Lt. Kevin Riley

[Nerys Myk]

I didn't mind the Riley character at all, but I'm glad they didn't do more with him. Given how much Star Trek touts diversity, adding yet another white male character to the mix would likely have resulted in even less for Sulu and Uhura, who one could argue were already very limited by comparison.

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I didn't mind the Riley character at all, but I'm glad they didn't do more with him. Given how much Star Trek touts diversity, adding yet another white male character to the mix would likely have resulted in even less for Sulu and Uhura, who one could argue were already very limited by comparison.

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

That's how Chekov was perceived; remove the accent and he was a white male in a Monkees wig. The character being Russian did not place him in the same "minority" box with Uhura and Sulu, so if you remove the light Russian pride business, what was there to gain from Chekov that a thinking writer could not exploit in Riley?

 

[Nebusj]

That's how Chekov was perceived; remove the accent and he was a white male in a Monkees wig. The character being Russian did not place him in the same "minority" box with Uhura and Sulu, so if you remove the light Russian pride business, what was there to gain from Chekov that a thinking writer could not exploit in Riley?

Well, there is the overblown comic nationalism ... er ... wait a second.

 

[Gassy Man]

I didn't mind the Riley character at all, but I'm glad they didn't do more with him. Given how much Star Trek touts diversity, adding yet another white male character to the mix would likely have resulted in even less for Sulu and Uhura, who one could argue were already very limited by comparison.

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

In effect, it did. Consider how prior to Chekov's appearance, we essentially had the non-speaking white guy navigator of the week. Afterward, the now-named character had to be worked into episodes, with speaking parts and plot points. Now, imagine if it was Sulu who knew Irina in "The Way to Eden" or Uhura who thought her brother had been killed by Klingons in "The Day of the Dove." It would have been Sulu who was immune to the disease in "The Deadly Years" and aboard the Reliant in TWOK, and so on. They would have had expanded roles and more screen and speaking time.

Star Trek basically had four white guys as the principal characters -- five if you count Nimoy as a white guy in makeup. Adding Riley would just have allowed them to minimize the racial or ethnic minorities even more. For a show that rode the diversity bandwagon for many years, it would have been a step backwards -- worse if they would decide to add Chekov anyway.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I didn't mind the Riley character at all, but I'm glad they didn't do more with him. Given how much Star Trek touts diversity, adding yet another white male character to the mix would likely have resulted in even less for Sulu and Uhura, who one could argue were already very limited by comparison.

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

In effect, it did. Consider how prior to Chekov's appearance, we essentially had the non-speaking white guy navigator of the week. Afterward, the now-named character had to be worked into episodes, with speaking parts and plot points. Now, imagine if it was Sulu who knew Irina in "The Way to Eden" or Uhura who thought her brother had been killed by Klingons in "The Day of the Dove." It would have been Sulu who was immune to the disease in "The Deadly Years" and aboard the Reliant in TWOK, and so on. They would have had expanded roles and more screen and speaking time.

Star Trek basically had four white guys as the principal characters -- five if you count Nimoy as a white guy in makeup. Adding Riley would just have allowed them to minimize the racial or ethnic minorities even more. For a show that rode the diversity bandwagon for many years, it would have been a step backwards -- worse if they would decide to add Chekov anyway.

Each episode was different. The navigator could be non speaking or as Riley was, a guest star with a meaty role. Chekov's lines would probably go to a one off character rather than Sulu or Uhura. His part in "The Way to Eden" was originally intended for Kirk. Some of his lines were written for Sulu, but went to Chekov because Takei was unavailable I doubt Uhura would ever be given that line from "Day of the Dove".

Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the principle characters. The rest were replaceable at a moments notice. IIRC, all of them, except Scotty, were replaced in episodes when the actors were unavailable. Which is also a comment on it's alleged diversity. All the minority characters ( be they gender, race or ethnic based) were pretty much background characters. Trek did on better the minority front with casting for guest roles

 

[Gassy Man]

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

In effect, it did. Consider how prior to Chekov's appearance, we essentially had the non-speaking white guy navigator of the week. Afterward, the now-named character had to be worked into episodes, with speaking parts and plot points. Now, imagine if it was Sulu who knew Irina in "The Way to Eden" or Uhura who thought her brother had been killed by Klingons in "The Day of the Dove." It would have been Sulu who was immune to the disease in "The Deadly Years" and aboard the Reliant in TWOK, and so on. They would have had expanded roles and more screen and speaking time.

Star Trek basically had four white guys as the principal characters -- five if you count Nimoy as a white guy in makeup. Adding Riley would just have allowed them to minimize the racial or ethnic minorities even more. For a show that rode the diversity bandwagon for many years, it would have been a step backwards -- worse if they would decide to add Chekov anyway.

