Should NuSulu be gay?

[Rii]

Nothing in the "new reality" would account for this. You are either born gay or not. Period.

Nothing in the "new reality" accounts for the radical changes in the appearance of each of the characters either, so what? Folks should embrace this opportunity to redefine Trek, not cling to it at every opportunity.

Incidentally, it's been a while since I've seen TOS but I don't recall Sulu ever explicitly being defined as heterosexual.

 

[clint g]

Nothing in the "new reality" would account for this. You are either born gay or not. Period.

Nothing in the "new reality" accounts for the radical changes in the appearance of each of the characters either, so what? Folks should embrace this opportunity to redefine the series without the burdens of the past, not cling to it at every opportunity.

Incidentally, it's been a while since I've seen TOS but I don't recall Sulu ever explicitly being defined as heterosexual.

Good point. So in Trek XII they should make Sulu black, Uhura a man, and Kirk, well, it being a new reality they shouldn't bother having Kirk in the movie at all.

 

[Cyrus]

If they want to make a character gay then my vote goes for the Orion girl.

 

[Rii]

Good point. So in Trek XII they should make Sulu black, Uhura a man, and Kirk, well, it being a new reality they shouldn't bother having Kirk in the movie at all.

If there's a reason to make such changes, sure. Well, not now obviously, Trek XI would've been the place for that. The door for Sulu as gay is still open, however. Objections to this idea are usually derived from the belief that homosexuality is a deviant behaviour that should either go unacknowledged, or acknowledged only in the presence of a compelling reason to do so, whereas myriad major and minor references to heterosexuality, from Kirk with the Orion girl to Scotty's line about "her ample nacelles" pass without question.

 

[FailedLurker]

To the objection "Don't make the character gay just because the actor is gay," I respond, "Is John Cho gay?"

I do think it would be good if one of the main seven were gay, and given the portrayals of Kirk, Spock, and Uhura in the movie, it pretty much has to be Sulu, Chekov, McCoy, or Scott.

I think there are advantages to each of them: Making Sulu gay would be a nice tribute to George Takei; Showing the Kirk-McCoy friendship with a gay McCoy would send a good message; A gay Scotty with a traditional male job like engineer would be good to see; And a positive portrayal of a gay teen would be good as well.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

You don't "make someone gay." You are either born gay or not. PERIOD.

 

[Jeri]

Human beings are born with their features, but characters are made to have them.

 

[Rii]

You don't "make someone gay." You are either born gay or not. PERIOD.

J.J Abrams did not literally give birth to each of the characters in the film. Starbuck didn't have a sex change operation between oBSG and nBSG, she simply became female, and incidentally a far more interesting character.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

Give me a break Rii ...you know what I meant.

My logic is this: Sulu in the "Prime" timeline was not gay. The timeline changed with the destruction of the Kelvin. Abramsverse Sulu should not be gay -- nothing about the changed timeline would change his sexuality.

The Starbuck analogy is not appropriate -- nBSG was a TOTAL reboot. In contrast, the Abramsverse branched off from the Prime timeline when the Narada entered the past. The Abramsverse is connected to the Prime Timeline...whereas nBSG is totally separarate from the original BSG.

 

[clint g]

Good point. So in Trek XII they should make Sulu black, Uhura a man, and Kirk, well, it being a new reality they shouldn't bother having Kirk in the movie at all.

If there's a reason to make such changes, sure. Well, not now obviously, Trek XI would've been the place for that. The door for Sulu as gay is still open, however. Objections to this idea are usually derived from the belief that homosexuality is a deviant behaviour that should either go unacknowledged, or acknowledged only in the presence of a compelling reason to do so, whereas myriad major and minor references to heterosexuality, from Kirk with the Orion girl to Scotty's line about "her ample nacelles" pass without question.

Or it comes from the belief that Sulu was not gay in the original timeline, and that since nero's time travel exploits most likely didn't change Sulu from being straight to gay, he should not be gay in this timeline. Now if they want to make a new character who is gay trhen fine. Go right ahead.

 

[Rii]

Give me a break Rii ...you know what I meant.

Fair call, I've edited the post to be a tad less confrontational.

My logic is this: Sulu in the "Prime" timeline was not gay.

Do we have hard evidence of this?

The timeline changed with the destruction of the Kelvin. Abramsverse Sulu should not be gay -- nothing about the changed timeline would change his sexuality.

