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"Space - the Final Frontier"

Star Trek first aired in 1966. It has since become an expansive franchise, which has not only influenced television and science fiction as a genre, but technology, culture, and even language. As a result, the franchise has gained millions of followers worldwide.

"To Boldly go where no one has gone before"

The series has historically been considered as a leader in television for diversification and inclusivity, with Nichelle Nichols being the first to represent a woman of colour in The Original Series, a role that was deeply impactful for many viewers. In fact, she was convinced to keep her role as Nyota Uhura by Martin Luther King Jr because he found her presence on television to be critical for African Americans at the time.

However, despite its efforts to diversify the cast, the franchise has seemingly prioritized certain characters over others.

A sample of data extracted from some of Star Trek’s most popular shows, including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, altogether ranging from 1987 to 2001, is able to provide insight regarding the importance given to certain characters. This data is based on the number of lines spoken by each character, and whether they qualify as a Person of Colour (POC), as a gender minority, both, or neither.

Below are several visualizations, each with interactive filters, that show minority representation of the main cast of each series. We invite you to explore the data at your leisure using these visualizations.

LEGEND

Note: These colours are consistent across all the visualizations below.

Tip: Hover over the charts to view details.

Number of main characters from each category across three shows:

Of 23 main characters across all three shows, there is just one character that is both a racial and gender minority: B’Elanna Torres, played by Roxann Dawson. See how many lines she speaks in comparison to the rest of the main characters below.

Number of lines spoken by all characters in a given category per show:

Number of lines per character across all three shows:

STILL CURIOUS?

View our full set of interactive visualizations below!

CONCLUSION

As you can see, the data shows gradual but consistent improvement in minority representation as the franchise continued, showing that a dedication to representation did exist within the franchise.

That being said, while the franchise has done well in balancing out the appearances of its cast, of the three series investigated, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), a white cisgender male, is the character with most lines and thus highest amount of screen time overall.

As with anything, there is room for improvement.

May we all live long and prosper—together.

🖖

References

FoundationINTERVIEWS. (2019, Jan 16). Nichelle Nichols on Martin Luther King, Jr. convincing her not to leave "Star Trek" [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/zrzygziT11I

jkingsman. (2021, April 12). Star-Trek-Script-Programmatics. GitHub. https://github.com/jkingsman/Star-Trek-Script-Programmatics.