Uhura trailer released

[Pauln6]

Actually, Takei's problem with Sulu being gay in Beyond was that he has always viewed Sulu as a straight person, a fact he has stated in interviews since publicly coming out. Takei felt that by making Sulu gay, they were ignoring his intentions and wishes.

Sulu wasn't gay. NuSulu may have been gay. At most, Sulu prime was bi.

The debate about Gooding's Uhura is similarly being levelled at younger Galadriel. I have been very critical of NuKirk's portrayal until Beyond, despite him being on a story arc, although that's partly because the other characters seemed to be enabling and endorsing highly questionable behaviour. Gooding's Uhura seems very well pitched to me.

 

[Pauln6]

As an aside, just reading Higher Frontier and SNW decision to make Uhura an orphan has overwritten a lot of novelverse stories about her mother...

 

[The Wormhole]

As an aside, just reading Higher Frontier and SNW decision to make Uhura an orphan has overwritten a lot of novelverse stories about her mother...

That the same novelverse that declared an alternate timeline which was subsequently devoured by temporal aliens before having its existence negated to prevent said aliens from getting too powerful?

 

[Pauln6]

That the same novelverse that declared an alternate timeline which was subsequently devoured by temporal aliens before having its existence negated to prevent said aliens from getting too powerful?

If only there had been some other way...

 

[Sci]

That the same novelverse that declared an alternate timeline which was subsequently devoured by temporal aliens before having its existence negated to prevent said aliens from getting too powerful?

Well, the First Splinter Timeline was established to only have branched from the Prime Timeline in 2373, so in theory TOS novels like The Higher Frontier weren't part of that and could still be seen as part of the Prime Timeline if they don't contradict new canonical installments. But of course SNW "Children of the Comet" contradicted parts of The Higher Frontier.

 

[Nyotarules]

Well, the First Splinter Timeline was established to only have branched from the Prime Timeline in 2373, so in theory TOS novels like The Higher Frontier weren't part of that and could still be seen as part of the Prime Timeline if they don't contradict new canonical installments. But of course SNW "Children of the Comet" contradicted parts of The Higher Frontier.

Not to start another canon debate but what is in the novels does not have to be reflected by the creators on the small or large screen. Although its a nice touch if they do. (e.g the First names of Trek characters)

 

[Sci]

Not to start another canon debate but what is in the novels does not have to be reflected by the creators on the small or large screen. Although its a nice touch if they do. (e.g the First names of Trek characters)

Oh of course. That's what I meant by "could still be seen as part of the Prime Timeline if they don't contradict new canonical installments."

 

[Pauln6]

Not to start another canon debate but what is in the novels does not have to be reflected by the creators on the small or large screen. Although its a nice touch if they do. (e.g the First names of Trek characters)

I've always been ambivalent. If given a choice, given how well they have done so far, I'm very glad they decided to flesh out Uhura. Certainly, there was a lot more controversy over the departure from the Star Wars novelverse. Marvel probably had the right idea by formally adopting past versions of movies officially as part of the multiverse.

Even in Living Memory, Christopher L Bennett acknowledges that Uhura's father was discovered alive in another novel, which he ignored when writing his own version. If anything, it's more of an issue that so few characters in their twenties and thirties have two living parents!

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, Malcolm Reed, Hoshi Sato and Spock seem to be three of the few lead characters in the franchise who do still have two living parents when the characters are even in their twenties.

 

[Nyotarules]

Yeah, Malcolm Reed, Hoshi Sato and Spock seem to be three of the few lead characters in the franchise who do still have two living parents when the characters are even in their twenties.

Maybe Starfleet attracts humans with tragic pasts? Trek characters only have relatives when the plot demands it, they all come across as orphaned adult only children who cannot maintain a long term relationship apart from Captain Sisko and Spock.

 

[cooleddie74]

Harry Mudd went deeper and deeper into space the more he thought about his ex-wife Stella so...I can see actual professional types also finding deep space a haven for their damaged lives.

 

[Pauln6]

Harry Mudd went deeper and deeper into space the more he thought about his ex-wife Stella so...I can see actual professional types also finding deep space a haven for their damaged lives.

Ah. So to get a promotion, Harry Kim just needed his dad to die in a tragic replicator accident?

 

[Blue Squadron]

I think that there is, broadly-speaking, a reasonable argument to be made that characters who belong to communities that have historically been marginalized in real life ought not to be played by actors who are from communities that have not historically been marginalized along that same axis. Thus, for instance, there is a reasonable argument to be made that a character who is a gay man ought not to be played by an actor who is a straight man, or that a cisgender woman should not play a trans woman, or that characters of color should not be played by white actors when the source material is adapted or rebooted.

But that doesn't apply in this instance; nothing has ever canonically established whether Uhura is queer or not, and Gooding identifies as queer rather than as straight or cisgender -- so there's no reason she shouldn't be able to play Uhura.

I do understand the intent but that feels like the beginning of a slippery slope and ultimately counterproductive. I honestly think we should be looking to avoid restrictive casting of any shape or form. I would just like to see the best actor for the role.

I fully accept that there will be a wide range of views on this and, to coin a phrase, your mileage may vary...

 

[Sci]

I do understand the intent but that feels like the beginning of a slippery slope and ultimately counterproductive. I honestly think we should be looking to avoid restrictive casting of any shape or form. I would just like to see the best actor for the role.

The problem with that is that it pre-supposes that the system for choosing "the best actor for the role" is itself fair and not affected by systemic bias. And, well, it probably isn't.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

Maybe Starfleet attracts humans with tragic pasts? Trek characters only have relatives when the plot demands it, they all come across as orphaned adult only children who cannot maintain a long term relationship apart from Captain Sisko and Spock.

