LGBT characters and themes in Trek fan films?

[Barbreader]

http://startrekrestricted.blogspot.com/2009/11/post-2.html

Dark Frontier. I have not watched it (also true of Star Trek: Odyssey, Beyond, and what you might find a surprisingly large number of films on my website complex) but it has an 'adult content' warning, so it went into 'Star Trek Restricted.' I have no idea if it belongs there since I have not watched it, but if they thought it did, I didn't argue.

 

[Barbreader]

Borgboy... and anyone else. My website has an internal search engine. It has an index. It has a table of contents (organized by era). Chances are you can find links to the majority of fan films on it.

 

[borgboy]

FYI the downloads on the Dark Frontier site don't work. The mini series is on their youtube channel, but I could only find the first two episodes o Vimeo.
Again, thanks for all the help!

 

[Barbreader]

I just checked all five of my You Tube links to Dark Frontier's 5-part mini-series, Operation Deliverance, and they all work. I will check and add other links to the page, but from what I can see, the whole Dark Frontier You Tube channel is up and running.

 

[Barbreader]

OK, the original series episodes are NOT on the You Tube channel. They seem to be working with the Star Trek Equinox (A Night of Time) folk.

 

[Barbreader]

I found the Vimeo channel, and I don't see any episodes that were actually made and are missing. https://vimeo.com/user1108460/videos . There were plans to make more but I don't think they ever did make any more. Anyway, I've added the Vimeo links to my Dark Frontier's page! I also briefly edited the page, so I hope it's more useful now.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I'm gay and I don't want to be portrayed as just a gay man. I want to be portrayed as a person who just so happens to be gay.

Put us in there, but don't make a big deal. Who knows? Maybe some characters in Trek are gay and we never knew because that's not their character, it's a detail.

That is just the way it should be done. It's my biggest fear that when mainstream Trek does get its finger out and creates a gay character, that they will just be painted with the 'gay brush' and it is used as their sole character trait.

Good to see LGBT characters getting screen time in fanfilms though, it was a breath of fresh air on Hidden Frontier.

 

[Kruezerman]

That is just the way it should be done. It's my biggest fear that when mainstream Trek does get its finger out and creates a gay character, that they will just be painted with the 'gay brush' and it is used as their sole character trait.

Good to see LGBT characters getting screen time in fanfilms though, it was a breath of fresh air on Hidden Frontier.

I agree that I shouldn't painted as gay man and that's it, but the fanfilms did just that, they (Phase II) made the fact that I'm gay a major trait instead of a detail. To be honest, I'm less worried about mainstream Trek because the big studios have a better finger on the people's pulse.

 

[borgboy]

I am a big fan of Phase II, and I generally enjoyed Peter Kirk. I think he was as well developed as any of the other TOS supporting characters.

 

[Kruezerman]

I didn't, he seemed flat. Like his entire character was "the gay." That's it. I did not enjoy that.

 

[beamMe]

And it was shoe-horned and awkward.

I'm gay and I don't want to be portrayed as just a gay man. I want to be portrayed as a person who just so happens to be gay.

Put us in there, but don't make a big deal. Who knows? Maybe some characters in Trek are gay and we never knew because that's not their character, it's a detail.

And it was shoe-horned and awkward.

I'm gay and I don't want to be portrayed as just a gay man. I want to be portrayed as a person who just so happens to be gay.

Put us in there, but don't make a big deal. Who knows? Maybe some characters in Trek are gay and we never knew because that's not their character, it's a detail.

I'm bisexual...and I agree with you 100%.

And it was shoe-horned and awkward.

I'm gay and I don't want to be portrayed as just a gay man. I want to be portrayed as a person who just so happens to be gay.

Put us in there, but don't make a big deal. Who knows? Maybe some characters in Trek are gay and we never knew because that's not their character, it's a detail.

That's the part that annoys me to no end. I don't expect the productions to make a big deal about some character's hair color either.

I didn't, he seemed flat. Like his entire character was "the gay." That's it. I did not enjoy that.

I'm gay and I don't agree with you. I think the point in Blood and Fire was to show a young couple in love. No one in that story bat an eye that it was a gay couple, as that wasn't the focus.

 

[DCR]

I had a problem with Blood & Fire in that I thought the love scene with Peter Kirk and Freeman went on too long - it just felt like it dragged, especially with two characters that I hadn't had time to become invested in.

Having said that, I think Peter Kirk has otherwise been handled really well in Phase II .

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I had a problem with Blood & Fire in that I thought the love scene with Peter Kirk and Freeman went on too long - it just felt like it dragged, especially with two characters that I hadn't had time to become invested in.

Having said that, I think Peter Kirk has otherwise been handled really well in Phase II .

I also don't mind Peter Kirk in Phase II, but I - as been mentioned before - it seemed the love scene was trying to make a point and get attention, rather than have it be natural/normalized for the audience as well as the in-universe characters.

