Strange Discoveries
WARNING! WARNING! Danger, Will Robinson! I'm going to talk about Star Trek: Discovery, so if you're not up to speed on the latest episodes and don't want to be spoiled, turn back now! In fact, at the moment I'm just typing enough stuff so that the link on my Facebook page won't give anything away. Blah blah biddy blah, I'm so stuffy hand me a scone. And never eat pears.
By the way, does anyone else think that spin-around thing the Discovery saucer section does is really silly?
Okay, that should do it.
Discovery is back from its midseason hiatus now. Actually, I'm a week behind, having just seen the January 7 episode last night. And what a surprise it was. Not all the stuff with the Mirror Universe, as I'd already read about that. I'm referring to the scene where Doctor Culber gets killed out of nowhere. Doctor Hugh Culber, one half of Trek's first canon gay couple, partner of Lieutenant Paul Stamets. I found myself having flashbacks to days of fandom past.
I've written many times about my days in Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom and how the story of Willow and Tara played out. Back in 2002, the "Bury Your Gays" trope wasn't as well-known, although the people I was hanging out with online certainly knew about it. Now here it is again. Another gay couple, another character killed off. Or is it?
After watching the episode, I went online to look for reviews and reactions, and it was almost funny to see the number of interviews where actor Wilson Cruz, who plays Culber, director Jonathan Frakes, and the Discovery writers and showrunners fall all over themselves to assure viewers they didn't see what they saw. It's science fiction! Deaths aren't permanent! We know all about the "Bury Your Gays" tope, and of course we wouldn't do that! One of our showrunners is gay! Of course he wouldn't do that! And hey, did we mention GLAAD was okay with it?
Imagine you're driving home one night, and just as you're about to turn into your driveway, your house blows up. As you're standing there watching the flaming debris, someone comes out holding the detonator switch, and tells you, "Hey, it's all right! Houses blowing up aren't permanent! Look, I live in a house too, so you can't think I was doing anything wrong. And did I mention the homeowners association was okay with it?" How would you react? Even if they build you a brand new house that's even better than the old one, you can't unsee the sight of the smoldering ruin. You can't unexperience the experience of watching your old house blow up.
Trek fans have been asking for LGBT inclusion in the franchise for decades. Literally. I can remember hearing about it at conventions in the early 90s. Now they finally have it, and this is what happens. Even if it's not permanent, even if there's some timey-wimey thing that makes it all better, it still happened. What is seen cannot be unseen, and what is experienced cannot be unexperienced. And the fact that the showrunner is gay and they all knew the history they were playing into only makes it worse. They should have known better.
But what does my opinion matter? I don't have a personal stake in the matter. I'm more of a concerned bystander. But I'm also a writer, and I know what inclusion and representation and imagery are all about. They're important to me. And I learned that from Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry.
This turn of events doesn't help my overall opinion of Discovery, which I've been on the fence about. I think they're trying too hard to be "edgy" and "gritty," trying to imitate what Trek alumnus Ron Moore did with Battlestar Galactica. With Star Trek, it doesn't work. It wouldn't work with Doctor Who either, which is why, when Russell T. Davies wanted an edgier, grittier version of Doctor Who, he created Torchwood. There's already been a grittier, edgier Star Trek. It was called Deep Space Nine. They don't need another.
That said, I'll probably stick with the show at least through the season, if for no other reason than I'd like to see how they explain the starship Discovery's existence in the Trek universe. We already know there's no "spore drive" in the Federation's future, and now the Discovery crew is learning a lot about the Mirror Universe that you'd think Captain Kirk would have known about when he went there. So there are still riddles and mysteries to be solved. I just hope it's worth the trip.
By the way, does anyone else think that spin-around thing the Discovery saucer section does is really silly?
Okay, that should do it.
Discovery is back from its midseason hiatus now. Actually, I'm a week behind, having just seen the January 7 episode last night. And what a surprise it was. Not all the stuff with the Mirror Universe, as I'd already read about that. I'm referring to the scene where Doctor Culber gets killed out of nowhere. Doctor Hugh Culber, one half of Trek's first canon gay couple, partner of Lieutenant Paul Stamets. I found myself having flashbacks to days of fandom past.
I've written many times about my days in Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom and how the story of Willow and Tara played out. Back in 2002, the "Bury Your Gays" trope wasn't as well-known, although the people I was hanging out with online certainly knew about it. Now here it is again. Another gay couple, another character killed off. Or is it?
After watching the episode, I went online to look for reviews and reactions, and it was almost funny to see the number of interviews where actor Wilson Cruz, who plays Culber, director Jonathan Frakes, and the Discovery writers and showrunners fall all over themselves to assure viewers they didn't see what they saw. It's science fiction! Deaths aren't permanent! We know all about the "Bury Your Gays" tope, and of course we wouldn't do that! One of our showrunners is gay! Of course he wouldn't do that! And hey, did we mention GLAAD was okay with it?
Imagine you're driving home one night, and just as you're about to turn into your driveway, your house blows up. As you're standing there watching the flaming debris, someone comes out holding the detonator switch, and tells you, "Hey, it's all right! Houses blowing up aren't permanent! Look, I live in a house too, so you can't think I was doing anything wrong. And did I mention the homeowners association was okay with it?" How would you react? Even if they build you a brand new house that's even better than the old one, you can't unsee the sight of the smoldering ruin. You can't unexperience the experience of watching your old house blow up.
Trek fans have been asking for LGBT inclusion in the franchise for decades. Literally. I can remember hearing about it at conventions in the early 90s. Now they finally have it, and this is what happens. Even if it's not permanent, even if there's some timey-wimey thing that makes it all better, it still happened. What is seen cannot be unseen, and what is experienced cannot be unexperienced. And the fact that the showrunner is gay and they all knew the history they were playing into only makes it worse. They should have known better.
But what does my opinion matter? I don't have a personal stake in the matter. I'm more of a concerned bystander. But I'm also a writer, and I know what inclusion and representation and imagery are all about. They're important to me. And I learned that from Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry.
This turn of events doesn't help my overall opinion of Discovery, which I've been on the fence about. I think they're trying too hard to be "edgy" and "gritty," trying to imitate what Trek alumnus Ron Moore did with Battlestar Galactica. With Star Trek, it doesn't work. It wouldn't work with Doctor Who either, which is why, when Russell T. Davies wanted an edgier, grittier version of Doctor Who, he created Torchwood. There's already been a grittier, edgier Star Trek. It was called Deep Space Nine. They don't need another.
That said, I'll probably stick with the show at least through the season, if for no other reason than I'd like to see how they explain the starship Discovery's existence in the Trek universe. We already know there's no "spore drive" in the Federation's future, and now the Discovery crew is learning a lot about the Mirror Universe that you'd think Captain Kirk would have known about when he went there. So there are still riddles and mysteries to be solved. I just hope it's worth the trip.
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