A new theme park project of interest to Star Trek fans is getting closer to becoming realized.
The Final Frontier coming to China
A Paramount theme park announced two years ago for Kunming China just got a big boost. This week Chinese authorities announced (as reported by Variety) the project is moving forward with $8 billion in funding for a large development that will include a 643-acre Paramount resort.
The project is owned, funded and operated through Chinese institutions, with a license from ViacomCBS to use theme assets from Paramount and other properties.
The proposed Paramount Park Kunming will include six themed area including a “Final Frontier” area themed around Star Trek with a number of different attractions. The other areas of the park would be: Paramount Boulevard, Adventure City, Wonderland, a “Peanuts” area, and a “Dinotopia” area.
Artist rendering for Star Trek-themed are of a Paramount Park (Planet Attractions)
Construction has yet to start on the project, but there is a targeted opening date of June 2024.
Viacom has been mostly out of the themed attractions business since selling off their Paramount Parks division in 2006. The Las Vegas-based Star Trek: The Experience closed in 2008.
In the ensuing years a few licensed projects (like the Paramount Park Kunming ) have been announced around the world that would use Paramount franchises, including Star Trek, yet so far none have been realized. Some have fizzled out, including one in Murcia Spain, and another in Jordan. There are still a couple of others that may still come to be. A UK project formerly called Paramount London has been renamed The London Resort, but it is still expected to include some Paramount-themed attractions for its planned 2024 open. And Paramount Movie Park Korea was announced over a decade ago, with the latest opening target set for 2025.
Artist rendering for proposed Paramount Park Spain
Currently, the only operating Trek-themed attraction in the world is the Star Trek: Operation Enterprise roller coaster at Movie Park Germany. This ride also includes a Star Trek-themed “Federation Plaza” in front of the coaster’s entrance.
Federation Plaza at Movie Park Germany
Find more stories on Star Trek events and attractions.
Pent up demand for Star Trek in China?
Do/did the Chinese watch Star Trek?
I’ll just say that thanks to Chinese vendors, Star Trek cosplay is much more affordable.
As a long-term resident of China with a Chinese wife and daughter, It’s good to see that the Star Trek ethos of respect for other cultures is alive and well in this community
Thank you for those thoughts, comrade.
Well said.
Considering there are what, a billion?, people in China, I imagine there is diversity of opinions and Chinese Star Trek fans.
Don’t know how things changed in the decade since, but in 2009 I took a friend from Tianjin to JJ’s movie. She knew nothing about Star Trek, nothing about Spock, and Leonard Nimoy showing up claiming he’s future Spock made as much sense to her as Sean Connery showing up in Casino Royale saying he’s future Daniel Craig would make to a Bond newcomer.
Other Chinese friends who saw the movie also expressed confusion about the plot to me at the time.
JJ had boasted in the press that his movie was for Trek newcomers. Yet she didn’t understand and hated the film. Never trusted JJ again after that really (and to be fair my disappointments in his SW sequels exacerbated that).
Still have fond memories of my one visit to the Star Trek Experience before it closed in Vegas. I even saw a couple get married in Quark’s Bar!
That effect where you get beamed on to the Enterprise was one of the greatest theme park experiences ever.
Never heard about it. Please explain more fully.
You’re about to go on a generic simulator ride, when suddenly the lights go out, spotlights start strobing, and a ton of wind rushes around you as you hear a Klingon transport effect, which is superceded by a Starfleet transporter. As the sounds die down, the lights comeback up suddenly, and you’re on the Enterprise D transporter pad. An ensign explains to you that you’re on a starship in the 24th century, and that someone needs to speak to you, and they walk you to the bridge.
Everything about the rooms you’re in and the uniforms everyone’s wearing is a perfect recreation of TNG. It was incredible
Yeah… I’m glad I got there before it closed. Did the simulator as well as the Borg 4D thing. Which actually wasn’t as good as the motion simulator. But the place was crowded. And I bought a 6 pack of Romulan Ale from Quarks.
In the show they need to move Starfleet HQ to Beijing.
Better yet, make the head of Starfleet or the Federation a Uyghur person. For a brighter future, y’know.
Great idea of you want to lose the chinese market
Great idea using this devilish “Vulcan” character and a Black woman on the bridge… if you want to lose the Southern market. And she does what? She kisses the White captain?! Dear lord, what will they think…?
And how about this Russian? We might lose all the real Americans in the audience!
