Female Characters in the J.J.Verse

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

So, ST:XI had 3 female characters with speaking parts and they killed off two of them. Now all we have left is Uhura. I'm hoping there will be at least one more main character added who is female for ST:XII and it would be very cool if the character comes from TOS. Now Nurse Chapel, mentioned by name in ST:XI but not seen, is an obvious choice but I hope to have a character less in the background.

I would love to have Lieutenant Marla Magivers in a main role because we would always know that in the prime universe she ultimately betrays her Starfleet vows and comes to a nasty end.

 

[FarStrider]

So, ST:XI had 3 female characters with speaking parts and they killed off two of them. Now all we have left is Uhura. I'm hoping there will be at least one more main character added who is female for ST:XII and it would be very cool if the character comes from TOS. Now Nurse Chapel, mentioned by name in ST:XI but not seen, is an obvious choice but I hope to have a character less in the background.

I would love to have Lieutenant Marla Magivers in a main role because we would always know that in the prime universe she ultimately betrays her Starfleet vows and comes to a nasty end.

You know, that is not exactly true. . .they may not have had BIG roles, but there were at least 3 women on the Enterprise who spoke:. . .hell, we even learned one of their names (Ensign Hannity - she was in communications, I believe), There was also the girl from the science department on the bridge who was worried about the singularity, and the transporter chief. Plus there was the officer on the shuttle who put McCoy in his seat, and the officer who assigned Uhura to the Farragaut. . .

And quite frankly, I think putting McGivers in would be fanwank. . .and totally unnecessary. . .hell, they didn't even name her in Wrath of Khan. . .and if they aren't doing that story, why bother?

~FS

 

[M'Sharak]

... Plus there was the officer on the shuttle who put McCoy in his seat...

Bring back Flight Officer Siddowne!

 

[RyuRoots]

So, ST:XI had 3 female characters with speaking parts and they killed off two of them. Now all we have left is Uhura. I'm hoping there will be at least one more main character added who is female for ST:XII and it would be very cool if the character comes from TOS. Now Nurse Chapel, mentioned by name in ST:XI but not seen, is an obvious choice but I hope to have a character less in the background.

I would love to have Lieutenant Marla Magivers in a main role because we would always know that in the prime universe she ultimately betrays her Starfleet vows and comes to a nasty end.

You know, that is not exactly true. . .they may not have had BIG roles, but there were at least 3 women on the Enterprise who spoke:. . .hell, we even learned one of their names (Ensign Hannity - she was in communications, I believe), There was also the girl from the science department on the bridge who was worried about the singularity, and the transporter chief. Plus there was the officer on the shuttle who put McCoy in his seat, and the officer who assigned Uhura to the Farragaut. . .

And quite frankly, I think putting McGivers in would be fanwank. . .and totally unnecessary. . .hell, they didn't even name her in Wrath of Khan. . .and if they aren't doing that story, why bother?

~FS

Besides, if you want more female characters, is the one who swoons and becomes submissive the minute a strong man gives her the time of day, no matter how much of an asshole he is to her, REALLY the one you want?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I would expect that Magivers would be rebooted, just as I don't expect NuKirk to come out with lines like, "Mr. Spock, the women on your planet are logical. That's the only planet in the galaxy that can make that claim." If you think Magivers would be fanwank I assume you say the same about numerous other homage/fanwank elements in ST:XI.

As to the other women mentioned, come on. Those were not characters, they were NPC's in the background. We had Gaila, Amanda and Uhura and sadly only one is left. We DO need more than one female in the next movie and it's a great opportunity IMHO for the reboot. Whether you create a brand new character or flesh out one from TOS I'm going to assume that a second woman character will be in the JJVerse doing more than just strapping some grump into his shuttle seat.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

At the time of this writing,

Gaila's fate is unknown

[source: http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Gaila_(Orion)].

I want to see Number One.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Yes I do hope Gaila returns just because I hope she doesn't die.. but I can do without the Orion Women Pheromone crapola.

 

[FarStrider]

I would expect that Magivers would be rebooted, just as I don't expect NuKirk to come out with lines like, "Mr. Spock, the women on your planet are logical. That's the only planet in the galaxy that can make that claim." If you think Magivers would be fanwank I assume you say the same about numerous other homage/fanwank elements in ST:XI.

