Has Trek become too safe?

[Makeshift Python]

The Berman era certainly went way beyond just playing it safe with LGBT representation. The shows were practically too petrified to acknowledge the mere existence of gay characters, and the only real instance was in the evil mirror universe, which is as problematic as making John Cho Sulu gay.

[Yukaphile]

Exactly. Dax was a good allegory for a trans/bi woman, though, and in that sense, she's still superior to STD. That said, her only flaw was not dating women. And I do ship Garak and Bashir.

[Karha of Honor]

Oh no... please don't tell me this isn't more "Trek is pandering to SJWs" crap? Trek has always been forward-thinking and progressive, with the possible exception of women's rights, but then, blame Gene. Or LGBT representation, which hey, reached its peak in the 1990s.

If you wanna throw down. Qoute me.

[Yukaphile]

If that's a requirement, I'll pass, thanks.

[Karha of Honor]

If that's a requirement, I'll pass, thanks.

If you don't do that don't you act passive agressive?

It takes just a second.

[clearspira]

Exactly. Dax was a good allegory for a trans/bi woman, though, and in that sense, she's still superior to STD. That said, her only flaw was not dating women. And I do ship Garak and Bashir.

Sorry mate but you did not prove that in the other thread.

[Karha of Honor]

If that's a requirement, I'll pass, thanks.

I was abou to talk about how i hate how Starfleet is not idealistic anymore.

[Yukaphile]

I don't have to prove it. It's my interpretation of the character. But if you wanna debate it, we can.

[Nessus]

As far as fanwanking goes though, I actually would love to see the Gorn, and not in that cheesy CGI rendition they got in ENT. I want to see that shitty bug-eyed design from TOS. Slightly updated is fine, but that abomination that was cut from Trek '09 was a travesty. Give me bug-eyed lizardman now.

Yes! Every time the Gorn have shown up in a modern version (to what little degree they have), the producers always seem to miss the point and turn them into another lithe velocerapter-ish creature.

I feel like an important part of the iconic "look" of the Gorn is that sort of weird angular beefiness. Even STO got it wrong: STO Gorn are beefy, but they're just regular human "superhero" bodies with a crocodile skin texture. Proper Gorn= beefy, with a thick core and slightly angular silhouette to the muscles, horizontally flat muzzle (like a lizard, not vertically flat like a dinosaur), skin like thick buffed leather (not scaled), and compound eyes.

Of course, a real race of people would have differences between them. We can have both beefy and agile Gorn.

Yeah, fair enough, especially given what I've recently written in another thread here. I'm on record as not being a planet of hats advocate, nor fond of the tendency to Flanderize whole species/cultures based on their first appearance (lookin' at you, Predator fans), so it'd be disingenuous of me to argue.

I've just always had the mental image that that's how Gorn are built. Like, a lithe Gorn is sort of like a lithe elephant. They might see a big difference, but would we? But fair point: that one in "Arena" might just as likely be like Gorn Dave Bautista for all we really know.

[Yukaphile]

So the Gorn from Enterprise could be the warriors, and again, the Captain's race would be built for the ruling class. That's actually a great way to reconcile the continuity error. Would modern Trek writers take this approach? I'm not confident. But just imagine that thing, which looks like a giant Sangheili, tearing through people in modern Trek, kicking ass and taking names? Shit, could probably even beat the goddamn Jem'Hadar one-on-hand. Just... WOW.