As rumors persist of Star Trek Discovery circling the drain, new rumors arise about the mysterious second Star Trek project being worked on by “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” director Nicholas Meyer. Rumors have suggested that what he was working on was a new series to replace STD after its first – and only – season; perhaps trying to make STD into an “anthology” series, where each season is something entirely new. While certainly possible (“American Horror Story” does that), it has been assumed that this approach was simply a way for CBS to save face, a “we always meant to do that” after the disastrous decisions made for STD.
But in the fact-deficient article linked HERE, a new idea is proposed: what Meyer is working on is a miniseries featuring Khan Noonian Singh, the genetically enhanced super-jackwagon from the TOS episode “Space Seed” and Star Trek II. It is surmised that the miniseries takes place between those two while Khan & Co. are stranded on Ceti Alpha V.
On one hand… kinda meh (yet another Trek into its own past, rather than pushing into the future; a story about people the audience can’t really relate to dumped on a backwater planet with no technology). On the other hand, Nick Meyers. On the gripping hand, it’s *apparently* a miniseries, which means a beginning, middle and end.
In Star Trek Into Darkness, Khan was inexplicably played by Benedict Cumberbatch, i.e. Whitey McWhiteguy. Khan was a Sikh (who’d originally been played by a Mexican of Spanish ancestry). So I suppose that in the miniseries he could be played by a Korean fella. But it would be nice to have Khan played by someone who actually fit the part… either a convincing Sikh, or someone who made a good Ricardo Montalban. Any suggestions?
About that last point: as the rumors of STD sucking have grown (aided by the reveals of plot points that are questionable at best), CBS has taken to using the Ghostbusters: 2016 defense playbook: accuse the haters of being misogynists/alt-righters/racists/whatever because the main character is a black woman. It’s easier to deflect than defend, though that strategy didn’t work that well for Sony & Feig. As part of the deflection, reference is always made to the history of Star Trek being “progressive,” featuring multicultural crews and such. Well, here’s the thing: while it is undeniably true that TOS was well ahead of the curve and featured, for the time, an astonishingly multi-ethnic cast, it was anything but multi-cultural. Virtually everyone came from the same culture, a Federation that came off as a somewhat smoothed-over version of the United States. Uhura, for example, came from somewhere in Africa… but she spoke with an American accent and behaved as if she was raised in American culture. The only accents to be found were on Scotty and Chekov. The only distinctly different culture to be found on board was Spocks Vulcan – importantly, non-human – culture. When Next Gen rolled around, the same situation held true; the only distinctly different culture on display was the Klingon. While the religious affiliations of the crew didn’t come up much on TOS, it was clear that by the time of TNG, all humans (supposedly) had the same religious views, which is one of the more unlikely predictions made on that show.
Look out, Uhura, there’s someone behind you…
A convincing case that Uhura is STEM, not LibArts.