• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Nudity taboos in Trek

Even beyond the health and safety concerns, or meeting society's expectations acts in public, there is also the fact that wearing clothing can be enjoyable for people as well as being an area of self-expression. I generally don't get to dress up much at my job, but I do enjoy it when I can wear a suit and tie or at least a sport jacket. I also get a lot of positive comments from the public in general, and from women in particular which is just icing on the cake for me.
Same here. I have no shame in my body but clothes also make me feel good.
 
Unless they're babies or older folks. "The Child" had a full on buttshot by Ian Andrew, and "Cost of Living" had a tastefully shot nude scene with Lwaxana. Not to mention Picard in "Chain of Command".
 
Oh god, "Chain Of Command"! I had forgotten that. Forget Star Trek, that was definitely a shocking amount of skin for any television of the time. "NYPD Blue" hadn't even premiered yet!

I also forgot "Chain Of Command, Part II" was first aired the week of Christmas! Really harshed my festive mood back in the day.
 
Some years later, but the ENT episode "Harbinger" famously had a similar brief shot of T'Pol, aired in its original form in Canada, but for US broadcast was zoomed in to crop out Blalock's posterior.

Kor
 
I read about a bit where Chakotay was seen naked from the rear, and the FX crew decided to digitize out his buttcrack... then that didn't look right, so they digitally recreated it. Which was apparently OK. :shrug:

A strange non-Trek thing... when shots from "The Terminator" were reused in "Terminator Genesys" (which was PG13), they felt it necessary to shadow out Schwarzenegger's butt. Even though other PG13 movies regularly featured butt-shots. Terry Bradshaw in "Failure to Launch" comes to mind. :ack:
 
when shots from "The Terminator" were reused in "Terminator Genesys"
They weren't reused, they were entirely recreated and reshot with new punks and CG 80's Arnie Head. Apparently it was necessary due to rights issues with the original footage. They did such a good job I didn't realise either until I saw one of the BTS features.
 
Some years later, but the ENT episode "Harbinger" famously had a similar brief shot of T'Pol, aired in its original form in Canada, but for US broadcast was zoomed in to crop out Blalock's posterior.
Not in the broadcast I saw. There was crack in them thar' hills.
 
Fascinating thread. I've something I'd like to throw into the discussion.

I don't doubt the practical uses and even benefits of clothing; however, it can have deleterious effects, too. For example, I used to burn pretty badly; a bit of decent-strength sun and I'd rapidly go red. Since spending time outdoors nude, though, that's much less of a problem, as my skin's adjusted. The point is, we have a natural, frankly remarkable covering, and smothering it in fabric can negatively impact it. It's very similar to how, as mentioned earlier in the thread, bras can impede the development of the muscles that support the breasts. Clothing may be practical and useful, but we're simply not designed to wear it, certainly not constantly.

Another facet is clothing can cut you off. In tangible terms, an example would be how much more connected you feel to the natural world when you're nude, when you can feel the sun and wind and rain over all of you. Believe me, it's an invigorating, eye-opening experience, reminding you just how powerful a sense touch truly is. In less tangible terms, it can be an emotional barrier, in a multitude of ways, which can be a good or bad thing.

Of course, as has been stressed repeatedly, individual needs and preferences matter most, and I think the Trek I've seen has actually done a pretty decent job of acknowledging that, especially when you consider that for most of its existence it's had to work within network TV guidelines, restrictive and, bluntly, contradictory things. The era of streaming and digital we're now in, with far fewer restrictions, will hopefully allow for much more variety and exploration, but it'll likely take a while; old habits die hard, especially in corporate TV.
 
Not in the broadcast I saw. There was crack in them thar' hills.
They did on the repeats, but not on the original airing.
I thought I remembered the original UPN airing showing the whole shot, but I figured after all this time I might be mis-remembering, so I went off of Memory Alpha. So it's confirmed that the first US broadcast of the episode was indeed unaltered.

Kor
 
Some years later, but the ENT episode "Harbinger" famously had a similar brief shot of T'Pol, aired in its original form in Canada, but for US broadcast was zoomed in to crop out Blalock's posterior.

And It wasn't Jolene's asscrack; it was a body double's. Just the fact that they needed a double for the shot shows just how gratuitous it was. But that was par for the course with ENT.
 
The irony of the editing is that on Seven Days they had either Justina Vail herself or a body double do a full nude butt shot in one episode. UPN was, and I use the term because it is the one most commonly used, schizophrenic in their nudity policy.
 
If the temperature is right, I could see the appeal in going unclothed, though I feel you could get 95% of the benefits wearing a pair of shorts. And you don't have to worry about what to do if someone knocks at your door.
 
The irony of the editing is that on Seven Days they had either Justina Vail herself or a body double do a full nude butt shot in one episode. UPN was, and I use the term because it is the one most commonly used, schizophrenic in their nudity policy.
They are listening to different voices and having visual or auditory hallucinations? Hmm, perhaps that term means different things in TV land?
 
You want it? You got it.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
Hey, there's nudity mentioned in the thread title there should be some nudity in this thread. :)
XMMHVGM.jpeg

Better?
 
I'm sure a lot of them had fallen to sleep by that point.
HAHAHAHAHA!

Well, no one wants to see their parents do it... the film was probably as close. Bold I say, the film was bold and it made a thorough attempt at asking the questions human beings has asked from the start of existence. When I saw this picture for the first time I had a hard time watching it straight through; I found all kinds of reasons to pause it and go back to it. The film was so sterile in character, performance, and execution, but I think I could've followed it a lot better if William Shatner's character was more like the character of Kirk of who I knew and loved than being what he was in TUC and GEN which was Kirk in name ONLY.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top