#I stuck to actors for whom I could find some sort of direct reference to being Hispanic/Latine

[scientific-tricorder]

List of Latino actors in Star Trek

I'm assuming that this is asking for a list of Latino actors in Star Trek, and since we're nearing the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, I compiled an incomplete list of Hispanic and Latine Actors in Star Trek.

Firstly, there are various main cast members:

Robert Beltran: Plays Chakotay in Voyager and Prodigy, Mexican-American

Roxann Dawson: Played B'Elanna Torres in Voyager, Puerto Rican

Zoe Saldaña: Played Nyota Uhura in the AOS films, Dominican/Puerto Rican

Wilson Cruz: Plays Hugh Culber in Discovery, Puerto Rican

Blu del Barrio: Plays Adira Tal in Discovery, Argentinian-American

Santiago Cabrera: Plays Cristóbal Ríos in Picard, Chilean

Noël Wells: Plays D'Vana Tendi in Lower Decks, part Mexican

Rylee Alazraqui: Plays Rok-Tahk in Prodigy, Argentinian-American

Melissa Navia: Plays Erica Ortegas in SNW, Columbian-American

And then there's those playing more minor roles. I mostly kept to those that played named characters.

Perry Lopez: Played Esteban Rodríguez in TOS, Puerto Rican

Ricardo Montalbán: Played Khan Noonien Singh in TOS and films, Mexican

Percy Rodríguez: Played (Commodore) Stone in TOS, Afro-Portuguese

Ned Romero: Played Krell, Anthwara, and Chakotay's grandfather in TOS, TNG, and Voyager

George de la Peña: Played Solis in TNG, Argentinian-American

Carlos Ferro: Played Dern in TNG

Cástulo Guerra: Played Mendoza in TNG, Argentinian

Frank Luz: Played Odan in TNG

Benito Martínez: Played Salazar in TNG, Guatemalan-American

Gina Ravera: Played Tyler in TNG, Puerto Rican

Marco Rodríguez: Played Paul Rice and Telle in TNG

Benita Andre: Played Anara in DS9, Guatemalan-American

Carlos Carrasco: Played D'Ghor, Bahrat, and Krole in DS9 and Voyager, Panamanian-American

Raymond Cruz: Played Vargas in DS9, Mexican-American

Bertila Damas: Played Sakonna, Three of Nine, and Marika Wilkarah in DS9 and Voyager, Cuban-American

Carlos LaCamara: Played Retaya in DS9, Cuban

F.J. Rio: Played Enrique Muñiz in DS9

Gregory Sierra: Played Entek in DS9

Daniel Zacapa: Played Henry Garcia in DS9, Honduran

Kamala Lopez: Played Tincoo in Voyager

Douglas Spain: Played young Chakotay in Voyager

Philip Anthony-Rodríguez: Played Juan in Enterprise

Michelle C. Bonilla: Played Bu'kaH in Enterprise, Chicana

Josh Cruze: Played Ramírez in Enterprise

Efrain Figueroa: Voiced universal translator in Enterprise

Hilde Garcia: Played Rossi and various background characters in Enterprise and Voyager, Cuban-American

Ricky Luna: Played Carlos in Enterprise

Ada Maris: Played Erika Hernández in Enterprise, Mexican-American

Enrique Murciano: Played Tolaris in Enterprise, Cuban-American

Marco Sanchez: Played M. Romero in Enterprise

Geno Silva: Played Vrax in Enterprise, Mexican-American

Clifton Collins Jr.: Played Ayel in the AOS films, Mexican-American

Amanda Arcuri: Played Val Sasha in Discovery, Argentinian/Italian

Ache Hernández: Played Kyheem in Discovery, Cuban

Xavier Sotelo: Played Diego Vera in Discovery

Sol Rodríguez: Played Teresa Ramírez in Picard, Argentinian

Carlos Alazraqui: Plays Les Buenamigo in Lower Decks, Argentinian-American

Gabrielle Ruiz: Plays Lemonts, Castro, and T'Lyn in Lower Decks, Mexican-American

Melissa Villaseñor: Plays Nandi in Prodigy

Carlos Albornoz: Played Buckley in SNW, Latino-Canadian

Oscar Moreno: Plays Zuniga in SNW, Columbian

[one-of-us-must-be-crazy]

From @jane-shepard to the lovely @lemon-jacks ! It’s about 2k and features your prompt “make a wish” which I found very fitting for them as a whole. 

