There may or may not be a method to this madness.

liz-squids:

thenorsiest:

hopeful-trekkie-deactivated2022:

thenorsiest:

thenorsiest:

This might be a weird comment to make but I absolutely believe Star Trek owes something to the Little People community. There were… not great moments in tos, and then we never see anyone of shorter stature like that in the series again.

Give me a modern episode where the crew is anxiously awaiting a visit from an admiral and one person leans over to ask another “what species are they?” And the second person says “human” and in beams an admiral played by Rick Howland. And absolutely no other comments are made. Everyone just acknowledges him as an admiral and the story moves on.

And the ONLY reason we have the convo in the beginning is to make it clear to the audience that this is a human person and they are a Little person. Not an alien. Because dwarfism still exists in the future.

End rant

Also! We are missing out on a really fucking cool episode with futuristic technology!

Imagine Admiral Howland going to use the computer, but hey, it’s really high. But the computer senses this, the same way the ship senses that someone is going to go through the doors and not just walking past them. And the computer just lowers its station and keyboard and controls. It just automatically adjusts to this person’s height and needs.

That would be sick!

Wait, maybe I’m just uneducated on the issue, but wasn’t that episode about the sons of Plato really good for, like, the 60’s? I remember I felt so happy when I saw it!

TNG didn’t do great and I get it.

The more I sit here trying to respond to this the more I realize this isn’t my platform and I’m not the person to speak up on behalf of people who’s experience I don’t personally know.

That being said I do know Trek. And though I love this series it has some major flaws. You’re absolutely right, it is “progressive for its time” and that should be noted. But that doesn’t mean we have to ignore those flaws and that they can’t do better. When I watched Plato’s Stepchild I was very aware of how Kirk/Shatner spoke to Alexander. He speaks to him like he would a child. It’s very kind and sweet and he wants to help him but, to me, it comes off as Infantilizing.

When I wrote this post I was also thinking about how Hollywood had a track record of portraying Little People as being “other” in some way. They’ve been; Munchkins, Elf, Fae, “Freaks” (the title of the 1932 film) and in Star Trek’s case, Aliens. Not often just Little People, a part of the world we live in.

I love Trek and I feel it’s a series that is constantly trying to do better. It’s a series that routinely shows the future as accommodating for those of different needs and I think it would be cool if the ships, which are meant to be run by various species with different body types and capabilities, could just adjust and change to suit all those who use them. Wether those people be alien, or differently abled humans.

And as recently as Picard, a Little Person is seen in the background to demonstrate that a place is surreal and decadent and dangerous. It’s dehumanising and ableist.