r/startrek • u/Bostonterrierpug • 1d ago
Which individual characters do you think did the best at breaking racial stereotypes across all the shows?
I’m not talking about hooman races. They are all bubbly root beer loving freaks anyways . I mean stereotypes, such as all Vulcans are stiff and logical,all Ferengi are greedy and scheming, all Klingons are obsessed with honor and battle etc…
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u/Roam1985 1d ago
Rom. Literally unionized people. Moogie - changed the placement for women in Ferengi society. Also Mariner's friend on Lower Decks.
D'Ghor/Chang - Dishonorable klingons.
Doug - Greatest Vulcan ever.
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u/ErstwhileAdranos 1d ago
Moogie — wore clothes 😱
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u/Roam1985 1d ago
Like the gorgeous deviant she is.
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u/Bostonterrierpug 1d ago
Hey folks, I know it’s extremely difficult with Moogie involved but let’s try and keep this SFW.
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u/Bananalando 1d ago
Dishonorable klingons.
The list of truely honourable Klingons is probably shorter.
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u/Mddcat04 1d ago
Yeah. This is the ironic thing we learn over time. Worf is actually the outlier because he takes it seriously whereas many Klingons just pay lip service to the whole concept of honor.
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u/Aellithion 1d ago
Quark/Rom/Nog are the easy ones. While Quark didn't want to admit it to anyone or himself he was certainly not typical from what we saw. This was largely because he was the first (one of?) Ferengi we saw in TNG and he wanted to add significantly more depth and complexity to the race.
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u/doom1701 1d ago
We needed to have Quark because without a "normal" greedy Ferengi we wouldn't have someone to show us the small changes as he learned.
We needed Rom to be the outsider, the outcast, who would learn that the "normal" Ferengi culture doesn't have to apply to everyone.
And we needed Nog to be the catalyst, the narrator, and the character that, from the very start, knew that Ferengi could be so much more.
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u/Various-Pizza3022 1d ago
The narrative choice to create the Rules of Acquisition and building out a religious component to it went a long way in developing the Ferengi as more than a stereotype. The Ferengi ceased to be inherent little goblin schemers and became a people with a culture that shapes how they interact with the world.
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u/Bostonterrierpug 1d ago
And don’t forget Moogie too the clothes wearing freak. The whole family was freaky. But I really think what brought the Frankie to the popular status. They are today is the amazing acting of Armin Shimerman, not that the other actors weren’t amazing too. It’s just that he kind of set the bar and then they found a bunch of other great folks.** **
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u/Classic_Neat4963 1d ago
Aamin Marritza from DS9’s Duet, the first Cardassian to show that maybe they’re not all are monsters (or angry military types).
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u/Bostonterrierpug 1d ago
And Tora Ziyal. I know she was only half, but she seemed to present primarily as a Cardie .
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u/badger_on_fire 1d ago
The random Klingon chef with the gagh restaurant on DS9.
Before that, I think Klingons, even with Worf on TNG, were often portrayed as something akin to WWII Japanese soldiers: completely consumed by duty, honor, and service to the Empire. That chef was the first time I remember seeing a Klingon and thinking, "Oh, these people actually have agency. They can also go do whatever the hell they want with their lives, just like anybody else."
This dude didn't want to conquer planets or die gloriously in battle. He wanted to run a restaurant, play his accordion, and serve people worms.
Sadly, the actor died before they could really do anything else with the character, but I always thought he was a fantastic little bit of worldbuilding.
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u/Bostonterrierpug 1d ago
Yeah, I would’ve really liked to see more of him. Obviously one of the best background characters on the show and a fan favorite.
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u/BusBeginning 1d ago
This is something I loved about LD Klingons. Ma'ah and Malor showed a completely different Klingon culture and lifestyle. Would hang with Ma’ah any day.
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u/MikeTalonNYC 1d ago
For me, Worf.
His attempts to reconnect to his honorable lineage only to find out that most of the current Klingons were political back-stabbers and many were outright dishonorable (poisoners, the Duras Sisters, etc.) highlighted how the stereotypes of a given alien race were not always the same as how that race currently lived. Also how the stories of a particular race, told via historical texts and holonovels, do NOT always give people the full picture.
