Why didn't anyone smoke on "TOS?"

[Jayson1]

When I look at alot of tv from the 60's I have noticed that many people smoked on tv to a point where even Fred Flintstone could be seen smoking cigarettes. I'm surprised TOS was able to go 3 years without showing that on tv. Was Roddenberry adamant that not be done and if so that seems kind of strange considering he was into drugs and alchol at the time. I would think he would be open to all sorts of vices. Also did people complain about smoking in the 60's like people do today? I didn't live during that time so i'm not sure what the attitude was towards it. Were their anti-smoking movements even that far back?

Jason

 

[Stephen!]

Maybe humanity has outgrown such things by the 23rd century

 

[feek61]

I was alive and watching TV back then and to my memory the anti-smoking stuff started more in the 70's. There is one scene in "Journey to Babel" during the surgery that you can see the smoke from DeForest's off screen cigarette but of course that is no suppose to be part of the scene.

 

[Vger23]

Took me 3 seconds to google this:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Smoking

From the article:

During the making of Star Trek: The Original Series, Gene Roddenberryand others associated with the production fought NBC and Desilu so that cigarettes were omitted from the series. "Even with the heaviest smokers, including myself, I fought for it," Roddenberry recalled. "In the end, it paid off for everyone; I think everyone now agrees that the original episodes would not be rerunning so successful if we had yielded to advertising pressure and put a 'twenty-third century cigarette' into the mouth of Kirk and others." (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 43)

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, director Nicholas Meyer had "No Smoking" signs posted on the bridge of the Enterprise. According to the text commentary for the film, at Gene Roddenberry's insistence, they were removed. Roddenberry felt that enlightened future Humans would not have hang-ups or addictions like smoking. The "No Smoking" sign can still be seen on the bridge in the opening "Kobayashi Maru" scene.

 

[Christopher]

Also did people complain about smoking in the 60's like people do today? I didn't live during that time so i'm not sure what the attitude was towards it. Were their anti-smoking movements even that far back?

The first Surgeon General's Warning about the health hazards of tobacco was issued in January 1964. It was big news when it first came out, so when Roddenberry was developing ST later in 1964, he probably had that news in mind and extrapolated that, well, if people in 1964 had just discovered that smoking was deadly, then it stood to reason that people in later generations would've stopped doing it.

There is one scene in "Journey to Babel" during the surgery that you can see the smoke from DeForest's off screen cigarette but of course that is no suppose to be part of the scene.

I think that's a myth, or at least an unconfirmed rumor. In this older TrekBBS thread, it was argued that it might be the result of a stage light overheating or an electrical short-circuit or something. Personally, I always assumed it was meant to represent condensation/vapor from the cryogenic heart procedure.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I think that's a myth, or at least an unconfirmed rumor. In this older TrekBBS thread, it was argued that it might be the result of a stage light overheating or an electrical short-circuit or something. Personally, I always assumed it was meant to represent condensation/vapor from the cryogenic heart procedure.

I'm sure the surgery smoke was meant to be seen. I always thought it was meant to convey overheating circuits in the equipment, but cryogenic vapor is good too.

Also, smoke happened by accident in "Amok Time," when Kirk is in Spock's quarters. A gel over a light inside a set decoration overheated and burned. I used to think this was intentional, an on-set practical effect to show how alien and exotic Spock's knick-knacks were. But it was an accident.

 

[Shawnster]

I'm sure the surgery smoke was meant to be seen. I always thought it was meant to convey overheating circuits in the equipment, but cryogenic vapor is good too.

Also, smoke happened by accident in "Amok Time," when Kirk is in Spock's quarters. A gel over a light inside a set decoration overheated and burned. I used to think this was intentional, an on-set practical effect to show how alien and exotic Spock's knick-knacks were. But it was an accident.

I always thought it was burning incense.

 

[johnnybear]

Imagine if smoking had been allowed on the show!!! Nowadays it would seem that humanity might have regressed and indulged in a drug that people knew was harmful to themselves and others and the environment! Gene got it right again, strange considering he was a smoker himself as well!

JB

 

[GNDN18]

DeForest Kelley was an inveterate smoker—"healtherettes," anyone?—who has appeared in at least one promo image with a butt on the bridge, so the idea that he was sneaking a smoke between takes is not beyond the realm. Absent contrary evidence, I prefer the easier explanation. May your way be as pleasant.

