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Spoilers Strange New Worlds General Discussion Thread

Is M'Benga going to be CMO? Because it'll be really, really strange that he gets demoted by the time of TOS. Or will the CMO be some eternally unseen character like Discovery's was? (I thought it was Dr. Pollard but she was lower ranked than Culber, so...) Strange that there was no casting announcement for Boyce or Piper.
I think he later transfers to Vulcan, only to come back later on in Kirk’s era.
Boyce may still be CMO
 
M'Benga is obviously the CMO; they're completely aping TOS (and TNG, VGR, and ENT) with their cast and format where every main character is either a bridge officer or in an important job somewhere else on the ship.

I went back and found the casting call character descriptions for the series that The Illuminerdi posted back in November of last year, and aside from the author being a bit dumb, their article completely telegraphed 2/3 of this group of characters.
 
Then why make him M'Benga?

Why not?

It's splitting hairs pretty fine, BTW, for some folks to call Uhura and Chapel "small world casting." The notion that people we've seen serving on Enterprise before might have been posted there longer than fans assumed is not a hard or implausible concept.

And sure, if you can engage the fan base in the show's launch by offering them a few supporting characters they already know and are invested in, why not? It might cut down on a bit of pilot-itis, offloading a little of the "here's who I am and what I'm like" character monologues.

I like the casting for Uhura a lot.

Noonien-Singh is the only character who's a little out of left field, IMO. But the actor playing La'an does look like she could be related to Cumberbatch, so...good.
 
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You know, having an African actor playing an apparently African character is quite the innovation for Trek.
In TOS, they cast a guy in his 20s who was still being cast as a teenager on other shows, and cited his internship as his credentials. Making him somebody who should be a grizzled old veteran space doctor by the time he shows up on TOS is pretty much taking away what little distinguishing characteristics that the original character had, and they sure as hell wouldn't still be citing his internship that late in his career...especially in the case at hand, where the character in question presumably has first-hand experience tending to Spock specifically. At this point, what's lost by giving the character a new name? I'd hope that there's room in Starfleet for more than one doctor of African origin.
 
After watching the panel on Star Trek Day, I am more excited for Strange New Worlds. I am just excited to see a reimagined TOS enterprise and so many TOS characters. And I like that the show will be more episodic with a message. I like that the exec producer seems to want to be respectful of TOS. I really hope it is good. It seems like the show could be modern TOS.
 
In TOS, they cast a guy in his 20s who was still being cast as a teenager on other shows, and cited his internship as his credentials. Making him somebody who should be a grizzled old veteran space doctor by the time he shows up on TOS is pretty much taking away what little distinguishing characteristics that the original character had...

I've seen that episode dozens of times, and the only part of that I remembered was that he's an expert in Vulcan physiology.

Because that was the only distinguishing characteristic established that mattered to the story.

Also...why not?

Looking at the video again (and again and again and again...) I'm thrilled about the casting and really quite intrigued by Noonien-Singh.

I'd hope that there's room in Starfleet for more than one doctor of African origin.

I'd have hoped they'd have gotten around to more international casting on Trek three decades ago. Live in hope...
 
I'm really curious how/why someone with the last name Noonian-Singh is serving on the ship.

I guess it's just a distant descendent of Khan? In that case I'm not sure why it would be a big deal, TBH.
 
Is M'Benga going to be CMO?
Probably. At they very least, he will be the go to character for all medical matters in the show, so they might as well make him the CMO. Avoid the silliness of Disco where they established Culber wasn't the CMO, only to have him be the medical authority anyway to the point that when he died Pollard had to consult with Saru on medical matters, despite Saru having no background in medicine and when he was resurrected he handled medical matters anyway, even before he was reinstated as a medical officer.
 
Probably. At they very least, he will be the go to character for all medical matters in the show, so they might as well make him the CMO. Avoid the silliness of Disco where they established Culber wasn't the CMO, only to have him be the medical authority anyway to the point that when he died Pollard had to consult with Saru on medical matters, despite Saru having no background in medicine and when he was resurrected he handled medical matters anyway, even before he was reinstated as a medical officer.

Well, silliness was the unbreakable rule aboard NCC-1031, under the command of the very same man who here commands NCC-1701. We lose all consistency if Chris Pike suddenly starts caring about chains of command and functional hierarchies and proper allocation of resources!

Heck, the man never even had the guts (or brains) to declare himself the go-to man in command matters, the CO of the ship. Instead, he muttered something about shared custody and smiled.

Perhaps that's his story arc? From hardass competent skipper in SNW to an uncaring bystander in DSC to a fatalist loser in TOS?

Timo Saloniemi
 
If he realizes that his destiny is set in stone he may be more relaxed and know that no matter what he does he can't escape what's in store for him in terms of being an invalid. He might fully embrace being warm and human knowing every day until the accident is precious and if that makes him seem fatalistic then in his mind so be it, so long as his actions don't endanger his crew and those he loves.
 
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