Wow, that’s a lot of negativity towards both fancasting and idols. But I appreciate your laying out your perspective.

This fancasting done with humorous intent, as one can tell by the original post text that I have included as well as the Chanel visor (since cdrama ‘traffic stars’ are known for being global brand ambassadors of high fashion houses).

So the joke is falling flat with you. The question is “Why?”

Star Trek fans always propose their ideas for new characters in the franchise and even for recasts. It’s nothing new. It’s done in the spirit of fun.

And it’s never taken particularly seriously by those who make casting decisions or we would have seen very different actors cast in all of the shows and movies over the past 50+ years of the continuing franchise. Especially, as many or most of the actors fancast are not any more skilled than idol actors — while on the other hand, the most recent Star Trek shows, that have consistently cast actors with good foundations and craft, have experienced the most fan negativity about casting.

What’s different about fancasting popularity idol ‘traffic stars’ from China vs the usual fancasting of A or B list American actors?

What I found different, and amusing, is that it’s a fancasting crossover from two very different entertainment contexts. It’s challenging assumptions with popular faces, known to the younger cdrama audience.

What’s also amusing to me is that it implicitly pokes fun at Star Trek’s baked-in tendency to cast at least some of the roles on the basis of physical attractiveness, despite its aspirational nature — and recognizes that there has been fan blowback when diversity in looks and body types are included.

I’m absolutely with you that Star Trek needs to be more inclusive of Asian actors, and generally inclusive of more non US actors to really have global reach.

The US-centric mindset of those at senior levels in charge of the franchise since Roddenberry, as well as the embedded American Exceptionalism, is a principal reason it’s cinematic features aren’t capable of making adequate profit margins.

Anime, kdramas and now cdramas, all are rising in global popularity, especially among GenZ and among young women. That’s a global trend affecting the audience that Star Trek needs to share in to survive. What’s the problem with considering what the franchise would need to do to compete with these?

Yes, there are other serious actors in Chinese film and television, as well as other Asian countries. And hopefully as the young audience that is interested in cdramas matures, they may broaden their horizons and taken productions that are more focused on quality than personal beauty.

However, it’s also true that very few, even among those who graduate from China’s top theatre and performing arts programs go directly into serious roles. Very few have the resources to create their own independent production companies. Most are contracted by agencies, with their careers managed by them — with enormous financial penalties if they seek to become independent or move agencies. Most are in their 30s before they can break into more serious film and television roles.

Let’s face it, Star Trek has historically put the most seasoned actors, with theatrical credits, in the Captain chair but the rest of the ensemble has typically been a mix of with less experienced actors included. Many legacy roles were cast with actors of an equivalent skill level to idols.

It’s very welcome to have an Asian actor of Michelle Yeoh’s calibre in a captain’s chair, but Sulu and Kim, in 60 years of the franchise, should not remain the only East Asian main ensemble characters. More, future casting of characters with Japanese, Korean or Chinese biographies should consider hiring actors who are from those countries rather than exclusively Americans with that heritage.

All to say, it’s an interesting discussion. Appreciate the engagement.

If you aren’t aware that there is a certain amount of directed compositing in many CGI engines for vfx and game design, I don’t know what to say.

Using generated render to rough up an idea can be part of the process.

The creator is a professional vfx artist who was playing, and has included a watermark for that reason.

Yes, AI is part of their toolkit, but these were not just a case of asking a gen AI tool fabricate something.

Got it.

I generally think of the vertical market niche as under 25, not a large slice of the fediverse.

I don’t see though how vertical pagination is much different than social media on phones, which we’re all fairly accustomed to.

I don’t think this is targeted to our age group at all.

The vertical format is grown in anime and Asian dramas as well.

China is starting to be competitive with vertical short dramas specifically produced for the US market.

This is interesting.

The vertical manga/manha/manhua format is where new GenZ audiences can be found.

As with other wild populations, the animals’ health, ecological sustainability and whether they are reservoirs of infectious disease would be the paramount concern.

Not sure that the current provincial government has the credibility in evidence-based decision making to be able to sustain any interventions.

As Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Carignan is a General not a Lieutenant General.

It’s really unfortunate when a basic error doesn’t get caught in the vetting of an article as it undermines the rest of the story.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/organizational-structure/chief-defence-staff/cds-bio.html

I’m down for this one.

The link has just gone to my partner for upcoming gift occasions 😉.

Getting into the panels / speaker sessions was always my top priority.

Sometimes they have sessions with production or other behind the scenes creatives. Those are always amazing.

The vendor hall is always worth checking out and it’s fun to mill about and see the cosplayers.

Depending on whether you like that sort of thing or not, paying to meet and get a photo with a cast member or to get an autograph (usually two separate things) is a popular activity.

While I won’t be travelling to the US anytime soon, I think it’s great that Creation is getting back into regional cons.

I used to attend them in the late 80s and early 90s and they were a great entry point for newer fans and those who didn’t want the mass experience of something like STLV.

I think that they do more to build a franchise for the long haul than the megacons.

That makes sense!

Definitely there was local control over availability. I recall shopping for gifts and seeing walls of SW toys but no Trek in Ottawa.

Even in Canada, I don’t recall that they had wide distribution. They were also marked up quite a bit from the US price (well beyond the exchange rate). I saw them mainly in specialty stores, not Toys R US and department stores.

That was a very time limited counter example, and were largely unavailable outside the US.

And it may be a really important factor in explaining the loyalty of millennial guys in the US to the franchise vs other demographics and countries.

Class sizes are up and supports are down.

Now attendance requirements for grades are being instituted.

It doesn’t occur to the government to enquire about why students are avoiding or refusing school attendance.

It looks like a 1970s toy. . . Which makes sense given who their target market is.

I would take it as another sign that the franchise has aged out were it not for the fact that it’s always had awful merchandising and licensing.

Let’s be frank that it was a male-gaze titillation to sell the show much like the frequency of ripped tunics and visible muscles were intended for women viewers. Both were introduced after the ‘more cerebral’ pilot of ‘The Cage.’

In any case, mini skirts were a fashion trend that constrained women and girls as much as ‘liberated’ them — Especially, as garters and stockings rather than pantyhose were the norm at the time. Looking at TOS now, I wonder if the show had to order specially made pantyhose or ultra fine tights.

While it was good for women and girls to be out of the 1950s tight-waisted skirts with crinolines so profound that they had to increase the spacing between lab benches and cooking class units (as was explained to me when I hit junior high), mini skirts meant that women and girls were constantly monitoring their exposure.

It’s no surprise that ‘pantsuits’ became an acceptable fashion option by 1970 and pantyhose rapidly replaced stockings.

There are industrial/cargo transporter platforms as well as industrial fabricator/replicators.

Perhaps only the ones in humanoid transport pads are set with the highest level defaults?

The averaging is the difference between a replicator and the absolute precision of a transporter.

The transporter has the level of precision and memory capacity to perfectly replicate real food.

The replicator is just a close approximation. It’s controlled for food safety and nutrition but the sense of smell and taste may be able to distinguish the food from a precise duplication.

Sadness is definitely why I’m feeling too.

Roddenberry had a vision of an international show in TOS, and his creation of an ethnically French captain for TNG.

Unfortunately, the franchise owners have never appreciated that and their focus on marketing first to the US market has kept the show and the movies from the global success they should have had.

With the Ellisons in charge, the franchise is likely to be all the more focused on the US without even the double-edged (often alienating) transparent American exceptionalism that has dogged the franchise.