IDW Star Trek Ongoing...

[Christopher]

The main cast is predominantly (white) male, so true equality cannot be achieved.

Unless you abandoned the "alternate timeline" pretense and just did a straight-up reimagining. Then you could have, say, a female Sulu, a black McCoy, a gay Scotty, etc. Heck, if I were able to reinvent ST from the ground up, I'd probably make Kirk female.

 

[Thrawn]

...a female Sulu, a black McCoy, a gay Scotty ... I'd probably make Kirk female.

I'd read that.

 

[Therin of Andor]

with the exception of disappointing T'Pau's absence.

Since we don't know if T'Pau survived the canonical demise of Vulcan in the new timeline, the IDW writers may have been asked not to include her. You did get T'Pring. Maybe they wanted to feature both, but got one?

 

[Pauln6]

with the exception of disappointing T'Pau's absence.

Since we don't know if T'Pau survived the canonical demise of Vulcan in the new timeline, the IDW writers may have been asked not to include her. You did get T'Pring. Maybe they wanted to feature both, but got one?

It was nice to see T'Pring but she is essentially a generic Vulcan who inevitably had to be cast in the role of 'love interest' or rather 'logic interest' in the context of Amok Time. T'Pau on the other hand is a legendary mature woman in a position of considerable power without being sexualised or linked to a male character at all.

We've had cameos from several admirals and commodores who survived the changes to the timeline. I thought initially that they were keeping T'Pau out of the comics because they wanted to use her in the sequel but that wasn't the case. It's just disheartening that one of the few female leaders in TOS is still absent after several Vulcan-centered stories and to date I've seen no story elements that might have benefitted from her dying off camera. Her absence is curious.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It was nice to see T'Pring but she is essentially a generic Vulcan who inevitably had to be cast in the role of 'love interest' or rather 'logic interest' in the context of Amok Time.

I saw nothing "generic" about T'Pring.

I thought initially that they were keeping T'Pau out of the comics because they wanted to use her in the sequel but that wasn't the case.

The movies aren't finished yet.

 

[Pauln6]

It was nice to see T'Pring but she is essentially a generic Vulcan who inevitably had to be cast in the role of 'love interest' or rather 'logic interest' in the context of Amok Time.

I saw nothing "generic" about T'Pring.

I thought initially that they were keeping T'Pau out of the comics because they wanted to use her in the sequel but that wasn't the case.

The movies aren't finished yet.

Wel, she was a woman I guess ;P but I meant she has no role beyond being Spock's betrothed, no wider significance to the plot, characters, or the Vulcan people. Obviously, in a comic where they have been cramming stories into two issues, most guest characters will be one note only and it's even harder to give a Vulcan personality. That's why I love T'Pau!

The writers of the movies may have a list of 'no-go' characters that they want to keep in reserve even if they never end up using them. That could be the real reason that Dehner didn't make it into the comic too.

However, if they have cast Chapel aside in the movies, I do hope that she gets some comic time instead. Maybe some wider repercussions if she persuaded some other captain to go to find Korby?

 

[Markonian]

However, if they have cast Chapel aside in the movies, I do hope that she gets some comic time instead. Maybe some wider repercussions if she persuaded some other captain to go to find Korby?

It is possible that they might do another set of character-flashback comics before the third film. Carol being a main character now could lead to the depiction of her friendship with Chapel; specifically, the moment Chapel warned Carol of Kirk.

 

[Kruezerman]

The gender thing again? Didn't we already go through this bullshit in the XI forum?

Next!

 

[Pauln6]

The gender thing again? Didn't we already go through this bullshit in the XI forum?

Next!

OMG did they fix it and I didn't notice?

Oh wait...

No.



It's interesting though - I'm commenting on the latest issue of ongoing in general, commenting on the story, and including my opinion on whether I think the artists and writers are moving towards a more balanced approach and yet a number of people feel the need to target the passing comments on the gender issue alone rather than anything else. And they are making progress in the right direction even if they aren't there yet. I view that as quite positive. Don't be so dismissive of their increasing awareness. It's an important issue globally.

 

[Noddy]

Is the ongoing series retconning the Nero mini? The Klingons are seen using ships clearly derived from the Narada's tech in recent issues, and the mini-series showed that the Klingons hadn't really made much progress with the Narada at the time Nero escaped with it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Is the ongoing series retconning the Nero mini? The Klingons are seen using ships clearly derived from the Narada's tech in recent issues, and the mini-series showed that the Klingons hadn't really made much progress with the Narada at the time Nero escaped with it.

There are many Klingons.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ And they have a plan.

 

[ATimson]

^ And they have a plan.

Oh, good, I wasn't the only one.

 

[Pauln6]

It's a shame Khan pissed off the Klingons. I really wanted to see Khan, his followers, and some multi-racial mercenaries banding together for maximum mischief.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It's a shame Khan pissed off the Klingons. I really wanted to see Khan, his followers, and some multi-racial mercenaries banding together for maximum mischief.

50 percent female.

50 percent disabled. 50 percent elderly. 50 percent illiterate. 50 percent homosexual. (Well, at least in proportions similar to real life.)

 

[Pauln6]

It's a shame Khan pissed off the Klingons. I really wanted to see Khan, his followers, and some multi-racial mercenaries banding together for maximum mischief.

50 percent female.

50 percent disabled. 50 percent elderly. 50 percent illiterate. 50 percent homosexual. (Well, at least in proportions similar to real life.)

You forgot asexual and hermaphrodites. And I can't quite put my finger on it but there is something off with your maths.

Actually, I don't have a major problem with Klingons being sexist towards women; I have a problem if there are no aliens who are equally sexist towards men or (like Angel One) when those women are criticised to a far stronger degree than the sexist male aliens or when races that claim to be equal don't visibly demonstrate the equality they espouse.

50% disabled crew would be amazing though!

 

[trampledamage]

The gender thing again? Didn't we already go through this bullshit in the XI forum?

Next!

It is always your choice whether to participate in a discussion. If you don't like it, don't get involved. Please don't dismiss other people's concerns, that isn't necessary.

 

[British Khan]

So what would be a possible ending to the Khitomer Conflict arc? Also it seems the tech of this comic verse is going to be decades more advance than it's prime verse counterpart.

 

[Christopher]

Also it seems the tech of this comic verse is going to be decades more advance than it's prime verse counterpart.

Which is logical, since they both reflect the eras they were created in.

 

[Pauln6]

Also it seems the tech of this comic verse is going to be decades more advance than it's prime verse counterpart.

Which is logical, since they both reflect the eras they were created in.

On a basic level I think that's fine but I have been very frustrated at the way they threw the baby out with the bath water.

I don't really mind them upgrading tech to reflect more sophisticated modern day counterparts but it's frustrating when they ignore the advances we've made in science and dumb down the real world physics.

Unnecessary upgrades to fictional physics is frustrating me as well. The drama comes from the characters being in difficult situations and the more sophisticated the tech the loopier the situation has to be to create the difficulty.

Classic example is Kirk going into their new more sophisticated warp chamber with no radiation suit and kicking it to fix it allowing them to do a last minute 180 degrees in an atmosphere (but having just watched Dagger of the Mind - it's not much sillier than Helen crawling through the air conditioning to flip a switch to turn off the power in a high security hospital I guess...).

Also TOS was set up so that you used your ships to travel between planets and your transporter to travel from orbit down to said planets. In NuTrek you use your transporters to travel between planets and your ships to to travel from orbit down to said planet.

It may just be that the audience has got more educated and the writers have got less careful. I suppose it's a fun ride but my friend's 7 year old was criticising the physics displayed in the first film. That's a bit embarrassing.