Chris Cooper on Marvel Starfleet Academy

[DS9forever]

Some interesting information here.
[https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment...bdpDd_WHw0mrR4R5Ztmq1HiU2ycRmE4weOVtKNGno58RU]

Certainly on sexual orientation issues back in that era, they were pretty slow. When I tried to introduce Yoshi Mishima in Starfleet Academy, there was pushback on that — pushback in terms of that I wasn't going to be able to show Yoshi having a kiss. My reaction to that was, "OK. If I can't show Yoshi having a kiss, I'm not going to show anybody having a kiss.”

The character who was originally supposed to be gay was Matthew Decker, the squad leader. It was going to be a role-reversal story, because in the initial issue, it's Matt who is looking askance at having a Ferengi on his team, and doesn't really want to have anything to do with them. Then Matt comes out, and now the Ferengi who was going to be looking askance at him. But Paramount wouldn’t let me make the leader of the squadron gay; they thought that was a bridge too far. If someone was going to boldly go there, it would have to be the TV series or the movies, not the comics.

... there's no prejudice in human society — that's why it's Nog the Ferengi who would have had a problem with it. The Ferengi in particular were always portrayed as extraordinarily sexist, and a sexist society with clearly-defined gender roles is going to have a problem with someone who has varying sexuality. So that's how I was going to play it.

As licensed comics go, writing with Paramount was very cool. They let me do a lot of what I wanted, and when they didn’t, they forced me to get creative and come up with something even better. So Yoshi Mishima was my nod to the Japanese author, Yukio Mishima. He shows up periodically throughout the series, and played a big role in Issue #12. He was going to play an even bigger role in some of the issues that were coming up. We were going to have the Academy destroyed, and he was going to be meeting the Resistance, but we didn’t get a chance to do those sadly.

 

[Stevil2001]

Some interesting information here.
[https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment...bdpDd_WHw0mrR4R5Ztmq1HiU2ycRmE4weOVtKNGno58RU]

Certainly on sexual orientation issues back in that era, they were pretty slow. When I tried to introduce Yoshi Mishima in Starfleet Academy, there was pushback on that — pushback in terms of that I wasn't going to be able to show Yoshi having a kiss. My reaction to that was, "OK. If I can't show Yoshi having a kiss, I'm not going to show anybody having a kiss.”

The character who was originally supposed to be gay was Matthew Decker, the squad leader. It was going to be a role-reversal story, because in the initial issue, it's Matt who is looking askance at having a Ferengi on his team, and doesn't really want to have anything to do with them. Then Matt comes out, and now the Ferengi who was going to be looking askance at him. But Paramount wouldn’t let me make the leader of the squadron gay; they thought that was a bridge too far. If someone was going to boldly go there, it would have to be the TV series or the movies, not the comics.

... there's no prejudice in human society — that's why it's Nog the Ferengi who would have had a problem with it. The Ferengi in particular were always portrayed as extraordinarily sexist, and a sexist society with clearly-defined gender roles is going to have a problem with someone who has varying sexuality. So that's how I was going to play it.

As licensed comics go, writing with Paramount was very cool. They let me do a lot of what I wanted, and when they didn’t, they forced me to get creative and come up with something even better. So Yoshi Mishima was my nod to the Japanese author, Yukio Mishima. He shows up periodically throughout the series, and played a big role in Issue #12. He was going to play an even bigger role in some of the issues that were coming up. We were going to have the Academy destroyed, and he was going to be meeting the Resistance, but we didn’t get a chance to do those sadly.

Thanks for that. As someone who suffered through a complete run of Alpha Flight, the details about Northstar are pretty interesting, too.

 

[JD]

Yeah, that was interesting reading, thanks for sharing it.

 

[Sci]

I loved the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy comics as a kid. My favorite character was T'Priell.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I fondly remember the Yoshi arc from Starfleet Academy, especially the scene where an alien is upset about sharing quarters with Yoshi (because he's gay), and Decker and the other Cadets can't even comprehend what the issue with it is. True equality right there, and a real trailblazing moment for '90s Trek and entertainment in general.

 

[DS9forever]

I remember thar alien character too, she clashed with the gay character; her race was almost extinct, so the notion of a homosexual relationship to her was incomprehensible. They came to an understanding.

Eaglemoss is to reprint the SA series soon, so I must get those issues featuring those comics.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Interesting. Had it been me, I would have chosen to deliberately play against the slightly predictable idea that Ferengi would be bigoted against gays. Yes the Ferengi are misogynistic in the extreme, but the functional result of that is the only ones out there in the world actually doing anything are men. So I would say that at least "situational homosexuality" (I'm horny, there's only guys here, I'll get off with guys) would be comparatively common, and therefore accepted in the all-male business society.

After all, rule 112 is "Never have sex with the boss's sister", which rule 113 follows up with "Always have sex with the boss". That's probably intended metaphorically, but when it's right there in black and white there's no doubt somebody is going to put it into literal action. If that's what it takes to get ahead in business, so be it. (Although the sharp teeth do make me wince.)

And of all Ferengi, Nog would not be the one to display any homophobia because he's spent most of his life living among humans and Bajorans, and has absorbed their values to the extent that he wants to be at Starfleet Academy at all. A knee-jerk reaction of surprise and/or confusion maybe, but not a deep-seated bigotry.

But, I also understand that if the writer wants to raise these issues among the characters available to him and within the constraints imposed by the higher-ups, he has to do what he can do. It's good that he was able to get anything done at all.

Also interesting that the difference I have detected between Marvel and DC movies / TV shows (that DC is way more open-minded wrt gender and sexuality both on and off screen than Marvel) is also the case in the original comic book milieu. That's a shame.

.

 

[Christopher]

After all, rule 112 is "Never have sex with the boss's sister", which rule 113 follows up with "Always have sex with the boss".

The latter is only from the book The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, so it's of questionable canon status. And the creators of the Academy comic may not have been familiar with it, since it had only come out a year or two earlier and was something of a novelty item.