And so it goes.
Sulu, too; the time between the surrender of Japan and the premiere of Star Trek was roughly the same as the time between the USS Cole bombing and today. Anti-Japan feeling was alive and well.
Trek may have lost some audience members with these decisions but it didn’t affect the show being broadcast in the US. I have no idea how the general Chinese public would feel about an Uyghur as head of Starfleet or the Federation but it is pretty clear that the Chinese government would very likely simply ban the show in China if that happened.
Of course, you can argue whether appeasing the Chinese government should be Trek’s focus but given the strict censorship in China the consequences of offending the Chinese government would be bigger than offending a few folks in the South during the 60’s. You may not like, I may not like it but companies tend to put economic considerations over moral concerns.
Indeed companies do. That’s why, for example, you’re seeing a lot more Chinese characters in films. Or why studios like big action flicks with little talking. (That latter one is not just for China but for the whole world.) And if it ended there…but of course it doesn’t. For about forty years Hollywood had no problem making movies about the Cold War. Do you think there will *ever* be, say, a James Bond movie in which China is the bad guy?
And I’d add: Indeed companies do. The problem is that those same companies love to hold themselves out as moral exemplars. And they love attacking the “easy” targets they find distasteful. But somehow, when it comes to genocide…crickets.
I guess the difference during the Cold War was that Hollywood didn’t really try to make money in the Eastern bloc countries back then.
There’s never been a James Bond film with a true Soviet intelligence agent as the bad guy. The closest was the teasers in TSWLM and Goldeneye. Bond *thought* he was fighting the Soviets in the first half of FRWL, but he wasn’t. I suppose you could argue Koskov in TLD never formally broke with GRU. But it’s quite remarkable that Fleming and the Broccolis were careful to avoid portraying the Soviets as villains.
You’re right, I was thinking that as I typed it. Although the Afghan fighters in Living Daylights were fighting the Soviets, of course, even if they weren’t really Bond’s main enemy. And there’s certainly a lot of Soviet *funding* of various matters- SMERSH is, after all, a Soviet organization, even if they kind of downplayed it into SPECTRE. (It’s of course much more obvious in the books.) Zorin was a Soviet creation, even if he got out of control, and so on. And of course the *existence* of Russia, and the Cold War, was very much an explicit presence. But the most we’ve ever gotten about China is Yeoh’s character (a Trek connection!), and she’s very much the good guy, and the use of China in Skyfall (never with China’s involvement, of course), and…I think that’s it. They’ve never even filmed in China. (Apart from Hong Kong when it was British.)
Twice they wanted to set a movie in China and do a motorcycle chase on the Great Wall. Both times were denied by the Chinese Government. They wanted it for The Man with the Golden Gun and then tried again in Tomorrow Never Dies.
Except it was SUPER rare for a Bond villain to be a foreign government. It was normally some megalomaniac or an evil organization that operated in the shadows. Off the top of my head I can think of one Bond film where the main baddie was an actual Soviet. And the movie went to great lengths to distance that guy from the rest of the Soviet Government
I’m a Southerner from that era. “Few” is gross misrepresentationion of the offended. Jim Crow and Separate but unequal weren’t implemented, maintained and supported by just a “few” white Southerners.
Best Star Trek theme I ever saw was the proposed Last Vegas early 1990s almost full scale Starship Enterprise 1701A replica but the cheapskates at the studio decided against it even though they were not even funding it directly! They felt it would not be a good brand fit……..!
It was cool as hell, but there was zero chance that Enterprise hotel/casino could actually have been built. All sorts of engineering and regulatory obstacles.
As much as I want to see Star Trek attractions in the world, and as much as I want the people of China to be able to enjoy this, these kind of deals have had palpable effects on free speech in the West. I doubt any Star Trek actor would feel able to raise the plight of the Uyghur people without risking their employment now. Sad to say it, but I think the only solution in the short-term is not to make your business dependent on income from the Chinese market.