Don't assume anything. . .those homages were necessary to establishing the characters and to connecting the "new" versions of the characters to the fans. McGivers would add nothing. . .and why would she even be there in the first place? not everyone who was in TOS needs to be represented on the new Enterprise. . .

As to the other women mentioned, come on. Those were not characters, they were NPC's in the background. We had Gaila, Amanda and Uhura and sadly only one is left. We DO need more than one female in the next movie and it's a great opportunity IMHO for the reboot. Whether you create a brand new character or flesh out one from TOS I'm going to assume that a second woman character will be in the JJVerse doing more than just strapping some grump into his shuttle seat.

Quit moving the goalposts, here. . .you said only three women had lines and that 2 of them were dead. . . I showed you that you were wrong, and as CorporalCaptain pointed out, Gaila's fate isn't known at this time. . .and you missed Kirk's mom, to boot. . . plus, you have a 2 hour movie to establish 7 main characters, and even among those characters there is a hierarchy of onscreen time. . . everyone else is lucky to get a hint of personality in that time. . .

~FS

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

FarStrider I'm not sure what your point is. My point is that there is only Uhura as a definite main female role for the next movie and I hope there will be MORE female roles. I go on to speculate ideas for that, not to campaign for Magiver, I was just throwing her out there. There are no "goalposts" I'm just saying, we need more women and I wonder who they will be. I am NOT complaining about the lack of females in ST:XI, just saying I expect JJ will not leave it that way.

 

[Pauln6]

I agree that the first movie fell very short when it came to its representation of women. Although I would include Winona Kirk in the list of 'principle' female characters, giving us 4 in total, that gives us two mothers, a joke love interest (whose non-sexual purpose was eventually edited out of the movie), and only one of the three recurring characters (excluding Chapel who is really just a name check).

I can understand that there was a limit to their options when they had so many recurring male characters to feature but it is astonishing that they didn't put SOME effort to feature more women.

Why not use T'Pau, the iconic Vulcan leader, instead of a random male Vulcan? Why not incapacitate Number One and make Spock a lieutenant or lt-commander during the movie so that he too can be promoted and rewarded to a full commander and first officer at the end instead of being ignored and leap-frogged by Kirk? Why not feature Winona Kirk at Kirk's promotion?

I personally think that both Chapel and Rand should feature in the sequel in an effort to rebalance the male/female quota. Chapel was a biologist who became a nurse as a quick way to get a posting on a starship and I think it would have been better if she had been established as a scientist who was drafted in to be a nurse by McCoy after the attack. The name-check was sweet but it has now tied her to a subservient supporting role that is going to restrict her to a cameo in sick bay. I think that updating Rand is the best way to bring in a principle action female.

The Captain's Yeoman has a reason to be in the thick of it if she is accompanying Kirk as part of her official role. She could be re-cast as a phaser-shooting martial artist who is quick to step in to defend Kirk from anything she perceives as a threat which would be a great modern twist for the character. It would also be good to see a non-com character.

However, we have one crew love interest in Uhura so I think they should avoid getting the character mired in anything other than the odd jealous/suspicious glance when Kirk goes into flirt mode. I'd prefer to see Carol Marcus if they feel the need to bring in a love interest for Kirk.

Gaila was a fun character but I'm not really a fan of adding an 'enemy' alien as a member of the crew. I would quite like to see the orions feature in the role of secondary villains and I think Gaila's pheromones could lead to her purpose being just a sex object again.

I would say that given how sexist the first movie was, I'm not hopeful that the sequel will be much better. The guys don't seem to have any real concept about what the equality of the sexes in the 21st century should mean, let alone the 23rd century.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

See I had no problem about the male dominated ST:XI, I think for the purpose of a reboot they needed to embrace the source material. But they've done that and I certainly hope they will have a good female character in the next one that stands alone rather than exists to showcase one of the male characters.

I love the Rand suggestion, but she would have to be totally remade.. which would certainly upset some people.

 

[FarStrider]

You know what, after 43 years of being in the background, and opening hailing frequencies and basically being a nothing character, Uhura IS definitely the main female character. . .why don't we let the writers develop HER for once, instead of trying to shoehorn in someone else? We can be fairly certain that there WILL be other female characters, but hopefully not at the expense of developing Uhura and the other 6 main characters further. . .those are the ones most people want to see. . . not McGivers, not Elizabeth Denner etc. As possible proof of at least one other female character in ST12, in the October 25, 2010 article in the New York Times, this little tidbit was let out:

Mr. Orci, meeting with the producers J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, and his fellow writer Alex Kurtzman, jump-started the discussion with an iPad slide show, showing stills from the first film, snapshots of potential locations and a photo of a suggested actress for one of the roles. On the woman’s photo, he had used his iPad to paint on a Vulcan ear.



