex folds over their eyelids. Maybe American audiences in the '40s or '60s, who didn't know or care what real Asians looked like, could buy such a substitution, but nobody with any sense today would fall for it, and no casting director with any decency would attempt it.

[Dimesdan]

Christopher wrote:

---

You're not seriously suggesting making up a Caucasian to look Asian?! Reverting to the days of Charlie Chan? That practice was not only racist, it was ineffective. You can't convincingly make a white person look Asian by sticking latex folds over their eyelids. Maybe American audiences in the '40s or '60s, who didn't know or care what real Asians looked like, could buy such a substitution, but nobody with any sense today would fall for it, and no casting director with any decency would attempt it.

Or you could just do an open "colour blind" addition and then pick the best woman for the role, yes you may have written her as looking Asian, but that doesn't mean it can't change if she did get cast now would it?

[snakespeare]

[Bolian]Look, I'm just asking!!! It's your damn character! You tell me![/Bolian]

[Christopher]

Dimesdan wrote:

---

Or you could just do an open "colour blind" addition and then pick the best woman for the role, yes you may have written her as looking Asian, but that doesn't mean it can't change if she did get cast now would it?

I don't think that's at all in the spirit of a fantasy casting thread. The whole point is to find people who fit the descriptions in the books. We're not subject to the exigencies of real casting here; we don't have to settle for "not quite but the closest we could find."