As a resident of China with a Chinese wife and daughter I have to say that the Western Perspective on the levels of freedom of speech here are a littls skewed. Actually, people do talk openly here about controvertial subjects…. but at the same time, they caution against westerners from throwing stones in glass houses. China is not a perfect nation, far from it, they have different challenges and both the leaders and the people will occasionally have perspectives or make decisions we wouldn’t necessarily agree with. But let’s not judge based on what we might see as a produce from a skewed perspective. I urge anyone here to visit China when the world returns to normal, you may have your suspicions confirmed…. but you will also see that China is far more complex then the BBC, CNN or FOX would have you believe. Star Trek has a huge amount of potental since the Chinese people have insatiable curiosity… freedom of speech and the rights of individuals are indeed LESS important than social cohesion… but instead of viewing it as a negative, I try to view it as simply different. Afterall, if we didn’t have the Enlightenment… John Locke… Thomas Hobbes or Thomas Paine… what kind of a society would we have today? China simply has a different history with different people and different ideas who has shaped their society along the way. Is there oppression of miniority groups? Sure! But just because this happens in America, doesn’t mean it can’t happen elsewhere like in Chi….. wait…. I got confused there. Anyway! My point is, we are all developing and growing, China isn’t finished yet… neither is America. Maybe Star Trek can help things a little even if the creatives have to compromise (like Roddenberry did in the 60s).
“Afterall, if we didn’t have the Enlightenment… John Locke… Thomas Hobbes or Thomas Paine… what kind of a society would we have today?”
Uh, one that places LESS importance on free speech and the rights of individuals.
Exactly his point! This was a western evolution of thought! There they went through a different path! And Star Trek is here to say that we should respect other cultures, even though we can strive to be a benign influence on them. But NOT by reshaping them exactly to our image! IDIC!
This is a good point. Looking at it from the outside and forming an opinion like that is easy. Living there and recognizing the truths are the harder parts. I’ve lived in two countries that many consider “oppressive” nowadays for long periods of time and when you start living there you recognize that the outside perspective is nowhere near how you really expect it to be. In fact I had some of the best moments of my life in these countries. It’s basically like that saying about walking in the others shoes for a short while.
Yes, but only when we walk in the shoes of the downtrodden, the oppressed, those kept in camps for example, can we know the true character of a government.
I suggest we don’t buy what this bot is selling. “Patrick” speaks of the BBC, CNN, and FOX, but neglects to mention the numerous human rights organizations and countries around the world with their own voices. One doesn’t have to watch cable news to read their reports, one only has to read. Brought to you by a free press.
Hello Danny Boy – I appreciate your response and understand you are talking from a particular perspective. I’m not saying that issues with how ethnic minorities are treated in China is made up by the free press. Indeed, if you type “human rights in China” into any search engine you would be rightly convinced after a short time that crimes have been committed. The point I am making is that if you ONLY type “human rights in China” and then make the leap that ALL chinese people and the ENTIRE chinese government is responsible you could fall down a rabbit hole. Afterall, I could type “african americans in south central LA” or “Guantanomo Bay” into a Search engine and if that was all I bothered to do to learn about America…. my god. Ironically, one of my jobs here in China is to convince Chinese people to visit America who are afraid to do so becaus they fear the government or the people. They are not wrong to learn about the dangers that exist in America, but I always tell them to try and learn the whole picture. Finally, the crack you made about me being a bot…. maybe I am, maybe I aren’t…. but should you respect Synthetic Life? Or are you a Romulan… afterall ALL romulans hate synthetic life… or maybe its a small %
Bot or not, you sound like a propagandist. Something the Romulan state would be familiar with as well. :-)
And I was not making the assumption that ALL Chinese people are responsible. The numerous protests and petitions are not directed at the people, they’re directed at the Chinese government. Those who are responsible.
To be convinced of crimes committed, listen to the survivors. Have you tried?
Hello Danny – like I said, we are voicing two different perspectives. IDIC
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations… huh, interesting concept. I wonder if free speech and the rights of individuals are covered?
I think it should! I mean, I have been free to sit here and china and make my point that we should try to respect the dfferent perspectives of others, and you have been free to sit whereever you are and tell me I’m wrong. So I think we both enjoy freedom of speech….. to an extent. For example, here in China, you can express a personal opinion about government policy, but you aren’t allowed to try to convince others to agree with you. You cannot talk about certain things in that context such as Hong Kong, Tibet or Taiwan. It’s also illegal to spread dis-information about Covid-19 (even though its probably no dis-information). However, in America, I can certainly say whatever I want to whoever I want, wherever I want without consequence……. or can I? I would argue that “freedom of speech” comes with caveats everywhere. In China, they are concrete, they don’t change and in that way, they are perhaps easier to avoid. In the West it seems that taboo topics seem to change every few seconds….. so I have my own opinion, but I do feel more “free” in China compared to the West. I know that sounds crazy, but… its my honest held opinion and I absolutely accept if you feel differently – you’re not wrong, you’re not a bot and you’re not a propogandarist :)
There’s glory for you.