While GR might have fought the dragons on this issue, I've seen too many self-aggrandizing myths exploded over the years. It seems equally plausible that the continuity complications caused by on-screen smoking would be easily dispensed with. Not to mention the expense. Shoe-strings, you know.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Took me 3 seconds to google this:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Smoking

During the making of Star Trek: The Original Series, Gene Roddenberryand others associated with the production fought NBC and Desilu so that cigarettes were omitted from the series. "Even with the heaviest smokers, including myself, I fought for it," Roddenberry recalled. "In the end, it paid off for everyone; I think everyone now agrees that the original episodes would not be rerunning so successful if we had yielded to advertising pressure and put a 'twenty-third century cigarette' into the mouth of Kirk and others." (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 43)

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, director Nicholas Meyer had "No Smoking" signs posted on the bridge of the Enterprise. According to the text commentary for the film, at Gene Roddenberry's insistence, they were removed. Roddenberry felt that enlightened future Humans would not have hang-ups or addictions like smoking. The "No Smoking" sign can still be seen on the bridge in the opening "Kobayashi Maru" scene.

"No Smoking" is also on the signage in TWOK's transporter chamber.

 

[GSchnitzer]

"No Smoking" is also on the signage in TWOK's transporter chamber.

Well, not exactly. Full listing of all the "No Smoking" signage is here:

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-phase-ii-origins.117439/page-2#post-3946571

 

[FormerLurker]

I disagree. Spock was definitively smoking after Vaal hit him with lightning.


What?

 

[Poltargyst]

I disagree. Spock was definitively smoking after Vaal hit him with lightning.


What?

Boooooooooooo!

 

[Maurice]

No one smoked on Lost In Space, either. It wasn't just Star Trek.

 

[Poltargyst]

I remember as a wee lad around 1970 seeing a commercial with an anti-smoking message. Does anyone remember it? It had a man and his son walking together, and the kid was copying everything his father did. So his dad would pick up a stone and chuck it, and the kid would pick up a stone and chuck it the same way. Then the dad takes out a pack of cigarettes, and gets one out, and it shows the kid watching. So yes, people knew smoking was bad for you then.

I just think seeing people on Star Trek smoking would have been so out of place. It feels to me like a 20th-21st century activity that people will no longer be doing hundreds of years from now. And Earth is supposed to be such a paradise with no more poverty or hunger or war or crime or apparently the need for money (?). Outgrowing the need for smoking just fits in with the more enlightened society Earth people had advanced to by that time.

EDIT: Ha! Found the commercial.

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[Jayson1]

Of course it does raise the question that I didn't even think about but we did see one person smoke in the form of David Warner's character in Star Trek 5. I wonder were he was able to get cigarettes from if humans no longer create them.
Also Kirk even smoked in "Undiscovered Country" when the shapeshifter woman gives him that joint to puff on.

Jason

 

[Christopher]

No one smoked on Lost In Space, either. It wasn't just Star Trek.

But Lost in Space was a children's show. Not that there wasn't some smoking on kid-friendly shows (e.g. the Penguin on Batman), but that might explain the lack.

 

[scotpens]

I remember as a wee lad around 1970 seeing a commercial with an anti-smoking message. Does anyone remember it? It had a man and his son walking together, and the kid was copying everything his father did. So his dad would pick up a stone and chuck it, and the kid would pick up a stone and chuck it the same way. Then the dad takes out a pack of cigarettes, and gets one out, and it shows the kid watching. So yes, people knew smoking was bad for you then.

The 1964 Surgeon General's report on the health risks of smoking was old news. People knew tobacco was bad for you 100 years before then. Link

 

[GNDN18]

No one smoked on Lost In Space, either. It wasn't just Star Trek.

No smoking on LiS, but the Space Family Robinson was outfitted with cigarette lighters.

I wonder whether Alpha Control awarded the contract to Zippo or Ronson.

Image from "The Space Primevals" production no. 1503.

 

[Thowra]

I am very glad they didn't smoke. It's the one thing that really 'ages' programs for me. (I mean there's many ways it's aged, but I can get myself into the aesthetic so it feels 'modern'). Smoking always brings me out of a program, though.