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An In-Depth Study into the Impact on Society of Star Trek.

LDawson

Cadet
Newbie
I was hoping that some Star Trek: TOS and Star Trek: TNG fans would be able to do this questionnaire about how culturally significant both series were to the events happening in those times.
There is no registry required and is completely free, it should only take a few minutes. I would very much appreciate as many responses as possible please and thank you.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RNC8NM2
 
The survey is as described and benign.

Some of the questions, particularly the one about Q, have seemingly unrelated answer choices.
 
I looked at this 'questioaire' and found it pointless. I agree with Mutai concerning the question regarding Q. No one can relate to him with the (fictional) powers this character was said to possessed!
 
Would this be yet another sociology or media student trying to get help with their homework? You can't boil this stuff down to a few questions on a survey. That's why there have been entire books written about it and even whole university courses about Star Trek. :vulcan:
 
Gotta agree. It's too brief and thin a survey draw any conclusions from. I suggest the OP try another tack.
 
Star Trek "impacted" society? How would you account for all the other variables affecting society, to arrive at Star Trek's unique influence?

I would have to guess "none," other than inside-baseball things like spawning more Trek and fandom, etc.

Oh, and the name of a quasi-space shuttle.
 
Of course it's an essay question, if not an entire term paper. Part of the content comes from interpreting the survey results.

I don't mind helping students out who need surveys done to get data, but they need to be upfront about why they want the information, what they're doing with it, and have intelligent questions! I've seen far too many people ask questions on forums (not just Star Trek), when it's obvious that they just want other people to give them homework answers instead of figuring it out themselves or reading a book, as opposed to Wikipedia.

(yes, I used to be a teacher, but I'd feel this way even if I hadn't been)
 
For my qualification I needed to do research from actually people through either interviews or a questionnaire so I picked a questionnaire that which I would summarise the results of, it isn't homework, it's an actually part of my AQA Baccalaureate Qualification, the essay is a lot more in depth. If you did not think Q was relate-able then please state so but some people did in fact think so. I would like to thank those that have helped with the questionnaire.
 
Well, let's take these one at a time, without the multiple choice options.

An In-Depth Study into the Impact on Society of Gene Roddenberry’s Creation

(This might be a good time to point out that you're talking about "Star Trek" and not, say, "The Lieutenant", "Earth: Final Conflict" or "Andromeda").


1. How culturally significant would you say Star Trek was at the time of production?

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In general, about as significant as any other show on the air that made an effort to make a difference culturally, in some respects a bit more since it was the first time an adult science fiction show had been attempted in prime time on a major network, but the times they were a' changin'. The time was ripe for a show like Star Trek to come along (not necessarily succeed, but at least show up) and start talking about stuff that everyone else was talking about, but couldn't discuss on television. The problem was that the ratings system was still geared for shows like "Leave It To Beaver" and not so much on the more cutting edge shows. So the show's cultural significance didn't really manifest until it hit the syndication market in the 70's. But the seeds were definitely planted during the network run.

2. Did any Star Trek episode make you think about how current affairs can be similar to futuristic conflicts?

t.gif
That's kind of the whole point of science fiction, take a present day situation and put it in an alternate setting (not necessarily "futuristic") so that we can see it from a fresh perspective and maybe learn something we didn't know before.

3. Were the characters on the show relatable to any figures in you life? E.g. Political figures, friends, relatives, idols ETC

Well, Abe Lincoln did show up once. :cool:

Seriously, the question isn't exactly if the characters are relatable to figures in your life, but how well you can relate to the characters (this isn't just a Star Trek question, it's any work of fiction; the better you can relate to the characters, the better the story works).

4. If you watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, what was your opinion of the Reoccurring entity known as “Q”?

Q is basically Roddenberry ex Machina. A way to skip all that tedious setting up of a dilemma and working out a rationale for humanity to prove itself, throw in Q and there's half the work done for you, with the simple invocation of a single letter. And, as an added bonus, you don't have to work the story out so that the audience asks the big question, Q can do it right there, in dialogue, so that there's no question whatsoever regarding the point of the episode.

5. Did you recognize certain alien species as a way to represent different countries on modern day Earth? If so please state.

Too simplistic. The Klingons owed as much to Ming the Merciless as they did to the Soviet Union, and the Romulans (a nice mashup of Vulcans and ancient Romans) got compared to the Chinese only because the Klingons already had dibs on the Russians. Don't try to read too much into the material.

6. Do you think Star Trek The Original Series did well to show the Cold War in a futuristic concept?

Again, too simplistic. Star Trek probably dealt with the Cold War more directly than most other shows on the air, but even then, it didn't do it very often, and the point wasn't to put it in a "futuristic concept" but to use that futuristic setting to give the audience a fresh perspective on the Cold War in the present day.

7. Would you think problems in Star Trek can be related to problems in the modern world?

Again, the problems presented in Star Trek were, more often than not, analogies to present day problems, so, of course, they're relatable, they're written that way.

8. Do you think there are any alterations Gene Roddenberry could have made to make the series convey the information more easily? If so, please state.

Not without jeopardizing the show's ability to stay on the air, either by compromising the entertainment value of the show or crossing one too many guidelines laid down by Standard & Practices (a.k.a. the network censors). It wasn't until TNG (with late 80's sensibilities and no network to answer to) that they could do a show dealing directly with drugs, abortion, and other subjects that couldn't even be vaguely referred to when TOS was on the air (remember, back then you couldn't even say the word "pregnant", even when in the context of a happily married couple, like Rob and Laura Petrie; you had to say they were "with child" or "expecting").
 
it was the first time an adult science fiction show had been attempted in prime time on a major network,

I disagree. Tales of Tomorrow aired some 15 years earlier, and of course Twilight Zone preceded Trek by a few years. As for syndication, let's not forget Ziv's Science Fiction Theater.

People tend to buy into the BS about Star Trek (like that first interracial kiss crap), but there was a great deal of near-forgotten earlier television that was every bit as good and even more groundbreaking.

Of course, there was an ungodly amount of crap, too.

4. If you watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, what was your opinion of the Reoccurring entity known as “Q”?

Q is basically Roddenberry ex Machina. A way to skip all that tedious setting up of a dilemma and working out a rationale for humanity to prove itself, throw in Q and there's half the work done for you, with the simple invocation of a single letter. And, as an added bonus, you don't have to work the story out so that the audience asks the big question, Q can do it right there, in dialogue, so that there's no question whatsoever regarding the point of the episode.
Wonderfully put.
 
8. Do you think there are any alterations Gene Roddenberry could have made to make the series convey the information more easily? If so, please state.

Not without jeopardizing the show's ability to stay on the air, either by compromising the entertainment value of the show or crossing one too many guidelines laid down by Standard & Practices (a.k.a. the network censors). It wasn't until TNG (with late 80's sensibilities and no network to answer to) that they could do a show dealing directly with drugs, abortion, and other subjects that couldn't even be vaguely referred to when TOS was on the air (remember, back then you couldn't even say the word "pregnant", even when in the context of a happily married couple, like Rob and Laura Petrie; you had to say they were "with child" or "expecting").
Um, yeah, I clearly remember McCoy telling Kirk and Spock that Tribbles are "born with child"... :guffaw:

So maybe you couldn't say a woman was pregnant, but you could say Tribbles are born pregnant...?

:lol:
 
That was the policy back then. Women were never "pregnant", they were "expecting." Animals could be pregnant all they wanted.
 
In that case, I'm surprised they allowed Spock to say the word "puberty" in Miri.
 
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