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Will we finally find out why women couldn't command a starship

posted 8 years ago by [deleted]
18 replies | jump to latest

In the last original series episode "Turnabout Intruder" Kirk finds an old lover, turned enemy, Dr. Janice Lester who swaps their personalities into the other's body. Kirk becomes her and she becomes him.

Eventually it is all made right again but the motive for this entire thing was that Janice Lester, and all women apparently, weren't allowed to have command of a Starfleet ship.

Since ST: Discovery is set ten years before the original series this should be explored as in Enterprise the captain of the Columbia NX-02 was Erika Hernandez who was a woman. What happened which shifted these roles making them inoperable for women for that time or is this show going to ignore the lore and take a dump on its loyal (And oddly geek-like in their attention to detail) fans?

[–] Uriel (246) 8 years ago

Maybe a woman Captain gets her period on the Bridge and it freaks out aliens so they blow up a starship full of children.

[–] naDaht (1087) 8 years ago

Because Jayneway did such a bad job...

[–] TexasJack (12516) 8 years ago

I know I'm in the minority, but I liked Janeway. Chakotay annoyed me to no end. I thought he was a terrible first officer.

[–] naDaht (1087) 8 years ago

Oh, couldn't agree more. Janeway was a great captain and Chakotay is a total bore. No way he'd be a Marquis.

[–] Otter (24464) 8 years ago

I loved Janeway too!

And it's been a long time since I've seen Dr. Janice Lester, but didn't someone say she was wrong about women not being able to command? I'm perfectly willing to believe that there were female starship captains, and Lester was so many ants short of a picnic that she'd convinced herself that the only reason she wasn't a captain was sexism, not because she was sick and batshit crazy or anything.

[–] naDaht (1087) 8 years ago

We should also take into account that this is fiction. The characters will do what the writers tell them to.

[–] TexasJack (12516) 8 years ago

He seemed like a good guy but would have been better as ship's counselor, like Deanna Troi.

[–] Rorikon (18389) 8 years ago

Janeway was a fucking bad ass Captain turned Admiral. Heck she literally had friggin anti-borg tech on her way home to the Alpha quadrant. If you been to any of the Star Trek conventions, she's awesome. I dunno about Discovery though. She might go full liberal and safe space the Klingons or make a Klingon Lives Matter :p

[–] naDaht (1087) 8 years ago

Well.. "We have engaged the Klingons" points us in a whole 'nother direction.

[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

I'm expecting autistic reeeeeeees all round in this show.

[–] naDaht (1087) 8 years ago

Forgive a poor soul who has English as a second language. What is an "autistic reeeeeeees"?

[–] therefdotcom (964) 8 years ago

i guess it is like a regular "reeeeeeees", but autistic.

[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

Exactly!

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/autistic-screeching

[–] therefdotcom (964) 8 years ago

i was being sarcastic.

[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

I was being literally autistic :p

[–] therefdotcom (964) 8 years ago

fair enough. :D

[–] thecritic (191) 8 years ago

Because it was the 60's and NBC was sexist as hell.

In the ORIGINAL pilot "The Cage" Where captain Pike was the capt, #2 as it was called then was, hold on to your hats, A WOMAN!!! *GASP* lol

So basically if anything happened to Pike boom, she'd be captain (she was played by Gene's wife who then played the nurse in TOS). Well the studio excepts could not handle this. And told Gene to make ALL the women what they were in the 60's Nurses (Nurse Chapel) or secretaries (Uhura - "communications" officer) LOL

Also in the original pilot Pike was worried about her not getting hurt since she was after all 2nd in command. Btw Spock was there too, but he was just a science officer. His character was not totally as it became in TOS. If you watch the ep he even smiles.

Anyways this ep was featured in TOS eps "The Menagerie" parts 1&2. They cut out a lot of it, but just for you to see the women WORE THE SAME EXACT OUTFITS the men wore. Top and pants. That's right PANTS! haha After NBC threatened to not do ST at all Gene made all the women dress slutty (you can see their panties lol). And they got Kirk as Capt. The original pilot was deemed 'too cerebral' for the general public. Gene made a joke about it saying sorry NBC thinks you are drooling neanderthals or something.

Yeah by season 3 NBC had basically beaten Gene down so hard he was not really in creative control anymore, and NBC took over. S1&2 were better written and more advanced.

So the last ep was SO far away from what Gene had originally intended. He WANTED men and women to be equals. And the very last ep was the most sexist tripe ever. "Silly women star ship captains are for men!" LOL

I most likely wont be watching this new show as the reboots have not been true trek.

[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

Captain Pike's own words on this one: "It's just that I can't get used to having a woman on the bridge. No offence, Lieutenant. You're different, of course."

Number Two being different could infer a great many things but still keep together the established canon of the show.

I agree with the rest of your post though TheCritic, it was just basic sexism from NBC which culminated in the final episode of TOS stating that women couldn't command a starship.