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Star Trek: First Contact Day (Announcements, Trailers & Panels)

Started by Malcy, April 05, 2021, 09:13:12 PM

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Bad Ambassador

Detmer clearly isn't German. A slightly German-derived name, maybe, but difference in spelling and no indication from dialogue, performance or casting suggest she's another North American. One of the books claims she's from Dusseldorf, but that's just more evidence of generally sloppiness.

Mr Trumpet

I'd say it's less "sloppy" than Geordi being Somali or Harry Kim being Chinese

Blumf

Indians in TOS:

Khan Noonien Singh (played by a Mexican)
Lieutenant Rahda (played by a Jewish American, who also plays a Native American Indian proxy-alien, so all the Indians)
Captain Chandra (played by an actual Indian!!)

You can see what they were aiming for with TOS, having Japanese characters (WW2), Russian (Cold War), and black (US Civil WarCivil Rights Movement), the focus was on showing how we've overcome the divisions people in the 1960s had experienced. I suspect India just wasn't on the cultural radar in the US back then.

I think the criticisms are better applied to TNG era and onwards. Not just with race/ethnic identities, but also things like sexual/gender identity[nb]Noting that mainly, when that happened, it was in the guise of "Woo Lesbian!" titillation[/nb]. Seems like the thought was always there, but never the courage.

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: Mr Trumpet on April 07, 2021, 11:04:58 AM
I'd say it's less "sloppy" than Geordi being Somali or Harry Kim being Chinese

The former coming from a book saying he was born in Somalia, which is different, and the latter being from a conversation with one of the writers, when the actor played him as Korean-American, as I guessed he was.

Quote from: Blumf on April 07, 2021, 11:36:49 AM
Indians in TOS:

Khan Noonien Singh (played by a Mexican)
Lieutenant Rahda (played by a Jewish American, who also plays a Native American Indian proxy-alien, so all the Indians)
Captain Chandra (played by an actual Indian!!)

Captain Vijay Armitraj in The Voyage Home as well.

Wonderful Butternut

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on April 07, 2021, 11:59:45 AM
The former coming from a book saying he was born in Somalia, which is different, and the latter being from a conversation with one of the writers, when the actor played him as Korean-American, as I guessed he was.

Geordi being born in Mogadishu is on his medical file which features on screen (albeit it's difficult to read), so it is technically canon.

crankshaft

Quote from: Mr Trumpet on April 07, 2021, 09:25:14 AM
I can see that people on this forum don't like Discovery (it's fine, you can all be wrong if you like), but the Conn officer with the red hair and the cybernetic implant, Detmer, is meant to be German I believe. The actor isn't though, and she doesn't play her with an accent.

Edit: and the lovely Mr Sahil from the latest series of DSC is I believe the first Indian character, and he does have the accent and everything.

Poor forgotten Engineer Singh from TNG's preposterous "Lonely Among Us".

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: Wonderful Butternut on April 07, 2021, 12:42:37 PM
Geordi being born in Mogadishu is on his medical file which features on screen (albeit it's difficult to read), so it is technically canon.

Added in the remastered version.

Mr Trumpet

Quote from: crankshaft on April 07, 2021, 12:59:38 PM
Poor forgotten Engineer Singh from TNG's preposterous "Lonely Among Us".

Fuck that guy, who cares

George White

Quote from: Blumf on April 07, 2021, 11:36:49 AM
Indians in TOS:

Khan Noonien Singh (played by a Mexican)
Lieutenant Rahda (played by a Jewish American, who also plays a Native American Indian proxy-alien, so all the Indians)
Captain Chandra (played by an actual Indian!!)

You can see what they were aiming for with TOS, having Japanese characters (WW2), Russian (Cold War), and black (US Civil WarCivil Rights Movement), the focus was on showing how we've overcome the divisions people in the 1960s had experienced. I suspect India just wasn't on the cultural radar in the US back then.

I think the criticisms are better applied to TNG era and onwards. Not just with race/ethnic identities, but also things like sexual/gender identity[nb]Noting that mainly, when that happened, it was in the guise of "Woo Lesbian!" titillation[/nb]. Seems like the thought was always there, but never the courage.
Montalban played a ton of native Americans in his career too. Though he was actually first generation Mexican, of Spanish parentage.

Was going to say Engineer Singh too, simply cos the actor who played him Kavi Raz is brilliantly from the West Midlands, though IIRC Solihull rather than say Sparkhill.


crankshaft

Quote from: George White on April 07, 2021, 10:47:33 PM
Was going to say Engineer Singh too, simply cos the actor who played him Kavi Raz is brilliantly from the West Midlands, though IIRC Solihull rather than say Sparkhill.

