Brannon Braga Speaks on the Topic: Why are there no gay characters in Star Trek?

I just came across a fascinating article on After Elton.com, a lgbt new blog. They interview Brannon Braga - one of the main writers and creative minds behind Star Trek TNG, DS9, & Voyager asking him why we never saw any gay characters in Star Trek. The author of the article points out that "in 1991 Gene Roddenberry told The AdvocateThe Next Generation would at least show gay crew members as part of ship life. Unfortunately, Roddenberry died that year and none of the subsequent episodes featured gay people at all."

Here is more of the fascinating interview:

AfterElton (AE): I'm very much a fan of Star Trek but unfortunately none of the series ever included a gay character. You were involved with writing two of the movies and produced or executive produced for The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise. Can you speak to why that never happened?

BB: It was a shame for a lot of us that ... I’m talking about the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and there was a constant back and forth about well how do we portray the spectrum of sexuality. There were people who felt very strongly that we should be showing casually, you know, just two guys together in the background in Ten Forward. At the time the decision was made not to do that and I think those same people would make a different decision now because I think, you know, that was 1989, well yeah about 89, 90, 91. I have no doubt that those same creative players wouldn’t feel so hesitant to have, you know, have been squeamish about a decision like that.

AE: Why do you think science fiction, given that it’s so much forward looking, has done so poorly when it comes to being inclusive on American television?

BB: You know what’s funny is it was dealt with more metaphorically. Next Generation did a couple episodes you could say ... I worked on one for Deep Space Nine with Dax. I don’t know if I can speak to the whole genre of science fiction, certainly the Star Trek franchise as it existed at the time.

AE: Do you think 20 years ago there was a reluctance to do it because science fiction, wrongly or rightly, is perceived as being for young straight males? Were you guys concerned about that?

BB: I think it was, not so much a young man’s [issue], it was a syndicated family show, showing at six o’clock, you know, in Salt Lake City, so you had to deal with each separate affiliate rather than one network. And things like that.
It was not a forward thinking decision. Knowing the players involved, knowing the decision makers, knowing it was that they felt reluctant about, you know, we’re not saying “yes,” we’re not saying “no,” we’re not just not going to touch that right now.

AE: Do you think if the next iteration of the series or movie doesn’t go there, do gay fans have a right to be really upset at this point? After all this, if it still doesn’t go there in 2011 0r 2012...

BB: Well, I mean, the movie is such a different bird. If there were a TV series, I would agree with you. But for a movie, I personally wouldn’t. With a TV series you’re creating a whole world, you’re creating a whole. You were saying, if this is going to last for five years, and if you don’t go there, then yes you got some questions. A two-hour movie and you’re sitting there and you’re eating your popcorn, if doesn't fit ... if it’s not part of the story, it’s not part of the story. There are many things that aren’t part of the story, you know? That's my personal opinion.

Read the entire article here.

Thoughts On A Lost Doctor

Being sick has its bonuses. For example, recovering from this cold I've been able to marathon Star Trek The Next Generation on DVD. We started with season 2 on Saturday and now we're most of the way thru season 3. You may ask why we didn't start with Season 1-- this is because we already marathoned thru that last summer.

This look back at season 2 has given me the opportunity to reconsider a somewhat forgotten character in the Star Trek canon. Dr. Kate Pulaski as portrayed by Diana Muldaur. From what I understand, when the show as picked up for a 2nd season the producers failed to reach an agreement with Gates McFadden to reprise her role as Dr. Beverly Crusher. This left the Enterprise without a chief medical officer and the cast incomplete. The producers then reached out to veteran Star Trek actor Diana Muldaur who had appeared more than once in the original series. They wrote the part of Dr. Katherine Pulaski to serve as the new Chief Medical Officer. She's an interesting woman. She hates the transporter- much like Dr. McCoy did. She's stubborn- much like Dr. Crusher is. She also is given a chance for character growth. She starts off with a prejudice against Data, seeing him as a machine only and not a true lifeform. It takes a couple episodes but eventually she comes around and respects and cares for Data like the rest of us do. Muldaur does a great job playing Pulaski. To be frank, I didn't really find myself missing Dr. Crusher. It does seem strange that Wesley remains on board even though his mother has transferred to Starfleet Medical.

My biggest problem with Dr. Pulaski is how the writers wrote her out of the series. You see, they didn't. Her last episode is Shades of Gray-- an embarrassingly bad clip episode that focuses on Riker. Why couldn't Dr. Pulaski have appeared in the first episode of season 3, Evolution. We could have seen her transfer off the Enterprise with some exciting opportunity or promotion while welcoming Crusher back on board. But instead we are given NOTHING. They acknowledge that Crusher is back from her "year at Starfleet Medical" and that she missed her son Wesley while away. But there is no mention of our dear Kate. We are left wondering whatever happened to our lost Doctor, Kate Pulaski. Where oh where did she go??

Book Club!!

