How to change from Homosapiens only club?

[Arpy]

^^ Because that show isn’t about the captain? Who’s been an American white male for two of its three seasons anyway?

Because Trek talks a good game about diversity and wants a Federation of over 150 worlds yet (supposedly due to budget but argument can be made otherwise) can very much appear a homosapiens-only club. To the point that the line itself is from a Trek movie.

Because Earth in the 32nd century might be a homosapiens-only club?

Because despite being a younger race in an ancient crowded galaxy, humans are usually at the center of the Trek universe in power or significance?

 

[Orphalesion]

I could be forgetting somebody now (and I haven't made it far into the new season)
But isn't Saru the only main character who's an alien on Discovery? Sure there's some background aliens, but of the principal characters there's only Saru.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Could use the Stereotype of the Deltan to address somebody that is comfortable in there body, a female that is "Sexually Active" is seen negatively or is "Easy" and show somebody that is comfortable with there sexuality and doesn't care what people think of her.
So use an alien to tell a story, as have been done in the past, use an alien trait/thingy to explore a story.

Expanding on that, if i had a crew of 20, it would look like this:

Main cast:

- Trill (captain. First male trill symbiont all previous hosts have been female)
- Denobulan (female. First officer. First in family to be in command position. Previously have been either healers or in the infantry)
- Romulan (male, science officer. Adopted Vulcan sibling is in engineering)
- Bajoran (female, ship's doctor)
- Ocampan (male, tactical officer)
- Orion (female, helmsman)
- Vorta (male, ship’s chef)
- Deltan (female, bartender)

Minor cast:

- Bolian (female, science division)
- Betazoid (male, ship's barber)
- Andorian (female, engineering)
- Vulcan (male, engineering staff. Romulan sibling is science officer and part of senior staff)
- Bajoran (female, nurse)
- Deltan (bartender's husband, technician)
- Deltan child (male, aspiring pilot)
- Trill (male, unrelated to captain. Never been host to a symbiont before. Stellar cartographer.)
- Trill teenager (female, stellar cartographer's’ offspring and assistant)
- Changeling (male, has human appearance by choice. Passenger.)
- Romulan-Borg (male, Romulan liberated from the Borg collective. Everyman.)

 

[Tim Thomason]

I could be forgetting somebody now (and I haven't made it far into the new season)
But isn't Saru the only main character who's an alien on Discovery? Sure there's some background aliens, but of the principal characters there's only Saru.

Without going into spoilers, the official cast of Discovery (since Season 3 began) currently includes a Barzan and a Kwejian, in addition to the aforementioned Kelpien, making 3 out of 7 of its credited cast members playing aliens. It previously included a Klingon in its cast, although there're a lot of caveats with that description.

And, yeah, Saru isn't *the* main character, but was Picard (in TNG)? Sisko? Janeway? Freeman? No, they were parts of ensembles, taking a backseat in many episodes in much the same way as Saru does today.

 

[Mudd]

was Picard (in TNG)? Sisko? Janeway?

Yes.

 

[Arpy]

Burnham is in every episode, either saving the day or otherwise significant. DSC is more like TOS in this regard — I see her like Kirk. Saru might be there, but he’s not the focus in the way any of the previous series captains were.

Also, the Kwejian basically looks human (and sounds like a, what, Londoner?) without latex or makeup of any kind. The light-shows are infrequent.

 

[Arpy]

They could really save on budget with a Trill captain, Betazoid first officer, Bajoran tactical officer, Deltan science officer, Rissian chief medical officer, Argelian chief engineer, and human pilot. The first six could all be played by middle-class straight white male Christian Americans from SoCal and the last one by a black female Brit doing a Michael Caine impression and making googly-eyes at all the female guest-stars. Anyone? Anyone? Show of hands...

 

[fireproof78]

Cool. Will they be good characters?

 

[Orphalesion]

Cool. Will they be good characters?

Almost every character can be good if written well.

 

[fireproof78]

Almost every character can be good if written well.

Yup.

 

[Arpy]

Anything’s possible. Yet it’s the probable that’s the problem.

 

[Falconer]

What about Enterprise?

It has Phlox, and other aliens in that style, including a TNG-style Klingon in the very first episode.

 

[Tim Thomason]

It has Phlox, and other aliens in that style, including a TNG-style Klingon in the very first episode.

Well, if you want to talk about rubber heads, check out those Talosians. The Vians. The Tellarites. Even Spock's ears were made of latex rubber, as was the Andorian antennae.

 

[Orphalesion]

It has Phlox, and other aliens in that style, including a TNG-style Klingon in the very first episode.

TOS had Spock (arguably the most popular character from that show) And the first season had Salt Vampires and Romulans and TOS-style Klingons (and I don't know what else) and the unaired pilot had a green Orion girl and big-headed Talosians. And the later seasons had purple haired people and orange-painted people with bad white wigs and Andorians and Tellarites and ancient, sharp toothed babies in giant bubble ships and diminutive purple people and...and...and...

And before you say "but those weren't part of the crew"....neither was that Klingon in Enterprise he was barely a character...

 

[fireproof78]

Anything’s possible. Yet it’s the probable that’s the problem.

Here's my big question. It seems, from this thread, the rubber foreheads are essential part of the tapestry of Trek. Conceding that point, for the purpose of discussion, what stories are to be told from using a Deltan vs. a human? It is always my desire to see aliens who are very well fleshed out and add to the tapestry of the world, and not just in the visual way.

That's why rubber foreheads bother me; if the aliens are not aliens then it seems rather a waste of effort. Mileage will vary.

 

[Orphalesion]

k. Conceding that point, for the purpose of discussion, what stories are to be told from using a Deltan vs. a human?.

Stories about Deltan culture and telepathy (I mean yeah there's telepathic humans in TOS, but you could explore a culture where telepathy is natural and omnipresent)?

 

[Arpy]

The Deltans are a great one. Without considering how the makeup might be updated for the screen today, or how their bald look might inform their psychology, the idea of hypersexual aliens is immediately interesting. What I’d love is for them to help us explore another Sexual Revolution in the real world, but also help point out where we have our limits by where they maybe don’t. Similar to the Klingons yearning for conflict and battle, they could for togetherness and sex. There are a heckuva lot of stories there. Especially if we’re taking paid streaming over broadcast television.

 

[fireproof78]

I guess this will be outside my preferences then.

 

[Orphalesion]

Wait...weren't Deltans meant to be telepathic? I could have sworn....

 

[Tirius]

Alien diversity would be nice, but the question is what do you want from it in the show? Do you want the visual acknowledgement that aliens exist and that the Federation has many species in it? Or do you want diversity for the sake of storytelling, of exploring different cultures? Garak was engaging because he was an enigmatic ex-spy. His being Cardassian, while it certainly influenced much of his character, wasn't his main draw.

I've always felt Trek dropped the ball quite often by making our human characters native to Earth. Some of the earlier colony worlds could have evolved quite differently over the few hundred years til TNG's era. Given how diverse human culture already is today, it always surprised me more wasn't done with that.