dragonyphoenix: Blackadder looking at scraps of paper, saying "It could use a beta" (Blackadder)
dragonyphoenix ([personal profile] dragonyphoenix) wrote2015-05-15 12:47 pm
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So this has been bugging me for a while (The Wrath of Uhura)

In the second movie of the Star Trek reboot, both Spock and Kirk fear the wrath of Uhura. Really? Because compared to almost any woman in the Babylon 5 universe - Ivonova, Delenn, Lyta Alexander, Number 1, Dodger - Uhura seems ineffectual. The original Star Trek broke boundaries. Much as I enjoy the reboot, it portrays and supports some damned outdated stereotypes.



[identity profile] beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com 2015-05-15 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I've never seen Babylon 5, but that clip is awesome.

I guess it's partly a paradox: that once a particular trope - say, the Strong Female Character - has become widely accepted, producers don't have to work as hard to "sell" it to the audience... so rather than go to the trouble of writing the actual article, they just have to inform viewers that "Here is the Strong Female Character of our show" and their work is done.

[identity profile] dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com 2015-05-15 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I think my problem with Uhura is her "Guys. Stop it." It's just so ineffective.

In B5, Ivonova would have been the one stopping the fight with one whistle. Or Dodger would have been in the middle of it, decking guys right and left. I'd be okay with saying Uhura was the strong female character if they didn't write her as a very not strong character.

And B5 is awesome. I highly recommend it.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2015-05-15 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, nothing the Star Trek reboot Uhura does can match up to "I am the right hand of vengeance" or the other BB5 classic: "Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with the Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

[identity profile] dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com 2015-05-15 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, I knew there was an awesome Delenn quote! *grin*

[identity profile] devo79.livejournal.com 2015-05-28 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I really disliked how very boring the female characters were in the new Star Trek movies.

I mean, Uhura mostly bitches about relationship problems with Spock when she should have been kicking ass all the way through. And that other woman (see, I can't even remember her name) was mostly there so she could drop her clothes and look offended when Kirk looked. *sighs*

Firefly did great with the female characters as well.

[identity profile] dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com 2015-05-28 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Firefly did great with the female characters as well. Agreed. I just happened to be rewatching B5 when my roomie broke out the Star Trek DVDs.