The seventh episode of the third season of Star Trek: Discovery arrives on Thursday. We have a first look at some new images and in case you missed it, a promo video and a clip too.
“Unification III”
Star Trek: Discovery season 3, episode 7 “Unification III” will be available to stream on CBS All Access on Thursday, November 26.
Synopsis:
While grappling with the fallout of her recent actions, and what her future might hold, Burnham agrees to represent the Federation in an intense debate about the release of politically sensitive – but highly valuable – Burn data.
New Images:
Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Burnham and Mary Wiseman as Ensign Tilly
Oyin Oladejo as Lt. Joann Owosekun, Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Lt. Bryce and Emily Coutts as Lt. Keyla Detmer
Sara Mitich as Lt. Nilsson and Patrick Kwok-Choon as Lt. Gen Rhys
Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Paul Stamets
Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly and Doug Jones as Capt. Saru
[NOTE: The article has been updated to reflect there are five new images for this week’s episode.]
Episode 307 promo
“Unification III” Promo.
Vulcans! (and Romulans?)
If the episode title”Unification III” seems familiar, “Unification I” and “Unification II” was a two-episode arc from the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which featured Leonard Nimoy reprising the role of Spock, on his mission to unify the Vulcans and the Romulans. While there were no indications of either in the new images released, the promo video above did show some Vulcans, and possibly some Romulans too. See screencaps below.
It also looks like there will be some kind of Vulcan ritual held onboard the USS Discovery. You can see torches with Vulcan writing and some kind of gong used by Michael Burnham, who is, of course, Spock’s sister.
307 clip
A clip from “Unification III” was shown at the end of the latest episode of The Ready Room. The clip starts at 32:38.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery premiere on Thursdays on CBS All Access in the U.S. and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada, where it’s also available to stream on Crave. Episodes will be available on Fridays internationally on Netflix.
Keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com.
Can Romulus and Remus be reborn with some futuristic wow tech?
I’m really getting bored with the inspirational speeches. We get it, many purist gatekeeper Trekkies hated Discovery because it didn’t adhere to their preconceptions of what Trek should be so the producers’ way to correct that was by forcibly inserting these speeches into the third season, but enough already. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer didn’t make a speech in each and every episode of their series. Pike is not likely to either.
Were we watching the same shows?
The speeches has been in Disco from the beginning.
There was a reason that Picard had a reputation for giving speeches ;)
Picard was a seasoned diplomat philosopher captain with decades of leadership experience. St. Michael’s speeches rub people the wrong way because she is no such thing. She is Starfleet’s first mutineer being free only thanks to leniency of the brass (kind of like the Roger Stone of the Trek universe ;), and it seems the coming episodes will show she has learned nothing and is falling back into her old patterns of behavior of defying people and knowing better than everyone.
This, and Space Hitlers track record /recent behaviour as well means even the showrunners make the point (however inadvertently) second chances are BS… you can’t escape your past, you need to face it and pay for it!
I lol out loud with you describing Burnham as the Roger Stone of the Star Trek universe. Pretty on the money with that description, but she’s waaaaay less of an A-hole. ;)
It might be worthwhile to do a speech count of each series sometime. Have to establish criteria for what constitutes a proper speech – word count, context etc, but it’s a fun little side project to have during a marathon.
Disco certainly has a lot and they might be more per capita when it comes to episode counts so far, but TNG and Voyager have plenty.
I’ve always thought of it as one of the defining characteristics of the franchise.
There is a reason that casting for the shows has leaned to actors with strong theatre backgrounds.
I agree; the speeches get old quickly. The whispered tones of most of Bernhams speeches make them ridiculous. No one speaks like that.
Exactly. The person she is talking to would be speaking in a normal tone and volume, but she will whisper back. It’s not normal.
“We get it, many purist gatekeeper Trekkies hated Discovery because it didn’t adhere to their preconceptions of what Trek should be so the producers’ way to correct that was by forcibly inserting these speeches into the third season…”
Well I don’t think that’s the reason why there are more speeches, but even if it were, it’s not like season 1 didn’t have quite of bit of these speeches as well, right?
“We would’ve help you get home if you asked. That’s what Starfleet is.”
“It’s all we have admiral!”
