Titan's crew diversity

[JD]

I just want to start off by saying that Titan's diversity is one of my favorite series, I just love all of the different cool aliens.

Now I know we have kind of moved on past this, but on the whole quarters thing, I would think that if something did happen to someone who needs special quarters that they could simply find someone from the same species or one with similar needs to fill them out. Now, I don't know if that is how things would work, but I would think it would be a quick, easy solution (well depending on how complicated transfers are).

 

[Christopher]

Exactly, which is why I don't quite why it is such a big deal for the Titan books to be doing this.

Diane Duane was showing us a diverse Enterprise crew 25 years ago in her books (i.e. The Wounded Sky). And she did it with a lot more grace and subtlety than the current books, and with a lot less self-congratulatory BS (oooh look at us, we're being diverse!).

But that's the point. None of those things get mentioned because it's just the way Starfleet does things and it'd already been worked out. Not worth getting into. And at the point those books were published, we really hadn't seen enough of Starfleet to know really how diverse it was or wasn't. Not a lot of non-humns in TOS, presumably due to budget reasons, but TMP showed the Enterprise with a pretty diverse crew. I think Duane took her cue from TMP, and just assumed (as many of us did at the time) that the alien crew-folk had been there someplace all along and the tee-vee guys just didn't have the money to show us.

Sure, and we'd be happy to do it that way if we were free to ignore canon. But we're not. Like it or not, aside from TMP and the Federation Council Chamber in TVH, Starfleet has been portrayed onscreen as overwhelmingly human. Look at any typical crowd of crewmembers in a Voyager episode and you'll see hardly any nonhumans besides the regular cast. Out of all the established crewmembers, there were three Vulcans, two Bolians, three Bajorans (not counting Seska), two Betazoids, one half-Klingon, one Talaxian, one Ocampa, and the various Borg children. Leaving out Maquis, and adding on Stadi and the Vulcan medical officer killed in "Caretaker," that's maybe seven known nonhumans out of a crew of 150, and dozens upon dozens of humans. There is no denying that the canonical Starfleet of the 24th century is profoundly human-dominated.

And that's the reality we have to deal with in the books. We can't just throw a ton of aliens together and treat it as a routine situation, no matter how much we'd like to. Canon compels us to treat it as a change from the routine.

But it's a change that's been in effect for over a year of story time now, so it's not like every single book in the series will continue to dwell on it. I'd like to think that by the time of Over a Torrent Sea, it's accepted as just the way things are. Naturally there were some growing pains in the early books, but there's no reason to assume that's not going to change over time.

 

[Sci]

There is no denying that the canonical Starfleet of the 24th century is profoundly human-dominated.

Well, it would probably be more accurate to say that the Starfleet crews depicted in the canon have been profoundly Human-dominated. It's entirely possible that Starfleet divides its crews into different species-dominated ships and bases and that the Enterprise, Voyager, and DS9 happened to be Human dominated. But if we were to see the crew of the USS Kumari or the USS Soval or Starbase 567, we might see an Andorian-dominated, or Trill-dominated, or Vulcan-dominated crew.

But, yes, clearly the canonical Starfleet practices species segregation, whether it's intentional or not.

 

[Christopher]

But, yes, clearly the canonical Starfleet practices species segregation, whether it's intentional or not.

And that's what the Luna Class mission planners are trying to remedy.

 

[Andy Mangels]

I remain confused BY those confused about the diversity on Titan.

Certainly as we were writing the first three books (Mike, Christopher, and I), the point that one of the main purposes of the ship was to have as diverse a crew as Starfleet had ever had on a ship, was predominant. It's there in the plotting, it's there in the scenes, it's there in the dialogue. It's even there in the ship's motto. Complaining that Titan is "too diverse" is like complaining that tomato sauce is "too tomato-like."

Which brings me to my next point. Any author (or screenwriter) who writes a future in which everybody gets along beautifully, all is copacetic, nobody has conflicts except the enemy, every element of diversity is homogenized, nobody has "special needs"... that's pure feldercarb.

Distilling it down: I go to a monthly potluck of like-minded gay guys, many of whom have been friends or colleagues for a decade or two. We're all there for two purposes: camaraderie and food. Does that mean that we all get along beautifully all the time? Does that mean we eat all the same food? I have dietary restrictions against peppers. Somebody else is deathly allergic to walnuts. We have some people who are robust and super-healthy, and some aging attendees whose health is failing. Provisions are made for health issues, for newcomers, for the super social, for the less social, for moods, for all sorts of things.

That potluck is not unlike what I imagine a starship should be like (or a productive group or society of any size). People joining together for a common purpose and finding ways to make it happen (except in the Federation's case, you have the added element of military and scientific training aiding those goals - and on a starship you have added command structure).

So when I write a Federation ship, I ask myself: Why should every humanoid be white and Judeo-Christian and American/Upper European? Why should a ship have only bipedal humanoids? Why should everyone get along all the time without conflict?

Homogenization is NOT perfection; it's the eradication of differences. There are those who want everyone to look alike, think alike, act alike... be a Master Race.

Acceptance and embracing of diversity is much closer to perfection. To understand that sentient beings do NOT look alike, think alike, act alike... that is both a HOPEFUL approach and a wellspring for a writer.

This probably has rambled for a bit (I'm hungry and dinner is calling), but hopefully some of the points are understood.

[And I fully appreciate those who do get a bit overwhelmed by all the characters in Titan. We had many discussions about putting a Dramatis Personae in each book; I was 500% in favor of it, but not everyone was. And I wish that we could get a Titan comic going so people got to see what everybody was like. I think either a DramPers and/or a comic would get everyone over the hurdle.]

