Re: Mobius: The Next Generation

From: Dan Drazen <drazen_at_andrews.edu>
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 15:55:16 -0500 (EST)

>
> >at Academy when Sally Alicia II is admitted as the first "non-humanoid"
> >(she is administratively declared to be more animal than human, and
> >"furry" is used as a racial slur);
>
> You'll then have to neglect the animated ST series that had Lt. M'Ress (sp?)
> a feline furry who filled in for Uhura for a while... And I'm not sure I
> agree with assessing Sally II as "non-humanoid" - that seems a bit
> restrictive, given the other races that _have_ been classified as humanoid...
>

I'd forgotten about M'Riss, but considering the quality of Filmation
animation I'm not surprised. Though that brings up a point: In three
years of ST, 7 years of ST:TNG and now ST:V, I honestly can't remember
any eps where a furry played anything like a major role. Heck, even
Lucas came around and used the Ewoks by the third film. And no, I don't
count the Tribbles!

Overwhelmingly, it struck me that the bulk of the characters in the ST
universe are humanoid. That's when I began to think that Mobians might
not fare well in such a context. While Mobians might be sentient
mammals, the fact that they would be furries with tails (in many
instances) would still set them apart. And the only furry with a tail
that was a regular on the Enterprise was Data's cat!

Of course, I don't think that anyone would come right our and SAY that
Mobians wouldn't belong in Starfleet Academy because they're furries.
They'd instead cite the physical requirements of admission and training,
etc. (Sheesh! I think I've been following the Citadel story too
closely!) Somehow, I can't help but imagine Sally Alicia II's career in
Starfleet being a testament to the advice "You'll have to work twice as
hard to get half as far"; I imagine her working twice as hard...and
getting twice as far!

> Interesting concept (though a depressing one) about "furry" as a slur -
> I don't remember the fan-fic "Brynne" (which dealt with a future society
> where genetic technology allowed humans to give their children animal
> characterstics) posted on alt.fan.furry a while ago as going too deeply
> into this, but it may have mentioned it in passing. (I could e-mail it to
> anybody who wanted it - I'd rate it PG-13 for a non-graphic sex scene, and
> a slightly more graphic violence scene.)
>

I've no idea about "Brynne" -- our sysop has locked the school's
computer out of the alt.fan.* groups so I never got a chance to read
it. The Mobius/Trek crossover stories aren't being seriously worked on
(yet), so don't post Brynne to me, especially if it's of a serious
length.


================================================================
|| ___------__ ||
|| |\__-- /\ _- || Daniel J. Drazen
|| | / __ _ || drazen_at_andrews.edu
|| //\ / \ /__ ||
|| | o| 0|__ --_ || Custodian of one of the Sonic
|| \\____-- __ \ ___ - || the Hedgehog FAQ Files
|| (_at_@ __/ / /_ ||
|| -_____--- --_ || ASCII Sonic by Han J. Lee
================================================================

Received on Mon Feb 05 1996 - 16:54:07 PST