“We are Starfleet.”
“We will not take shortcuts to the path of righteousness.”
Maybe there is more of them given the situation but they been inserting this stuff from the very beginning.
I don’t have anything against speeches, but the ones in the Discovery can be tedious because they just ring so hollow. They are never about anything except what it means to be ~The Federation~ or ~Starfleet~. The best-remembered Trek speeches are about the philisophical issue at hand in the episode, not just thumping the virtues of the show’s fictitious institutions.
It comes across like they want to get a speech in there because they feel its obligatory, not because they actually have something to say.
Exactly. In the first season or two of TNG, there was a similar problem — everyone just talked about how evolved humanity had become, without actually saying anything.
I hated Discovery’s first season because of the sewer rat Klingons, the evil nihilist Lorca, and the horrible characterization of all of the main characters. Fortunately all of that is gone now.
The speeches have not been a problem for me.
You’re joking… right? I can only assume you’ve never watched Star Trek if you think they didn’t give speeches. No one gave more speeches than Kirk and Picard.
The badge sure looks like it means that Spock’s dream came true. It looks like it overlays an IDIC over a Romulan emblem.
It looks like there are ridges on their heads as well. If Vulcans and Romulans have been getting busy over the course of a few hundred years it may have taken the edges off that were so prominent in Unification Parts I and II.
That broche / pin on the Vulcanoid of Color seems pretty Romulan to me.
It’s a Vulcan IDIC symbol overlaid on a variant of the Romulan bird of prey emblem. I’m not sure how Vulcanoids feel about it, but humans are okay with being referred to as black when you’re just referring to one specific person.
You could say, the badge spoiled the entire episode ;)
If the title didn’t do this already.
I suppose its merely the premise taken as given at this point!
I am going to go out on a limb and predict that ENSIGN Silvia Tilly may be promoted to First Officer. This seems like an excessive reach of the internal logic of the fictional universe, but it’s not unprecedented. Remember that this was done by Captain Pike in the Kelvin Timeline. I really didn’t care for it then and I won’t care for it now. But those photos of the crew in the spore drive engineering lab and looking up happily at someone makes me think it’s Tilly. Given that both Rhys and Nilsson are both full lieutenants and were recently “given the conn” I thought, maybe. But there they are looking up at someone else. The actor Wiseman is a lead actor and I could imagine them wanting to move her into a new role now that Adria Tal seems to be Stamets’ new sidekick. (I also imagine Tal being “adopted” by Stamets and Culber. Or I guess it could be giving Tal a commission as well. We will see.
It could also explain why they would get rid of Commander Nahn, because she or Commander Reno would be the next in line. That being said they could throw us all for a loop and make it Reno!! Actually, that would be great! First Officer Reno. I’d then promote Tilly to Lieutenant (j.g. or full) and make her our first onscreen Cheif of Engineering.
Or bring Nahn back. Starfleet would say, “Look, we need you.” Make Rhys Security and Tactical Cheif and send him on away missions.
I’d just rather they keep within the internal logic of the universe and give Tilly the chance to EARN her eventual promotion.
This could turn very good!
It should be Nilsson or Owosekun.
Both of whom are pretty much non-characters, so it would be anti-climactic.
Reno doesn’t have the personality to be a FO. Her whole character has been being sarcastic and engaging in banter. And she treated that one ensign like crap at the beginning of the season.
Ugh, I really hope you’re wrong about Tilly…
Reno would be a great choice because she’d get some nice character development, but she’s bad with people and isn’t right for the job. It’s sad, but Tilly is actually the only choice that makes sense because she’s an established character that they’re willing to give screen-time and dialogue to. Nilsson hardly speaks, Bryce and Rhys might as well be cardboard cutouts on the bridge, Detmer is too unstable at the moment, and pilots the ship… I guess Owo could be an option, but I doubt it. And of course Stamets is needed to operate the spore drive. Doesn’t leave many options… So I can only hope they bring in a 32nd century officer like Willa, if they don’t go with Owo.
Totally agreed. They can step up and actually bother developing one of the non-characters on the bridge, but they’ve been around forever and clearly no one on the writing team is inspired to give them more to do, so forcing a 32nd century character on them might be the best shakeup.