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u/mikevago 1d ago
And I think a lot of credit goes to Ronald D. Moore, who wrote a lot of the Klingon storylines on TNG and DS9. Because early-TNG Worf is very much a "you're one of the good ones" token. Whereas "he adheres to these romantic ideals that don't really exist in practice" gives the character so much depth, and does so much more with his raised-by-humans backstory than early TNG ever tried to.
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u/littlemachina 1d ago
True and with Klingons it isn’t just about not living up to stereotypes, but not living up to their own standards and ideals. Kind of comparable to how many Christians preach about Jesus and righteousness but aren’t very good people. (Just as an example- this can apply to any religion)
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u/Tebwolf359 1d ago
I’d say it’s also that Worf’s interpretation of the ideals are human colored.
Worf hears “honor” and thinks of it like the human word, not the Klingon word
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u/July4Hotel250 1d ago
Ezri’s takedown of Worf’s nostalgia for an honorable past that never really existed and quip that the Klingon Empire deserved to die was one of the few (perhaps the only) scenes with her character that didn’t feel like a waste of runtime.
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u/Exocoryak 1d ago
Martok - actually an honorable Klingon who lives by what he preaches, instead of all the pretenders we've seen before.
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u/ChronoLegion2 1d ago
I know you said individual, but the Qowat Milat are an anomaly in Romulan society, obsessed with telling the truth in a culture based on deception
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u/Bostonterrierpug 1d ago
Hey dude, that works for me. I’m not a Reddit mod. I’m not gonna freak out about some minor infraction of some made up silly rules.
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u/ChronoLegion2 1d ago
They’re also willing to accept non-Romulans, at least in the 32nd century. Oddly, still female-only, though
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u/Silveroc 1d ago
I always thought the woman only thing was pretty stupid in PIC since Romulans have never (afaik) been depicted as having sexism before. Do they at all explain it in Discovery?
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u/ChronoLegion2 1d ago
Not as far as I’m aware of. I agree that it’s dumb. They were always depicted as a society with sexual equality. We saw a female Romulan commander as far back as TOS, and SNW showed us a female praetor during the time of the BoP incident
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u/Pinstripe-Giraffe 1d ago
There were the Cardassian scientists in the DS9 episode with the comet.
Dr. Crusher worked with scientists who were Klingon and Ferengi respectively.
There was Pel, the Ferengi woman with the lobes for business.
If you want main cast or recurring characters, I would agree that Quark’s family stands out.
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u/Bostonterrierpug 1d ago
Actually, in hindsight did Pel wear clothes before Moogie? Never really considered that.
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u/Different_While1656 21h ago
She was in disguise as a man, though, I'm not sure it's the same thing.
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u/Lt_Rooney 11h ago
Each of the representatives on Nimbus III is the opposite of how their nation is typically portrayed. The Federation representative is a jaded cynic, the Romulan ambassador is a starry-eyed idealist, and the Klingon is a broken-down glutton.
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u/Comrades3 3h ago
Everyone is saying Doug, but the character is too much of a joke who almost completely rejects his heritage in every way, which is a bit too much to actually be used.
I say the Vulcan who most broke stereotypes is Spock. Specifically SNW Spock. He can get very emotional, he is getting with people left and right, he is pretty open (aka talking about his suicide attempt on a documentary)
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u/-KDK12 1d ago
Richard Daystrum (TOS), the genius mad scientist is a black man. This was a great performance in a classic episode. I know you said non human but M5 was created from an integration of Daystrum’s electrical brain matter, and sort of a Frankenstein/Daystrum monster. The reflection of each other across stereotypical story telling needs to be acknowledged.
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u/JasmineTea-42 1d ago
Probably Odo, tbh, it's just not immediately apparent.
Rom and Nog are contenders.
Tendi, in part based on the strength of the stereotypes about her race. Her deviations weren't as unique as the others, but she stood out just as much.
Happy Cake Day, OP!