I'm not much of a reader. I never have been. I tend to start books and not finish them. I certainly like books. I mean I like shopping for them. I like buying them. Flipping thru them. I carry books around in my shoulder bag. I display books on my bookshelves. I dust them. But do I actually READ them? Not usually. But occasionally I find a book that really speaks to me-- a book that I want to do more than dust. When this happens I suddenly I transform into a reader for the duration for the piece. Suddenly you can find me sitting at the laundromat with my nose buried in a paperback. I read thru lunch breaks. I might sneak in a few pages while waiting for rehearsal to begin or on the train on my way home. I have to knock out a chapter before bed time. What kind of books might hold this power over me? Mainly GEEKY books! I'm hoping that Night of the Living Trekkies will fit the bill. I picked up a copy today. In the same vain as Pride, Predjudice & Zombies comes this little tale of a zombie outbreak in the most likely of places: a Star Trek convention. Perfect. Now I have my airport/beach/laudromat for the next few weeks. :) I'll have to let you all know how it goes! Stay tuned!

Oh-- and if anyone else wants to pick up a copy and read along (like Tommy is going to do) feel free to join our little book club! :) Once we've finished the book we'll have an online group chat about it! :)

Vintage Star Trek Comics!

Friends of mine stumbled onto a set of Star Trek comic book volumes at a local thrift store. Knowing that I would love such a fun pop culture find, they quickly snatched them up for me. I'm now the proud owner of the first 4 volumes of Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs published by Golden Press. Each volume contains 8 original Golden Press comic books. According to Ebay, these volumes are going for as much as $50-$60 now-a-days. Seeing as Jon & Amanda paid a dollar for each of them, I'd say they got a great deal! I read a few Star Trek comics growing up when DC Comics held the rights to publish Star Trek. I loved the movie era Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) comics back then. I've never read any of the old original comics from the 60's and 70's though. Now's my chance!

I dove into volume 1 with the eagerness of a school boy! Right off the bat I could see the differences between the comics and their on screen counterparts. The introduction was an "Identi-Fax Psycho File" on James T. Kirk. Right away I could tell Gene Rodenberry didn't have creative control over this comic. The "Identi-Fax" was drawn to look like a file folder with a paper clip in the upper corner. Roddenberry would have insisted that computers had long since replaced paper files. But moving onto the story-- the Enterprise crew are exploring "Galaxy Alpha" and report that so far they haven't found any life in the galaxy. The terminology immediately makes me cringe a bit. In Star Trek intra-Galactic travel isn't really possible. But, whatever. It's a comic book. So, let's move on. The crew goes on to explore a hostile planet ran by plants. These plants feed on animals and keep them as livestock. They see our heros as food and treat them accordingly. They also have the ability to take animals and transform them into more plant monsters-- maybe it's how they reproduce.

The idea of sentient plants is also addressed in the Star Trek Animated Series episode "Infinite Vulcan". However there the plant race, known as the Phylosians, are highly intelligent and communicate easily with the Enterprise crew. Kirk and company treat them with respect. However, in the comic book the enterprise crew see the walking plants as simply dangerous. They make no attempt to communicate with them or determine their intelligence level. They just.. well.. they kill them. They kill them all. (See image to the right).

Um.. WOW. How could this be Star Trek? The Enterprise crew's mission is to seek out new life. Well they found it! And what did they do when they found it? THEY KILLED IT! How could Gene Roddenberry have let this happen? Well, I can only assume that money had something to do with it. Paramount/Desilu owned Star Trek and could basically do what they want to with it. I bet the studio sold the comic book rights to Golden Press and gave no additional input. I did some quick wiki-reasearch on this topic and found this:

The first Star Trek comics were published by Gold Key between 1967 and 1978. Originally they were illustrated by Alberto Giolitti, an Italian artist who had never seen the series and only had publicity photos to use as references. These comics were highly stylized and diverged wildly from the TV series continuity. Writers included George Kashdan, Arnold Drake and Len Wein. (Wikipeadia)

So THAT explains it! This guy didn't know ANYTHING about Star Trek! And no wonder some all the terminology was off. Just check out this technobable:

"Laser Beam Destruct Ray"??? Don't you mean "Phasers".  "Materialize us aboard"???  Don't you mean "Beam us up". And why is Captain Kirk talking into his tricorder instead of his communicator??  It's like I'm in some kind of weird Bizaro-world where everything is slightly wrong!

*Breath*



Ok. So it's not really "Star Trek". But it is fascinating! It's a total 60's kids comic book take on the Star Trek franchise. And I love classic comic books. I mean, the Dick Tracy comic strips from the late 60's were full of "ray guns" and fun 60's pop culture ideas. The bright "POW!" "WACK!" style Batman books from the 60's gave us Batgirl (my favorite comic book heroin). So maybe if I get over the non-Roddenberry ideas in these old comic books I can really enjoy them. I mean, Star Trek can use a little of this fun child like adventure, right? After all, look how cool the transporter room (sorry, I mean the teleportation chamber) looks!

 **UPDATE**
More info about the comic: http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Planet_of_No_Return