I agree, those promotional photos show all those bridge lieutenants looking tickled at something.
With Tilly not in the shot, it does look like she’s getting some sort of promotion.
However, it’s happening in the spore drive chamber and not on the bridge, so I don’t think it’s about who will be first officer. I think that’s a ritual that involves the command chair, and bridge consoles as we saw for Pike.
Not permanently !
Tilly will have some weeks as XO as part of her training-programm like Lt Saavik.
In the end i bet Burnham returns as XO.
Remember Saru’s words
“As long as we keep learning…things are not as they where”
As long as Burnham obsessed with the burn , “things are not as they where” !
The Scene in Engineering is Michaels farewell-speech because she becomes a special representative to investigate the burn and Book will assist her.
Prepare for much forced tears in engineering.
Saru and Tilly have great chemistry together. I would enjoy seeing their development as a leadership team.
I want to see Lt. Willa as XO! Not only does it make sense from an in-universe point of view – Starfleet will want ont of their own high up in the command chain of Discovery to keep those ancient barbarians at bay – but like Una and Spock before her, she would insert some much needed cool-headedness and rationality into the cryfest that Discovery has become – all the while fighting that nasty stereotype the series has been propagating that all women officers *must* be emotionally unstable heartbleeders!
I was thinking the same thing about Tilly.
Deffo a Romulan dude there!
Dear CBS Publicity,
On behalf of of Star Trek fans world wide, we could care less about publicity stills of the actors smiling.
Love,
Everyone
You don’t speak for anyone but yourself; do try to remember that.
Everyone? You and that mouse in your pocket, perhaps?
He speaks for me…
Then why do you have your own account?
#MeToo
It’s okay to speak for yourself
Man, you don’t speak for ‘Star Trek fans world wide’. Certainly not for me.
I don’t mind it at all. They don’t have to show ANY publicity photos, so it’s not exactly a big deal.
Dear Jefferies Tuber,
On behalf of every single person who isn’t Jefferies Tuber, you don’t speak for anyone but Jefferies Tuber.
Love,
Everyone
Tilly needs to start running again…
I held myself from saying it…
Eek! I think she had a baby recently (congrats to the actress).
Unbearable character though.
I like Tilly about half of the time. Her scene with Grudge cracked me up. But I’m not sure the writers have any idea what to do with her beyond having her be awkward, and they’re seemingly content to just let that be a joke. I guess what I’m saying is that I like Mary Wiseman and that’s sometimes enough to make Tilly palatable to me.
Barf. What an obnoxious comment. Commenting on women’s bodies as if they are there to please you is so 1964. Mary Wiseman is an amazing actor with impeccable comedic timing and heart. Tilly is a rich and 3 dimensional character. Your comment is both childish, retrograde and sexist. Let’s put it this way: she’s living her best life on a great television show, you’re a person who posts mean comments about people on blogs. She wins.
People, discussion is over, the White Knight (TM) has spoken!..
Meanwhile, the obesity epidemic in your country continues (and that other one)…
Saru needs to eat a cheeseburger or two, while we’re at it.
Saru eats Tilly’s cheeseburgers (and cream puffs, and pecan pies, and…), and Tilly eats Saru’s unseasoned lettuce.
WIN WIN!
;)
Cut the fat-shaming. It’s rude and un-cool, and it just further shows that you are a toxic person.
You are cute :)
Btw, my dear friend Rios, I truly wonder what are you going to do once your gerontocratic Trojan Horse in the WH is being forced by his handlers to defund the police?
Since policing is all you do around here… ;)
Yeah…. vulcan logic Extremist caused the burn. I hope I am wrong.
No, but maybe they blew up Romulus…
The entire idea of “logic extremism”, and their fetishization of hyper-emotionality, betrays where TPTB stand on this ideologically. I mean, Space Hitler is REDEEMED bcos she’s kind to Michael (or something), but Hitler itself was not known for his brilliant logic, no? Rather, his ideology was soaked in irrational emotion, and so is today’s of the FL!
The images give us more.
Unification has already happened, and the III is about unifying with the Federation again.
The insignia on the multi-device badge worn by the Vulcan/Romulan officer is a clear layering of the TNG-era Romulan Empire insignia with the triangle from the Vulcan insignia set on it. While there may be un-unified remnants out there, this is clearly a post-Unification society.
