Of course they want the homophobes watching the movie. That is why they went with the safest choice possible for introducing a gay character and likely just give him a little scene or two. And point 1-3 would have been even better achieved with a more prominent character. Ideally they should have already made in ST09 one of the bigger main characters bi or gay.
HUGE Mr Sulu Spoiler
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Of course they want the homophobes watching the movie. That is why they went with the safest choice possible for introducing a gay character and likely just give him a little scene or two. And point 1-3 would have been even better achieved with a more prominent character. Ideally they should have already made in ST09 one of the bigger main characters bi or gay.
main characters Enterprise crew:
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, Chekov -> 6 men
Uhura -> 1 woman
If they would have kept Carol, that would still be a really bad gender balance, but at least a little improvement. And they already did the whole introduction work with Carol and I thought she was a nice character with great potential for more. Why not develop her more? They didn't have to follow the old movies and make her the mother of Kirk's son. They could have gone in whatever direction with her they wanted.
Chapel was mentioned by last name in the scene where Kirk's hands were swollen in sickbay in ST09, and again by full name when Carol Marcus (who was her friend) mentioned her to Kirk in STiD. A blond nurse with a beehive hairdo was also seen from behind in ST09:
I liked Alice Eve's performance too. Could've kept her but hard to shoehorn her in scenes. Seen sone responses in threads where author seem to feel it was cannon for her to be there or seemed
As for 6 guys n 1 women for crew in true MLK fashion I simply see 7 qualified crew members. Same for Sulu being gay now, feel he was heterosexual no need to make a statement w existing character IMO. As long as he is same great helmsman n person all good
New TV show will/should have more diversity- female cpt lesbian main character etc. All good things Janeway was an EXCELLENT CPT because of the job she did not because of her sex.
But honestly as long as the characters are great n stories same it's a MLK situation - see people/crew for the content of their character not their skin color sexual orientation.
As for 6 guys n 1 women for crew in true MLK fashion I simply see 7 qualified crew members. Same for Sulu being gay now, feel he was heterosexual no need to make a statement w existing character IMO. As long as he is same great helmsman n person all good
New TV show will/should have more diversity- female cpt lesbian main character etc. All good things Janeway was an EXCELLENT CPT because of the job she did not because of her sex.
But honestly as long as the characters are great n stories same it's a MLK situation - see people/crew for the content of their character not their skin color sexual orientation.
Thank goodness for Chapel anyways.....couldn't stand her character on tos
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No Rand? But who will represent women by bringing the Captain his coffee and clipboard?!
That's one of the advantages of a reboot. Uhura doesn't have the same limited role she did in TOS. Why would Rand need to? She wasn't even still a yeoman by TMP. She was running the transporter.
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Whoa now, let's not reinterpret Gene's vision.
Yep, pretty much. It's impossible to call Takei a homophobe and a bigot, so what's left is clutching at straws. Because he HAS to be in favor of this, right? Right?! And then it turns into "it's confusing and disappointing that he doesn't like this! I guess he just doesn't grasp the concept of blah blah blah."
The concept of someone having a different opinion seems to not even register. It's all very "You're either with us or against us! You're hiding behind latent bigotry!"
But at the end of the day, it's already been done. And it's just a small scene in the movie. I played my part in rolling my eyes and writing angry posts when they cast a white British guy to play a part that should've gone to an Indian actor, and where did that get me? It's all a waste of energy to debate stuff like this.
I don't care if people think I'm a bigot or a homophobe. I have a best friend of 20 years who is gay, who is also a Trek fan and who also thinks this is a silly, pandering, unneeded move by the filmmakers. So it really doesn't matter how I get indicted in the Politically Correct Court of TrekBBS. And Sulu being gay won't affect my enjoyment of Beyond. So....*shrug*
There's a piece in one of the series documents (it may well have been the bible for the aborted 'Phase II' series) which states that Yeomen in Starfleet often end up becoming Captains later down the track, because their roles are often tied so closely to their CO on a professional and personal level that they learn a lot more command skills than officers in other disciplines. So, I'd say that the way to introduce a 'nu!Rand' would be as a personal assistant/security detail to Kirk, and also as very much a 'future-Captain-in-training'.
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How do you deal with such a burden every day?
There is a Political Correct Court of Trekbbs? I want to be on it! For the wigs, of course.
Well, since the news came out, this movie has gotten more free PR and goodwill than any amount of advertising money could buy.
Do a google search of 'Star Trek Beyond' news and newspapers from all the over the world have articles almost universally saying it's the right time to do this.
Do a google search of 'Star Trek Beyond' news and newspapers from all the over the world have articles almost universally saying it's the right time to do this.
I was reacting to someone who mentioned the Berman years and compared the new movie makers with him. He did help create a bunch of good female characters. Under him we got the first female captain. That was progress back then. Of course not everything was golden under him though, too.
Let's not forget Mr Takei started by saying "I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,".
He's only upset that the character happened to be Sulu, one he played for many years.
As for people who've said they should have made a new character gay, I can only quote Simon Pegg.
“We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character’, rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?”
He's only upset that the character happened to be Sulu, one he played for many years.
As for people who've said they should have made a new character gay, I can only quote Simon Pegg.
“We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character’, rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?”
This belong on another thread but I agree. Rand & Chapel could so easily be included and shown as competent officers.
I agree that NuTrek has a weak approach to the women. I would have preferred using Rand to ageing Chekov. She could have been Pike's yeoman and one of the crewmen to help restrain Kirk on the bridge. She does not have to be a shrinking Violet in NuTrek. Does every security trained crewman have to be a man again like in the sixties? If she had been assigned to escort Kirk to Delta Vega, that could have been the start of her becoming his gal Friday.
Chapel's role could be as McCoy's 'straight man' in a comedic sense but why did she have to be a nurse? She was a research biologist, training to be a doctor, who became a nurse to secure a quick posting on a ship. She could be a xenobiologist who can contribute to more alien plot threads. She could certainly have been the one doing tribble research. Why was she undeserving of an update?
Chapel's role could be as McCoy's 'straight man' in a comedic sense but why did she have to be a nurse? She was a research biologist, training to be a doctor, who became a nurse to secure a quick posting on a ship. She could be a xenobiologist who can contribute to more alien plot threads. She could certainly have been the one doing tribble research. Why was she undeserving of an update?
Gene's the one who gave Rand a more substantive position on the ship in her TMP cameo. There's no law that says you have to stay within a single post across your entire Starfleet career. Sulu eventually got his promotion, for instance. No hardcore fans argued that doing so was against the spirit of the character of Sulu.
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Clearly Gene had a long term plan for Chapel, and it would be nothing more than pandering to change it now.
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