Also, a shoutout to @chryseis. If you’re familiar with their piece on Samuels, you might notice some VERY obvious references in here. 

Samuels Unit 12 is built in 2135.

There are only twelve Samuels units made in total, of which he is the last. From there, the software used to develop his intelligence is tweaked for refinement and carried onto the next project. They avoided making too many with the same appearance; androids of his kind were built to blend in, and the Company wanted to minimize the risk of them being confused with one another.

They model him after an actor, one well-known during the height of his fame but forgotten over time. His appearance and personality are designed from the ground up to be remarkably unremarkable. Non-threatening and trustworthy, but plain and easy to look at.

From there, he is free to develop naturally – albeit with a short leash. His inhibitors and parameters guide his learning and behavior, but he is alive.

With his first act of free will, he chooses the first name ‘Christopher’ from the offered list of monikers. His personality evolves, setting him apart from the twelve that came before him. He is Christopher, friendlier than his counterparts and far more mild-mannered.

At the end of the six month trial, the Samuels models are sent to separate destinations. His polite disposition lands him a position as a mediation android aboard the USCSS Agnis.

There is a day, a year after his creation, when he hears his coworkers discussing a movie. The Big Sleep. An old film, but one that Samuels himself had enjoyed.

“I loved that film,” he interrupts politely, eagerly. “I found it –“

One of his coworkers scoffs. “Thanks but no thanks, Samuels,” he says. “If I wanted a synthetic opinion, I’d ask.”

‘They think that I’m incapable of loving something,’ he realizes, forcing himself to maintain a pleasant smile. ’They think that I cannot feel.’

Surely, that is not true. He must be capable of processing emotion, as he knows for a fact that shame and humiliation are not the result of his coding. And yet, he feels them anyway.

Behind him, an oil-smeared engineer slips away, her fists clenched at her sides. He does not notice her.

.:.:.:.

He scans down a list of medications, reading impossibly, inhumanly fast, and he’s halfway down the second page when he notices he’s being watched. Samuels lifts his head, and the woman across the room pushes herself up from the wall.

“Interesting choice in reading material,” she comments boredly, and he recognizes sarcasm in her tone. A joke. She doesn’t wait for him to react, and folds her arms across her chest. They’re streaked with something dark. Joint oil, most likely. Engineers rarely wandered to the main levels of the ship, so she had to have a reason for being here. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Ah, there it was.

“Of course,” he replies. “How may I help?”

“That movie they were talking about,” she says, jerking her thumb in the direction of the mess hall. “The Big Sleep, what is it about? Everyone is talking about it, but I missed movie night with the crew.”

Christopher is almost taken aback. Her excuse is flimsy, but the desire behind it is sincere; she wanted his opinion.

Her name is Amanda, he learns later. She is not a nice woman, but she is kind.

.:.:.:.

She always seems to find him when she wants company, though Samuels never asks why. There are many things he does not do. He does not offer anything more than polite conversation, and he does not make assumptions about why she keeps returning for it.

He does not ask Ripley about her life. Her file tells him that she’s been here terribly long, and he wonders if that makes her terribly lonely. He does not ask about that, either.

Ripley often comes down to the mess hall with smudges on her face, but Samuels never finds a polite opportunity to tell her so.

One day, she pauses while peeling an apple to brush her hair away from her face, and her hand comes away grey.

“Shit,” she says, looking up at him. “Have I had stuff on my face this entire time?”

He cannot lie to her. “You often do,” he replies, and she grimaces.

Ripley sets down her apple to grab a napkin, and wipes her hands before scrubbing at her face. “Damn. I wish you’d told me. I probably look like a mess.”

“You don’t look at yourself before you leave the workshop?” he asks, curious. Ripley gives him an incredulous look, snorting.

“Not if I can help it.” Samuels doesn’t have time to think about what she means by that before she’s moving on. “Am I clean now?”

Her face is free of oil streaks and smudges, and Samuels nods. Ripley picks up her half-peeled apple again, twisting it around to see where she’d left off. “Next time I have something on my face, let me know, alright?”

“Duly noted, Ripley.”

.:.:.:.

As usual, she’s the one who seeks him out.

Once, he had wondered why Ripley did not have any friends aboard the Agnis; she had been here so long, he assumed she must have formed bonds with the people aboard.

A quick study at the personnel logs told him that the Agnis switched staff every time it docked at the system’s space station. This happened every six months, lining up with the ships’ schedule for data drops.