Burnham, raised as a Vulcan and Spock’s foster sibling, may be the only interlocutor they will accept.
She will likely need to go through some ritual to prove she is who she says.
My bet is on a mind meld being involved.
I bet the Vulcan/Romulans don’t expect her to be carrying Sarek’s katra too.
Who doesn’t have Sarek’s katra at this point? ;)
Presumably Burnham would not, as she was not around when he died.
She still has the portion of Sarek’s katra that she’s carried from childhood.
Being in transit in the time wormhole shouldn’t have altered that.
I dont quite get what you are alluding at, and why The Burnham should be “The Only One” once again, this time for the VulRomulans as well! It’s a super tired trope at this time, isnt it? Since last decade already…
Dr. Culber finally gets an office!
And a “therapeutic” conversation between Culber and Georgiou looks to be entertaining at minimum.
Every CMO has had some kind of private meeting space and a desk since TNG. I’m glad that they finally added one to Discovery’s sets as of this season.
I’m also hopeful that this means that we’ll see more new ship interiors now that the refit and upgrade has taken place in-universe.
Since TOS. McCoy also had a desk area.
I didn’t think it had a privacy screen though…
Speaking of privacy screens, let’s see a 32nd century toilet and what programmable matter can do for you in your most urgent needs!
That pic of Georgiou with her feet on Culber’s desk is not helping to quell my dislike for this character. Nonchalant obnoxiousness. Nope, I can’t deal!
It fascinates me that the crew of a Starfleet vessel and purportedly progressive Discovery fans fawn over this awful character when she is a genocidal maniac.
Who “fawns” over Georgiou? I guess maybe Linus, but that seems to be played for comedy and its not really clear. Seems to me everyone else knows why she is there: Michael Burnham is the only person in any universe that she loves and trusts (no matter what she said last semester to deflect Michael’s care.)
Only thing I can think is that not everyone knows the extent of her depraved history, and that her directness is refreshing to some people who don’t have the ability to be undiplomatic or don’t have the nerve.
There were little hints of that with Seven of Nine – even Janeway and Torres occasionally appreciated when she cut through the BS.
Its a nice reflection of contemporary Western society though isnt it? Tons of “progressives” fawning over the most petty criminals. Victims are criminals, criminals are victims… It’s the built-in hypocrisy of our time!
Think of it this way: Roddenberry want no conflict between central characters on TNG which meant all conflict was from without. That made the show kind of bland. (I love TNG!) DS9 got around that by placing Starfleet officers on a non-Federation station with non-Fed characters. That brought conflict: Kira, Odo, Quark.
As much as people say they don’t like Georgiou, she place a very significant narrative role. She reminds us that there’s more than one way to be, more than one way to operate. She contrasts and therefore highlights Starfleet ideals.
Now that she has a medical problem of some kind, she also has the chance to grow and change and reveal something about her complicated, probably tragic history.
The show is also trying today that everyone can be redeemed. I hear Michelle Yeah elude to this during season one interviews.
I’m sorry, but people who commit mass genocide CAN’T be redeemed. A redemption arc is fine for someone who deserves it. This character deserves only prison. If it was good enough for Tom Paris, it’s goddamn well good enough for her.
Being exiled from her own society for ever is also a kind of punishment.
Let’s not overlook that no matter how pathological her Terran society was.
And the point of punishment in a justice system is deterrence – which is moot for Georgiou because she was not violating the laws of her own society in her own universe no matter how appalling that society was.
I’d also like to note that it’s a truism of rehabilitation that human beings can’t change in deep in meaningful ways without a long-term change in social environment.
For Paris, that was Voyager isolated in the Delta Quadrant (he was still a jerk after imprisonment). For Georgiou, it looks like both a changed environment, an attachment and a physiological intervention were necessary.
Her past crimes won’t be undone or atoned by a new environment or new behaviour – she need to face a reckoning for it.
That’s a fundamental concept in most human cultures, like karma…
Btw, there is no proof whatsoever that Space Hitler would not resort to her old ways again when it suits her and the opportunity arises judging from all the past episodes – on the contrary!
