Spoilers Dr. Hugh Culber Despite Yourself Spoilers!

[Jackson_Roykirk]

People dying on Discovery:

- the female asian captain.
- the female security officer POC.
- the gay POC.

White people seem to be reasonably safe.

Glad they're casting minorities but I wish they weren't mostly used for roles that aren't meant to be permanent.

The positive side of that is that the writers put enough personality into those characters, despite the short amount of time they were onscreen, that we viewers cared about them enough to give a damn when they died (except for the female security chief [Tory from nuBSG], whom we never really go to know, and seemed to be on the show in the first place only to be a redshirt).

For Georgiou and Culber, it was NOT a case of "let's given them a token Asian woman/gay man so we can kill them and say we had an Asian woman captain and gay man on the show."

Instead, they gave us an Asian woman and gay man character with some depth to them, and showed us enough of those character's thoughts and feelings to make the character relatively meaningful so their deaths would be relatively meaningful.

 

[KennyB]

People dying on Discovery:

- the female asian captain.
- the female security officer POC.
- the gay POC.

White people seem to be reasonably safe.

Glad they're casting minorities but I wish they weren't mostly used for roles that aren't meant to be permanent.

Don't tell Conner and Kol.......yes there was a white guy under that make up......

 

[Scout101]

I suppose the obvious downside of casting a crew with so many minorities represented is that when characters die, you're more likely to kill a minority. Can argue about whether the show is doing it on purpose, but that argument looked kinda silly after it was pointed out that the show is being run by a gay man, so he probably wasn't anti-gay.

I'm sure there are random background fillers and whatnot, but take a look at the cast. For the *straight white male* demo that we all hate so much, there's the captain, and...? Sarek and Mudd might be the next most used characters. Can argue about who's who under an alien or Klingon mask, but not really counting them there.

Almost all of the speaking roles are women, Black, Asian, gay, Middle Eastern, and a bunch are combinations of those. Not arguing about representation (nice strawman), but just saying NO SHIT that minorities are dying on the show, just about everyone IS a minority of some flavor or other. I have no issue with that, just pointing out that it's more a math problem than a discrimination problem. They've killed the proverbial Straight White Male as well, so not like they're wearing plot armor either...

Yes, a gay guy died (maybe). But the debate here feels like we're bitching about the "black guy dies first" trope while watching a Tyler Perry movie...

 

[Pauln6]

I think the risk is if that if they kill off their more groundbreaking diverse characters then we're left with a more traditional cast. Female security chief gives way to a man and so on.

So far, they seem to have enough to play with but at some point, they will need to introduce potential replacement characters and they need to think carefully there. They want to avoid predictable replacements, I.e. we've lost one Female Dax or our female doctor so let's bring in another but also they need to avoid gender drift e.g. We'll replace our female security chief with a bartender.

Culber wasn't the CMO but he was the only doctor we've seen up close. They should have featured the CMO by now.

They should really also have male and female security support characters ready to be offed after a few appearances or elevated to a higher status if they have enough personality, like O'Brien. They have this potential with the bridge crew, they just need to expand to other departments.

It was a shock for sure, same as Tasha's death, but I like that they're prepared to do it to characters whose potential has barely been touched. I also like the non traditional way the cast is laid out. If the other shows has been done in a similar way (DS9 came close) they could have had some real fun!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Don't tell Conner and Kol.......yes there was a white guy under that make up......

It's funny, if I didn't know better, I would've sworn Tony Todd was under there. It sounded like him.

 

[waxon]

Even though Wilson Cruz himself says it isn't?

He's entitled to his opinion but his opinion isn't any more important than anyone else's. Even if the spoilers end up being true, I still have an issue with the way his character was bumped off in the first place. It was sloppy writing, just as I think Landry's death was sloppily handled.

 

[Refuge]

He's entitled to his opinion but his opinion isn't any more important than anyone else's. Even if the spoilers end up being true, I still have an issue with the way his character was bumped off in the first place. It was sloppy writing, just as I think Landry's death was sloppily handled.

I think that too. Both Landry and Culber died with an aftertaste that they were really stupid.

 

[Succubint]

https://trekmovie.com/2018/01/11/st...cers-consulted-with-glaad-over-culbers-story/

Just backing up my earlier statement that GLAAD was consulted.

On the other hand, I think people are entitled to make their criticisms and disappointment known in terms of the choices made, regardless of author intent. It's important to speak out and say why some tropes and story choices are hurtful accumulatively.

As someone with a Thai mother, I am often sensitive to the way Asian people are treated in entertainment media. I am hoping that if they do choose to make Georgiou the Empress that they don't fall into the trap of making her a descendant of Hoshi Sato. It would appear tone deaf to how different Asian ethnicities are.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am willing to wait and see how the Culber/Stamets story pans out. I have faith in the writers for now. But that's just me, and I can understand why other viewers are upset and tired of having the rug pulled out from underneath, even if it's in service to what the writers think is a better, more resonant story. It might look good on paper, but in the end, it's the audience who decides if the execution worked as intended.

 

[Terok Nor]

Not quite getting the love for Culber or the outrage at his death. Being a minority character in a series with only 2 or 3 non minority characters meant it was always a possibility. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

Aside from that I just don't find Culber interesting in the slightest. He's bland. I can barely remember anything he's said or done apart from brushing his teeth and dying.

Stahmets, a great character, deserves a more exciting love interest.

 

[KittyHAWK]

Missing the point here. Just landed into a parallel dimension. About to board a damn "imperial" starship. Ash is concern about his scary flashes and is checking with Culber. Unfortunately, either he was clueless about Klingon's methods of memetic engineering and POW torture, when he decided Ash is not fit for duty, Ash just snapped.

Though, I only assert based on seeing the last episode when the triggers happen, where it causes Ash to split his personality in a very dangerous way. I am not convince Klingons have the abilty to mind-meld two different races, and different identities through such barbaric techniques.

 

[KittyHAWK]

there lies maybe the hint that Culber doppler could be next to show in the future episodes as an evil doc with techniques or tech to extract or implant..to change the perception and identity.

 

[Tuskin38]

there lies maybe the hint that Culber doppler could be next to show in the future episodes as an evil doc with techniques or tech to extract or implant..to change the perception and identity.

No they said they’re not doing a mirror Culber

 

[Makarov]

It was a nice surprising death just like Tasha Yar. Didn't see that coming... I enjoyed it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

He's entitled to his opinion but his opinion isn't any more important than anyone else's.

Actually, yes it is, because he's the one who played Culber in the first place.

Wilson Cruz knows his character better than anyone, and if he'd had a problem with the way Culber was dealt with onscreen (up to and including the death) he would have spoken up about it. On the contrary - Cruz has had nothing but praise for the way his character has been written and handled. So we can only assume that he is happy with it.

And of course Cruz has also said that his best work as Culber has yet to be aired...

 

[KittyHAWK]

No they said they’re not doing a mirror Culber

Ahh.. bugger. would have nice to see the darkside of Culber.