How would you retcon Strange New Worlds?

[Sci]

Oh, and this isn't really a retcon, but what the hell:

President Richard Robau.

You KNOW you want it.

(hey, Faran Tahir has said he'd love to return...)

This has me going down a Federation Presidents tangent.

Okay, so all this comes from various novels that are all non-canon, so SNW has no obligation whatsoever to follow it. BUT. This is the info we have for Federation Presidents during the 2250s through the 2270s. The novels depict Federation Presidents as having four-year terms:

Novels:

• Pellan Fel: Andorian, served at least one term in the Kelvin Timeline circa 2255 (so term could have been 2253-2257 if she was President in the Prime Timeline as well)
• Kenneth Wescott: Human male from Earth, served two terms (2261-2269), elected in 2260 and re-elected 2264; president during most of TOS
• Lorne McLaren: Human male, elected 2268, served one term (2269-2273)
• Chab jav Lorg: Tellarite male from Mars, elected 2272, served at least two terms (2273-2281)

So at the moment, assuming we apply all this from the novels to the canon unless the canon contradicts it -- we don't really know who's President right now, but it might be Pellan fell, and Kenneth Wescott is due to get elected next year. (Wescott is depicted as very Kennedy-esque in the Errand of Fury novel trilogy, FYI.)

So... President Robau could indeed have been elected for the 2257-2261 term! (Or Fel may never have been President in the Prime Timeline.)

EDITED TO ADD:

To be clear, this means that Fel would have been President during "The Cage" and DIS S1-2, Wescott was President during "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and TOS S1-2, and McLaren was President during TOS S3 and TMP.

 

[Jono11]

This. There are ethnic groups that people have hated for thousands of years, who have done far less than trying to invade and destroy the entire planet.

But generally they haven't been cut off from those ethnic groups for a century or more.

 

[Ketrick]

Establish that Admiral Robert April and Commodore Robert April are two different individuals. Make it so Commodore April is the Admiral's relative who oversaw the construction of and shakedown cruise of the Enterprise, but accepted promotion to Commodore or Fleet Captain and turned command of the Enterprise for the 5-year mission over to his relative the future Admiral April. I would also establish that Commander George Kirk was first officer for Commodore April during the Enterprise's shakedown cruise.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Establish that Admiral Robert April and Commodore Robert April are two different individuals. Make it so Commodore April is the Admiral's relative who oversaw the construction of and shakedown cruise of the Enterprise, but accepted promotion to Commodore or Fleet Captain and turned command of the Enterprise for the 5-year mission over to his relative the future Admiral April. I would also establish that Commander George Kirk was first officer for Commodore April during the Enterprise's shakedown cruise.

Why?

 

[fireproof78]

Establish that Admiral Robert April and Commodore Robert April are two different individuals. Make it so Commodore April is the Admiral's relative who oversaw the construction of and shakedown cruise of the Enterprise, but accepted promotion to Commodore or Fleet Captain and turned command of the Enterprise for the 5-year mission over to his relative the future Admiral April. I would also establish that Commander George Kirk was first officer for Commodore April during the Enterprise's shakedown cruise.

Sounds needlessly complicated.

 

[Ketrick]

Why?

Sounds needlessly complicated.

Commodore Robert April and Admiral Robert April seem to be two separate people. They are two different ethnicities. They look totally different. Also, they are two different ranks. So, either they are two different people or this is a breaking of continuity. I believe such a break is unnecessary so I suggested the Wally West/Wallace West solution.

 

[fireproof78]

Commodore Robert April and Admiral Robert April seem to be two separate people. They are two different ethnicities. They look totally different. Also, they are two different ranks. So, either they are two different people or this is a breaking of continuity. I believe such a break is unnecessary so I suggested the Wally West/Wallace West solution.

April...one L...no sense of humor.

Unnecessary but whatever floats the boat.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Take STRANGE to another time and space; something like DISCO but a little different.