At the same time, you’re getting into a nurture vs nature debate because anyone born into the Mirror Universe is automatically surrounded by literal cutthroat politics, slavery and villainy; the worse it is, the more it is rewarded. Strength is power to them, so that leaves a little bit of daylight for redemption – she’s known no other life, so can you completely hold it against her? The whole point of the Mirror Universe is not just to let writers and actors have some campy fun, it’s to show how we could be completely different people in different circumstances, and both Mirror Spock and Mirror Sisko were given the chance to do some good, and they did.
And Discovery is doubling down on all of that by revealing there is a genetic component to Terrans being so ruthless. So if nurture doesn’t soften anyone’s stance on Georgiou’s villainy, there’s nature for you.
I thought it interesting that the Terran sensitivity to light implied that their world was *literally* darker. Many predators thrive in darkness, in their case it might be for pure survival – higher prey drive / peripheral motion sensitivity, etc – indicating some sort of shift in aggressivity that affected their culture and evolution.
So, does this mean the Prime Universe has jurisdiction over the Mirror Universe?
I agree with you Eric. I love Michelle…. and I love that the Emperor expresses my inner snark so well, while seeming to develop an increasingly visible ability to care for others. She is reading the room nicely and either growing, or manipulating patiently to achieve some hidden goal.
In any case, she was the king / apex predator at the pinnacle of her Terran food chain.
She lives among cute emo guppies now.
To judge a tip-to-core apex predator from another universe by emo guppy standards which are utterly foreign to her DNA is ….
Well some guppies will judge her for being a predator.
I will judge the Emperor for her ability and willingness to adapt and contribute. She has behaved thus far while at the DISCO.
If she steps out of line, put the predator down. Till then, watch her closely and make her wear a diamond necklace with a remote cloaked explosive built in.
All good.
I adore Michelle, just don’t quite love the Emperor or think the role is quite right for her. But I don’t think the show would be better without her, is the thing, not just because she’s a big star. The characters are kinda dull, so having that conflict and bad behavior on the ship spices things up, even if it’s not all that “Star Trek.”
Would you feel the same that Hitler’s bladder stones gave him a chance to grow and change, and reveal something about his complicated, tragic past as a failed artist in Vienna?.
I will also confidently state that the vast majority of humanity believes (as Bryant says below) that no, not everyone can or should be redeemed! It’s a basic ethical matter of telling right from wrong.
So it took more than 1000 years for Spock’s mission to finally finish? It sounds interesting. To be honest Unification wasn’t one of my favorite two-parters from TNG. With Spock’s involvement and the Romulan/Vulcan plot I expected a lot more that episode but all we got was basically Sela twirling her none-moustache all through the episode. What I wouldn’t like to see in this episode is to see Michael take all the credit for completing Spock’s mission and Spock’s actions taking a backseat just to show how “powerful” of a character Michael is.
To be fair, this could’ve happened centuries ago already, we don’t know yet.
I originally didn’t like the two-parter either but I have grown to love it over the years. I can’t dispute your point about Sela but that’s most Romulans. ;)
That was the one great thing about Picard, we finally got different layers of Romulans for a change. Even former Tal Shiar operatives like Laris and Zhaban were shown in a positive light. But then we got the diabolical incest siblings which threw some of that out the door.
Anyway I can’t wait to see how this is done. This is probably people’s most excited episode outside of finding Earth and the Federation again. But I do love the fact that an event is happening from an episode that is now nearly 30 years old that I don’t think any of us ever thought would see happening.
Another reason why going forward is just more fun and in this case very forward. ;)
“This is probably people’s most excited episode outside of finding Earth and the Federation again.”
Agreed! It’s certainly much more interesting than “Andorians and Tellarites are thugs again”, which is basically just a repeat of pre-Federation Enterprise times. This is something truly new and something that could only be done with the super-long time gap in order to be credible.
Yeah, it’s why I’m enjoying the season so much, everything just feels so different and new, even places and people we are very familiar with. Going forward was the best idea they did for this show, bar none.
But I never looked at the Andorians as thugs pre-Federation. They never tried to throw their authority around, they were mostly just mistrustful and suspicious of others that got them into conflicts. Of course that was also with the Tellarites.
