News Starfleet Academy Coming to P+

[Agony_Boothb]

Have you not noticed that over 20% of the world's population has not been represented as a main cast character in a Trek series. For comparison that group minus diaspora is bigger than the global population of people of black / African descent. Trek is a racist franchise. Or are you going to belittle my concerns?

As someone who is of Indian background and Gay, yes I have noticed that there hasn't been an indian main cast member. Gia Sandhu who plays T'pring on SNW is indian. So while I do think there is an argument to be made for indian representation in the main cast, I don't think it is indicative of a particular attitude towards indian actors. I also don't think it's helpful to turn the argument into a pissing contest between racial groups. Black and brown people have all been marginalised and oppressed thanks to colonialist attitudes and we should be celebrating each others successes and not trying to diminish them.

 

[Farscape One]

Have you not noticed that over 20% of the world's population has not been represented as a main cast character in a Trek series. For comparison that group minus diaspora is bigger than the global population of people of black / African descent. Trek is a racist franchise. Or are you going to belittle my concerns?

Shazad Latif (Ash Tyler/Voq from DISCO)... his father was Pakistani.

Jameela Jamil (Ascensia on PRODIGY) is of Indian and Pakistani descent.

Both are credited regulars (names listed in the theme song) on the episodes they appear in on their respective shows.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Shazad Latif (Ash Tyler/Voq from DISCO)... his father was Pakistani.

Jameela Jamil (Ascensia on PRODIGY) is of Indian and Pakistani descent.

Both are credited regulars (names listed in the theme song) on the episodes they appear in on their respective shows.

He's also looking for South Asian characters. Which so far hasn't happened.

 

[Danja]

Rekha Sharma (Commander Ellen Landry on Disco) is of Indo-Fijian descent.

 

[Farscape One]

He's also looking for South Asian characters. Which so far hasn't happened.

Character... okay, fair point.

But the franchise under Kurtzman has been more diverse and inclusive than in the past. I find it hard to picture the lack of a main character from South Asia as being deliberate.

As someone who is of Indian background and Gay, yes I have noticed that there hasn't been an indian main cast member. Gia Sandhu who plays T'pring on SNW is indian. So while I do think there is an argument to be made for indian representation in the main cast, I don't think it is indicative of a particular attitude towards indian actors. I also don't think it's helpful to turn the argument into a pissing contest between racial groups. Black and brown people have all been marginalised and oppressed thanks to colonialist attitudes and we should be celebrating each others successes and not trying to diminish them.

Well said.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

He's also looking for South Asian characters. Which so far hasn't happened.

Which part of south asia though? Michelle Yeoh is Malaysian. Isa Briones is half Filipino and as previously mentioned Shazid Latif and Rekha Sharma are Pakistani and Indian respectively. All of those ethnicities are considered South Asian.

 

[Lord Garth]

Tilly --> No surprise she's in it. Slightly surprised she's not a main character.
Vance --> I figured he'd be in SFA.
Reno --> I can see how that could work. She'd make the perfect shop teacher.
The Doctor --> I didn't expect this one. Glad to have him back!

The rest of the cast and characters? Looks good, based on what little I know of them.

 

[Mage]

Hm....

The cast is definitely shaping up, some of my favorite characters from Disco returning is good. I am still unconvinced that a Academy show is the way to go, but I will never judge before hand so we'll see how this turns out.

 

[UssGlenn]

He's an artificial life-form whose memory is computer files. He could decide to merge himself.

So the answer might be 'both'.

wouldn't surprise me if one of the episodes has the backup doctor arriving back.

As someone who is of Indian background and Gay, yes I have noticed that there hasn't been an indian main cast member. Gia Sandhu who plays T'pring on SNW is indian. So while I do think there is an argument to be made for indian representation in the main cast, I don't think it is indicative of a particular attitude towards indian actors. I also don't think it's helpful to turn the argument into a pissing contest between racial groups. Black and brown people have all been marginalised and oppressed thanks to colonialist attitudes and we should be celebrating each others successes and not trying to diminish them.

Last time this came up I crunched the numbers, based on recurring human characters (not actors) vs the available racial percentages of actors in North America. One indian recurring character would fix the ratio for the entire franchise.

