Star Trek: Discovery Star Sonequa Martin-Green Responds To Series Criticism From Veteran Fans: “Their Voices Deserve To Be Heard”
Spencer Baculi
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In the opinion of Star Trek: Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green, long-time Star Trek fans deserve to have their criticisms of the franchise’s latest flagship series heard and acknowledged, even if she may disagree with them.
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Official Trailer, Paramount+ YouTube
Martin-Green, who stars in Discovery as lead protagonist Michael Burnham, provided her thoughts on the ever-constant backlash to the series’ ‘J.J. Abrams-esque’ direction and tone during a recent interview with RadioTimes.com.
Asked by the British entertainment news outlet for her thoughts on the accusations from veteran franchise fans that Discovery is not ‘real Star Trek’, Martin-Green admitted that her series is “very different from other iterations” before asserting that “the fanbase for the franchise as a whole and the fanbase for Discovery in particular is a highly intellectual, loyal crowd.”
Source: Sonequa Martin-Green RadioTimes.com Interview
“These are very intelligent people who have such a depth of passion and heart and loyalty to the franchise, so they have an ownership,” she told RadioTimes.com. “They’ve carried it with them for years and it’s meant a lot to them.”
The actress continued, “So, because of that, their voices deserve to be heard and we appreciate their voices, even if they are in disagreement with us. Even if they’re criticising, it’s like, ‘I get where you’re coming from though – it’s because this means a lot to you’.”
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Official Trailer, Paramount+ YouTube
RELTAED: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Depicts January 6th Riots As Being First Steps To World War III
However, despite this acknowledgement, Martin-Green confirmed that the Discovery production team had no plans to change how they would approach the series.
“We’ve really found ourselves,” she added. “It’s hard to be different with something like this. It was hard for us to be different but I think we’ve really found ourselves and I think our fanbase has really found their relationship with us as well at this point.”
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Official Trailer, Paramount+ YouTube
“That’s not to say that we’re robots and we don’t care when we hear somebody being really angry about something that we’ve done,” the actress then conceded. “It’s like, ‘aw man, that sucks’ – but at the same time we’re like, ‘we understand where you’re coming from’.
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Official Trailer, Paramount+ YouTube
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However, conversely, Martin-Green also noted that “there are many people who are like, ‘but I love the changes’.”
“There’s so many different perspectives and isn’t that the whole point?” she posited. “That’s the whole part of diversity and inclusion, everybody’s got to be represented.”
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Official Trailer, Paramount+ YouTube
In conclusion to her thoughts on Discovery’s reception, the actress addressed fans directly, stating, “I get it.”
“I hear you,” she said. “But maybe you’ll change your mind. And if not, then you’re allowed – it’s all good.”
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Official Trailer, Paramount+ YouTube
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Unfortunately for Martin-Green and the Discovery team, their purported understanding of veteran fans’ frustrations may be too little too late to entice any of them to give Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek endeavors another shot.
Source: Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 13 “Coming Home” (2022), Paramount Plus
Between the series’ aforementioned turn from philosophical adventure series to a space war epic and its inability to refrain from making hamfisted references to divisive real world political topics – such as portraying the events of January 6th as the first step towards World War III and featuring failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as the President of Earth – most fans have already come to accept that the franchise as they knew it is gone, replaced with yet another generic television drama, and are unlikely to look back unless a massive shift in creative leadership takes place behind the scenes.
Source: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1 “Strange New Worlds” (2022), CBS
What do you make of Martin-Green’s response to long-time Star Trek fans who are dissatisfied with Discovery? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!
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