tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post956161504198320609..comments2024-03-22T20:34:13.792-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: A Conversation With Professor David Greven About Gender, Sexuality, and Race in the Star Trek UniverseLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-65877472146889567592015-03-14T01:42:41.123-05:002015-03-14T01:42:41.123-05:00That was a thoroughly entertaining and thought-pro...That was a thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking podcast CDV. But then again, you had me at "Star Trek" :)<br /><br />My contribution to the discussion is that I get my name from the TNG episode, "The Pegasus" which featured the first dark-skinned Romulan commander, Sirol (played by Michael Mack). I was over the moon when I saw that depiction because I always did like Romulans and I do (in support of your argument on the podcast) like to see a bit of myself in my fantasy portrayals. Exploring difference is good, but we imagine to explore ourselves, I say.<br /><br />You and David went to so many interesting places I can't just pick one; I gotta plug into the M5 for a while and let it process it all for me a while.<br /><br />Please accept some strips of gold-pressed latinum for the hour full of chuckles, 80s nerdom remembrances (BTW, make mine a Col. Wilma Deering action figure, thanks very much) and "I never thought of thats" (Giordi and Data, why didn't I catch that?).Black Romulanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nheR783dvXAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-91289204896712867882015-03-13T14:44:52.277-05:002015-03-13T14:44:52.277-05:00There is a neat book in international relations an...There is a neat book in international relations and Trek that does a great job of asking hard questions of the Federation. One of the claims is that TNG is a direct mirror of Clinton's politics abroad.<br /><br /><br />Totally random, there is actually a halfway decent adult film done for Trek. Ain't bad if I do say so myself. Kim and Paris were lovers. I always took that as a given. If you can find it, Garak on DS9 is the subject of a book written by the actor who played him that explicitly talks about the character's bisexuality.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-52118130008819026492015-03-13T14:30:28.463-05:002015-03-13T14:30:28.463-05:00Lately, I've been checking in here late; looks...Lately, I've been checking in here late; looks like I will be first today lol.<br /><br />Wow, that was one damn fine podcast! Fun, as you said, and really thought-provoking. And you epilogue bit was spot on, too. I have almost completely quite watching TV; my partner and I use the teevee machine pretty much exclusively for movies. It is good to be reminded that there is some value in being aware of pop culture, even when it is quite trashy.<br /><br />But this was mostly about <i>Star Trek</i>. And I will say that I <i>loved</i> it in high school and for years afterward, watched ST:TNG religiously and saw quite a bit of both <i>Voyager</i> and DSN before I dropped out somehow. Some of the movies, too, but not all.<br /><br />So much in here but I will talk a bit about the "Ultimate Computer" episode. I remembered the character was black but had forgotten that his name was Daystrom, I assume the same after which the eponymous Institute always mentioned in the later series was named. You and David mentioned how many of the black men depicted on the show were depicted as crazy or unstable somehow. I never thought about it too much at the time when I first saw that episode -- I just assumed that he cracked up from various pressures of being super smart, like getting bullied as a kid for being a nerd, etc. That was pretty much projection from my own experience in small-town Iowa!<br /><br />Now, I have a somewhat different take on it. See, much as I loved, and still love, the show, as well as the Federation, the Enterprise, and all it's crew, I see it much differently than I did back then. The thing is, to me, The Federation <i>is</i> the neoliberal empire. They are always going on about peaceful exploration and cooperation, but they are also always blasting away at somebody with the phasers and photon torpedoes. And Daystrom was reacting to that and cracking up because of that. I'd have to watch it again to get the exact wording, but there is a line in his speech when his computer creation has "gone crazy" and he finally cracks, too, where he says something about how interstellar space "was ours neither to give or to take." He is rebelling against the endless "growth for the sake of growth" of the human expansion (and implicitly that of other spacefaring species). He just isn't having any more of it. Of course, YMMV.<br /><br />On the sexuality in the various series: It was always there, even in the original. ST:TNG and <i>Voyager</i> just had tons of it just below the surface, and occasionally almost breaking through.<br /><br />FWIW, I took it as a given from nearly the first episode that Tom Paris and Harry Kim were lovers.OldPolarBearnoreply@blogger.com