Perhaps Sulu is a couple years younger than Kirk (not a stretch considering Chekov's age) and his father in the original timeline was killed aboard the Kelvin before he was able to impregnate Sulu's mother back on Earth and another man stepped forth instead?

The Starbuck analogy is not appropriate -- nBSG was a TOTAL reboot. In contrast, the Abramsverse branched off from the Prime timeline when the Narada entered the past. The Abramsverse is connected to the Prime Timeline...whereas nBSG is totally separarate from the original BSG.

I'd rather the film had been a total reboot precisely to offer the producers the creative freedom to make these and other changes as merited. The "alternate timeline" crap we're stuck with is nothing more than an attempt to placate the existing fanbase at the expense of what could've been a more coherent film.

 

[writergal]

This is interesting. I was just yesterday watching "Mudd's Women" on YouTube.

One of the bridge scenes shows Sulu helping a fellow crewman, named Johnny - who is obviously smitten with horniness for Mudd's 'cargo' - back to the helm. Posters claim that if you listen closely as Sulu is helping the crewman onto the helm platform, you can hear him whisper, "Johnny, I'm gay".

I took a listen and damn, it sure does sound like that. He's probably saying something else, but it's like the hidden porn in Disney - it's probably not there but it SEEMS like it's there...

Here's a link for those curious. It happens 10:43 into the episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc54OERosps

 

[clint g]

My logic is this: Sulu in the "Prime" timeline was not gay.

Do we have hard evidence of this?

Star Trek: Generations

 

[ST-One]

No. (to the OP's question)

 

[Rii]

My logic is this: Sulu in the "Prime" timeline was not gay.

Do we have hard evidence of this?

Star Trek: Generations

Even discounting the adoption/future tech angle, gay folks can have children. Some attempt to suppress their sexuality to conform with societal norms and wind up in heterosexual marriages, many of which don't end well for obvious reasons.

 

[Spork111]

Not McCoy... I think that would be completely untrue to his character. I know George Takei is gay, but I recall the character of Sulu being straight in the original show/movies (didn't he have a daughter?) Scotty I also don't think would be true to his character. The only one I can honestly see is Chekov, so that might be a possibility. I don't recall anything one way or the other about Chekov's sexual preferences on the original show/movies...

 

[KingstonTrekker]

Fair call, I've edited the post to be a tad less confrontational.

Thanks

My logic is this: Sulu in the "Prime" timeline was not gay.

Do we have hard evidence of this?


This is a very good point -- not really. I guess I tend to think of him as heterosexual due to his "I'll protect you Fair Maiden" comment to Uhura in "The Naked Time" and Mirror Sulu's advances toward Uhura (I do realize that this was the Mirror Universe, yet another parallel reality...lets not make this more complicated than it needs to be

I guess I am largely opposed to efforts to "retcon" him as being gay due to George Takei's coming out in 2005.

The timeline changed with the destruction of the Kelvin. Abramsverse Sulu should not be gay -- nothing about the changed timeline would change his sexuality.

Perhaps Sulu is a couple years younger than Kirk

Although John Cho is 35 and Pine is 28


I'd rather the film had been a total reboot precisely to offer the producers the creative freedom to make these and other changes as merited.

Agreed -- although I love the Nimoy portions of the film.

 

[clint g]

Do we have hard evidence of this?

Star Trek: Generations

Even discounting the adoption/future tech angle, gay folks can have children. Some attempt to suppress their sexuality to conform with societal norms and wind up in heterosexual marriages, many of which don't end well for obvious reasons.

Indeed, (read my post earlier) but most often the simple answer is the correct one. What you are trying to do here is stretch it. You can if you want, but it is pretty apparent that Sulu was intended to be straight. It'll also have an eye roll inducing response from the audience. It reeks of "look at us, in order to make the movie seem modern were going to randomly slect a character and make them gay" Like i said before, if theyre going to do this take a new -unestablished character, Lieutenant Hawk style, and make them gay.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

Like i said before, if theyre going to do this take a new -unestablished character, Lieutenant Hawk style, and make them gay.[/QUOTE]

Agreed.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

A Lieutenant Hawk stlyle character?

How bout this: Engineer Olson and that chick who got sucked into space on the Kelvin were both gay.

That's what you meant by Hawk-style... right?