I still need to catch up with two episodes, including the last one, but to me it’s way too early for a verdict on this season, or even a comparison.
Remember how excited we were last season after the New Eden and Thalos episodes, and even up to the beginning of the switch to Control? The endless possibilities of the AI storyline before it turned into Terminator redux!
So there’s still plenty of time for things to go haywire especially since we don’t know what the endgame this season really is (Find out what is the burn? Revert the Burn? Restore the Federation?) and if they play a switcheroo on us again, like every season!
I agree, we shouldn’t jump the gun. And yes I remember being in love with the show at this point in season 2 as well (the complete opposite in season 1).
But again I am just much more immersed in this era so that alone makes it more fun. And I have liked all the elements so far.
But if we do find out the Burn was caused by Burnham somehow and we get yet another generic mustache twirling villain then I would be very disappointed to say the least. At least based on what we seen so far I think they are trying to go a different direction like they done a lot. But yes, it’s still Discovery lol.
Another Burnham centred episode. And as standard…some Burnham tears along with a Burnham will solve and explain all our problems plot.
On top of that some Bridge crew as weak and pathetic as ever with “I’m so helpless perhaps Burnham can save us” faces.
Change it up guys, you have a cast of at least 10…feeling they are all being wasted away on this show just hugging, crying and looking pathetic.
Discovery should be Culver, Stamets, Saru, Tal, Naan, Reno Georgiou and possibly Tilly as the core crew. The rest, no thanks!
I dont disagree with some of these points. I am wondering if The actress who plays Burnham and her talent agent have made a push to make this show centered around her. I’m not vibing on us being so closely involved in her story all the time
It has always been HER show. She’s the star. It’s the selling point to have a show centered around a non-captain character. Don’t wonder, it’s been made crystal-clear from day one that this the Michael Burnham Show…
Its also been made crystal clear from day one that a significant portion of fandom utterly despises this concept!
And yet years later, they are still unwilling to compromise on this even a tiny bit!
I think in future film-making classes this show will be taught as the negative textbook example for the tired “Chosen One” trope, pushed down viewers’ throats way past its shelf life (it expired 10 years ago)…
Seriously, has anyone watching EVER said, YES, I want this show to be about Burnham and Burnham only, screw the other characters?
She’s the star of the show, as much as you’d like to pretend she isn’t. To pick on some oldies but goodies, that’s kinda like asking why M*A*S*H* and All in the Family spend so much time on Hawkeye Pierce and Archie Bunker…..
This MAYBE could work if the star is a home run, however to many either the character or the actresses’ portrayal is utterly unbearable (or both)
It’s just not smart business to put all your bets on one horse that can’t keep its emotions in check…
The utter unbearableness of the character is a conclusion you’ve arrived at. That opinion is not shared by all. Further, the studio does not share that opinion, as she is the face of the franchise these days in a Trek universe built around an aesthetic her show established, and others follow. As multiple hundreds of millions have been invested so far by CBS few seem to be questioning the smartness of these business decisions…
So the Vulcans and Romulans make an appearance, gravitas!
?
a theory going through my mind: the burn was caused by the Crystalline Entity species.
This probably won’t get passed the censors but I’m going to give it a go nontheless.
This is NOT alt-rite (sic) statement but just a visual/cultural HONEST question. Does anyone else feel that the show is trying to push a social agenda in a rather hamfisted way by making sure that no leaders or characters in this show with any decent screen time is a straight, white male?
The leader of Earth…the leader of the Trill…the leader of Vulcan….the leader of Starfleet…the leader…etc… and the bridge crew has no one on there who is a straight white male. It’s starting to get noticeable and it really shouldn’t be. Maybe I’m to blame for noticing it, but I wander if anyone were secretly thinking the same thing.
I’m sorry if this offended anyone and before this post get censored please consider the fact that if there was a conspicious absense of another ethnicity, gender or sexual orienation…we would be free to talk about it. Lets be tolerant and open in talking about ALL aspects of our culture.
“Does anyone else feel that the show is trying to push a social agenda in a rather hamfisted way by making sure that no leaders or characters in this show with any decent screen time is a straight, white male?”
No.
And wasn’t Lorca and Pike, both former Captains of Discovery straight white males? They were given tons of screen time so no idea what you mean.