I've always viewed it as a lazy shortcut to character growth. Like the way men in so many action movies are often motivated by the murder of wife/girlfriend, pregnant wife or girlfriend, or wife and child. It's like men can't be motivated to do good or seek justice unless "this time it's personal!"

 

[Rahul]

Yeah, Uhura (& La'an) being a super gifted orphan(s) is not a canon/continuity problem. It's a lazy stereotype writing problem.

The same way ST09 had to kill Kirk's father & Spock's mother because how else could these characters possibly be interesting otherwise...?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah, Uhura being a super gifted orphan is not a canon/continuity problem. It's a lazy stereotype writing problem.

The same way ST09 had to kill Kirk's father & Spock's mother because how else could these characters possibly be interesting otherwise...?

So, orphans aren't allowed to serve on starships?

Also, these people would not have their positions on the bridge of this kind of starship unless they were super-gifted. There's no complaint warranted about their being super-gifted.

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah, Uhura (& La'an) being a super gifted orphan(s) is not a canon/continuity problem. It's a lazy stereotype writing problem.

The same way ST09 had to kill Kirk's father & Spock's mother because how else could these characters possibly be interesting otherwise...?

What an odd thing to say. Kirk's story was all about him becoming a leader without what made him his Prime counterpart. It's not about interesting but the story the writers wanted to tell.

Same with Uhura.

And Prime Spock continues to be interesting. Guess the writers f-ed up on that one...

 

[Sci]

I think it's not that there was no other way to make Kelvin-Kirk and Kelvin-Spock interesting, but rather that killing Kelvin-George Kirk and Kelvin-Amanda Grayson were the most viscerally powerful and economical ways of putting Kelvin-Kirk and Kelvin-Spock through the emotional wringers for the purposes of an action movie.

Also, I think dead parents or dead close family members has always been a trope in Star Trek. Think about it. We have:

• Kirk: dead brother ("Operation--Annihilate!")
  • Kelvin Kirk: dead father (Star Trek 2009)
• Spock: dead father ("Unification I")
  • Kelvin Spock: dead mother (Star Trek 2009), dead alternate future mentor ersatz father self (Sar Trek Beyond)
• Bones: dead father (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
• Chapel: dead fiance ("What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
• Picard: dead parents ("Family"), dead brother and nephew (Star Trek: Generations), dead ersatz son (Star Trek: Nemesis),
  Spoiler: PIC

  and now more specifics on the dead mother ("Hide and Seek")
• Riker: dead mother ("The Icarus Factor," "Time Squared," "Interface")
• Worf: dead parents ("Sins of the Father," et al), dead partner ("Reunion"), dead wife ("Tears of the Prophets")
• LaForge: dead mother ("Interface")
• Crusher: dead parents ("Sub Rosa"), dead grandmother/ersatz mother ("Sub Rosa"), dead husband ("Encounter at Farpoint")
• Wesley: dead father ("Encounter at Farpoint")
• Troi: dead father ("Manhunt," "Half a Life"), dead sister ("Dark Page"), kind-of dead energy alien son ("The Child")
• Yar: dead parents ("Legacy")
• Data: dead father ("Datalore," "Brothers")
• Sisko: dead mother ("Explorers," "Homefront," "Image in the Sand"), secret dead mother ("Image in the Sand"), dead wife ("Emissary, Part I")
• Jake: dead mother ("Emissary, Part I"), dead grandmother ("Explorers," "Homefront," "Image in the Sand")
• Kira: dead father ("Second Skin," "Ties of Blood and Water"), dead mother ("Second Skin," "Ties of Blood and Water," "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night")
• O'Brien: dead mother ("Invasive Procedures," "Whispers")
• Quark and Rom: dead father ("Family Business")
• Nog: dead mother Edited to add: Mistake! Meant to delete Nog here but forgot. End edit.
• Garak: dead father ("In Purgatory's Shadow"), seemingly dead mother ("The Dogs of War")
• Janeway: dead father ("Coda")
• Chakotay: dead father ("Tattoo")
• Torres: dead mother ("Barge of the Dead")
• Kes: dead father ("Dreadnaught," "Resolutions")
• Neelix: dead father, mother, sister, and sisters and brothers ("Jetrel")
• Seven of Nine: assimilated (functionally dead) parents ("The Raven," "Dark Frontier")
• Archer: dead father ("Broken Bow")
• T'Pol: dead father ("Home"), dead mother ("Awakening")
• Tucker: dead sister ("The Expanse")
• Mayweather: dead father ("Horizon")
• Burnham: dead father ("The Vulcan Hello") and seemingly dead mother ("The Vulcan Hello")
  
• Saru: dead mother and father ("The Sound of Thunder")
• Stamets: seemingly dead husband ("Despite Yourself")
• Tyler: dead mother and father ("Lethe")
• Booker: dead father ("The Sanctuary")
• Adira: dead parents, seemingly dead partner ("Forget Me Not")
• Soji: dead father, dead sister ("Remembrance")
• Elnor: dead parents ("Absolute Candor")
• Laris: dead partner ("The Star Gazer")
• Rios: dead mother ("Broken Pieces")
• Narek and Narissa: dead parents, functionally dead aunt ("Broken Pieces," "Absolute Candor," "The End is the Beginning")
• Adam: dead father ("Et in Arcadia Ego, Part I")
• La'an: dead family ("Strange New Worlds," "Momento Mori")
• Uhura: dead mother, father, and brother ("Children of the Comet")
• M'Benga:
  Spoiler: SNW S1

  implied dead partner ("The Elysian Kingdom"), kind-of dead energy alien daughter ("The Elysian Kingdom")

 

[Tuskin38]

Nog: dead mother

Nog's mother was never said to be dead. According to the DS9 Companion she was written to appear in Season 6 but was cut.