First trans, non-binary characters to debut on 'Star Trek' franchise

The trans character named Gray

Is the surname Area?

Those knowing Star Trek know those are most certainly not the first non binary gender characters in it.

Oh Star Trek why? The latest victim of all these nonsense “labels” people feel they need to give themselves

Shark jumping.

To boldly go where no transgender and non-binary has gone before!

(doesn't have quite the same ring, does it)

For me, Star Trek jumped the shark by season two of Voyager.

The same that there is only one Matrix Movie, six Star Wars movies and I'm still waiting for seasons seven and eight of Game of Thrones.

These companies are free to produce whatever they think people will watch, and the people have enough options to do something else.

proxy:

Shark jumping.

No. It jumped the shark when they first introduced black and Asian characters in the 1960s. How dare they. PC nonsense.

The original series addressed racism by never addressing racism. They just had a more inclusive crew and nobody said a thing about it. It was genius to envision a future where race was not even a question.

But I have a disappointing suspicion that the gender identity issues of these two are going to be the plot or sub plot of entire episodes. I hope I am wrong. I am all good with non-binary and trans-ism but at most their gender identities should only be a briefly used in defining their romantic relationships if at all.

But I have a disappointing suspicion that the gender identity issues of these two are going to be the plot or sub plot of entire episodes. 

Nowadays shows use diversity as an excuse for their lack of creativity. But the thing is, Star Trek already has this non-binary thing, they just didn't explicitly shove it in our faces.

Vanessa CarlisleToday  09:51 am JST

The original series addressed racism by never addressing racism. They just had a more inclusive crew and nobody said a thing about it. It was genius to envision a future where race was not even a question.

There were sexless people on other planets in the original series and in the animated series too. And the TNG had those sexless Bynots.

And in real life George Takei of the original show is gay.

OzBurgerToday  08:48 am JST

For me, Star Trek jumped the shark by season two of Voyager.

The last season of TNG was getting to be too much of a soap opera in space for me. Star Trek had jumped the shark at that point. DS-9 started out fair at first but after season two the whole francise had strayed far from its roots. There were too many New Age elements creeping in. I didn't like Voyager at all. As for the movies, I don't even bother anymore. They are practically a pile of dull insipid rom-com rubbish in space. Light-years away from the original series and its intent.

Cool.

People who complain about Star Trek introducing progressive politics obviously know nothing about Star Trek and its history.

People who complain about Star Trek introducing progressive politics obviously know nothing about Star Trek and its history.

Maybe not Star Trek as a story, but Hollywood does push progressive politics, so this is no surprise.

To boldly go where no transgender and non-binary has gone before!

(doesn't have quite the same ring, does it)

Not the same ring as "...to boldly go where no one has gone before", true. So I assume they'll stick with what works.

Star Trek Discovery is the only Trek show I do not watch. They destroyed the Klingon race with the changes they made to them and messing with Spock was the last straw. To far from Gene's vision for my liking.

Those knowing Star Trek know those are most certainly not the first non binary gender characters in it.

Indeed.

There was the TNG episode with Ryker falling for a non binary gender character.

Star Trek has always been forward looking, so not sure what the fuss is about.

Star Trek Discovery is the only Trek show I do not watch. They destroyed the Klingon race with the changes they made to them and messing with Spock was the last straw. To far from Gene's vision for my liking.

Rodenberry had a vision, for sure but the heart of the story is still there. Took me a few eps to get into it, but then, it took me around 2 seasons to get into TNG (the first one is a bit ropey).

As for the Klingons, compare and contrast the Klingons in the Motion Picture and subsequent series to TOS. Very different. The difference was remarked upon in DS9 when Worf made a throwaway comment that "we don't like to speak of it" but it looks like Discovery has tackled it.

Good for them!

The fact that someone’s sexual preference or identity is “coming to Start Trek” means they’ve already lost touch with the original series and Rodenberry’s vision, and is just pandering to the woke couch potatoes. Beam me up....

I think this comment sums it up perfectly

The original series addressed racism by never addressing racism. They just had a more inclusive crew and nobody said a thing about it. It was genius to envision a future where race was not even a question.

Invalid CSRF

Oh Star Trek why? The latest victim of all these nonsense “labels” people feel they need to give themselves

Guess some are not aware of the show's history of causing offence to the fragile egos out there.

On the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk: The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that fewer than 20 percent of Americans approved of such relationships.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fifty-years-ago-star-trek-aired-tvs-first-interracial-kiss-180970204/

Fewer than 20 percent approved of such relationships.

Think about it. That was 50 years ago. The struggle for BAME and LGBT goes on, even today.

The original series addressed racism by never addressing racism.

Apart from when it did, most memorably in the episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.

Not the same ring as "...to boldly go where no one has gone before", true. So I assume they'll stick with what works.

'one' is a binary number

Shark jumping.

Its a 54 year old sci fi franchise that hasn't explored new sci fi ideas in a compelling way in decades, I'd say it jumped the shark a loooong time ago.

But even if they hadn't, I don't see how featuring a trans character would by itself constitute shark jumping. Trans people exist, so why shouldn't there be trans characters on TV shows?

Yawn.

Put a tribble in charge of the Enterprise. Just make sure it isn’t a white one.