There was a well-known anecdote told in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev:
An American and a Soviet citizen are having a political debate about their respective political systems. The American says, “We have freedom of speech in America. I can go to the town square and criticize Nixon as much as I want.”
The Soviet replies, “We have freedom of speech here, too. I can go to Red Square and criticize Nixon as much as I want, too.”
Pretty stunned to see someone take this literally.
Danny: I tried listening to George Floyd. But he was dead. Last I heard he’d been having trouble breathing with a cop’s knee atop his neck. You need to wake up and realize the USA is also guilty of rampant buses of human rights. Don’t be a patriotic ostrich.
And yet the Derek Chauvin, the cop who killed George Floyd, was prosecuted and convicted of murder. Has that happened to torturers in China?
There were mass protests in the US throughout the summer of 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Would that be allowed in China?
The governor of Minnesota criticized the Trump administration. Would a regional governor in China be allowed to openly criticize Xi? Ask Bo Xilai.
By all means, argue that the US need to do more on civil rights, or even that the “China threat” has been exaggerated; but to draw moral equivalence between the US and PRC political systems is outrageous.
Since no one has made that claim, this point is an utter strawman. The only person who has appointed himself to speak on behalf of “all Chinese people” is you, by virtue of having a Chinese wife.
You’ve made no mention of the clampdown in Hong Kong, or the deterioration in cross-strait relations with the ROC, all of which involve “Chinese people” and yet paint the PRC in an extremely poor light.
“and then make the leap that ALL chinese people”
China is…brace yourself…*not* a democracy. So obviously, this line is the mother of all strawmen. Anyone who criticizes China knows full well that the actual Chinese people have little to do with the horrors.
“and the ENTIRE chinese government is responsible”
Another news flash: China is a *totalitarian state*. The entire Chinese government (and country) is a single operation. There’s no splitting the government. The government *is*, by definition, “the entire government.”
At first I just thought you were someone who seriously went native, but now I’m thinking, based on a bunch of little things, that you’re one of the China’s army of paid commentators. Apologies if you’re not, but that’s the world we live in.
You mean like the under aged children of illegal immigrants who were locked in cages in some positively abhorrent conditions? If you cut-and-pasted what was happening to those children at the hands of the American government into an article that said those same actions were being done by the Chinese, you’d be having a stroke complaining about it.
Please do not get me wrong. I LOVE America. I served in our armed forces after I graduated college and had a good job, because I firmly believed I needed to give back to a country that allows me to live the lifestyle I love. There is no other place on Earth I would rather live.
But, loving your home doesn’t mean you turn an eye on its flaws. We have our own scars of human rights violations, from slavery, to the trail of tears, to Japanese internment camps, to locking up children in cages. Have you tried walking in the shoes of any of those, who were downtrodden right here on our own shores?
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Yes, there are some horrible human rights violations that are ongoing in China, and I bristle at some of the things there government has done and is doing. But we can not stand here without realizing there is blood on our hands, too, and if allowing one of our more liberal, freedom promoting franchises into China helps stir a bit of that feeling in those that watch it, much as it might have done for racism in America in the ’60’s, then I look at it as a good thing.
Agreed 100% sir! I’m afraid I don’t think I’m going to change anyones minds on here…. its only been three hours and our liberal star trek fans have called me a bot, mao, propagandirist and comrade (which I assume its meant as a derogatory statement). I guess Kurtzman is right to focus on flash over substance…
I mean I absolutely understand where you are coming from I live in Turkey and I am Turkish and I am proud to be Turkish. I am also aware of the negative stuff going on in my country and the blatant human rights violations happening, but this shouldn’t be the only way other people view my country. There is still freedom and I enjoy living here, and believe me I lived in different European countries too, but I still come back to Turkey in the end. All I am saying is that the good should also be viewed with the bad and not to judge an entire country or people just because of the incompetence of some politicians.
Agreed!
I agree alphantrion,
No country is perfect. They all have their problems. I’m American, we may not have as severe human rights issues as other places but we certainly have them just the same, certainly after 9/11. And America always pretend like we are the beacon of democracy and freedom and yet January 6th proved that people will happily try to overturn democracy because they didn’t like the results of an election. For the first time in my lifetime Trump is the first President who tried to create an all out coup. This happens in third world countries, not America. The irony is if he attempted that in a lesser country, he would be in jail somewhere.
