News Forbes: "Mary Wiseman is Killying it on Star Trek Discovery"

In all my years on this forum, what still surprises me to this day (and I know people are now going to whine and complain that that never was Gene's original 'vision' or whatever), a show that over 5 decades has been all about tolerance, acceptance and understanding has so many racist, sexist, misogynist fuckholes in its fanbase.

I'm nearly 40 now. I've been bodyshamed for being overweight. I lost a lot of it, thanks to anxiety, OCD and an eating disorder. I was so thin. I was bodyshamed. I needed to be more of a man and gain weight. It was never good enough, never ok. I'm done with that. Not again.

Mary Wiseman is a fantastic looking woman, gorgeous as she is. But mostly, it's her amazing funny character, soul and charisma that make her one of the most amazing people to grace Star Trek since 1966. And for fuck sake people, if you read this and this think it's ok to say shit about someone's weight..... You need to start thinking about whether you're the problem or the solution.

 

Absolutely. It pains me so much when I see these comments directed at actresses, because it takes its toll on the actress and those who read those comments.

 

Mary Wiseman has turned out to be one of the show's best actors and the she's come a very long was as both Tilly and a performer since Season 1. The fact that one performer plays Season 1 Tilly, Season 3 Tilly, and Captain Killy show's her incredibly capable and growing range. The producers would be very wise to to keep giving her more and more to do as the show moves on, and if they do a spinoff, give her a ship of her own.

The body shaming stuff is ridiculous. First, it boggles the mind how somehow it's 2021 and internet troll-dom still devolves to the absolute cheapest route it can - physical attributes - for what purpose? To make someone miserable? In the end, the people who have criticized her body shape are the problem, not her body shape. Moreover within the context of the show and Wiseman's capabilities as a performer, it doesn't make any sense. Would Discovery season 4 somehow be improved by Tilly suddenly slimming down to have say, the body type of 1993 Counselor Troi? Of course not. The trolls as always have nothing to say. In fact, it overlooks that Mary Wiseman's casting, like any other performing auditioning, took what she looked like into account for the vision of the show. Her look is part of her performance, just as Seven of Nines was.

Discovery Season 3 is a vastly improved show. But the show's has had problems since Season 1 (and still does, though its fixed many of them). The cast, least of all Tilly, isn't one of them. The cast does the best work they can every episode, and are usually the first victims of sloppy writers, bad plots and inconsistent characterization.

Mary Wiseman is good for Star Trek because she's a good young actor who will have a vibrant career if she keeps it up. It's that simple. And the people trolling her are bad for Star Trek, and frankly, bad for society and need to check themselves.

 

I don't think any actor could succeed at playing Tilly or Burnham. Their characters are so ridiculous, and given such awful dialogue. It's brutal. Doug Jones isn't treated that way when playing Saru, and Pike was permitted to make sense, and Lorca was consistent in his bad way. But Tilly and Burnham are portrayed as having the emotional stability of 9 year olds. I'm not calling sexism, because I don't know that was the case, but it's unfortunate that the two primary female roles in this show have been treated like that.

Well maybe two out of three, there was Georgiou, who was a better-written character, if not to my taste. (The less mirror universe, the better.)

 

I think in large part due to the troubled history of the show, which has been through (more or less) 3 show runners hands in 3 years. Let's recall how haphazard this show's foundation is. It's Klingon focus early on was a remnant of the plan to make the "New Star Trek Show" an analothogy show that would pick up after Star Trek VI and be guided by Nick Meyer. It's massive visual redesign / reboot on everything from the Klingons to Starships was driven by Bryan Fuller's intention of modernizing the look of Star Trek from the Berman era, the same way TNG did for the TOS era. The prequel setting and random Spock tie in via Sarek, was due to a desire to return to a more action-adventure take on Star Trek (phasers shaped like guns!) but not get in Kirk's way. The Terran Empire plot? By most accounts, a late-season 1 patch job to fix a creatively disorganized show. Lorca was an asshole, but from the Mirror Universe originally? Not a chance.

The show was a complete mess season 1. The Season 2 changes fixed a lot of that, but the behind the scenes drama going away really allowed it to mature in the second half of Season 2 and Season 3 (by far its best). It's really no surprise that Tilly and Burnham were given lines that were barely speakable, particularly early on... and change, change and change in how they are written. Because there was no single accepted plan.

Hopefully Season 4 and the stability Season 3 provided, fixes the lingering issues. A first step would be really pull back on adding major new characters and working with what they got.