There's a land to burn out everything that you've learned

[sovay]

Internet! I am looking for a good database and/or personal recommendations of science fiction media foregrounding characters of color. My father was expressing his disappointment in the latest season of Doctor Who tonight and he is quite right (among other complaints) that reverse-fridging a male character reads much less cleverly and much more sketchily when the male character is black. I should like to be able to recommend him some antidotes.¹ More than one person of color in the cast preferred—who are not the canaries in the coal mine or the sacrifices on behalf of the white characters, if there are any white characters; there don't need to be. Bonus points from my perspective if there are women with agency and queer characters. (I should just hand him Janelle Monáe's back catalogue, right?) He is a hard sell on animation and does not play games, but enjoys things that are not in English. I can do this a lot more easily with books.

1. It is not like my father has never seen science fiction with protagonists of color; he followed Eureka for a while just because it contained Joe Morton. I just know there's always room for more. A lot of room.

Comments

[skygiants]

My enjoyment of Deep Space Nine has a lot to do with the fact that the main cast is composed of a black man and his son, a Sudanese man, four or five humanoid aliens and one white guy who is often not foregrounded. Admittedly most of the aliens are played by white people, and only two of them are women (though the women are GREAT), but the fact that the most prominent human faces that you see on the show are brown is still pretty refreshing -- especially since one of them is the guy in charge.

[sovay]

a black man and his son, a Sudanese man, four or five humanoid aliens and one white guy who is often not foregrounded.

(And if that's O'Brien, has a traumatizingly strange life as far as I can tell.)

but the fact that the most prominent human faces that you see on the show are brown is still pretty refreshing -- especially since one of them is the guy in charge.

No argument. That's pretty cool.

I feel kind of like I missed the window for Deep Space Nine—I was already watching Babylon 5 when it came to my attention in the '90's, so it seemed like the significantly less interesting of two competing shows about human and alien politics on a space station and I watched a couple of episodes, but it never stuck, whereas Babylon 5 I taped religiously every week and wrote fanfic for, which you can still find on the internet if I am dreadfully unlucky. (It provided my first experience of dubious editorship! The site maintainer partially rewrote the story without checking with me! Dammit, I thought, I know how to spell "lavender"!) I have sporadically good memories of a couple of episodes, like the one where we learn that Bashir was genetically enhanced as a child and has been dealing with really complicated impostor syndrome/survivor's guilt ever since, and I must have seen enough to form opinions of the characters, because I remember liking Bashir, Garak, and Odo, but I'm not sure I could tell you much else about the show that I haven't picked up either from reading or from derspatchel being in the middle of a marathon rewatch when I met him in 2012.

[genarti]

I've heard good things from many quarters about Attack the Block, but haven't seen it myself. (I, too, can do this a lot more easily with books.)

[sovay]

I've heard good things from many quarters about Attack the Block, but haven't seen it myself.

Attack the Block was brilliant and I will definitely recommend it to him. I recommend it to you, too! I wrote about it very, very briefly in 2012.

(I, too, can do this a lot more easily with books.)

I appreciate the effort!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Science fiction and not fantasy? Otherwise, Sleepy Hollow is excellent in that regard. That's one I've actually watched.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Seconding Sleepy Hollow. It's ridiculous but fun.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

I'm striking out all over the place. I was sure I saw a thing on tumblr from Theorlandojones this week about the melanin quantity on Monday night's Sleepy Hollow (the Mills family backstory episode), but can't find it now. I was sure that Kate Nepveu would have the sort of information needed about POC characters, but can't find a list
http://kate-nepveu.dreamwidth.org/
I can't find where Dead Bro Walking went after they left LJ.
argh.

[sovay]

Science fiction and not fantasy?

Personally I would not rule out fantasy, but I was thinking of antidotes to Doctor Who specifically, and it's at least nominally science fiction. It's got aliens.

Otherwise, Sleepy Hollow is excellent in that regard. That's one I've actually watched.

Cool! I have heard almost nothing but praise for that show, cracky history and all. (And Orlando Jones appears to be maintaining one of the classiest and most interesting extended interactions with fandom that I've seen.) Thank you.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Deep Space Nine? And the other Star Trek series to a lesser extent. Though I'm afraid they're a no-go as far as queer characters are concerned.

[sovay]

Deep Space Nine? And the other Star Trek series to a lesser extent. Though I'm afraid they're a no-go as far as queer characters are concerned.

I suspect my father has already watched at least DS9, but I'm putting it on the list! Thank you.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

I love love love Elementary, but it's not remotely science-fiction --it's crime procedural based on Sherlock Holmes, with Lucy Liu playing an asian-american Joan Watson. There're some regular black men who appear in supporting (mostly not coal mine roles --in the second season, there's an arc where one of the black cops gets shot instead of Holmes, but he survives, and his and Holmes further interactions tend to be really interesting around roles of cops vs roles of consulting detectives).

Soyeah.

[sovay]

--in the second season, there's an arc where one of the black cops gets shot instead of Holmes, but he survives, and his and Holmes further interactions tend to be really interesting around roles of cops vs roles of consulting detectives).

That's really cool! Thank you.

[sairaali.livejournal.com]

I should just hand him Janelle Monáe's back catalogue, right

Yes

Seconding above recs for Sleepy Hollow (silly and ridiculous but good, as long as you are willing to ignore the blatantly misogynist writing of Katrina Crane), DS9, and Elementary (OMG how perfect is Joan Watson? The perfectest, that's how). If your dad watched Eureka, he's probably already aware of Warehouse 13 (also campy and ridiculous at times) which featured a black woman in the main ensemble for the first three(?) seasons, and a black woman in the supporting cast for the entire run. The supporting character, Mrs Fredericks, didn't show up in every episode, but she was the Person in Charge of Everything. I felt like sometimes her role verged into Magical Negro territory, but she wasn't the only character who had mystical whatsits going on. I'm not sure if Person of Interest counts as scifi or dystopian thriller, but the black woman cop in the first three seasons was excellent. She got written out and replaced with a light/passing Iranian/Spanish actress, sadly.

