Mass Effect gives us the genophage. Mass Effect sends the message that forced sterilization is dehumanizing. Would Star Trek or some other sci fi show be brave enough to cover a theme like this? Can Star Trek move beyond the Klingons and give us new cool looking aliens with their own societal problems?
I think Star Trek would cover a theme like it, as it's one that's pretty morally straightforward. I'm not sure they'd cover it from the angle Mass Effect did, where they make a wartime necessity argument for it, though Discovery actually might. I can see Lorca pushing for something like this. On any other Trek I can see them coming across some planet that did this, convincing them it's morally wrong and fixing it. In Stargate the Aschen try to do it to Earth. A little more brave than just saying 'forced sterilization bad' would be to address it in a way that mirrors real life examples of it, like they tried to do with certain groups in WW2.
DSC has “borrowed” many things from the Mass Effect series (and vice versa) so I don’t see why they can’t do the genophage story too.
What if they did a story were it was given as a option over something like prison. Like if your convicted of a sex crime which could range from rape to pedophiles. Another option to make for a good story is what if you had the genetic understanding of every human being figured out to the point were you knew that if so and so person had a child they would give birth to a child, that would be born with anything from mental illness to be born with the gene that most serial killers have. It would be seen a genetic engineering without actually altering people but stoping what they see as people who will bring danger to society or will not be able to live a happy and productive lives. Basically it would be trying to weed out flaws in the gene pool by having people go through a surgery if they would be the ones who would be producing these flawed humans. Jason
Can other shows like "The Orville"? And haven't Trek and other sci-fi shows already covered themes similar to this?
I don't think there's anything at all daring or original in asserting that forced sterilization is dehumanizing. Duh.
Sci-fi series have covered it, so that's a de facto yes, irrespective of how much bravery was involved.
What did DSC borrow from Mass Effect? If anything Mass Effect borrowed sexy multi-colored alien babes from TOS.