Star Trek breaks new ground... Not quite Skippy.This came on my radar through Mr. H and Bowlestrek.Star Trek Casts First Non-Binary and Trans Actors, a Milestone Moment in Sci-Fi InclusivityChristian Blauvelt Indiewire September 2, 2020As other sci-fi franchises continue to receive criticism for their half-hearted stabs at inclusivity,  Star Trek  keeps pushing forward into new frontiers. CBS All Access announced Wednesday that the franchisess first non-binary and transgender actors, Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander respectively, will join Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. The actors will also be playing non-binary and transgender characters.Del Barrio was in their final year of acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art when they auditioned for the role of Adira, a non-binary resident of the 32nd Century who quickly finds the U.S.S. Discovery to be their new home. Highly intelligent with a confidence and self-assurance well beyond their years, Adira becomes friends with Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who were the first gay couple to be part of a Trek shows major cast.Ian Alexander, who uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, plays Gray, the first major Trill character in Star Trek since Deep Space Nine. That beloved 90s show introduced the Trill as a hybrid species, in which a humanoid host once joined with an intestine-like symbiont receives the memories and personality of the symbiont, plus the symbionts memories and experiences of its previous hosts. Symbionts are joined with hosts regardless of gender, so a female host in the present may have memories of having been male in the past. And vice versa. It was an early attempt at Trek blurring gender boundaries and inquiring into what exactly makes ones identity. CBS All Access said, Gray is empathetic, warm and eager to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a Trill host, but he will have to adapt when his life takes an unexpected turn.Alexander is the first out transgender Asian-American actor on television. They previously played Buck Vu on Netflixs The OA and Lev in the highly acclaimed video game The Last of Us Part II.Star Trek has always made a mission of giving visibility to underrepresented communities because it believes in showing people that a future without division on the basis of race, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation is entirely within our reach, said Michelle Paradise, co-showrunner and executive producer. We take pride in working closely with Blu del Barrio, Ian Alexander and Nick Adams at GLAAD to create the extraordinary characters of Adira and Gray, and bring their stories to life with empathy, understanding, empowerment and joy.The casting announcement was accompanied by a profile of del Barrio by GLAAD .In the Season 2 finale, Star Trek: Discovery ended its status as a prequel. The series, previously set about 10 years before The Original Series, in the mid 23rd Century, jumped forward 900 years, to a time when it appears the Federation is a diminished version of its former self. Now living in a time filled with uncertainty, the U.S.S. Discovery crew, along with the help of some new friends, must work together to restore hope to the Federation, CBS All Access said.---------------In case anyone missed the memo, the genre of Science Fiction has always been allegorical about concepts and issues that are easier to address than through other genres. Star Trek has always been allegorical:TOSLet That Be Your Last Battlefield: Racial HatredThe Omega Glory: Vietnam and the Cold WarDoomsday Machine: Weapons of Mass DestructionsTNGMeasure of a Man: SlaveryEthics: Medical Ethics, Cultural Beliefs and morality of suicideI, Borg: The question of committing genocideFirst Contact (episode not the movie): Xenophobia and technological advancementChain of Command: the use of tortureThe Outcast: GenderThe Host: TransgenderDS9In the Pale Moonlight: Ethics in a time of warRejoined: HomosexualityFor the Uniform: VengeanceSoldiers of the Empire, Hard Time, Siege of AR-558 and Its Only a Paper Moon: PTSDVoyager Extreme Risk: Depression and Survivor's guiltInfinite Regress: Mental IllnessNothing Human: the ethics of using unethical medical research to save a person's lifeScientific Method: Research ethicsRandom Thoughts: Thought crimesBut to be blunt, the showrunners of Discovery are treating this like it was a new concept despite the author mentioning Dax. The Trill were meant to serve as an allegory for the LGBT community in a time where they were noticed but not really taken seriously as I point to the 70s sitcom Barney Miller where a semi-recurring character Marty was a typical stereotype of a homosexual as flamingly flamboyant who was picked up mainly on petty crimes and then the officers bringing him to the Detectives' Squad room would tell Capt. Miller he was picked up outside a "fruit bar," while Capt. Miller would treat Marty with a little more courtesy and respect. But for the Trill was a serious tackling of the LGBT issue through the medium of Science Fiction such as in the Host where Dr. Crusher falls in love Ambassador Odan, not realizing until he was injured in an accident that he was a joined species, soon she had the deal with the conflicting feelings when the symbiont was transferred into Commander Riker between the love for Odan and Riker as a friend, then losing the feelings completely when the symbiont was transferred into a female Trill.Through the taboo of "Re-association" can serve as an allegory for homosexual relationships as they were still a taboo in the 90s:-------Source: Memory Alpha Reassociation was the resumption of a romantic relationship between at least one joined Trill and a person with whom the symbiont's previous host was romantically involved. Platonic friendships without a romantic element were not subject to this rule and could be resumed, and in some cases were even encouraged. Since the point of each successive host was for the symbiont to acquire new lifetimes of experiences, Trills considered reconnecting with intimate relationships from a past life "unnatural." Joined Trills who reassociated were exiled from Trill society, which also meant that their symbionts died with that host, since they no longer had access to new hosts. This was a dire consequence, since for Trills, nothing was more important than protecting the life of the symbiont. ( DS9 : " Rejoined ") AppendicesBackground informationThe idea of a Trill taboo prohibiting rekindled romance between former spouses was conceived by Michael Piller . ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 44) He suggested it early in the run of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . René Echevarria later recalled, " He felt they'd have a very strict taboo, in order to avoid an aristocracy of the joined. Otherwise, they'd only want to hang out with each other, their dear old friends from five hundred years ago and it would become a really screwed up society. " ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , p. 279) The DS9 writing staff in general accepted the notion that renewed attraction between former spouses was forbidden in Trill society. " We always suspected that was a Trill cultural taboo, " reflected Robert Hewitt Wolfe . ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 44)From as early as when the story was originally concocted by René Echevarria, the idea of Trill taboos preventing Jadzia Dax becoming romantically involved with another Trill was part of the plot that developed into "Rejoined". ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , p. 107) " The existence of the taboo meant that we could do a tragic love story, " Echevarria acknowledged. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , p. 279) Robert Wolfe wondered, " How do you make the audience understand that even though Dax is doing something they would find acceptable, it's against the norms of social behavior for her society? " The writing staff's solution was to make the relationship a homosexual one. " [The taboo] was always an analogy to the way homosexual relationships are treated in our society, " Wolfe explained. The inclusion of the banning of reassociation in the story also served to highlight the alien nature of the Trill. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 44)Immediately, Ronald D. Moore liked the concept of the taboo, later saying, " It's a great metaphor for today, but it wasn't hitting it over the head [....] You had this taboo, which sounded so ridiculous, on Trill, yet it makes you think our own taboos are ridiculous. I thought that was a great way to go. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , pp. 107-108) Moore also regarded the taboo as "a perfect metaphor for issues of sexual tolerance and intolerance." Expressing his approval while "Rejoined" was in development, Moore told the other DS9 staff writers, " This taboo tracks with our own taboos or many audience members' taboos about homosexuality and the argument will track straight down the line and it will be great. " Thus, Moore and René Echevarria, while writing the script for the installment, "played that [Trill] taboo without really playing our taboo" of homosexuality, even though the other Trill Jadzia Dax was reassociating with, in the episode, was female too. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 28, No. 4/5, pp. 45 & 44)Showrunner and Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr also approved of how Trill conventions were used to metaphorically represent homophobia. " It was a Trill problem [which is established in 'Rejoined']. It wasn't about sex. It wasn't about same sex relationships. It was a distinct, science fiction, Trill problem. That was good, to couch it in futuristic terms, " he remarked. From the perspective of her character, Jadzia Dax actress Terry Farrell likewise clarified, " It really had more to do with my vows, being a joined Trill. " ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Official Poster Magazine , No. 5) She felt it was extremely "important" that the Trill taboo, rather than homosexuality, was the source of conflict in the episode. ("Crew Dossier: Jadzia Dax", DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)Some things about reassociation seem to conflict with what was seen in TNG : " The Host ", when the Odan symbiont appeared willing to rejoin with Beverly Crusher after its transference into a new host (though the way Trills were portrayed in this episode contradicts almost everything subsequently shown about Trills). This law does not seem to apply to platonic friendships: three of Dax's hosts were friends with Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia did not hesitate to rekindle Curzon's friendship with Kang , Kor , and Koloth . Ezri Dax 's decision to remain with Jadzia's old friends appeared to be perfectly acceptable to Trill society, apart from some initial discomfort among the DS9 crew about how to relate to someone who both was and wasn't their old friend. This is also consistent with Michael Piller's original notion of the taboo, intended "to avoid an aristocracy of the joined." ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , p. 279) Relationships, especially platonic ones, between a joined Trill and a non-Trill (or even an unjoined Trill) would not present this risk. It seems also acceptable for joined Trills to be platonic friends with the spouses of their former hosts. When Worf wanted to avoid Ezri, Captain Sisko assumed it was to honor the Trill custom forbidding reassociation, Ezri corrected him by saying "that doesn't mean we can't talk to each other." It is possible that this law only applies to two joined Trills, as Ezri's decision to have sex with Worf did not weigh as heavily on her as Jadzia's feelings for Lenara did. When Worf stated that she had broken Trill law, she neither confirmed nor corrected him, she only responded by saying that he had "broken a few Klingon laws in his time." All of this suggests that a joined Trill reassociating with a spouse who is not also a joined Trill is not acceptable but not as strictly forbidden either (though if the purpose of the custom is to prevent an "aristocracy of the joined" it would not further this purpose to hold an accidental host, like Ezri, to the same standards as a host who was properly screened and chosen, Ezri may have had a reasonable expectation of receiving leniency for her transgression).---------Sisko would continue to refer to Jadzia and Ezri as "Old Man" given his friendship to Curzon.But what gets me is that the morons running Star Trek are doing this to just virtue signal rather put out a quality show and its being met with "Okay who cares."To be frank and with some despondency Star Trek is dying. Discovery sucks, Picard takes a dump on the legacy and what made the Next Generation a classic while Lower Decks is an insult to Star Trek and humor in general. More virtue signaling is not going to save the franchise going back to basics and getting good writers (ie people who can write at intelligent level and who have a work ethic) and show runners will save it....