 

[Mudd]

Commodore Robert April and Admiral Robert April seem to be two separate people. They are two different ethnicities. They look totally different. Also, they are two different ranks. So, either they are two different people or this is a breaking of continuity. I believe such a break is unnecessary so I suggested the Wally West/Wallace West solution.

They're the same character. The producers disregarded a lot of non-canon assumptions, and changed a couple of things. And that's just fine.

Take STRANGE to another time and space; something like DISCO but a little different.

No. It's just perfect where and when it is.

 

[fireproof78]

Take STRANGE to another time and space; something like DISCO but a little different.

Like the Mirror dimension? Wong won't be happy...

 

[Sci]

Commodore Robert April and Admiral Robert April seem to be two separate people. They are two different ethnicities. They look totally different. Also, they are two different ranks. So, either they are two different people or this is a breaking of continuity.

I mean, TAS is only barely in continuity anyway. I would suggest the best way to handle this is to disregard parts of TAS that contradict the rest of the canon, not to adjust SNW to adhere to an obscure TAS character's design.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Commodore Robert April and Admiral Robert April seem to be two separate people. They are two different ethnicities. They look totally different. Also, they are two different ranks. So, either they are two different people or this is a breaking of continuity. I believe such a break is unnecessary so I suggested the Wally West/Wallace West solution.

The 2 versions of Saavik are one person though?

Are the two versions of Pike in TOS two different people?

Why is it that 100% recasts are acceptable, provided they don’t cross the race line?

 

[Ketrick]

The 2 versions of Saavik are one person though?

Are the two versions of Pike in TOS two different people?

Why is it that 100% recasts are acceptable, provided they don’t cross the race line?

Changing someone's ethnicity makes it harder to suspend disbelief. In some cases, if there's enough similarities, it may still be workable for an ethnicity change when recasting unless said recast happens in a reboot. In a reboot or reimagining, a change in a character's ethnicity (or gender) isn't a problem, but within a continuity, under most circumstances it's a huge problem. In the case of TAS, I realize that it's canonicity has been questionable, but The Counter-Clock Incident has generally been highly regarded so changing April's ethnicity is problematic for me.

 

[Mudd]

Changing someone's ethnicity makes it harder to suspend disbelief.

No, it doesn't. It's not relevant information about the character.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Changing someone's ethnicity makes it harder to suspend disbelief.

As opposed to having a completely different height, weight facial structure and voice?

 

[fireproof78]

Changing someone's ethnicity makes it harder to suspend disbelief. In some cases, if there's enough similarities, it may still be workable for an ethnicity change when recasting unless said recast happens in a reboot. In a reboot or reimagining, a change in a character's ethnicity (or gender) isn't a problem, but within a continuity, under most circumstances it's a huge problem. In the case of TAS, I realize that it's canonicity has been questionable, but The Counter-Clock Incident has generally been highly regarded so changing April's ethnicity is problematic for me.

It's animated. Animators got it wrong.

Problem solved.

 

[Mudd]

The animators got a lot of things wrong.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Those fucking animators!

 

[Yistaan]

The 2 versions of Saavik are one person though?

Are the two versions of Pike in TOS two different people?

Why is it that 100% recasts are acceptable, provided they don’t cross the race line?

I think it's because it comes across as not making an attempt to follow the previous portrayal, but that's just my opinion. I'm Asian, and I'm not happy about SNW turning Kyle into an Asian. I actually find that more offensive and a very flimsy token attempt at addressing the poor representation of Asian males in Western film/tv. They should have just called Andre Kim's character Sulu, and the only reason they didn't is because they didn't want to spend the appropriate screen time on him that a character like Sulu deserves.

 

[Mudd]

I think it's because it comes across as not making an attempt to follow the previous portrayal, but that's just my opinion.

I don't think they considered a fifty-year-old cartoon sufficient reason not to do something they liked, in the same way that they don't make the show visually indistinguishable from TOS.