 

[Christopher]

[And I fully appreciate those who do get a bit overwhelmed by all the characters in Titan. We had many discussions about putting a Dramatis Personae in each book; I was 500% in favor of it, but not everyone was. And I wish that we could get a Titan comic going so people got to see what everybody was like. I think either a DramPers and/or a comic would get everyone over the hurdle.]

There is a crew roster at the end of Over a Torrent Sea -- not the whole crew, but everyone who has a speaking role in the novel. It's in essentially the same format as the Destiny crew rosters.

And I would love to do a TTN comic.

 

[Nardpuncher]

My idea as to why the issue of the diversity may cause some people to make a point of it is this:
When someone reads a novel, there's an intimate bond between the author and the reader. the story must come alive in their minds according to the words used by the author. When we read, we are the only one reading the book at that time, unlike a movie where many people may be watching with you though of course other people around the world may be reading the same book) so we really feel like it's us and the author alone around the fire.
If the book comes across as 'preachy' to use a rather obtuse word, a reader may subconsciously feel as though they themselves are seen as needing instruction or guidance directlt from the author and this may make them respond negatively.
A part that may seem preachy may be when one of the characters is told by Riker that he is being insensitive to another crewmember's situation. I can't really remember as I've only read the first book when it came out. Some readers may interpret that and say " Hey! the author better not be telling me I'm like that!"
Of course novels should make people challenge the ways they think, but that's just my idea on why this idea about the Titan crew comes up from time to time.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Wow...I guess I tied all that up in a nice, tidy little package!

 

[Geoff Thorne]

personally, it's the diversity that makes the TITAN crew my favorite so far.

There is nothing more inspiring than reading works that are INTENDED to push the edges of something I find familiar and which I love and then being allowed to help push.

For me, by the time I was allowed to drive, I felt the whole "we're so diverse" thing (which had been extremely mild to begin with from my POV) was done. The ship was the ship, the crew was the crew and, barring accident, they were settling in.

I consider the first three books really as the first TWO because of the larger-than-normal tale told by M & M. That was the set-up and, by definition, had to establish the rules of the game. CLB's mission was the first one in truly untravelled space and, therefore, the first one in which the ground rules would be tested vis a vis the diversity experiment.

People have said that mine was the first book where the diversity thing wasn't mentioned so much which makes me smile for three reasons. One, there was no need anymore to make that statement "verbally" and two, I was dropping in new species every chance I got. I would have had a medusan chef if I'd thought of it. Why not? His name could have been Albert.

Three, whoever wrote that book would likely have had a more relaxed attitude about the diversity aspect because it had been described so well earlier. By the time I got there it was just another toy to play with.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I thought I said I tied this topic all up two weeks ago!

 

[DimesDan]

I thought I said I tied this topic all up two weeks ago!

And? Your point is what exactly?

 

[Nardpuncher]

I thought I said I tied this topic all up two weeks ago!

And? Your point is what exactly?

If you check the dates on this thread....things were going fast for a couple of days...then I posted two weeks ago. Then the post from redjack came in.

 

[DimesDan]

I thought I said I tied this topic all up two weeks ago!

And? Your point is what exactly?

If you check the dates on this thread....things were going fast for a couple of days...then I posted two weeks ago. Then the post from redjack came in.

Yes I did notice and because Geoff hasn't been on here in a while and he wrote Sword of Damocles which is the forth book in the Titan range, he has every right, same as anyone else to through his opinion in, so, again, I ask, what was your point exactly?

 

[Defcon]

I think it's pretty obvious that Nardpuncher was just kidding around, so just relax.

 

[Nardpuncher]

And? Your point is what exactly?

If you check the dates on this thread....things were going fast for a couple of days...then I posted two weeks ago. Then the post from redjack came in.

Yes I did notice and because Geoff hasn't been on here in a while and he wrote Sword of Damocles which is the forth book in the Titan range, he has every right, same as anyone else to through his opinion in, so, again, I ask, what was your point exactly?

Yeah, just read my posts again...then I'll ask you the same thing you asked me.

 

[LightningStorm]

I think it's pretty obvious that Nardpuncher was just kidding around, so just relax.

QFT. Even if Nardpuncher wasn't kidding around, let's all relax anyway.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

That's me. Just the lil old apple of discord.

 

[SiddFinch1]

As others have said and said well, the on screen diversity has been limited by budget etc. I enjoy the fact that the novels can and do expand the diversity of the crews shown. I enjoy Titan and the way it shows the added difficulty of trying to have a more diverse crew in terms of environment, not just bipeds with different ears, foreheads and beliefs.

Now and then I do need a cheat sheet to remind myself of who is who and what species, but thats okay.

Besides, half the aliens look exactly like humans anyway

 

[chris32482]

Well, when I started this thread I had only read Taking Wing. Now, having just finished Sword of Damocles today, I can say that the diversity thing really didn't bother me at all after the first book. I guess I was just, well, overwhelmed, at first because I had never saw a Trek show or read a Trek book where the crew wasn't 100% humanoid. Then here was Titan with all these exotic aliens, and it just caught me off guard.

Also, many of the questions I brought up about the practicality of having such a diverse crew were actually addressed in the books, so that made it a lot more... I don't know.. believable, I guess --to know that the characters were aware of the same questions and were trying to work them out themselves.

Anyway, I love the Titan series. All 4 books were great, IMO. I'm looking forward to Destiny (gotta catch up on the TNG side of things first though).

 

[Christopher]

I guess I was just, well, overwhelmed, at first because I had never saw a Trek show or read a Trek book where the crew wasn't 100% humanoid.

You've never seen the animated series with Lt. Arex? Or read New Frontier or SCE or a Diane Duane or Vonda McIntyre novel?