There's also the whole universe of J-dramas, K-dramas, Bollywood, Lollywood, etc. I'm not as familiar with what scifi is available there, but I feel like I have to shout out Enthiran for the single most ridiculous mecha scene in film history.

[sovay]

Yes.

Right. Soon as I get a functioning DVD drive again, that's the plan.

(My laptop no longer burns DVDs. I hate planned obsolescence.)

Seconding above recs for Sleepy Hollow (silly and ridiculous but good, as long as you are willing to ignore the blatantly misogynist writing of Katrina Crane), DS9, and Elementary (OMG how perfect is Joan Watson? The perfectest, that's how).

Thank you! If nothing else, I'll probably start watching these shows. I missed Elementary when it first aired because I was feeling burnt out on Holmes, but then I kept hearing really good things about it, like Joan Watson and Mrs. Hudson being actually played by a trans actress. Most of my friends' Tumblrs are full of Sleepy Hollow by now.

If your dad watched Eureka, he's probably already aware of Warehouse 13 (also campy and ridiculous at times) which featured a black woman in the main ensemble for the first three(?) seasons, and a black woman in the supporting cast for the entire run.

I'll check with him!

I'm not sure if Person of Interest counts as scifi or dystopian thriller, but the black woman cop in the first three seasons was excellent. She got written out and replaced with a light/passing Iranian/Spanish actress, sadly.

I haven't seen Person of Interest, but I have the impression it contains artificial intelligence, so that's sci-fi by me. So noted about the written-out black character. Bah.

but I feel like I have to shout out Enthiran for the single most ridiculous mecha scene in film history.

Yes! The giant robot made out of normally human-sized robots extends one massive hand and gives the army the finger which is a robot with its middle finger raised. That was something.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

...Yes, sort of, for jdramas and kdramas; the ones I have seen often have their own terrible issues with racism, just not the same issues as US tv.

The black woman cop in Person of Interest is indeed great. Not sure whether her manner of leaving the show makes the arc recommended (my heart hurt, anyway); I find it difficult on gender grounds as well as race and socioeconomic class, in context of smaller character arcs on that show (the lawyer who heads the main opposition group in S3, e.g.). Um, pedantry: the actress of Iranian/Spanish descent has her own arc that begins well before the other actress's departure, so "replaced" isn't quite right.

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

If very near-future is of interest, then ReGenesis. Racially diverse cast, queer and neuroatypical characters. Really cool series, I thought the last season was weaker than the others, but still a good watch. Also, the science is surprisingly solid.

[sovay]

ReGenesis. Racially diverse cast, queer and neuroatypical characters.

Thank you! I do not know this show at all. Not crap science is definitely a plus: my father's background is in math and physics and he gets thrown out of narratives by dubious science with about the same severity as me and stupidly altered mythology.

[rosefox]

Attack the Block.

[sovay]

Attack the Block.

Agreed. It is a brilliant film.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

As I've said before, Defiance does do the "aliens are people 'of colour' but mainly played by white people" thing people complain about, and rightly. That said, the guy playing Alak Tarr is actually East Asian, his human wife is Hispanic, her father is First Nations (he's Graham fuckin' Greene, man), there's a really great black character, and many, many women with incredible amounts of agency. Actually, it's one of the only SF shows I can think of currently that has genuine gender parity in terms of its cast.

If he hasn't seen Sunshine, I'd also recommend that, in terms of representation. That's a genuinely international-looking crew on that internationally-driven space mission. Oh, and weirdly, Z Nation is doing well on the POC front, especially now that Roberta Warren is the main heroic leader type. Even 10K, the guy who wants to shoot ten thousand zombies, doesn't look purely white to me, and the two girls he's crushed on thus far have been maybe-Filipino and definitely-Asian.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Orphan Black too, obviously.

[sovay]

Actually, it's one of the only SF shows I can think of currently that has genuine gender parity in terms of its cast.

Okay; it's on the list.

If he hasn't seen Sunshine, I'd also recommend that, in terms of representation. That's a genuinely international-looking crew on that internationally-driven space mission.

I think he has, because I believe we've talked about it, but I'll double-check. Personally I think that film fell off a cliff in the third act, but I loved the first two, slow and inescapable as the sun filling the sky.

Oh, and weirdly, Z Nation is doing well on the POC front, especially now that Roberta Warren is the main heroic leader type.

You know, for a show that started out as an unapologetic rip-off of The Walking Dead, Z Nation sounds like it's doing some interesting things.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

I'm going to guess that perhaps you have recced him Pacific Rim already.

[sovay]

I'm going to guess that perhaps you have recced him Pacific Rim already.

He and my mother saw it in theaters after I came back shouting incoherent things like BIG SMART SUMMER MOVIE and IDRIS ELBA and WHERE HAS BURN GORMAN BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

For two years of your life Burn Gorman was on _Torchwood_, a show with which I have a complicated relationship.

Here's an obscure example: _Charlie Jade_, a cancelled-after-one-season show from 2005. It is set in Cape Town (and two alternate-universe Cape Towns) (and was filmed there). While the two headline characters are white, a lot of the cast is South African and black; I think more are South African and white. The faces are distinctly not all Hollywood-TV-pretty.

It's a weird show. Multiple-universe noir. Lovely, lovely lighting. I'm not sure the season plot makes any sense; gotta rewatch someday.