And we look like hypocrites in the world trying to preach to others while ignoring our own issues at times.
But I fear the “leadership” will only co-opt the spirit of Trek to further the goals of the one-party state. Nothing against the Chinese people though.
I guess my point is that if all you know about Chinese leadership is that its a “one-party state” we can talk more and I’ll tell you what else it is. Like I said time and time again, China IS IN FACT everything you are afraid it is… but its only 10% of the whole picture. Just like South Central LA, just like Portland…
Ok Comrade
So, they’re building Star Trek theme parks in South Central and Portland, too? Cool.
They are building the one in China in a city called Kunming, it’s about a 4 hour drive from my home so I feel pretty lucky! I’ve already arranged a road trip with some of my friends – I’ve been able to “indoctrinate” some of them into liking Star Trek recently
Dead wrong. Not “just like South Central LA.”
Whatever socioeconomic issues South Central LA has, it is not a one-party state. It conducts free and fair elections. South Central LA has sent us one of the most senior members of the California congressional delegation, Maxine Waters, who was one of the most vocal critics of Republican administrations from Reagan onward. It has also helped elect Karen Bass, another senior member of Congress and vocal Trump critic.
China does not conduct free and fair elections; it has a few sham opposition parties (as Pei Minxin once observed) but is a de-facto one party state; and regional leaders risk defenestration if they oppose national leadership, as the case Bo Xilai illustrates.
You’re the very definition of a modern whataboutist.
Hello Sir – thank you for your reply. Let me explain the nuance of my comparison.
Basically, I am making the point that Star Trek should not be excluded in China because of the politics and society that we find personally disagreeable or because of crimes (moral or otherwise) committed by the government, because Star Trek has never been excluded from America.
As I have said elswhere, America was droppng Napalm on Vietnamese villages & propping up 1 party dictatorships with America tax dollars while broadcasting TOS and TNG and opening up the Las Vegas theme park…
Your argument is that since China has a one party and no real elections, they don’t deserve Star Trek. If this s a requirement then maybe we should exmaine more closely democracies around the world and ask ourselves if we are truly willing and able to impose that requirement.
Many feel that political plurality is a good thing and maybe you’re right. I personally don’t see one party or ten parties or direct elections or not inherently good or bad.
Almost every nation on Earth is guilty of human rights abuses, homeboy. Including the good ol’ US of A, in case you haven’t done your homework.
I agree with your objectivity. Every state (and perhaps some in this forum) have a ways to go before they can live up the ideals we hold dear in our Star Trek experience
Another utter strawman; the question is to what extent “human rights abuses” pervade the political culture. This is before we get to the issue of free and fair elections.
Freedom House compiles annual statistics on the level of democracy in all countries in the world. It shows some backsliding in the US recently, sure. But Freedom House still rates the US, and most of Europe, as “free.” (It also rates Mongolia as free, which was another China-adjacent country that left China’s orbit in 1949.)
Some great discussion here, and I particularly welcome thoughts from our friend residing in China.
My original concern, which I don’t believe has been addressed, is that this move will cool free speech in the West.This has happened before – just ask Daryl Morey and the NBA, or John Cena and Universal Pictures. Corporations are acutely aware that criticism of China by their employees, even in a personal capacity, will cost them millions in lost revenue. Morey and Cena’s comments were made “off the court” or “off camera”, so one can only imagine the straight-up censorship that takes place when it comes to the actual content these companies produce. When every major media corporation has billions in revenue dependent on the approval of the Chinese Communist Party, this becomes a serious concern – what art isn’t created, what reporting isn’t produced, what voices aren’t raised as a result?
To those arguing that the U.S. is no better than China, this is not a serious comparison. For sure, America is corrupt, cruel, discriminatory… the list goes on. But contrast this with China, which rounds up millions of Uyghurs in the night, takes them to re-education camps, separates parents from children, seeks to eradicate their culture, uses them for slave labour, beats those who step out of line, and orchestrates the systematic sterilisation and rape of women. This is an injustice on a historic scale, and not remotely comparable to anything the U.S. has done is recent memory.
Final point – there is a fundamental distinction to be made between a country’s leadership and it’s people. I have nothing but contempt for the Chinese Communist Party, and nothing but love and respect for the Chinese people.