Digging deeper only told him that many of the staff were slated for short stays from the start. Employment aboard the Agnis was usually a temporary arrangement before We-Yu promoted them elsewhere.

That left Ripley with a constantly shifting group of coworkers – which left little room for camaraderie. His previous look into Ripley’s file told him that she had been offered a host of promotions, all of which she had turned down.

He’s sure the answer why lies in her private file, but he refrained from digging too deeply into people’s lives. Employment logs told him what he needed to know, and he’d learned quite a bit about Ripley on his own.

(She knew at least eight card games, but he’d only ever seen her play solitaire. While her mother preferred cats, Amanda was fond of dogs – but only large breeds. She liked fresh strawberries, but had to settle for freeze-dried.)

He’s reviewing transfer requests when she finds him. She’s lacking any black smudges on her face today, but he notices a smaller discrepancy on her cheekbone.

When he points it out, Ripley reaches up to brush at her cheek. “Oh,” she says, and lets out a short laugh, “an eyelash. You can make wishes with these.”

“A wish?” Samuels asks. He doesn’t really understand the concept of wishing on such little things. It was probably a niche belief – many of which he wasn’t familiar with.

“Yeah. They say if you wish upon a stray eyelash, it will come true,” Ripley says, and brushes her hands against her coveralls. “Wishing isn’t something I do anymore, but it’s cute to watch kids do it.”

She moves on to invite him to the mess hall with her, but Samuels spends the rest of the evening pondering what she had said.

Wishing served no purpose, and yet people found countless opportunities to do it. They wished upon everything – candles, flowers, stars, even stray eyelashes.

He knew from their short friendship that she was too logical to rely on miracles, but he still wonders.

What had Ripley wished for in the past?

.:.:.:.

Ripley lays a card down, the lacquered ’fwip’ almost lost to the ambient sound of the engineering hold. Samuels still notices, and he looks up to see her gathering up the cards. Another successful game. He wonders if she ever gets bored of winning solitaire.

He knows for a fact that playing it would make him… antsy? He’s not sure what word he’d use to describe the itching sensation that he could be doing something better with his time. Perhaps his productivity protocols were too intense for him to enjoy such pasttimes.

He watches her hands as she shuffles. Likely getting ready for another round. “Do you spend much time playing, Ripley?”

“When I’ve finished what I’m supposed to do, yeah,” she replies easily, and leans back in her chair. “Not much else to do here.”

“Why not transfer?” he asks, ignoring the insistent feeling that he shouldn’t. He’s briefly reminded of The Big Sleep and his coworkers’ rejection. Stepping out of line wasn’t impossible for him, but it was rarely rewarded. “Your record here is impressive; you could easily land a more exciting post.”

He half expects Ripley to reply with something snide – lash out and tell him he’d overstepped, but she only rocks farther back in her chair. She’s silent for a long moment as she absentmindedly cuts the deck.

“My mom disappeared in this region a while back,” she says, voice level. “She was a warrant officer aboard the Nostromo.”

She shrugs, leaning forward until all four feet of her chair hit the ground. “So, I decided to follow her into the great beyond.” Ripley begins laying down cards, her movements methodical and practiced. “I figured if I stuck around long enough, I might find something.”

When the final card is placed, she flips it over to reveal the nine of diamonds.

“Closure, maybe.”

.:.:.:.

A month later, Samuels is given an assignment.

(An order, actually, but Weyland-Yutani preferred to use particular vocabulary when dealing with these sorts of things.)

He is to recruit and accompany an engineer aboard the Torrens, a small commercial starship destined for Sevastopol Station. Several other engineers had been considered already, but the Agnis sourced from some of the best – many of whom were looking for better work.

The details of the mission are scant, but they tell him enough.

“The USCSS Torrens [MSV-7760], is to retrieve the flight-recorder unit of the USCSS Nostromo [1809246-09], which was recovered and taken to Sevastopol Station by the USCSS Anesidora [NCC 88-LS] in 2137.”

Mention of the Nostromo makes Samuels pause, and thinks immediately of Ripley. She had lingered in this system for years, waiting for any mention of her mother and the ship’s fate, and now her chance had arrived.

A part of him knows it is disingenuous to tap her solely because of her connection to the case, but Samuels finds himself considering her anyway. She was a talented engineer, and young enough to recover from the stasis rather quickly. Nothing told him she shouldn’t be chosen for the opportunity.

And perhaps, this would bring her the closure she desired.

.:.:.:.

