Bechdel test - ST:TNG (4x11 - 4x14) + ST: Nemesis
I haven't forgotten about these. I did a whole stack off-line in a notebook (almost the entire season, actually), and I'm going to write those up and finish up the season, see where that takes us. See this post for general assumptions on alien races.
4x11 Data's Day
Where Keiko and Miles get married, Data tries to help, Dr Crusher dances, oh, and there's a Vulcan ambassador who is behaving very strangely indeed.
Speaking parts:
1. Data
2. Riker
3. Keiko
4. Miles O'Brien
5. Geordi
6. Transporter Technician Hubbell, black female
7. Ambassador T'Pel/SubCommander Selok, white female
8. Mott the barber, white male
9. Worf
10. Dr Crusher
11. Troi
12. Admiral Mendek, white male
- number of speaking parts: 12
- number of women speaking: 5 (41.7%)
- number of characters of colour speaking: 4 (33.3%)
- number of women of colour speaking: 2 (16.7%)
- Bechdel pass? No. Even though we have an impressive 5 out of 12 speaking parts being women, none of those women actually speak to each other! This is I think primarily due to the structure of the episode, with Data taking one side of almost all conversations.
- race-Bechdel pass? No, same issues as the Bechdel test.
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4x12 The Wounded
The Cardassians turn up, and claim that the Federation has attacked one of their outposts. So dull I almost fell asleep.
Speaking parts:
1. Picard
2. Data
3. Riker
4. Troi
5. Worf
6. O'Brien
7. Keiko
8. Gul Macet
9. Admiral Haden, black male
10. Geordi
11. Glinn Daro
12. male white bartender
13. Glinn Telle
14. Benjamin Maxwell, white male
15. male white ensign
- number of speaking parts: 15
- number of women speaking: 2 (13.3%)
- number of characters of colour speaking: 4 (26.7%)
- number of women of colour speaking: 1 (6.7%)
- Bechdel pass? Unsurprisingly, no! Keiko and Troi don't have a scene together.
- race-Bechdel pass? Again, no. There are 4 POC but they do not speak to each other.
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4x13 Devil's Due
Some random woman shows up and claims to be the Devil, then tries to tumble Picard.
Speaking parts:
1. Morley (Charles Dickens character), white male
2. Data
3. Picard
4. Riker
5. Worf
6. Dr Clark, white male
7. Jared, white male
8. Troi
9. Ardra
10. Dr Crusher
11. Geordi
So:
- number of speaking parts: 11
- number of women speaking: 3 (27.3%)
- number of characters of colour speaking: 2 (18.2%)
- number of women of colour speaking: 0 (0%)
- Bechdel pass? Yes! Troi and Ardra snark at each other about Ardra showing up and enslaving the population.
- race-Bechdel pass? No, the two POC don't speak to each other.
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4x14 Clues
A fun little mystery where a short 'nap' for the crew results in strange things having happened on board.
Speaking parts:
1. Picard
2. Guinan
3. Madeleine, Dixon's secretary, white female
4. Johnny, hoodlum, white male
5. Data
6. Ensign McKnight, white female
7. Worf
8. Riker
9. Dr Crusher
10. Geordi
11. Troi
12. O'Brien
13. Nurse Alyssa Ogawa
So:
- number of speaking parts: 13
- number of women speaking: 6 (46.2%)
- number of characters of colour speaking: 4 (30.8%)
- number of women of colour speaking: 2 (15.4%)
- Bechdel pass? Yes! Several exchanges qualify: Madeleine and Guinan (as Gloria) talk about whether Dixon is in his office or not; Alyssa and Crusher talk about their experiment and, with the female ensign, discuss her scan.
- race-Bechdel pass? No, the POC don't talk to each other.
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As a bonus (!), have ST: Nemesis as well -
ST: Nemesis
The Romulans get taken over by the Remans, and some boring politics ensue. Oh, and there's a bald guy who gets to mentally rape Deanna for our viewing pleasure.
A note on the aliens: the Romulans get treated the same as the Vulcans as to whether they are played by POC or not, but the Remans are wearing full prosthetics so don't grant a race-Bechdel pass.
Speaking parts:
1. Romulan commander, white male
2. Praetor, white male
3. Other Romulan commander, white male (yeah, I tuned out on the names, if they had any)
4. Senator Tal'aura, white female
5. Picard
6. Data
7. Riker
8. Troi
9. Geordi
10. Guinan
11. Worf
12. B4 (counted as a separate character, do we think? naaah.)
12. Crusher
13. Admiral Janeway
14. Helmsman, white male
15. Reman viceroy, male
16. Praetor Shizon, white male
17. Commander Donatra, white female
Wow, that didn't have a lot of speaking parts for a film! Let's see how it did on the Bechdel tests:
- number of speaking parts: 17
- number of women speaking: 6 (35.3%)
- number of characters of colour speaking: 3 (17.6%)
- number of women of colour speaking: 1 (5.9%)
- Bechdel pass? No. Dr Crusher tries to talk to Troi but Troi doesn't answer back - so not even a marginal pass is possible!
- race-Bechdel pass? Yes! Geordi, Worf and Guinan sit and talk about marriage and evil Romulan ale.
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Wow, it doesn't look good for TNG, does it?! I had to write up DSN's Way of the Warrior I + II to cheer myself up (not written up here yet, but full passes on both tests for those curious). DSN is bound to perform better than TNG - so's VOY, come to think of it - anyone interested in covering VOY and/or ENT to get an idea of Trek's movement along pass/fail lines?? I have a feeling ENT just makes it worse...