Yep, they're making Sulu gay.

[unixknight]

According to this article, they'll establish that Sulu is gay in the new Trek movie.

Perhaps paradoxically, George Takei is against it.  Apparently he felt it would have been better to introduce a new character if they wanted to have someone be gay.  I imagine he feels that way for the same reason I do:  It's already been established that Sulu liked girls.

We all assumed it was only a matter of time before Trek started having openly gay characters... It's all the rage in Hollywood these days.  The problem is to do a retcon on a previously straight character feels like a contrived political move rather than a natural reflection of contemporary culture.  It's like they're saying "LOOK HOW PROGRESSIVE WE ARE!  WE'RE MAKING THIS WELL KNOWN CHARACTER GAY!  SEE?  WE HAVE LGBT CRED!"

We'll see how it goes, I guess.

[Still_Small_Voice]

I was a big Star Trek fan.  I used to want to see the Star Trek Beyond movie.  Now they are changing the characters and that turns me off especially since this was done in the name of political correctness.  I don't want to see the movie anymore now.

[The Folk Prophet]

I still want to see the movie. But I won't. I'm sad about it. But I won't do it.

Boycott!

[NeuroTypical]

*shrug*

Don't care.  Hollywood does what it thinks it needs to, and always has.  The original trekkies were trekkies, often despite the network executives telling Gene what America needed to watch.  

I can remain a trekkie despite the GenX/Y panderers and new cultural rainbow sexuality norms.  I realized this back in 1995 when ST:DS9 pushed one of the first 'two women kissing on television' stories on us, just because they wanted to keep their "we also did the first televised interracial kiss" momentum.  

Wow.  That was over two decades ago.  Great - now I'm old.  

StarTrek has also done polygamy, polyandry, a race with three genders (with one being the oppressed 'stay in the bedroom' gender), and the race where everyone has three husbands who each have three wives.  Heck, ST:TNG back in 1987 had the Edo, who run around in togas and have sex and the drop of a hat. ("Any hat." -Geordi) 

If you're just getting around to being offended at ST's over-the-top sexuality, you may wish to evaluate your standing as a fan of the show.

Edited July 14, 2016 by NeuroTypical

[NeuroTypical]

Charles "Trip" Tucker got pregnant in ST:Enterprise...  

"On Ferenginar, pregnancy is considered a rental"...

Honestly folks, from where I'm standing, ST has been a major force for over three decades in getting US culture acquainted with the notion that genders and sexual preference and mommies and daddies don't matter. 

[Guest MormonGator]

1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

*shrug*

Don't care.  

That's the best response to it, really. Besides all you Trekkies are geeks. 

(totally playing, my car license plate is a Star Wars reference and I have the rebel alliance logo tattooed on my leg. So it's a total joke! Nothing but love for Trekkies!) 

[unixknight]

I'm sorry... I'm too much of a Trekkie not to do this...

2 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

 Heck, ST:TNG back in 1987 had the Edo, who run around in togas and have sex and the drop of a hat. ("Any hat." -Geordi)

Tasha Yar said that.  Geordi set it up.

2 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

If you're just getting around to being offended at ST's over-the-top sexuality, you may wish to evaluate your standing as a fan of the show.

I didn't say I was offended.  I'm annoyed because this won't be the first time Trek took a hamfisted approach to pander, rather than be relevant. 

Star Trek has always been at its best when they just show stuff without making a big deal of it.  Think of Lt. Uhura in the original series.  Did anyone ever mention that she was black?  One time.  Once, when they had a copy of Abraham Lincoln he commented, but it was handled very positively.  The first interracial kiss was in Trek, but in-universe the fact that it was interracial wasn't even mentioned nor was it relevant.

This reminds me of the TNG episode "The Outcast" which was a preachy, pro-gay story that was clumsy and obvious, and was a failure as an episode.

[Guest MormonGator]

6 minutes ago, unixknight said:

I'm sorry... I'm too much of a Trekkie not to do this...

Tasha Yar said that.  Geordi set it up.

I didn't say I was offended.  I'm annoyed because this won't be the first time Trek took a hamfisted approach to pander, rather than be relevant. 

Star Trek has always been at its best when they just show stuff without making a big deal of it.  Think of Lt. Uhura in the original series.  Did anyone ever mention that she was black?  One time.  Once, when they had a copy of Abraham Lincoln he commented, but it was handled very positively.  The first interracial kiss was in Trek, but in-universe the fact that it was interracial wasn't even mentioned nor was it relevant.

This reminds me of the TNG episode "The Outcast" which was a preachy, pro-gay story that was clumsy and obvious, and was a failure as an episode.

Again you hit it out of the park. The bigger issue is that Hollywood rarely uses the "soft sell" approach when they get into social justice causes. They preach and force it down our throats. But Hollywood is so quick to bash preaching if it doesn't come from them, huh? 

[unixknight]

I'm actually building a website that is an analysis of the imagery and meaning of every Star Trek episode, as well as a morality analysis.  My first few prototype reviews are up, all from the first season of Next Generation.

My motive, to be honest, is I've always wanted an excuse to re-watch them all and do a critical analysis.  I love Star Trek... so much...