Thank you for your measured response and I understand fully the points you make. I would like to address the third paragraph. I teach US history so indeed, if I were to confine myself to “recent” memory, the US has made huge strides in how it treats people different from them. And indeed, maybe the caveat you use in your third paragraph “in recent memory” is perhaps the most important distinction between the American and Chinese governments.
But I would like to make the point that while Star Trek TOS was on air in the 1960s/70s, the US was dropping Napalm on Vietnamese villages and putting Native Americans into “schools” to teach them how to be more like white folks.
Is Star Trek at all a thing in China? It would be nice if it were. They need a vision of an optimistic future just like everyone else does.
Hello – as a resident of China with a Chinese wife and daughter I can tell you that western media perspective on the Chinese people is incredibly under-developed. They have a huge amount in common with westerners with the same hopes and fears. They work hard for their families and also make mistakes and commit crimes. They can be both radicalized and inspired by social media and they love sci-fi. The Star Trek brand in China however is quite weak but Chinese people have insatiable curiosity and I am personally flying the Federation Flag from my apartment here in the heart of China.
I can’t imagine Discovery ever being broadcast in China or Russia because of LGBT themes. Do they broadcast any Star Trek shows?
Hello Eric – they do show the movies but they cut a lot of stuff out, such as LGBT themes. And indeed, I expect this to rub people the wrong way and with good reason. However, I would like to be the objective point;
LGBT equality has come along way in the west, but the rest of world let America and Europe get there on their own without preaching to them from the outside, so let China get there on their own too? I can tell you that in the past 10yrs there has been a significant improvement in the treatment of homosexuals in China.
The second point I’d like to make, is that I have seen many instances where people have been offended by the apparent extreme focus on someones sexuality and the shoe-horning in of “diverse” characters that actually aren’t that interesting to watch on screen.
So it is possible that we can go too far in either direction and maybe a slow and steady approach is the only way. That being said, I do wish that some of my gay friends here in China felt more comfortable in being themselves… but I also had religious people in the UK who felt the same way. No society is perfect.
Hello Eric – I did post my reply to you but it didn’t get through the moderators, I don’t know why. I didn’t say anything controvertial and was very honest and objective. But free speech has it’s limits in the US….. haha Anyways, yes it does and it does have things cut.
Sometimes certain words trigger a review by the mods. Also any posts with links are subject to review.
This means that a post can seem to disappear for several hours until it it’s cleared for posting.
Most of us who post regularly get used to this, but I’m sure that it could be disconcerting if you’re new to this board.
FWIW, I posted a long response to the initial post about China above, which never made it through moderation.
That’s way I’m always very weary of making long posts. I like to make sweet and short posts, saves me headaches.
Discovery is readily available in Russia on Netflix.
Has Discovery every been broadcast on over-the-air television anywhere outside of the US and Canada?
Wasn’t it on Sky in the UK? I vaguely remember reading that but I don’t live in the UK.
Yes, DSC Season 1 was broadcast in the UK (sometime last year, I think).
Yes, let’s let the one-party totalitarian state be the harbingers of the optimistic future of Gene Roddenberry. Looks cool though…
I would like to engage with you respectfully and without judgement so I can share with you some of my experiences living in China along with my perspective having able to compare the UK, US and China. If you’re open to that, let me know
No thanks Mao
In that case, live long and prosper.
You could have just left it at no thinks, but you just HAD to add an ethnic slur, too, eh?
Why is “Mao” an ethnic slur? It has nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with totalitarianism. It’s sad that some people today see race in EVERYTHING.
I believe the logic is the fact that Patrick keeps referring to his wife an child as Chinese and himself as a “resident” and not as a citizen of the PRC establishes that his ethnicity is something other than Chinese.
Don’t care what the author’s ethnicity is. Not what my post was about. Another poster thought someone calling someone else “Mao” was an ethnic slur. Which it obviously is not. For reasons I explained above.
Well, the fact that much of the world considers Mao a notorious mass murderer of millions, and not an epitome of Chinese Enlightenment, is likely why it’s considered a slur akin to labeling an ethnoGerman, “Der Fuhrer”.
But that’s not racial in any way. It just denotes an evil human being. I guess the question to you would be why do you automatically associate being evil with specific ethnicities?
Because of Hollywood’s racist evil villains in the 30s and 40s? Some of which they kept going for decades after. Ming, The Merciless, anyone?
