Chapel Character Teaser

[Jadeb]

"Self-actualization" is a very 2020s concept of self-confidence.

None of them strike me as arrogant, except maybe Hemmer. A little.

Well, Ortegas liked to brag she was going to be the best pilot ever to graduate the academy, Hemmer’s a self-proclaimed genius and Chapel proclaims how she knows she’s good at her job. (“Chapel is one of Starfleet’s best, and she knows it,” according to the promo materials.) And that’s from 90 seconds of screen time.

 

[Mudd]

Well, Ortegas liked to brag she was going to be the best pilot ever to graduate the academy, Hemmer’s a self-proclaimed genius and Chapel proclaims how she knows she’s good at her job. (“Chapel is one of Starfleet’s best, and she knows it,” according to the promo materials.) And that’s from 90 seconds of screen time.

And the problem is...?

Frankly, this kind of energy from the characters is part of what makes the show look like it'll be fun.

This is an adventure. A great big fucking adventure for people who want to be there.

I think Trek's had enough inner turmoil, uncertainty and self-doubt to last it a decade or so without adding more.

I'm sure that Pike will lend the proceedings all the gravitas required.

 

[Nerys Myk]

also anybody notice also she's has commander stripes on her uniform when they showed her in the Jeffries tube? How can a nurse be that high up in Starfleet but not have her M.D.?

Because Nurse and Doctor aren't the same thing. See Major Margaret Houlihan, a nurse who out ranked Captain Hawkeye Pierce, a doctor in MASH.

 

[Jadeb]

And the problem is...?

Frankly, this kind of energy from the characters is part of what makes the show look like it'll be fun.

This is an adventure. A great big fucking adventure for people who want it.

I'm sure that Pike will lend the proceedings all the gravitas required.

You don’t think it’s a little strange to see the same trait spread across so many characters? Weren’t people just complaining that too many Discovery characters have become endlessly supportive besties?

I hope the show is great fun. I’m looking forward to it. But we can still think about it critically. Half the fun right now is to analyze and speculate.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The trailer have a certain style, picking certain types of scenes that make the characters appealing, young and exciting.

 

[Jadeb]

The trailer have a certain style, picking certain types of scenes that make the characters appealing, young and exciting.

That’s one of the things I find odd about it. When did arrogance become shorthand for appealing, young and exciting? I’m not saying it’s bad, necessarily, just that it’s a recent trend. (Though, as we see with Discovery, too much of anything tends to be bad.)

 

[Noname Given]

That’s one of the things I find odd about it. When did arrogance become shorthand for appealing, young and exciting? I’m not saying it’s bad, necessarily, just that it’s a recent trend. (Though, as we see with Discovery, too much of anything tends to be bad.)

Why do you classify self-assuredness and confidence as arrogance?

 

[Nerys Myk]

That’s one of the things I find odd about it. When did arrogance become shorthand for appealing, young and exciting? I’m not saying it’s bad, necessarily, just that it’s a recent trend. (Though, as we see with Discovery, too much of anything tends to be bad.)

Tom Cruise? Cocky arrogance was probably a thing before that, too.

 

[Mudd]

You don’t think it’s a little strange to see the same trait spread across so many characters? Weren’t people just complaining that too many Discovery characters have become endlessly supportive besties?

Different traits. Different reaction.

Anyway, the short answer is no, I don't think it's strange that the promotional people choose to present the most positive and confident aspects of the characters in their thirty-second teasers. The characters themselves don't strike me as at all similar to one another.

When did arrogance become shorthand for appealing, young and exciting?

Since the only character I see as projecting anything like arrogance there is Hemmer, this isn't a rhetorical question I can answer.

And Ortegas? She's already my fave.

 

[fireproof78]

Why do you classify self-assuredness and confidence as arrogance?

My very thought. Hemmer struck me as arrogant. Chapel reminds me of most nurses I know. Confident.

 

[Jadeb]

Why do you classify self-assuredness and confidence as arrogance?

Sorry, I think proclaiming yourself a genius or the best pilot to ever graduate the academy goes beyond typical self-confidence.

Tom Cruise? Cocky arrogance was probably a thing before that, too.

Cocky characters have always been a thing, but this is quite a gathering of them. And they’re certainly leaning into the trait in the promo materials.

 

[Sci]

also anybody notice also she's has commander stripes on her uniform when they showed her in the Jeffries tube? How can a nurse be that high up in Starfleet but not have her M.D.?

Because being a nurse and being a physician are completely different jobs with completely different duties and completely different career paths. This is a bit like asking how you can be a high-ranking air traffic controller and not be a pilot yet; they're jobs that work together and tackle the same problems, but they do so in very different ways and have very different duties.

You don’t think it’s a little strange to see the same trait spread across so many characters? Weren’t people just complaining that too many Discovery characters have become endlessly supportive besties?

As others have said, showing that these characters are confident makes sense if their job is to sell SNW as a bright, optimistic, fun adventure series. And they have all hinted at different types of personal conflicts.

That’s one of the things I find odd about it. When did arrogance become shorthand for appealing, young and exciting?

It didn't. I don't know why you keep assuming confidence is the same thing as arrogance. There's a big difference between saying, "I'm great!" and saying, "I'm better than you!"

My very thought. Hemmer struck me as arrogant. Chapel reminds me of most nurses I know. Confident.

Yeah, Hemmer might be arrogant. I can't quite get a sense of him yet, but asserting your own literal genius is usually a way of putting other people down rather than pulling yourself up. But he also comes from a very different culture, so we'll see.

 

[Jadeb]

Maybe people are getting hung up on my use of “arrogance.” Call it outspoken self-confidence or whatever you like. But it’s apparently a thing among these characters.

I just think it’s odd to lean in so much on the same trait, across multiple characters, when they’ve given us less than 10 minutes of footage.

 

[fireproof78]

Maybe people are getting hung up on my use of “arrogance.” Call it outspoken self-confidence or whatever you like. But it’s apparently a thing among these characters.

Arrogance is not generally regarded as a positive.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Maybe people are getting hung up on my use of “arrogance.” Call it outspoken self-confidence or whatever you like. But it’s apparently a thing among these characters.

Maybe it's what Starfleet looks for in it's Starship crews?

 

[fireproof78]

Maybe it's what Starfleet looks for in it's Starship crews?

I would think so. Self confidence is an asset when facing the unknown.

 

[Sketcher]

Most of the characters' perceived arrogance seems to be portrayed in a playful way. Like, they know they're good at their jobs but I doubt they walk around the ship reminding every crewmember passing by how good they are. It feels more like friends teasing each other rather than someone like early Disco Stamets, who was just full of himself.

 

[Jadeb]

Maybe it's what Starfleet looks for in it's Starship crews?

We’ve seen a few of those over a few years now. This strikes me as a recent development.

 

[UssGlenn]

also anybody notice also she's has commander stripes on her uniform when they showed her in the Jeffries tube? How can a nurse be that high up in Starfleet but not have her M.D.?

I just realized Chapel doesn't have rank stripes on her uniform in TOS, she's a lieutenant in TAS.

 

[Jadeb]

Most of the character's perceived arrogance seems to be portrayed in a playful way. Like, they know they're good at their jobs but I doubt they walk around the ship reminding every crewmember passing by how good they are. It feels more like friends teasing each other rather than someone like early Disco Stamets, who was just full of himself.

Yes, “playful arrogance” might have been a less divisive term. But it’s a relatively rare trait IRL that is suddenly showing up in a lot of the SNW characters.