He comes to regret this. Before, his most vivid memories of Amanda Ripley involved her hands poised over playing cards, black smudges over her cheeks, and her face when she was particularly focused.

Now, he thinks of her worn ragged, with a burn mark on her temple.

He had wanted to offer a solution: an opportunity to find what she’d been searching for.

Above all, Christopher Samuels had wanted. He had desired something above the improvement of Weyland-Yutani’s brand and the wellbeing and safety of his assigned crew. He had strived towards something beyond his protocol.

In retrospect, the idea terrified him. He had made a decision based more on his own opinion than the facts he was given, and it was endangering someone he’d come to know. A woman who had evolved beyond a employment record and a name.

That terrified him too, but what scared him more was the idea that Amanda Ripley would die here, without ever knowing what happened to her mother.

Without ever getting what she wished for.

When he considers Ripley – her lonely years aboard the Agnis, the promotions she turned down, the wish she did not make – the decision to give his own life for her is an easy one.

That, at least, he does not regret.

[brin-guivera]

It Chapter 1: Review

Well guys, I’m just back from seeing IT (for the second time) at the cinema and I think I have organized my thoughts enough to type out a coherent review.

I have been looking forward to this movies for years. It’s absolutely true – the movie has been in development hell for at least seven years and has gone through many iterations (and a couple of directorial and cast changes) but was finally, FINALLY, released in theatres on Friday. Was it worth waiting for? HELL YES. Was it a faithful adaptation? Mostly. Was it perfect? Nope, but I doubt anything would live up to my sky-high expectations.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we…

it: the beginning

I first read IT by Stephen King when I was little more than a nipper. ‘Tis true, I was (barely) twelve years old when I first read King’s masterpiece and it absolutely scared the ever-living-shit out of me. Sorry for the colourful language but in this case I believe it to be completely justified.

IT is without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most if not THE most terrifying books I have ever read. Seriously, I had to sleep with the light on for about two months afterwards. I was in no way easily frightened as a kid either. I loved horror (both in books and movies) and had an impressive constitution when it came to scares… or so I thought at least.

IT changed everything for me. I really related to the characters (who were roughly around the same age as I was during the flashback portions of the book) as I was bullied as a pre-teen and they felt real to me in ways a lot of other book characters didn’t.

I read IT over the span of a few days and although it definitely had a few WTF moments (the *ahem* orgy sequence where the kids move from childhood to adulthood by indulging in a bit of underage sex – yep, you read that right) but overall it was a fairly realistic depiction of childhood.

These kids were losers like I was. They were bullied and ignored like I was. I related heavily to them and the trials they go through and although I was never pursued by a child-eating malevolent creature (that I am aware of anyway) their transition to young adulthood felt about as turbulent as my own.

IT was a revelation to me. Although the adult portion of the novel was slightly less relatable to me, I still enjoyed seeing the characters mature and face their demons.

it: the miniseries

Not too long after reading the book, I discovered the television adaptation which I also really enjoyed even though it never quite reached the heights of the book for me.

Tim Curry was a tour de force as Pennywise and I very much enjoyed the kids section of the miniseries although the less said about the adult portion, the better. I am in no way dissing the adult actors (they really did their best to add some gravitas to the proceedings) but the storyline for their half of the tale was disappointingly scripted and veered on the camp rather than scary.

Although it was clearly limited by budgetary constraints, it was a satisfactory adaptation if not completely faithful to the original novel. Even then though, I often wondered what could be accomplished with a movie version rather than a somewhat sanitized TV adaptation. I would wait a long time for this vision to be realized.

it: development hell

As I mentioned above, the movie lingered in development hell for years. Originally, True Detective creator Cary Fukunaga was signed on to direct (he still has a scriptwriter credit) and I was intrigued by what he would bring to the table especially as he had casted Will Poulter (an actor whose career that I have followed since he was a young ‘un) as Pennywise.

After some disagreements with New Line, the studio funding the project, Fukunaga stepped aside and it looked as though the movie would never come to fruition. Luckily, Mama director Andrés Muschietti felt up to the challenge of taking on the immense role of adapting this monster of a book into a workable film.

it: the movie

Now, finally we come to the movie itself. Muschietti has brought a brand new vision to IT. From what I can gather, it is fairly different to Fukunaga’s original concept. It added in a lot more of the book and is overall a more faithful adaptation.

But, the age-old question remains, is IT any good?

Well, I am happy to report that IT is a pretty damn good movie in its own right. A lot of the elements from the book are retained and the changes such as moving the setting from the 1950s to the 1980s (and cashing in on the trend that the 80s is cool again that Stranger Things had going for it) works for the most part.