Really? You are using examples from 80-90 years ago? Sorry. That doesn’t fly today. It sounds to me like you are going out of your way to find racism where it doesn’t exist. Sadly too many people today have been doing that. It’s actually not helping things.
I’d love to hear what you have to say, actually.
I’d like to know whatever happened to the Trek theme park which had been planned for Jordan (by it’s King).
As someone who lives in the country next door, I was hoping…and he actually appeared on the show! But apparently, nothing.
I know she is Malaysian Chinese, but still have to say – And some wonder why CBS and now P+ want a Michelle Yeoh series???
I guess it doesnt have to be a Section 31 show, but on merit alone, it was easy to see why they wanted her in the Trek universe. And now it makes even more sense.
So Paramount will water down the show even further to ensure their Chinese overlords don’t object. Ironic when Star Trek is about fighting against what the Jinping dynasty is doing to innocent people right now.
I wonder what the reaction would be if it were Dubai…
Probably about as harsh at the criticism of Qatar getting the 2022 World Cup.
I have wondered for a while: Star Trek’s fanbase seems to be in English speaking countries, the main exception being…Germany. Does anyone know why it’s so popular there?
I have my pet theory about that. There are many different factors. But to put it in one word I would say: LESSING
… and Karl May
Interesting! Westerns have also been pretty popular in Germany, no?
I think the design in Germany looks much better, the proposed design for China looks too JJTrek.
In my opinion, those who think that Star Trek belongs in China now do not understand what China is about under the present government , and nor do they understand what Star Trek is really about. The two philosophies couldn’t be more different.
Remember when we did this kind of thing on the west?
We still do. New theme park rides and attractions are being built literally all of the time.
Disney has dropped billions into their Star Wars lands. Got to see it before the plague, so I remember it quite well.
I recall when Paramount was in the theme park business locally. They took over Great America and among other things there were actors in TNG uniforms roaming around the park in character. I guess the earlier failure of Paramount Parks here in the US is why they aren’t doing this here. Which is unfortunate for the US. Where honestly the bulk of the Trek fans are.
I do find it disheartening they are planning this for China. I understand the $$ aspect of it but find such cooperation with a regime that has performed so very badly in the human rights category (not to mention other obvious atrocities) to be distasteful at best.
It isn’t Star Trek, but what I find interesting is the involvement of the Peanuts characters. Paramount released the Peanuts home video catalog for a while and still might, but they never had theme park rights. Cedar Fair, who bought some of Paramount’s theme park assets have the Peanuts rights; but only because they came with their purchase of Knott’s Berry Farm in 1997. Somebody is making licensing money off of this park besides CBS. I’m curious if it is Cedar Fair, or Sparky’s heirs directly.
I can’t figure out where to post a comment/response, so I’m just making a new one.
IS STAR TREK A THING IN CHINA?
No. If you think the evil Chinese thought police would allow OTA or broad closed circuit presentation of a show that prominently features a competent Japanese character you don’t know anything about the evil, individual-averse Chinese government – and you should just read the comments of the Chinese government tool that is super-trolling this posting.
The evil Chinese government allow IDIC?
The uncontrolled dictatorship of the Chinese government embrace a television show that is prominently about freedom of thought, individual contribution, the right to self determination and possession, and the individual or small group making determinations of good or bad? (you’d only be able to see about 14 episodes of TOS and 38 of TNG – and even then any scene with Sulu or mention of Sulu would be cut as would the rest of the episodes!)
Get a grip!
Sympathy building for the evil, soul sucking, genocidal Chinese government is the ultimate offense against western and eastern ideas and ideals, Star Trek tenets, and the long history of Chinese philosophy.
Don’t be confused by the Chinese government’s broad, unrelenting efforts to rehabilitate their evils and the unending efforts of Paramount to sell anything to anyone at any time under any condition if they make a buck.
Remember the lab that jumped at the chance to use CRSPR tech to genetically engineer human embryos…
This thread jumped the rails in a hurry…..
I remember when there was a USS Tian An Men in Starfleet service.
Can we expect that to be retconned as part of the price of this theme park?
Tian An Men is actually a very important square (plaza) in Beijing. It’s like the National Mall in Washington DC (without the water). So naming anything after it is no insult to the Chinese people or government. It’s only a ‘dirty word’ in the West. And, frankly, I’m skeptical about the negative reports about it. I saw ZERO people killed. I saw ONE guy (who the tanks stopped for). Did you see anything I didn’t see? And can you name / ID one person who was killed?