The Federation becoming so human-centric

[Nyotarules]

I see your point. Personally, I always thought that the novel's retcon raised more problems than it was worth (for example, the novel's changed the date of Trip's death, which I found hard to understand why the family wouldn't correct that). Also, I thought the novels would've been more interesting if they had followed the TV show and shown the effects of the canon version of 2161 and how that would've played out. It also takes me out of the novels a bit, since the "discrepancy" makes the books feel like a "what if?," not a continuation of the TV show. On top of that, having Trip being super spy is not an enjoyable turn of events for me. I'd rather've seen him at his post during the Romulan War books, like he would've been in canon.

On the other hand, if they wanted to do something like this, the non-canon books would be the place to do it. Suffice to say, I don't feel that the novels have benefitted from having Trip alive and I don't like what they've done with the character since, so I feel contradicting the TV show despite staying within the letter of it wasn't worth it. Your mileage may vary.

The tv episode TATV shows the Enterprise run by a bunch of incompetents who after ten years of service including its first interstellar war not one of the major cast gets a promotion. Plus the Enterprise cannot out run a small private ship after all these years? And you mean to tell me there were no MACOS around when the ship was boarded, only Trip could take them on?

Someone needed to correct those travesties. They insulted the viewers' intelligence.

 

[Tenacity]

not one of the major cast gets a promotion

They serve in Starfleet to improve Humanity, not to obtain personal advancement.

including its first interstellar war

You must be confused, Starfleet after all isn't a military.

 

[Ithekro]

I am fairly certain there have been interstellar wars before. They even managed to stop on between the Vulcans and Andorians,and prevent one form escalated between the Humans and Xendi.

If Enterprise did not get her refit, or if she did and they somehow lost the new secondary hull at some point during the war, than she would still have the old Warp Five engine from when she was launched. Meaning she's be doing Warp 4.5 as her usual top speed, with Warp 5 as pushing it, and if the engine is old and waorn out, she might not be able to keep her warp 5 speeds. Especially if she had been the backup engine for the proposed Drexler refit, and that was lost during the last stages of the war. As for promotions, there needs to be a position to fill before one is promoted into it. If there are no billings to fill, there are no upward promotions.

 

[Nyotarules]

They serve in Starfleet to improve Humanity, not to obtain personal advancement.
You must be confused, Starfleet after all isn't a military.

LOL I note the sarcasm.

But we can see in the 22nd century the humans were more like us and less like 'righteous' TNG Picard.

 

[Nyotarules]

I am fairly certain there have been interstellar wars before. They even managed to stop on between the Vulcans and Andorians,and prevent one form escalated between the Humans and Xendi.

If Enterprise did not get her refit, or if she did and they somehow lost the new secondary hull at some point during the war, than she would still have the old Warp Five engine from when she was launched. Meaning she's be doing Warp 4.5 as her usual top speed, with Warp 5 as pushing it, and if the engine is old and waorn out, she might not be able to keep her warp 5 speeds. Especially if she had been the backup engine for the proposed Drexler refit, and that was lost during the last stages of the war. As for promotions, there needs to be a position to fill before one is promoted into it. If there are no billings to fill, there are no upward promotions.

I doubt Enterprise was the only earth starship fighting the Romulans during the war, that lasted about 4 years. The other starship captains would have been on their knees begging for the experience of the main bridge crew.
The novels are not canon, and not perfect but they make more sense than that crap episode.

 

[thewanderingjack]

I have often been irked by the human European male-centric nature of Stark Trek. I know the real-wold reasons for it, and I know it has tried to be more progressive (and somewhat succeeded, compared to other contemporary shows). Th one preview clip I have seen of Discovery have me pretty excited, as it seems there's a lot more aliens on the bridge, and more action for the female characters.

 

[Tenacity]

and I know it has tried to be more progressive (and somewhat succeeded, compared to other contemporary shows).

TOS was slightly behind its contemporaries, but still better that some.

From TNG on, Star Trek usually was well behind, you could point to the odd exceptions, but not the main fare of episodes.

By the time DS9 had a black lead, that was old hat. The same with Voyager female lead, other shows had done the same years prior.

2017 and Trek going to only now have it's first (only?) gay main character.

The other starship captains would have been on their knees begging for the experience of the main bridge crew.

Which makes it silly that the crew would still be together on the same ship years later, and all at their previous ranks.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The human-centric Starfleet/UFP we keep seeing in all incarnations of Trek really disappoints me. It should show a far greater representation of other species. I always hold firm to the belief that humans would only make up a small fraction of the overall makeup of both institutions.

 

[thewanderingjack]

Ok, here's a thought I've been having on this: the Star Trek universe is set ~200-400 years in the future... the evident racism, sexism, xenophobia and bigotry isn't that surprising, considering how little headway we've made on that front in the last 400 years. Added to that is the actual level of those things in the writers and the whole industry at show time, so even as they try to write more progressive stuff they are bound by their own (or other's) limitations. It's also that ultimately they are writing about "current" humans in futuristic settings... so as to be relatable I imagine (or from lack of imagination).
When it comes to the in-world separation of races, well, xenophobia and bigotry is not unique to humans (in fact, in-universe it is rampant)... so even as everyone is willing to cooperate, they are less willing to intermingle. So I imagine there's a a lot more Klingon/Vulcan/etc vessels (as in built and crewed by that race) flying under a Starfleet flag on behalf of those worlds, rather than having a lot of mixed crews on human Starfleet ships.
It seems Discovery will have more of a mixed race (and species) and maybe less sexist... it terms of it's place in the timeline that seems funny.
Along the same lines: why does it seem like most humanoid species only have one race? Yes, we finally saw a black Vulcan (haha/btw, shouldn't they all be darker, living on a desert planet with so much solar radiation they need inner eyelids?), and of course there's the albino Andoreans (the Aenar)... but where's the yellow Klingon, or that sort of thing? I do love the Klingon restaurant owner on DS9... he is the most "different" Klingon I can think of, and he's just generally awesome :-D.

 

[Eric Cheung]

There was an albino Klingon, called...The Albino. There was also an Asian Vulcan in Star Trek III. The Romulan Caithlin Dar was also played by a Chinese American named Cynthia Gouw, and the holographic version of T'Pau on VOY was played by a Japanese woman named Betty Matsushita.

But I agree with your sentiment. One thing that's exciting about Discovery is that it seems like it will significantly diversify the Klingon people. Houses will have strong identities, and even just having the look they do be different enough, but still recognizably Klingon will add layers to what is supposed to be an empire.