We need to talk about the Cheronians. I didn’t mind seeing one as a one off easter egg in #Section31 but now that we’ve seen another one in #StarTrek #StarFleetAcademy they are no longer an easter egg, they are an established spacefaring race that is still traveling the stars even though they destroyed themselves way back in the 23rd century.
Obviously there were some survivors since we’ve seen them twice now. But to keep seeing them does diminish the power of the original series episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” The whole point of that episode was about the destruction brought about by hatred and racism.
One thing that I have noticed is that the two post-apocalyptic Cheronians are black on the right side, just like Commissioner Bele from the original series episode. Now the black on the right Cheronians were oppressing the black on the left Cheronians and that oppression was what kicked off the civil war which destroyed Cheron. It’s possible that Bele’s people won or were only ones to escape the destruction of Cheron and that genocide and can be explored in the future. This is exactly the sort of story which Star Trek should be tackling so hopefully we can see this explored.