Each episode was different. The navigator could be non speaking or as Riley was, a guest star with a meaty role. Chekov's lines would probably go to a one off character rather than Sulu or Uhura. His part in "The Way to Eden" was originally intended for Kirk. Some of his lines were written for Sulu, but went to Chekov because Takei was unavailable I doubt Uhura would ever be given that line from "Day of the Dove".

Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the principle characters. The rest were replaceable at a moments notice. IIRC, all of them, except Scotty, were replaced in episodes when the actors were unavailable. Which is also a comment on it's alleged diversity. All the minority characters ( be they gender, race or ethnic based) were pretty much background characters. Trek did on better the minority front with casting for guest roles

Maybe, maybe not. But given the penchant for aiming pretty much everything on TV, then and now, at a young white male audience, chances are a white male minor character would still get more attention than the ethnic or racial minorities.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I didn't mind the Riley character at all, but I'm glad they didn't do more with him. Given how much Star Trek touts diversity, adding yet another white male character to the mix would likely have resulted in even less for Sulu and Uhura, who one could argue were already very limited by comparison.

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

Sulu's did, but it wasn't because of Chekov, it was because he was working in a John Wayne movie.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Nothing against Walter, but I wish they'd never inwented Mr. Chekov at all. Star Trek movies would never have suffered Chekov's campy accent, to say nothing of the obvious difficulty that WK had in delivering a genuine, believable performance while doing the accent. It must have been like flying a plane and taking a dog's temperature at the same time for him, because neither thing came out well.

With no Chekov, Walter would have surely found other work in roles he was better suited to, never gotten type-cast, and maybe even become a star.

But rather than make Riley a regular, which I would have supported at the time, I now think ST needed another woman in the cast, provided she could have been written with our modern take on the fully-actualized, competent modern female character who gets a fair shake. You don't see that in TOS except for a few aliens like the Romulan commander, and we only see her on the day she makes the biggest fool of herself in the history of the Empire, mooning over an exotic man.

Dr. Dehner in "Where No Man" and Dr. Noel in "Dagger" are the show's best models for what a strong woman in Kirk's crew could have been like. Give us that instead of Chekov and the cast would be better balanced.

 

[Marsden]

I didn't mind the Riley character at all, but I'm glad they didn't do more with him. Given how much Star Trek touts diversity, adding yet another white male character to the mix would likely have resulted in even less for Sulu and Uhura, who one could argue were already very limited by comparison.

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

In effect, it did. Consider how prior to Chekov's appearance, we essentially had the non-speaking white guy navigator of the week. Afterward, the now-named character had to be worked into episodes, with speaking parts and plot points. Now, imagine if it was Sulu who knew Irina in "The Way to Eden" or Uhura who thought her brother had been killed by Klingons in "The Day of the Dove." It would have been Sulu who was immune to the disease in "The Deadly Years" and aboard the Reliant in TWOK, and so on. They would have had expanded roles and more screen and speaking time.

Star Trek basically had four white guys as the principal characters -- five if you count Nimoy as a white guy in makeup. Adding Riley would just have allowed them to minimize the racial or ethnic minorities even more. For a show that rode the diversity bandwagon for many years, it would have been a step backwards -- worse if they would decide to add Chekov anyway.

What does this have to do with the thread topic?
(Just asking, I am not trying to be thread police.)

I liked Riley and it would have been nice to have him show up one or two more times, but too much would have distracted from rather than add to the whole. I liked that there were Riley type characters, like Kelowitz and DeSalle and of course Leslie. But I wouldn't ever want them to be "main" charaters, there are supposed to be over 400 personel on the ship.

 

[urbandefault]

I think they might have used Riley more, but with the popularity of The Monkees and specifically Davy Jones, they went a different direction. The two might not be at all connected, just a coincidence. But that's how it worked out.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Nothing against Walter, but I wish they'd never inwented Mr. Chekov at all. Star Trek movies would never have suffered Chekov's campy accent, to say nothing of the obvious difficulty that WK had in delivering a genuine, believable performance while doing the accent. It must have been like flying a plane and taking a dog's temperature at the same time for him, because neither thing came out well.

With no Chekov, Walter would have surely found other work in roles he was better suited to, never gotten type-cast, and maybe even become a star.

But rather than make Riley a regular, which I would have supported at the time, I now think ST needed another woman in the cast, provided she could have been written with our modern take on the fully-actualized, competent modern female character who gets a fair shake. You don't see that in TOS except for a few aliens like the Romulan commander, and we only see her on the day she makes the biggest fool of herself in the history of the Empire, mooning over an exotic man.