No.
This is Star Trek. One thousand years from now there may not even be genders!
I suppose then there wont be humans anymore. For sexual dimorphism is a fundamental feature of our species, and most mammals.
I think the better way to ask this question is:
“Does anyone else feel that all filmed entertainment made in the last 100 years is trying to push a social agenda in a rather hamfisted way by making sure nearly all leaders or characters with any decent screen time are straight, white males?”
What does it say about the way we’ve been programmed that the instant straight white men aren’t represented in positions of power we think it’s weird?
Precisely, Eric Z.
I think its not about colors but representing the majority properly. If you ask this question differently you see why – would it be weird if in an African country blacks are not represented in positions of power? Yes it would be – that’s apartheid 101. Minorities – ethnic, religious, socioeconomic – wielding power over disenfranchized majorities rubs alot of people the wrong way because that’s been a basic injustice of history for thousands of years. Arguably its a much bigger story than discrimination of minorities which of course also happened, due to the sheer number of people involved. And I don’t think anyone wants to return to these times when millions of peasants were subjugated by a small class of pan-European “globalist” elites (the pioneers of this concept). That’s really the key to understanding why one should treat carefully with skewing the balance too much in the other way!
Or worse, instantly seeing some people argue for the status quo…in the name of tolerance.
Well to their defense (for once), the leader of Starfleet is not another black female, but a non-Western white male, which I have been asking for alot. And then there’s Cronenberg of course who could also be a major character.
So I will give them credit for rebalancing things a bit again after Pike left as major character.
I did not, but I suppose you’re right. Keep in mind Star Trek is about crews from Earth and other planets. White people are a small minority on Earth (14% or something). Add in Aliens and there are still too many white people and far too many Americans. I’m not PC at all, but it makes sense to me.
I agree DarExc that there are far too many American characters. If anything, I’d like greater diversity along the lines that The Expanse has achieved.
It seems like the race/ethicity free casting is giving everyone in Trek Anglo names. I can see that they want to avoid preconceptions, but those names don’t even represent white America in the middle 20th century.
Better that they should cast with a “working name” analogous to a working title, and then finalize the backstory and ethnicity later.
More, they should stop making the actors use American accents. TPTB want a larger global market, but they aren’t using the full diversity of their casts to sell their shows.
Adjala was permitted to keep is British accent, but the actor who plays Adira Tal is also British as far as I know – what’s she doing with a standard American accent especially as she’s not event from the 23rd century?
I suspect that the current Trek default is that actors should put on American accents. Canadian standard accents can pass.
Actors like Adjala who has said he finds American accents very hard, are allowed to use their own accents. I suspect that’s the situation for Odin Oladje’s Nigerian-Canadian accent as well.
Shazad Latif’s murky American accent did not help sell the character – I’ve always thought he would have done better to stick with a British accent and a backstory of being somewhere other than the Seattle area.
I wonder what has become of the Mintakans in the last 800 years.
The only thing I am going to be looking for is whether Michael is surprised to find out that Vulcans and Romulans are related. This should at least rate as a “You’re sleeping with my sister!” moment.
Ooh. Good point. The Disco crew shouldn’t know anything about the relationship between Vulcans and Romulans. Unless the Sphere data revealed it to them off screen.
I think that it’s likely they will have it from the sphere data.
But also, based on the revelation about the Kelpiens that the sphere data provided, I think that they will appreciate just how great a challenge it would have been to bring the two peoples back together.
If they can ask the Sphere. But so far, only Saru seems to have any relationship with it.
I’m wondering if Zora will need the captain’s permission to interact with other members of the crew.
Oh boy, oh boy. I’m going to have to use my viinerine-flavor popcorn sprinkle this week. I may be partial, but Romulans are an improvement to an already improved season.
Is that a sequel to the tng two parter? xD
Just looking at the images, there are both Romulans and Vulcans in them. What’s interesting is the bird of prey logo on the uniforms. That kind of gives away the Romulan origin of the uniform. However, Vulcans tend to have smoother foreheads in the post TNG shows and movies while Romulans tend to have some overdeveloped eyebrow and forehead ridges. You see both in the images, therefore both Romulans and Vulcans are represented.