That's brilliant. He was also not available for a scene they had to reshoot in that episode so they replaced him with, er, a wig on a chair.

mothman

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on April 07, 2021, 10:25:29 AM
Detmer clearly isn't German. A slightly German-derived name, maybe, but difference in spelling and no indication from dialogue, performance or casting suggest she's another North American. One of the books claims she's from Dusseldorf, but that's just more evidence of generally sloppiness.

I know just the Düsseldorf expert to determine the truth.



Also, just to be clear when I said there'd been no south Asian characters, I meant main cast!

George White

RE:main cast, not character ut actor.
Persis khambhatta as Ilia.

Mobbd

Can't really get behind these trailers. More putrid melodrama from Disco, but I don't expect anything else now.

Picard looks like it might have some potential, but we can't trust them! Been here so many times now. Fan service in the trailer, dog shit in the actual show. I strongly suspect Wonderful Butternut has nailed it:

Quote from: Wonderful Butternut on April 06, 2021, 01:05:24 PM
Lingering shot of the Stargazer model, Picard talking about time and the second chances, and Q, I wonder will he be given the opportunity to change something in the past again, like in 'Tapestry'. Probably something that's meant to be really important but has never been mentioned before...

Mobbd

Quote from: George White on April 07, 2021, 10:47:33 PM
Was going to say Engineer Singh too, simply cos the actor who played him Kavi Raz is brilliantly from the West Midlands, though IIRC Solihull rather than say Sparkhill.

Amazing! Superb fact!

When P-Stew was on The Kumars, they gave him some lighthearted shit about there being no Indians in Star Trek. He defended the canon by mentioning Chief Engineer Singh. (Obviously scripted as there's no way P-Stew would remember that. And Singh's was not exactly a substantial role. But it made me larf that he was brought up.)

Mobbd

I went to YouTube to check that I wasn't making shit up about The Kumars, what with it being 20 years ago or whatever. Sure enough, P-Stew brings up Singh but then explains that our boy from the Midlands wasn't a very good actor and in fact they took some reshoots in which Singh was "played" by a wig on a chair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJ_zn2W3rk

The whole thing is worth a watch if you like but the Singh stuff starts at about 5:30.

Wonderful Butternut

New Star Trek movie to release on the 9th of July 2023.

No details whatsoever.

Malcy

Quote from: Wonderful Butternut on April 09, 2021, 08:39:36 PM
New Star Trek movie to release on the 9th of July 2023.

No details whatsoever.

They announced one a few weeks ago written by a woman named after a Trek character( I forget her name) & produced by JJ Abrams. No idea if this is that though. Been a few in development past few years.

mothman

It seems like the most likely one, but there's also the Tarantino one, the Noah Hawley one, or the originally-planned fourth Kelvinverse film, the one that at varying times had: Chris Hemsworth coming back and then couldn't afford him; couldn't afford Chris Pine either - but now possibly can; had a female director (I'm afraid I can't remember her name sorry)... all these were in development and then got paused, so any of them could be back in the mix.

Alberon

Why are they letting JJ Abrams anywhere near a studio after the massive shit he curled out over Star Wars?

Mr Trumpet

Star Trek films are never all that good are they really? Even the decent ones are inferior to actual good sci fi pictures.

Wonderful Butternut

Quote from: Alberon on April 09, 2021, 10:31:25 PM
Why are they letting JJ Abrams anywhere near a studio after the massive shit he curled out over Star Wars?

Well he curled out a small shit on Star Trek Into Darkness and it didn't stop anybody from letting him at Star Wars.

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: Mr Trumpet on April 09, 2021, 10:47:25 PM
Star Trek films are never all that good are they really? Even the decent ones are inferior to actual good sci fi pictures.

Arthur C Clarke named Wrath of Khan as one of his favourite SF films.

Mr Trumpet

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on April 09, 2021, 11:49:55 PM
Arthur C Clarke named Wrath of Khan as one of his favourite SF films.

Presumably he'd never seen Total Recall

earl_sleek

Wrath of Khan is one of the best SF films.

Undiscovered Country is also pretty good, with First Contact coming just behind. Search for Spock and Voyage Home are ok.

All the others are either mediocre fare for fans only or utter dreck.

mothman

Beyond is good, in my top three anyway. Wouldn't say it was "for the fans" in the pejorative sense you mean, but if pays more attention (in a non-fan-service way, and that is actually relevant to the plot) to Trek lore than either of its predecessors.

Mr Trumpet

I just think i'd rather watch three randomly selected episodes from any of the TV shows, past or present, than sit through one of the films. Just a higher chance of getting at least one properly decent story.