Expecting ratios based on world population rather than actor availability isn't realistic, but I understand the motivation.

 

[Aragorn]

Kind of odd how the spinoff was driven by Tilly and Tilly won't even be a regular.

Speaking of which, was there a reason she disappeared for a large chunk of that season to pursue teaching at the academy? Did they just want to save money?

 

[Daedalus]

Hm....

The cast is definitely shaping up, some of my favorite characters from Disco returning is good. I am still unconvinced that a Academy show is the way to go, but I will never judge before hand so we'll see how this turns out.

Yes, the premise doesn't inspire me as much as the people involved, but that's a very good start.

 

[Discovery McDiscoveryFace]

Why is it such a problem for this to be acknowledged without attempting to fob-off?

No, don't tell me about Isa Briones and Michelle Yeoh who are not from the Indian Subcontinent or South Asia.

No, absolutely don't tell me about Ellen Landry, a character in 2 episodes and who isn't in the main titles, doesn't really count.

No, Gia Sandhu, playing a Vulcan, also does not count as a South Asian character.

Yes, Shaz Latif's father is Pakistani, but he is playing a character with a westernised name and is in 2/3rd's of the episodes of the seasons he features in, and then written out of the further 3 seasons.

"Last time this came up I crunched the numbers, based on recurring human characters (not actors) vs the available racial percentages of actors in North America. One indian recurring character would fix the ratio for the entire franchise. Expecting ratios based on world population rather than actor availability isn't realistic, but I understand the motivation."

It is genuinely astonishing how this just gets patted aside with a there-there when it's raised - but the comment I've quoted above that it's just about how it comes down to availability of North American actors is absolutely priceless. Star trek has never hired from outside NA then?. Gina Yashere? Jason Isaacs? Christina Chong? Ed Speleers? Jess Bush? Evan Evagora?

 

[Jayson1]

What do you want people to say? Trek could use more characters from that region but at the same time it's not like the Trek shows have been doing nothing in terms of diversity. Nobody is arguing against the idea of more inclusion.

 

[Rhodan]

As I said earlier, who's to say how the Doctor would react to encountering his backup? His two instances might decide to merge their memory files and continue on as one being.

In fact, this would make for a great episode...

You want Doctors split-degenerate?

 

[ananta]

Reno and the Doctor as regulars?! Never saw that coming.

Tilly not being a regular? After all the DSC setup? Maybe Mary Wiseman didn’t want to commit to another show so soon after DSC?

I was rather neutral on the whole idea of this show, but the casting has me intrigued.

 

[Rhodan]

Reno and the Doctor as regulars?! Never saw that coming.

Tilly not being a regular? After all the DSC setup? Maybe Mary Wiseman didn’t want to commit to another show so soon after DSC?

I was rather neutral on the whole idea of this show, but the casting has me intrigued.

Indeed! Good ol´ Doctor is now in the third series and I cen´t get enough of him. And there´s some chance Reno would be actually used here better than in Discovery itself... Then again, I´d like to know more specific descriptions of new characters.

EDIT: Also, behold, the new captain...

 

[F. King Daniel]

Kind of odd how the spinoff was driven by Tilly and Tilly won't even be a regular.

Speaking of which, was there a reason she disappeared for a large chunk of that season to pursue teaching at the academy? Did they just want to save money?

IIRC, it was Broadway performances that weren't going to clash with Disco until COVID delays meant they did.

 

[Tuskin38]

Kind of odd how the spinoff was driven by Tilly and Tilly won't even be a regular.

Speaking of which, was there a reason she disappeared for a large chunk of that season to pursue teaching at the academy? Did they just want to save money?

She was busy doing a play.

 

[Tuskin38]

Why is it such a problem for this to be acknowledged without attempting to fob-off?

No one here is against with what you want, it's just you're being very aggressive about it.

Calling Star Trek racist (when it isn't) is not going to get people on your side.

 

[UssGlenn]

but the comment I've quoted above that it's just about how it comes down to availability of North American actors is absolutely priceless. Star trek has never hired from outside NA then?. Gina Yashere? Jason Isaacs? Christina Chong? Ed Speleers? Jess Bush? Evan Evagora?

All those actors are in the Screen Actors Guild, their existence was included in my numbers.