Star Trek: Discovery Review - 6 Ups And 5 Downs From Season 1
9. Lack Of Diversity In The Main Crew
When we imagine beloved Star Trek crews, we think of Vulcans, Scotsmen, Frenchmen, Betazoids, Klingons, Russians, Trill, androids, Bajorans, Denobulans, even Ferengi and Borg. When Discovery’s main crew comes to mind, however, there’s a key difference setting it apart from the other shows of the franchise.
They’re nearly all, outside of Saru, American humans. While different ethnicities have been chosen to represent them, and with the added caveat that Phillipa Georgiou, in both forms, is portrayed by the wonderful Michelle Yeoh, the vast majority of the characters are played as American judging by their accents.
A lack of diversity in general also extends to the choices of aliens portrayed thus far. With all the available options to explore, what we have are yet more stories about Vulcans and Klingons, two of the most over-exposed aliens in Trek.
Where are the Arcturians, the Edosians, the Tellarites? How about the Ocampans? (On second thought, we’ve had enough of them). Still, there are a plethora of alien races who’ve been left comparatively under-utilised in Star Trek canon. Now’s the time to really flesh them out.
Discovery is purportedly a prequel filling in the period before The Original Series, so why focus extensively on races we’re already completely familiar with?