I’m curious why they made it a big deal that this actors sexual orientation or gender identification was the same as the character. Can anyone explain?

Put a tribble in charge of the Enterprise

Tribbles didn't give two hoots about gender 53 years ago.

I’m curious why they made it a big deal that this actors sexual orientation or gender identification was the same as the character. Can anyone explain?

It's good to see positive representation not just in a character, but in an actor.

And family guy had the first pædosxual character (herbert)...although he hardly advances their cause.

Perhaps star trek needs a non-joke pædosxual and a non-joke transracial transpecial zoosxual as well.

It's good to see positive representation not just in a character, but in an actor.

Thanks, sneezy.

I just don’t understand why that’s important enough to include it in the article.

what exactly is “positive representation“?

Star Trek Discovery is the only Trek show I do not watch. They destroyed the Klingon race with the changes they made to them and messing with Spock was the last straw. To far from Gene's vision for my liking.

With the money that Hollywood is swimming in, you would think that they could afford and do better CG effects.

And we still don't even know where the bathrooms are on the ships. Gene Roddenberry thought that humans would have overcome things like the use of money, and so on, in the future. Will heterosexual relationships also become the abnormal thing as we evolve to the 23rd century and beyond? Who knows!?

Encountering alien species should give enough opportunity for creativity. No need to copy real life 'diversity' to show how woke you are. But if they would add some crew members who identify as aliens and claim to be born in the wrong (human) body and demand the use of specific pronouns, that would be quite interesting.

Going to take a guess that the author of the article has never seen Star Trek.

Not the first.

Not sure who did the research for this article but clearly they know nothing about Star Trek.

TNG, Voyager, Deep Space 9, even Enterprise, had episodes addressing everything from racism to non binary relationship.

Jadzia Dax was openly Bi.

Guess they missed that one.

This is not new to STAR TREK. And it's been done in sci-fy many times since. Just what do you think the Ziggy Stardust persona is supposed to be? Bowie dressed androgynously to portray Ziggy as an alien from a planet where the people have no gender at all - not male, not female. H. G. Wells in his 'War of the Worlds' described the invading Martians in exactly the same manner. Asexuality in sci-fy is nothing new, and certainly not in STAR TREK.

Toasted HereticSep. 4  01:20 pm JST

Those knowing Star Trek know those are most certainly not the first non binary gender characters in it.

Indeed.

There was the TNG episode with Ryker falling for a non binary gender character.

If I recall that character was a genuine female. Females and males were a sexual minority on a planet where the inhabitants were once two genders but they evolved into asexual people. People of one sex only were a minority on that world and were persecuted.

There were sexless people on other planets in the original series and in the animated series too.

They weren't "people". They were aliens. They certainly were not crew.

And in real life George Takei of the original show is gay.

For all we know his character was too. That's my point. They never spoke of it. In the bid for racial equality, not speaking of such issues worked well. It may also be effective for trans and the non-binary.

The last season of TNG was getting to be too much of a soap opera in space for me.

I loved it but it was definitely parting from the Original Series by addressing issues at length. But I feel they did a good job. At that point, simply ignoring the issues they were discussing was not really necessary. Regarding trans and non-binary, I am not so sure. Those they still need avoid a head on approach I think.

Vanessa CarlisleToday  10:45 am JST

There were sexless people on other planets in the original series and in the animated series too.

They weren't "people". They were aliens. They certainly were not crew.

They were 'people'. Aliens are people from other planets. And a show shouldn't be having a token character of any type just to have one. If a certain type of character isn't effective for the script, don't bother. Hollywood is getting too PC in that regards. And most gay characters I've seen on TV were stereotypical which isn't good.

Aliens are not constrained to follow humankind conventions

Should've been more "unhuman" realities from the beginning

Dirk BaetenSep. 4 11:43 pm JST

Encountering alien species should give enough opportunity for creativity. No need to copy real life 'diversity' to show how woke you are. But if they would add some crew members who identify as aliens and claim to be born in the wrong (human) body and demand the use of specific pronouns, that would be quite interesting

I know, right? Look at how transracial Rachel dolezal was treated. That might be our discrimination in the 2020s. And that was identifying as a different race, let alone a different species. Still not very woke.

That last part was my comment. Dont know why it was indented and greyed.

All is a moot point.

Star Trek is a dying franchise, ratings for both the movies and TV shows are low, viewer and critics have paned them all for some time now.

Picard is in trouble as they cannot even get insurance so cannot begin production on season 2.

Discovery is so messed up one day they say it will be renewed for season 4 the next day they say it will be cancelled.

Trek shorts bombed so badly they are now on YouTube and getting fewer views than someone picking their nose.

Season 3 of discovery isn't even going to be available anywhere outside north america.

So some genius thinks adding some transgender or non binary characters is somehow going to change things.

Why not add a talking cow and claim in the future cows reach self awareness and learn to speak.

This is a desperate gimmick move to get publicity and get people to tune in to see what it does but like all the other gimmicks they tried like bringing in Spock it will host viewers one or two episodes then drop as the shows are junk at their core.

As a long time Trekky I couldn't make it past 2 episodes of either Discovery or Picard and the JJ Abrams Trek are nothing but long boring action movies.