TrekWeb.com - Bryan Fuller Says Gay Characters Were Considered for Star Trek Voyager

Bryan Fuller Says Gay Characters Were Considered for Star Trek Voyager

By GustavoLeao / 03:16, 10 April 2008 / Voyager

AfterElton.com posted an exclusive interview with former Star Trek Voyager writer/producer Bryan Fuller, in which he talks about gay characters in his TV Shows. Here is an excerpt of the article.

According to the article, Fuller wasn't so excited about a "gay" script that was rattling around for Voyager when he was part of the show.

"There was a pregnant ensign - Ensign Wildman - and she was going to have gay godparents to her child," said Fuller, explaining the show's potential plotline - that never got made. But Fuller found the characters so two-dimensional that he wasn't disappointed it didn't air: "It sounds weird to say - but I was kind of glad they didn't do it the way it was written. Because it became really cliché."

The Star Trek Hidden Frontier fan series is known for its huge take on homosexuality in Star Trek, by featuring two openly gay main characters - Lt. Commander Corey Aster, and Lieutenant Commander Ro Nevin. HF, while not focusing solely on the gay aspect of these characters, integrated them into the various plots and situations, to see how they would deal in 24th century society. Lieutenant Commander Ro Nevin (photo), now acting captain of the starship Odyssey in the fan series Star Trek Odyssey is the first (non-canon) gay starfleet captain.

Plus, the fan series Star Trek Phase II will introduce gay characters in Kirk's Enterprise, for their next episode titled "Blood and Fire", written by David Gerrold, from an aborted TNG script.

‘Blood and Fire" features a Gay couple, but it is not about being gay." Phase II actor/producer James Cawley said at TrekMovie message board "They just happen to be gay and caught up in the unusual circumstances that are happening on the ship. To everyone else on the Enterprise, they are just a normal couple who are in love with one another. Their have been many openly gay folks who have contributed to Star Trek's creation over the last 40 or so years. It is time that they are included in Trek's optimistic vision of the future, That is my prime reason in doing this episode, that and keeping Gene's promise that gay people would be included in Trek."

The full interview with Fuller can be found here.

A TrekWeb interview with actor Brandon McConnell, who plays the gay character Lieutenant Commander Ro Nevin in Odyssey, can be found here.

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RE: Roddenberry Was Right | Report this post to moderator
By: Yesterday's Lemmiwinks (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:19:21 on Apr 11, 2008

Yes, I was guessing -- And I honestly apologize if I offended in any way.

You're mired in the present day.

I am unable to live in any day but today. The only way we make tomorrow as bright as you're suggesting is to try to make today better. Sometimes that involves fighting with a system that doesn't currently accept you.

I would echo Kirok's point below: Trek has always and forever been about examining today's issues and situations... and rather bluntly, at that. The genre of science fiction in general is a tool to pose the tough questions without directly addressing their present-day counterparts.

Where it's an agenda.

...as much as the pursuit of equality, happiness, and fulfillment can be considered an "agenda." While it likely fits the definition, using that word smacks of the opposition to the cause. I'm sure people could call the 20th century civil rights movement an agenda -- But why would they want to?

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"A billion robot lives are about to be extinguished! Oh, the Jedis are going to feel this one..."
-Hubert Farnsworth (Futurama: Crimes of the Hot)
----
"The Andorian Mining Consortium runs from no one!"
-Shran (ENT: Proving Ground)

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RE: Roddenberry Was Right | Report this post to moderator
By: IamKirok!!! (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:14:06 on Apr 11, 2008

Star Trek( at its best, when its not being weighed down by Borg/Space War ideas) has always been about taking social and moral issues of our present time, and placing them in a venue we can watch, enjoy and speculate about the rights and wrongs.

It's never been the kind of sci-fi that tries to approximate what things will really be like in the 23rd century. Never.

I thought that the Bev Crusher and Trill episode of TNG was a great way to start to approach the subject. In the end, he(the Trill) was a she, and Bev's lines brilliantly stated that she wished she could make that leap, and still love her, but she couldnt.

Now, if someone is only seeking to move an agenda forward, then they'd say that outcome was a copout. But I thought her saying she wished she could do it, was more moving and more true to the story, which was about love.

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RE: Roddenberry Was Right by msspurlock @ 15:40:17 on Apr 12
    RE: Roddenberry Was Right by IamKirok!!! @ 16:13:57 on Apr 12
       RE: Roddenberry Was Right by msspurlock @ 17:00:42 on Apr 12
          RE: Roddenberry Was Right by IamKirok!!! @ 05:59:34 on Apr 13
             RE: Roddenberry Was Right by msspurlock @ 09:30:37 on Apr 13

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RE: Roddenberry Was Right | Report this post to moderator By: Yesterday's Lemmiwinks (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:19:21 on Apr 11, 2008

RE: Roddenberry Was Right | Report this post to moderator By: IamKirok!!! (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:14:06 on Apr 11, 2008

RE: Roddenberry Was Right | Report this post to moderator
By: Yesterday's Lemmiwinks (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:19:21 on Apr 11, 2008

RE: Roddenberry Was Right | Report this post to moderator
By: IamKirok!!! (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:14:06 on Apr 11, 2008