The Captain HAS To Be Human...

[Red Ranger]

I disagree with the O.P. If you make the alien captain a complex, interesting character, you can still have empathy for him, just as you could have empathy for the Cardassians as depicted in DSN.

My own idea for an alien captain was inspired by the VOY ep Tuvix -- a blended being, created in a transporter accident, composed of several of the more familiar aliens in ST, fusing a Vulcan, a Klingon, an Andorian, and a human. You would still have a human element, obviously, and see how this being brings his vastly different experiences to bear on his command style. I envision this character with blue skin and white hair, with Vulcan ears and eyebrows, Klingon ridges and hair style, with a strange outlook on life.

 

[Tarek71]

...or, if not, the main protagonist and focus of most of the stories will have to be a below-decks sort of character, and they will have to be human. The majority of viewers will not care about the adventure of Star Trek if it isn't, at heart, about us.

Thoughts?

Was there much concern that the main protagonist would not be human? I wasnt aware of any groundswell of interest in it being anything other than a human. I am not sure it has to be a human. I can see a non-human character as Captain. But I dont think its very likely. I do think another female would be good, and perhaps one who isnt white and North American. Theres quite a bit of human diversity thats not been explored yet.

 

[Kaziarl]

One thing I've noticed is that the captains tend to be from earth. Kirk is from Iowa, Picard is from France, Sisko is from New Orleans. Can't actually place Janeway off the top of my head, but I'm sure she's from Earth as well.

I'm sure there'd be some changes in the people from various colonies. They'd still be human of course, but culturally it might be interesting. Not sure how that'd play out with a captain though.

 

[Wowbagger]

My two cents.

I run a fan production (Star Trek: Excelsior), link in signature, where the captain and primary protagonist is a Bolian. This was accidental -- we started with a mostly human captain, and eventually the story compelled us to kill her off. Dovan was the X.O., so he became our lead.

It's been an interesting experience. Because we're an audio show, it's not obvious to the casual listener that Dovan is anything but human. Occasionally we reference his rather interesting Bolian biology, and he's inherited that Bolian wit we've seen from Mot down to Chief Brex. We haven't explored much of Bolian culture, because we don't spend much time in the Alpha Quadrant. Just to make things interesting, we've given him a slight prejudice against humans. The biggest challenge has been writing around all normal Star Trek cultural referents -- as a Bolian, he is familiar with Bolian literature and Bolian music and Bolian history, so he can't perform any of those classic Trek captain tropes like quoting Shakespeare or expounding on the U.S. Constitution or berating the twentieth century as barbaric. They don't make sense to him. And we can't have him spend very much time quoting Bolian literature or Bolian history, because our audience doesn't recognize it and it takes ten times longer to explain it.

And he whistles. Which means he has to whistle actual tunes. And those tunes can't be from pre-twenty-second century Earth. That's the worst of all.

In the end, we end up with a guy who's pretty much human in everything but name and skin color, and we avoid referencing that. He's a great character, and we've made it work on Excelsior, but the OP's right -- it would be too limiting and too alien to work for a general audience.

Doctor Who works because (1) the Doctor is very, very human in all the important ways, and (2) the companions are the real audience viewpoint characters, and they are emphatically human. To adapt the formula to Star Trek would require radical changes to the crew-on-bridge-explores-universe-together formula.

 

[USS Triumphant]

@Wowbagger: Thanks for the insight of experience. (Especially since it agrees with me. )

As far as the whistling Bolian captain goes, you could probably get away with "Yesterday" at least once. I'm sure it will have been (wioll haven be) remade by artists all over the galaxy. <--- John Lennon smiley.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The captain could be alien as long as the show's main protagonist was still a human - regardless of their actual position on the ship.

Sure - as long as the star and a fair number of the characters are human, you can have a supporting character who's not human whether he's called a captain or not.

In the movie "Kelly's Heroes" Clint Eastwood is the star and plays an Army private - and the generals are all bit players.

 

[goofy]

I'd love to read stories about a mixed crew set anytime between 2262 to 2400. For once, the crew is actually less human than alien. An Edoan/Edosian or Denebulan Captain of a Starfleet vessel, any size ship, anywhere from a Norway-Class to a Sovereign-Class. It would make for a refreshing change in scenery. Exotic temples with ancient secrets.

 

[SchwEnt]

The first ST series with an alien captain was Mackenzie Calhoun in New Frontier. Does an original novel series count?Or only aired series?

Calhoun wasn't THAT alien, to be honest, but he wasn't from Earth.

 

[Tarek71]

Well if by alien, its meant a Trill or Bajoran or Timelord, or any other amazingly human looking and acting species I think it would be no problem at all. Captain Slabba the Hut would be difficult to picture. But an "alien" with a few spots, or a funny nose will be just fine. Especially if they act alot like humans do anyhow.

 

[Skywalker]

If they're going to act a lot like a human anyway, you might as well just make them human.

 

[Oso Blanco]

I'd love to see a non human Starfleet Captain, but make him truly NON human! I don't want to see some half human, strugggeling with his status once again ... it was interesting with Spock and Data (although Data was only TRYING to be human) and tolerable with B'Elanna ... but they shouldn't be pushing it by yet another half human character. I think that it would be interesting to see Tuvok as a Captain, or an Andorian.

By the way, whe already had a half human Captain ... remember Sisko?

 

[Bishop76]

I think a non-human captain would be fine for fanfic or tie-in fiction, but you absolutely must have a human captain if we're discussing another TV show. Make it a non-human and you guarantee yourself a ratings nightmare.

 

[C.E. Evans]

As far as an alien captain goes, it pretty much has to be an alien that casual audiences are familiar with and can recognize at a glance. IMO, that pretty much limits it to being either a Vulcan or a Klingon if a series went that route...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Aliens represent a negligable percentage of the viewing public. Screw them.

 

[Nick086]

I think the next Human Captain should be a Homosexual!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I think a non-human captain would be fine for fanfic or tie-in fiction, but you absolutely must have a human captain if we're discussing another TV show. Make it a non-human and you guarantee yourself a ratings nightmare.

That's the only good argument against an alien captain. The next captain needs to be a white American male so that the audience won't be frightened and confused by seeing something that doesn't fit their prejudices.

I think the next Human Captain should be a Homosexual!

Oh right. And he has to be straight. A gay captain would be an even bigger ratings killer than an alien. Screw that IDIC crap. Let's pander to the close-minded troglodytes in the audience!

Anyway, someday someone needs to explain why Avatar is the biggest grossing movie of all time. Most of the time, there was nothing but freaky-ass aliens on the screen! Why didn't everyone flee the theater in terror and confusion? People is weird.

 

[Skywalker]

The lead character of the biggest grossing movie of all time was a white, heterosexual, American male.

 

[Bishop76]

Anyway, someday someone needs to explain why Avatar is the biggest grossing movie of all time. Most of the time, there was nothing but freaky-ass aliens on the screen! Why didn't everyone flee the theater in terror and confusion? People is weird.

Because they pandered to images we like and made the Na'vi beautiful and/or cute to us. Watch the Harry Plinkett review of Avatar some time. If you can handle the persona and the voice he does the reviews in (and copious amounts of foul language), they're quite brilliant.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJarz7BYnHA

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLzKwTcGO_0&feature=related

EDIT: Also, a homosexual lead wouldn't fly either. It's not playing it safe enough for any studio/network and it would also be a huge ratings killer.

 

[T'Girl]

The lead character of the biggest grossing movie of all time was a white, heterosexual, American male.

The lead actor in the last Star Trek movie was also a ...

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Droid? (Hey, R2 is the star for me!)