It was like: LOOK! BECAUSE WE ARE STAR TREK, WE HAVE A GAY COUPLE! LOOK!

I've found that when Star Trek unconsciously adds diversity it works. Whenever it tries to speak for all demographics, it usually comes off forced.

 

[Maurice]

That these topics invariably become arguments over the merits or failures of "Blood and Fire" points out the paucity of gay anything in Star Trek in general and fanfilms as well.

 

[beamMe]

I also don't mind Peter Kirk in Phase II, but I - as been mentioned before - it seemed the love scene was trying to make a point and get attention,

Yes, it did. "Look this is a couple. You, audience, are supposed to care about them. They are important to the story."

rather than have it be natural/normalized for the audience as well as the in-universe characters.

Whatever that means.
What's more "natural" than a young couple in loving embrace?

It was like: LOOK! BECAUSE WE ARE STAR TREK, WE HAVE A GAY COUPLE! LOOK!

I think you should get over yourself.
Like I said before, had that been a male/female-couple no one would have bat an eye.

 

[borgboy]

I applaud and appreciate Phase II for not shying away from letting the gay couple be romantic and sexual. All too often even now gay men in media are portrayed as asexual best friends - having Peter Kirk be an important character, nephew of Captain Kirk, and be allowed to express love and sexuality with an honesty that is rarely seen.
We had whole episodes and on going storylines focused on hetero love in Trek all the time, I don't see how Blood and Fire did anything "worse" than what's been done before, just with a gay male couple.

 

[Maurice]

I think you should get over yourself.

That was unnecessary.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I also don't mind Peter Kirk in Phase II, but I - as been mentioned before - it seemed the love scene was trying to make a point and get attention,

Yes, it did. "Look this is a couple. You, audience, are supposed to care about them. They are important to the story."

And, the story should have been able to do that without a long gimmicy take.

rather than have it be natural/normalized for the audience as well as the in-universe characters.

Whatever that means.
What's more "natural" than a young couple in loving embrace?

It is natural when it isn't forced in a film or show as a way for the filmmakers to pat themselves on the back.

It was like: LOOK! BECAUSE WE ARE STAR TREK, WE HAVE A GAY COUPLE! LOOK!

I think you should get over yourself.
Like I said before, had that been a male/female-couple no one would have bat an eye.

No, I battle with myself all the time. And, I found that Joel-1 and Joel-2 tend to work better together rather than apart.

Had it been a male/female couple, particularly a black male opposite a non-black female....I'm sure eyes would have batted, and it would have come off as forced as well.

From a cinematic standpoint, that scene could have been cut down. It could have been placed later on in the episode after we've got to know the two characters; maybe after a battle when one thinks the other has died or something.

In the current context, as aforementioned, it's forced and messes up the pacing of the picture. And, even if it was a male/female couple of the same racial background it still messes - or, at least, fiddles - with the pacing of the episode.

 

[Barbreader]

I know I'm going to regret this... but here I go.

Star Trek was TERRIBLE at showing ALL couples. I'm not gay. I'm old enough to have watched TOS first run. I am weird enough that I never understood why gay people were singled out and not just encouraged to have long term committed relationships which is what is best for public health way back BEFORE AIDS...

That said, I thought the B&F love scene was tasteful and not cringe-worthy. The overwhelming majority of Pro Trek love scenes are cringe-worthy at best. I thought the B&F scene was a fine love scene, much better than most of the Pro Trek hetero ones, more natural, more fun, more legitimately intimate. I was EXPECTING to cringe, but I didn't.

From what you gay folks are saying... perhaps the problem is they act too much like a normal strait couple but happen to be gay? I realize it was long by Trek standards. I realize I am not and never will be a gay man. But forced? Watch any Kirk love scene from TOS... that's my idea of FORCED and IDIOTIC. This was much better.

OK, wipe me off the face of the planet. But I have been reading this and reading it and I had to say it. I know NOTHING about how gay people act when they are alone with their beloved. But as a STRAIT FEMALE person, I found this scene pleasant and tasteful. I can't say the same for Kirk in TOS.

I know I should now duck into a dark corner...

 

[Basill]

And it was shoe-horned and awkward.

I'm gay and I don't want to be portrayed as just a gay man. I want to be portrayed as a person who just so happens to be gay.

Put us in there, but don't make a big deal. Who knows? Maybe some characters in Trek are gay and we never knew because that's not their character, it's a detail.

I'm bisexual...and I agree with you 100%.

That's the part that annoys me to no end. I don't expect the productions to make a big deal about some character's hair color either.

I didn't, he seemed flat. Like his entire character was "the gay." That's it. I did not enjoy that.

I'm gay and I don't agree with you. I think the point in Blood and Fire was to show a young couple in love. No one in that story bat an eye that it was a gay couple, as that wasn't the focus.

Scene didn't hurt my feelings one bit.