I'm not going to bother replying to just another put-down post (zzzz), except to say having a few (mostly minor, ie, not lead characters) women characters as captains/admirals in Trek lit do not make up for so rudely killing off the only female lead captain in Trek TV/film. And I hope that is "non-Swedish" plain speaking enough to understand, thank you (bring KJ back!).
Le sigh. Seriously? Your answer is to call me a poopiehead?
Sometimes that is the only word that works.
There are only two female characters from any of the series that have even had any kind of promotion in starfleet, while the only men from the original series that have not been elevated in power are, Picard, Riker, Sisko, Icheb, and Jake Sisko, and three of those don't count because they already had high positions.
Jake's a bad example of a man not getting promoted because he never joined Starfleet - which was a good decision for the character. He does get married in the books.
You are reading what I said wrong (we are talking about Trek Literature), the only characters I was counting were the main characters from the NG era series and since you all don’t know the difference from a main character and a recurring character I will give you the list. These are main characters that are active at the end of the NG movie era. To simplify for you the main characters from NG to the end of NG, DS9 to the end of DS9, Voyager to the end of Voyager and then to the end of Nemesis.
NG: Picard, Riker, Troi, Crusher, La Forge, and Worf (Data is left out because at the end of Nemesis he is dead, or at least partially dead)
DS9 – Sisko, Kira, Jake, Bashir, O’Brian, Quark, Odo, Ezri Dax and Worf. (Jadzia is dead and doesn’t count either.)
Voyager – Janeway, Chakotay, Paris, Kim, the Doctor, Seven of Nine, Tuvok, Torres, Icheb and Neelix (and I did leave Neelix out but you are free to put him in as it only jacks up the percentage and works against the male side anyway, but feel free to use him. You can even put Wesley Crusher in but again that works to the advantage of my original premise.)
I was also referring to promotions given only after the filmed versions, those given only by Trek Lit authors, so Janeway’s promotion doesn’t count because we “SAW” it. You put “on screen” not me, I was referring to only promotions given within Trek Literature. So you can throw out all your list because those were on screen promotions, or they were recurring characters, not main characters.
You also made my case with Jake, exactly he wasn’t in Starfleet, so he couldn’t be promoted. So again within the structure of Trek Literature; the only males not given some kind of promotion (or a raise in stature as is the case of Odo and Quark) are Picard, Sisko, Riker, (his promotion is on screen), Jake Sisko, Icheb and now Neelix. Three are already holding high ranking or are those that for obvious reasons cannot be promoted.
The only females promoted are B’Elanna Torres and Ezri Dax.
It is Trek Literature that has the problem with writing female characters, it is Trek Literature that marginalizes female main characters. Recurring characters and one shot characters even if we see them on screen are today more the characters of Trek Literature, and not the Main characters of the series. And therefore Shelby is a character of words and paper, as is Sonya Gomez and Ro Laren.
Ezri Dax is the darling of Trek Lit, but even she is put off on her own ship were she cannot give orders to any of the males. Janeway had to be gotten rid of because she was in the position where she could and horrors, she actually did give Picard orders.
So now do you get what I have said. The appearance is that Trek Literature is full of Sexism, like it or not that is the appearance, and when you tell Janeway fans to get over it, you add to that perception. When you tell Janeway fans to just switch over to a new female character, you are really saying females are interchangeable and expendable.
“You don't have to "have" sexist "attitudes" to be sexist. You just have to inhabit a sexist structure and not contest it.” – Kenneth James
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/20...of-the-russ-pledge-for-science-fiction-today/
The main characters from the series, already have a character, they already have followings and there is no way Shelby, Admiral or not, can take the place in a fan’s heart like Kathryn Janeway who started as a character made of words and paper, but became a whole and very real feeling character largely through the talents of Kate Mulgrew. This is the same kind of feeling you get for Sisko, who owes his wholeness to Avery Brooks, and Picard who came to life because of Patrick Stewart’s talent.
It’s very hard to bring a character to life with only words and paper, and it takes the willingness of the reader to complete that circle.
Trek.com participated in a survey, they found out among other things that only one percent of Trek fans come to the Trek BBS, and they found out that 71 % of Trek fans are female, and 66% of those female fans are in the 41-50 age group. These are the people that actually do buy and read books.
http://startrek.com/article/following-fandom-the-ongoing-analysis-part-i
http://startrek.com/article/following-fandom-the-ongoing-analysis-part-2
"Murder of the living is tragic, but murder of the idea is unforgivable."
And yes Trek Literature through the words of Peter David did try to murder the dreams of many, many female fans and that is unforgivable.
feels like with these Janeway fans about.