There are also rumors that they want the character, or another, to be played by an Asian actress. . .

 

[Amaris]

Yes I do hope Gaila returns just because I hope she doesn't die.. but I can do without the Orion Women Pheromone crapola.

Same. I liked her character, brief an appearance as it was.

 

[F. King Daniel]

... Plus there was the officer on the shuttle who put McCoy in his seat...

Bring back Flight Officer Siddowne!

Yes!

And cast Heather Graham as Yeoman Rand!

 

[SiorX]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deQuFc3BP74[/yt]

I'd like to see Rand and Chapel in decent supporting roles. I don't think 'there are seven other characters who take precedent' need be a factor. With the movies focusing on Kirk and Spock with McCoy and Uhura supporting, Chekhov, Sulu, and Scotty are tertiary anyway. Why not bump Chapel and Rand up to the same level of prominence and give us something new to explore.

I know that because it's a reboot it feels like we ought to stay true to who the main cast are. But that's the problem with rebooting shit from the sixties - we've moved beyond that in terms of representation in Trek. Going back to the origin story doesn't mean we have to lose 40 years worth of improvement.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

SiorX that youtube is ::

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think that updating Rand is the best way to bring in a principle action female.

The Captain's Yeoman has a reason to be in the thick of it if she is accompanying Kirk as part of her official role. She could be re-cast as a phaser-shooting martial artist who is quick to step in to defend Kirk from anything she perceives as a threat which would be a great modern twist for the character. It would also be good to see a non-com character.

I like this idea!

 

[Pauln6]

I'd like to see Rand and Chapel in decent supporting roles. I don't think 'there are seven other characters who take precedent' need be a factor. With the movies focusing on Kirk and Spock with McCoy and Uhura supporting, Chekhov, Sulu, and Scotty are tertiary anyway. Why not bump Chapel and Rand up to the same level of prominence and give us something new to explore.

I know that because it's a reboot it feels like we ought to stay true to who the main cast are. But that's the problem with rebooting shit from the sixties - we've moved beyond that in terms of representation in Trek. Going back to the origin story doesn't mean we have to lose 40 years worth of improvement.

I agree completely. There should be no concerns about Uhura being 'bumped' in favour of a new female lead. Personally I like characters to be used when and where appropriate. I'm not a fan of shoehorning them in where inappropriate either but that includes Kirk, Spock, and McCoy for me. Uhura and McCoy plus a couple of security guards should have been sent across with Kirk and Spock to the Narada because that would make sense (Uhura can translate Romulan fluently and Pike might need medical attention). Rand could easily have been used as a security escort for Kirk for example.

This is also why I wasn't really in favour of Chekov appearing in the first film (in canon terms, he should have been too young, he wasn't around in the first season, he serves no significant purpose except for a couple of language jokes and some jibes about his age etc). Anybody else, including Rand who served as a transporter chief in TMP, could have fulfilled his story role.

Chekov is a popular character so I can see why they wanted him there but they were also quoted as leaving out some characters (like Chapel and Rand) because they would prefer to use them in a way where they could contribute to the story. I like Chekov too but I think giving him a fuller introduction in the sequel would have worked better.

So if Uhura retains a larger role I'd prefer it to be organic. Part of that will be her relationship with Spock, part of it will be communications duty, and they just need to find a further story purpose to elevate her up a bit more. I think Kirk's love interest, if any, needs to be kept fairly superficial at this stage to avoid too much romance getting in the way of the sci fi.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well, Uhura has as much "reason" to be in the thick of the action as Spock or McCoy do. I'd hope and expect that the "big three characters" in JJTrek will continue to be Kirk, Spock and Uhura.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Besides, if you want more female characters, is the one who swoons and becomes submissive the minute a strong man gives her the time of day, no matter how much of an asshole he is to her, REALLY the one you want?

Good point. I sure as hell don't. Also, I never want to see that retard Khan again. His girlfriend was even worse.

I second the development of Chapel. She did have a split-second cameo in STXI.