Dr. Dehner in "Where No Man" and Dr. Noel in "Dagger" are the show's best models for what a strong woman in Kirk's crew could have been like. Give us that instead of Chekov and the cast would be better balanced.

Agreed. I think the NuPavel Chekov did a much better job with his Russian accent than Walter. Sorry about that, Walter!

 

[Warped9]

Nothing against Walter, but I wish they'd never inwented Mr. Chekov at all. Star Trek movies would never have suffered Chekov's campy accent, to say nothing of the obvious difficulty that WK had in delivering a genuine, believable performance while doing the accent. It must have been like flying a plane and taking a dog's temperature at the same time for him, because neither thing came out well.

With no Chekov, Walter would have surely found other work in roles he was better suited to, never gotten type-cast, and maybe even become a star.

But rather than make Riley a regular, which I would have supported at the time, I now think ST needed another woman in the cast, provided she could have been written with our modern take on the fully-actualized, competent modern female character who gets a fair shake. You don't see that in TOS except for a few aliens like the Romulan commander, and we only see her on the day she makes the biggest fool of herself in the history of the Empire, mooning over an exotic man.

Dr. Dehner in "Where No Man" and Dr. Noel in "Dagger" are the show's best models for what a strong woman in Kirk's crew could have been like. Give us that instead of Chekov and the cast would be better balanced.

This. Sulu and Uhura were not cliches, but Chekov could be considered one. If you have to have a Russian then how Susan Ivanova was portrayed in Babylon 5 was much better and more credible.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Bruce Hyde's page at the St. Cloud State University web page.

[URL]http://www.stcloudstate.edu/theatrefilmdance/theatre/facstaff/brucehyde.asp[/url]

 

[Nerys Myk]

Nothing against Walter, but I wish they'd never inwented Mr. Chekov at all. Star Trek movies would never have suffered Chekov's campy accent, to say nothing of the obvious difficulty that WK had in delivering a genuine, believable performance while doing the accent. It must have been like flying a plane and taking a dog's temperature at the same time for him, because neither thing came out well.

With no Chekov, Walter would have surely found other work in roles he was better suited to, never gotten type-cast, and maybe even become a star.

But rather than make Riley a regular, which I would have supported at the time, I now think ST needed another woman in the cast, provided she could have been written with our modern take on the fully-actualized, competent modern female character who gets a fair shake. You don't see that in TOS except for a few aliens like the Romulan commander, and we only see her on the day she makes the biggest fool of herself in the history of the Empire, mooning over an exotic man.

Dr. Dehner in "Where No Man" and Dr. Noel in "Dagger" are the show's best models for what a strong woman in Kirk's crew could have been like. Give us that instead of Chekov and the cast would be better balanced.

This. Sulu and Uhura were not cliches, but Chekov could be considered one. If you have to have a Russian then how Susan Ivanova was portrayed in Babylon 5 was much better and more credible.

Not sure how Chekov was a Russian cliche. Dark, brooding, morose and melancholy are some of the cliche Russian tropes. Authoritarian is another. Chekov was none of those. He was eager, enthusiastic and a little naive. None of which says RUSSIAN!

I could never get past Claudia Christian'a horrible acting and JMS's weak dialog to ever see any credibility in the Ivanova character.

 

[Gassy Man]

Isn't Chekov a white male character? Not sure if Sulu or Uhura's roles lessened even after Chekov was added.

In effect, it did. Consider how prior to Chekov's appearance, we essentially had the non-speaking white guy navigator of the week. Afterward, the now-named character had to be worked into episodes, with speaking parts and plot points. Now, imagine if it was Sulu who knew Irina in "The Way to Eden" or Uhura who thought her brother had been killed by Klingons in "The Day of the Dove." It would have been Sulu who was immune to the disease in "The Deadly Years" and aboard the Reliant in TWOK, and so on. They would have had expanded roles and more screen and speaking time.

Star Trek basically had four white guys as the principal characters -- five if you count Nimoy as a white guy in makeup. Adding Riley would just have allowed them to minimize the racial or ethnic minorities even more. For a show that rode the diversity bandwagon for many years, it would have been a step backwards -- worse if they would decide to add Chekov anyway.

What does this have to do with the thread topic?
(Just asking, I am not trying to be thread police.)

I liked Riley and it would have been nice to have him show up one or two more times, but too much would have distracted from rather than add to the whole. I liked that there were Riley type characters, like Kelowitz and DeSalle and of course Leslie. But I wouldn't ever want them to be "main" charaters, there are supposed to be over 400 personel on the ship.

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