Star Trek Discovery

[Starkers]

In terms of casting in my opinion DS9 is the kind of thing I'd like to see them aim for, a very diverse cast that never felt like anyone was there just to tick a box, that group felt organic, they felt genuine and odd as it may seem I think it was a few seasons before I consciously even realised that Meany was the only white guy in the cast who wasn't covered in so much latex that his ethnicity was irrelevant. Voy wasn't terrible but did feel more like "we've got to have one of everything!" Ent was terrible though IMO, a backward step.

Angela Bassett would make a hell of a captain, and I like the idea someone mooted of Ken Watanabe as well.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Angela Bassett would make a hell of a captain, and I like the idea someone mooted of Ken Watanabe as well.

Excellent. I would be happy to see Michelle Yeoh in the Captain's chair.

 

[Jedman67]

Hasn't Star Trek always been about social progressiveness? Except when the producers wouldn't allow it?

That is what they're doing. Or at least that is what they say they're doing.

It's been mixed. DS9 was, as said before, the best at diversity because the strength of the characters was more relevant than the race, gender or ethnicity of the actors. Avery Brooks took some time to grow on me, but I never paid attention to his african american background prior to Homefront/Paradise Lost. And there, his ethnicity played a large part in the world building of the characters history - that really sold the "earthiness" of the episode.

 

[Jedi_Master]

The thing I try to keep in mind as a straight white dude is that there are a lot of people who look like me on television, so many that I can have the luxury of "not caring" about the race/gender/whathaveyou of a main character.
But if I looked different or was different, I might wish to see more people who looked/were like me, and it WOULD matter and it WOULD be irritating to listen to someone else who has lots of people who look like him tell me he "doesn't care" or it "shouldn't matter."

 

[Tim Walker]

http://www.startrek.com/article/introducing-the-u-s-s-discovery

It is confirmed-the ship we have been looking at is the hero ship.

 

[aloha62]

http://www.startrek.com/article/introducing-the-u-s-s-discovery

It is confirmed-the ship we have been looking at is the hero ship.

They're going to need the mother of all stories to cover that abomination.

 

[cultcross]

The thing I try to keep in mind as a straight white dude is that there are a lot of people who look like me on television, so many that I can have the luxury of "not caring" about the race/gender/whathaveyou of a main character.
But if I looked different or was different, I might wish to see more people who looked/were like me, and it WOULD matter and it WOULD be irritating to listen to someone else who has lots of people who look like him tell me he "doesn't care" or it "shouldn't matter."

This. Representation matters, and those constantly represented everywhere don't get to say it doesn't.

It's remarkable how much 'color blind, gender blind, pure meritocracy' casting ends up with a cast full of straight white dudes. Because the producers are already envisaging a character before they cast them (naturally) and it is at that stage that the bias appears. The deliberate intent to create a diverse cast is needed early on to combat this.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Most people aren't straight white dudes, even in the USA.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Teach any strawmen?

If STD has a cast of hundreds or as many students you have taught then of course there will be plenty of volume with which to represent every circumstance. It won't.

Trying to represent every possibility over maybe a dozen characters? That strains believability.

There's no need to represent every possibility over a dozen characters. You can just represent different possibilities than what are most commonly shown. And another show can represent a different set of possibilities. And another show can represent a third set of possibilities.

And all of this would strain credibility not an ounce, because there is no reason to assume that just because a group happens to be a small minority that it's in any way 'strange' for them to show up in a story. There is also, incidentally, no logical reason to assume that white men 'ought to be' the most common type of character, since in actual fact women make up more than 50% of the population (and yet, somehow, almost never more than 30-40% of tv casts, unless the show is specifically directed at women).

 

[cultcross]

Most people aren't straight white dudes, even in the USA.

Which you could never discern from its media output.

 

[Tim Walker]

Unless, aloha62, the ship is depicted as an underdog. Like submarine Stingray in Down Periscope.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Which you could never discern from its media output.

That's the nail on the head, right there.

 

[Tim Walker]

Michelle Yeoh has been described as an action heroine.

She is now 53 years old.

 

[Jedman67]

They're going to need the mother of all stories to cover that abomination.

Found this on facebook

 

[Overgeeked]

Because we wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of racists and bigots, would we.

Be nice to the intolerant bigots and racists.

Wait for it. The stupidest sentence ever uttered will appear soon, or some variation thereof...

"Either you tolerate my intolerance or you're just as intolerant as I am."

 

[jaime]

Which you could never discern from its media output.

And those that are aren't even all American!

Ah the obsession with skin colour always confuses me....it's something I was lucky that for my social group growing up was almost completely irrelevant. I find it depressing we seem to have gone backwards as a civilisation in just a decade and a half.
While we are talking about representation, can I hope that any British cast will be more in the vein of Bashir or OBrien as opposed to the stereotype that was Malcolm? I won't go into the confusion of the Frenchman om the bridge.
Oh...Troi becomes increasingly British too I suppose.
I always wonder if people have some sort of special chart for working out precisely when an actors skin tone makes them land in a certain character, because outside of describing someone's visual appearance, I have never found it remotely useful as descriptor.
In terms of sensuality representation, hmm...Torchwood got it right sometimes and badly wrong sometimes. I think making sure equality is seen is a fine thing for a Trek TV series, but keep it family friendly whether it's straight or gay (incidentally I find the word cis offensive. Someone needs to find something that just sounds better if we are going to bother having verbal descriptors for every last trait) as it's star trek after all. Not Game of Captains Chairs.

 

[cultcross]

Found this on facebook

Well putting the two together only makes me even more confused by the comparison. I don't see "Klingon influence" at all.

 

[jaime]

Michelle Yeoh has been described as an action heroine.

She is now 53 years old.

She would still be perfect. Though I don't recall seeing her act in English. How about Maggie Cheung?
Chow Yun Fat is like the eastern Kyle Mclachlan....hmm.
Tony Leung.

 

[jaime]

Well putting the two together only makes me even more confused by the comparison. I don't see "Klingon influence" at all.

That ship has a Klingon Arse.

I would have assumed her mother was an excelsior though.

 

[Mudd]

Well putting the two together only makes me even more confused by the comparison. I don't see "Klingon influence" at all.

That's because there isn't.

Problem is, too many Trek fans only see things within the context of the franchise itself. The lower hull of the new ship is a wing rather than a cylinder. There are lots of wings and triangles used in all kinds of vehicles outside of Star Trek, but within it fans associate triangles and non-rectangular trapezoids mainly with alien spacecraft.

It's really quite silly.