Edited July 14, 2016 by unixknight

[Connie]

41 minutes ago, unixknight said:

I'm actually building a website that is an analysis of the imagery and meaning of every Star Trek episode, as well as a morality analysis.  My first few prototype reviews are up, all from the first season of Next Generation.

My motive, to be honest, is I've always wanted an excuse to re-watch them all and do a critical analysis.  I love Star Trek... so much...

Hi, unixknight. Would you be willing to post a link to your website? or message it to me if you're not comfortable with that? My hubby is interested.

[unixknight]

Sure!  I think it may be against forum rules to promote other sites on the boards but I  think it's fine if I PM it to ya. 

Edited July 14, 2016 by unixknight

[NeuroTypical]

 

 

[anatess2]

I don't like that Battlestar Galactica made Starbuck a woman.

I don't like that Star Trek made Suly gay.

But then... we now have whatever it is that made Capt Kirk rise from the dead.  I guess now they can just do whatever.  This series is D E A D dead.

[Guest]

So Takei, who is gay, played a straight Sulu.  But Cho, who is straight, is going to play a gay Sulu...

[Guest MormonGator]

11 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

So Takei, who is gay, played a straight Sulu.  But Cho, who is straight, is going to play a gay Sulu...

Go figure! lol. 

[tesuji]

Big Star Trek fan. I don't like it.

Yeah, I guess, as people have pointed out, it's amazing there hasn't been more gayness in Star Trek, since they've bent most other traditions besides that.

First, let's assume "gayness" is a real thing. Some people feel they are gay, somewhere on the continuum between gay and straight. I can accept that they feel that way. So I'm prepared to accept that it's a real thing.

However, people acting in a sexual way toward people of the same gender - that I dislike seeing in a movie. It's anti-entertainment for me. And it's against the teachings of the church. I'm tired of it in the media.

So Sulu is gay in the reboot. I guess with a reboot you can do anything. Maybe Sulu just recently decided/realized he was gay.... 

What matters to me is how much they push it in my face. If he's gay, I can tolerate that. I'll cringe and put up with it, because I love Star Trek. But if they show him kissing men or worse, then the entertainment value plummets. That will test my love of Star Trek.

Edited July 14, 2016 by tesuji

[dahlia]

5 hours ago, unixknight said:

This reminds me of the TNG episode "The Outcast" which was a preachy, pro-gay story that was clumsy and obvious, and was a failure as an episode.

Was that the one about the gender-neutral planet and the person who thought she was female?

I don't care about a gay Sulu. It would be great if the movies kept to the canon, but once I saw Spock kiss Uhura, it was all over as far as keeping things the same. 

I used to go to the conventions and drag my son with me. I used ST references in my doctoral comps (failures of rational decision-making:see Vulcans). Given my background, I should be a purist, but I'm not. Although, as much as I like Benedict Cumberbatch, nowadays there's no reason not to use an ethnic person when the character is named 'Singh.'

[unixknight]

6 minutes ago, dahlia said:

Was that the one about the gender-neutral planet and the person who thought she was female?

Yep, that's the one.

[Jamie123]

On ‎14‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 3:45 AM, unixknight said:

According to this article, they'll establish that Sulu is gay in the new Trek movie.

Perhaps paradoxically, George Takei is against it.  Apparently he felt it would have been better to introduce a new character if they wanted to have someone be gay.  I imagine he feels that way for the same reason I do:  It's already been established that Sulu liked girls.

We all assumed it was only a matter of time before Trek started having openly gay characters... It's all the rage in Hollywood these days.  The problem is to do a retcon on a previously straight character feels like a contrived political move rather than a natural reflection of contemporary culture.  It's like they're saying "LOOK HOW PROGRESSIVE WE ARE!  WE'RE MAKING THIS WELL KNOWN CHARACTER GAY!  SEE?  WE HAVE LGBT CRED!"

We'll see how it goes, I guess.

"Coronation Street" nowadays has a ridiculous over-representation of gays:

1. Billy - an Anglican priest (!!!) His sexuality is disapproved of by his bishop.
2. Sean - barman. Boyfriend of Billy. The archetypal "gay best friend". A bit clueless.
3. Todd - clever and manipulative (a bit like Thomas in Downton Abbey). He went through a phase of being truly horrible, but is improving now)
4. Kate - daughter of factory owner Johnny Connor
5. Caz (presumably short for "Caroline") - soldier-girl. Girlfriend of Kate, of whom she is over-possessive and rather manipulative.
6. Sophie - daughter of car mechanic Kevin. Classic tomboyish lesbian. Quite religious. Caz's rival for the affections of Kate.

Of these, I would say that Billy, Sean, Kate and Sophie are "nice" characters while Todd and Caz are "not so nice". We've gone a long way (I suppose) if writers are now comfortable creating two gay antagonists in a show - so long as they are balanced by twice as many sympathetic gays.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Jamie123

[Traveler]

 

Someday many will wonder and ask how it was that "things" so obviously important got so out of control.  The answer will be - it started with things that were thought at the time to not really matter all that much.

 

The Traveler