Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 4x06 - "Off-Hour"

[Greg Cox]

TAS has drifted in and out of "canon" depending on who is in charge at any given moment. As for April, I'm not inclined to get bent out of shape because SNW "recast" a character who appeared in a single episode of a Saturday morning cartoon umpteen years ago.

Just to put things in perspective.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

The way I see it there are three options:

1. TAS is wrong, April is black.
2. SNW is wrong, April is white.
3. In the enlightened Star Trek future racism is such a non-issue that it's fine for a dude to change his skin colour. No one cares.

I was thinking he could be a shapeshifter, but those aren't supposed to be common.

 

[BigJake]

The way I see it there are three options:

1. TAS is wrong, April is black.
2. SNW is wrong, April is white.
3. In the enlightened Star Trek future racism is such a non-issue that it's fine for a dude to change his skin colour. No one cares.

I was thinking he could be a shapeshifter, but those aren't supposed to be common.

Production decisions can change between shows and Trek is not actually a document of a real universe. Nobody’s “wrong” and obsessing over casting choices in this way is unhealthy.

 

[Greg Cox]

Production decisions can change between shows and Trek is not actually a document of a real universe.

Exactly. This whole issue goes away if you remember that Star Trek is theater, not a documentary. And don't insist that every cast change and and change in art direction requires an "in-universe" explanation.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Production decisions can change between shows and Trek is not actually a document of a real universe. Nobody’s “wrong” and obsessing over casting choices in this way is unhealthy.

That's not how I'd describe my level of interest in the subject of Admiral April.

But my interest in Star Trek is very much tied to it being a consistent fictional reality to explore and learn about, and the more they abandon that, the more frustrated I get. Especially because they're abandoning it to tell worse stories in a desperate attempt to win over a new audience.

 

[BigJake]

But my interest in Star Trek is very much tied to it being a consistent fictional reality to explore and learn about, and the more they abandon that, the more frustrated I get.

When they made TOS and TAS they didn't even "know" what year they were set in. Trek "abandoned" this approach before it began.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

When they made TOS and TAS they didn't even "know" what year they were set in. Trek "abandoned" this approach before it began.

It's not page 1's job to be consistent with page 2.

 

[AntonyF]

Getting het up over a cartoon characters' colour changing is something. I mean, Pike's face has changed!

I did feel a bit uncomfortable about Kor being played by a person of colour now, if only as it now makes Kor with his darkened face look retrospective black face in TOS. But that's pretty tangential.

 

[Yistaan]

Getting het up over a cartoon characters' colour changing is something. I mean, Pike's face has changed!

I did feel a bit uncomfortable about Kor being played by a person of colour now, if only as it now makes Kor with his darkened face look retrospective black face in TOS. But that's pretty tangential.

I literally got a false and defamatory accusation of racism some weeks back here just mentioning the problematic Klingon makeup issues and Kor.

 

[BigJake]

And that was unfair. Also -- I should have said this at the time, and this I can promise witih hand on heart -- the Original Series Klingon makeup absolutely already looked like blackface. No casting choice in the present day is going to make it look moreso in retrospect.

 

[ichab]

The way I see it there are three options:

1. TAS is wrong, April is black.
2. SNW is wrong, April is white.
3. In the enlightened Star Trek future racism is such a non-issue that it's fine for a dude to change his skin colour. No one cares.

I was thinking he could be a shapeshifter, but those aren't supposed to be common.

With the numerous times that the Klingons have changed, (how many times has it been at this point?) I just can't get worked up over casting for a character whose only appearance was in a cartoon.

 

[fireproof78]

When they made TOS and TAS they didn't even "know" what year they were set in. Trek "abandoned" this approach before it began.

The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before are not consistent with the rest.

What year does TOS take place in?

How fast can the ENTERPRISE go?

There are a lot of inconsistencies within Star Trek, and to @Greg Cox point it's not a documentary. It can't be treated as such. Fans have done a good job of going in and papering over the inconsistencies and creating verisimilitude for themselves. But, that's not how continuity was approached by production teams

 

[eschaton]

And that was unfair. Also -- I should have said this at the time, and this I can promise witih hand on heart -- the Original Series Klingon makeup absolutely already looked like blackface. No casting choice in the present day is going to make it look moreso in retrospect.

To be pedantic, the TOS makeup was brownface, not blackface. Though it was still awful regardless.

I do find it a bit strange how over time the number of "black Klingons" has been increasing, to the point where the vast majority of Klingons we now see onscreen are played by black actors. It's become so much a rule that when we saw a "white Klingon" in SFA, I was initially a bit confused.

Edit: To be clear, I'm not saying that black actors don't deserve these roles, but I'm worried about the Code of Honor of it all.

 

[BigJake]

To be clear, I'm not saying that black actors don't deserve these roles, but I'm worried about the Code of Honor of it all.

By this point, there's a solid argument to be made that Trek's Klingons are actually more culturally rich and nuanced than its humans. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[milesandmiles]

It could be just saving money. If Klingons are being represented the current show as dark skins, then hiring black actors would save money on makeup.

 

[Nerys Myk]

That's not how I'd describe my level of interest in the subject of Admiral April.

But my interest in Star Trek is very much tied to it being a consistent fictional reality to explore and learn about, and the more they abandon that, the more frustrated I get. Especially because they're abandoning it to tell worse stories in a desperate attempt to win over a new audience.

You might have picked the wrong franchise.

 

[BigJake]

It could be just saving money. If Klingons are being represented the current show as dark skins, then hiring black actors would save money on makeup.

I highly doubt that's an actual factor. The modern makeup costs are mostly about matching prosthetics to the actor. There's no particular racial or ethnic angle on casting that "saves money."

 

[Yistaan]

On a whim just now I asked Google's AI image generator to generate "Star Trek's Robert April as played by Adrian Holmes in the art style of Star Trek the Animated Series"

What I got looked nothing like TAS April or SNW April. Short of me uploading it onto an image sharing site and posting it here, what I got was basically Booker Bradshaw (M'Benga's TOS actor) in a gold command uniform in the animated style of TAS.

 

[BigJake]

Well, yeah. AI sucks.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The original Klingon make up leaned heavily into the Yellow Peril stereotype.