It’s so bizarre to read this in the present, knowing how incredible TNG was, but I get it - the original crew WAS Star Trek to them.

The dedicated fans revived this series in syndication, well after it had gone off the air in 1969, and felt attached to the characters that they had obsessed over between then and the 1980s. Like modern fans, they thought that departure from what they knew would ruin it.

I wish I could go back in time and tell them that TNG is going to rock.

    • Blimp7990@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Somehow every character except the black man has a name, and every actor except the black one gets a serious headshot. hmm.

      • WhoRoger@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Wdym, Burton has a normal photo and the character is named among the others. Stewart’s picture is from a performance, so also different.

        Also funny how you’re complaining about someone not getting named, and you’re just referring to him as a black man.

        • Blimp7990@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          you’re just referring to him as a black man.

          yes, in this case the pertinent piece of information is not that he is hero of all 80’s childrens’ childhoods, book advocate and reading rainbow star LeVar Burton. what matters for the point i am trying to make is that i am presuming the pov of the editor of that article: oh, hes the black guy who is gonna be the new spock. (his character name is not “the new spock”)

          its ok to do that. I don’t think LeVar Burton is going to not get the point.

          Its also a bit hard to make out, but they spell his name Lavar as well. I could see him stylizing it at some point and going from Levar to LeVar, but his name is Levardis and did not ever go by Lavar from what I can find. So, going back to my point, editor clearly ignored and deprioritized him in particular vs the white members of the cast.

          • NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It also feels like they intentionally picked that photo for contrast value: smiling so broadly when that is something “the original Spock” never did. They were going for the outrage factor, truth be damned.

    • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, who even thought that for a second?

      I grew up with Next Generation first, sitting on my dad’s lap watching the show with him.

      When I first watched TOS I remember seeing Spock and saying, “oh yeah, the original Data”.

      • T156@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Especially since Spock was often described by Bones as being a walking computer, and Data was described as an Android. It would be less of a logical leap than having Geordi be the new Spock.

      • TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I remember thinking, “I don’t wanna watch a Trek without Spock,” and then Data came along and I was hooked.

    • CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world
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      1 year ago

      Was that part of the marketing at the time, or just some bizarre leap from the author? I’m having a hard time finding any good comparisons between La Forge and Spock. In season 1 Geordi wasn’t even in engineering, let alone the science officer. He was a helmsman, so in that sense more comparable to Sulu or Chekhov, and he certainly doesn’t have anything like the relationship with the captain that Spock did.

      Is it just because he was a recognizable name at the time? It’s just a weird jump to make.