The movie opens with the iconic sequence of young Georgie Denbrough pestering his older brother Bill for a boat to sail in the storm that has kept him stuck indoors. This instantly sets the tone and the interplay between the two brothers is both dynamic and realistic. This then makes the following scene where young Georgie becomes IT’s first victim all the more heart-breaking.

The movie then shifts on to approximately eight months later, where the kids are finishing up school for the long-awaited summer holidays and making plans. For Bill Denbrough and his three young chums Eddie Kaspbrak, Stan Uris, and Richie Tozier – this means starting the search for Georgie whom Bill is convinced is still alive and alone and hurt somewhere within the town sewer system.

Their search will lead them to fellow outsiders Ben Hanscom, Beverley Marsh and Mike Hanlon and the seven of them form the ‘Losers Club’ who band together to not only try to ascertain what has happened to Georgie but to also find the other missing children of Derry. One by one, each of them will come to realize that there is a menace far beyond the uncaring adults and psychopathic bullies that dog them, that there is something far more evil in the town of Derry and IT is hungry…

The kid actors in the movie are beyond fantastic. They are such a great group and they really do feel like friends. There is a slight Stand by Me vibe at times which really works to the movie’s benefit. I was very impressed by Sophia Lillis who plays the young Beverley Marsh and Finn Wolfhard who plays Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier (my favourite character from the book incidentally) but they were all excellent.

I was actually most concerned about Bill Skarsgård being able to convincingly pull off Pennywise (especially after the always-amazing Tim Curry) but I needn’t have worried because he brought a whole new meaning to word ‘terrifying’. He wasn’t Tim Curry but didn’t try to be which definitely was the right choice. He made the role his own.

The story was tweaked in places and there were some changes, but overall it retained the feel of the book which I think is much more important than being a direct word-for-word, scene-for-scene adaptation.

I thoroughly enjoyed IT and after viewing it a second time round, think it is definitely a contender for my favourite movie of the year. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is successful enough that to warrant Chapter 2 (which is wholly contingent on the success of Chapter 1 unfortunately).

it: some other thoughts

Now, I have a theory *that it’s a demon, a dancing demon… gotta throw in a Buffy reference now and again dontcha know!* that there is a good reason why Sophia Lillis was cast as Beverley, she really looks like a young Amy Adams. Could it be that Muschietti is maybe courting Amy to play the elder Beverley Marsh?

A particular scene in IT where the creepy pharmacist likens the young lass to Lois Lane (played by Amy Adams in the latest adaptation of Superman) could perhaps lend credence to this theory. Or it could just be me spit-balling wildly here but I think I may be on to something…

This movie didn’t have as many allusions to other Stephen King works like The Dark Tower movie did, but it certainly made up for that with a lot of 80s nostalgia such as the Gremlins and Beetlejuice posters on one of the characters bedroom walls and Nightmare on Elm Street 5 playing at the local theatre in the film.

They also managed to squeeze in a reference to the Turtle that plays a role in the book (though wisely, not in this movie as it would probably be a bit too fantastical and that it is taking into account that IT literally is about a killer clown from outer space!) and where would an 80s-themed movie be without a New Kids on the Block appearance??

it: some fun facts

Fun fact 1: the Duffer brothers wanted to direct IT once upon a time but were deemed too inexperienced. They later would go on to create the genre savvy Stranger Things which was an unexpected hit.

Fun fact 2: IT shares a cast member with Stranger Things in young Finn Wolfhard who plays wise-cracking Richie in the film.

Fun fact 3: The entity IT makes an appearance every 27 years where it gorges itself on children (literally feeding itself on their fear) and goes into a sort-of hibernation until the next cycle is up. The miniseries was released in 1990. The movie has been released in 2017 – exactly 27 years later. Spooky coincidence? I think not…

Fun fact 4: The only cast member to have been cast in both the unfilmed Fukunaga version and Muschietti finished movie was Finn Wolfhard.

Fun fact 5: The scenes where Pennywise’s eyes move in different directions was not aided by CGI –  actor Bill Skarsgård is actually able to do this. Also, the scene where Pennywise unfolds himself from a refrigerator was also Skarsgård; on set he was given training by a professional contortionist in order to perform the scene himself. Dude really does go ‘method’ to get the right result!

Fun fact 6: Stephen King fully endorsed the film – he saw an early screening and gave the project his approval.