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Cigarette smoking and TOS

I know it's not TOS, but another piece of evidence that shows smoking is not dead in the future is TNG's A Fistful Of Data's, where Deanna enjoys a toke.

I think you're referring to her holodeck character smoking a hand-rolled tobacco cigarette, which was no doubt simulated.
 
There was a "NO SMOKING" sign in the medical lab on Miri's planet, and either Jojo Krako or Bela Oxmyx (I forget which) had a cigar humidor on his desk.
 
I know it's not TOS, but another piece of evidence that shows smoking is not dead in the future is TNG's A Fistful Of Data's, where Deanna enjoys a toke.

That's a simulation of the Old West. I imagine there might be smoking in a Dixon Hill simulation as well but I don't see what that proves. I don't think anyone is arguing that Trek denies smoking ever existed at all.
 
I know it's not TOS, but another piece of evidence that shows smoking is not dead in the future is TNG's A Fistful Of Data's, where Deanna enjoys a toke.

That's a simulation of the Old West. I imagine there might be smoking in a Dixon Hill simulation as well but I don't see what that proves. I don't think anyone is arguing that Trek denies smoking ever existed at all.

Well, the question raised in the OP is whether there was any smoking in TOS at all.

As I demonstrated upthread, "Spectre of the Gun" has smoking. Sure, it's simulated smoking, but it's on-screen cigars in mouths nevertheless.

TNG had smoking several times. Q put a cigar in Picard's mouth, Mark Twain smoked, and Troi did in the holodeck, as noted.

In the context of the OP, I don't believe it's a reach to discuss simulated smoking. TOS can't claim to have made it through every episode without a depiction of smoking. If I may: It was close, but no cigar! ;)
 
^^^Whups. I conflated the signs on the bridge in TWOK with the ones in the transporter room in TSFS. So both films feature No Smoking signs, just not in the same rooms.
 
Actually those "No smoking at anytime on bridge" signs were directed toward the consoles. It was an attempt to keep them from catching fire during battles. It didn't work. ;)
 
WOW! You people have really great eyes, I would have never noticed the smoke. But, as that recent report of Nimoy's health problems shows, you have to pay for all that abuse you give your body sometime. As a person who has never smoked, drank or drugged at all in my life, I cannot see any percentage in doing any of it.
 
As a person who has never smoked, drank or drugged at all in my life, I cannot see any percentage in doing any of it.

I've never done those things either (excepting all the secondhand smoke I breathed in as a child of smoking parents -- I'm lucky that didn't do me more damage), but there is reputed to be some health benefit from a moderate consumption of wine, like a glass a day. Personally I can't stand the smell or taste of alcoholic beverages, but there are probably other ways to get the health benefits. For instance, one of the main beneficial compounds in wine, resveratrol, is also found in grape juice, peanuts, chocolate, blueberries, cranberries, etc.
 
I don't recall anyone smoking on Lost in Space, but I could be incorrect.

I'm doing this just from memory, but in the pilot (and in recycled scenes for the first and second episodes) you see ashtrays on the desks and consoles in Alpha Control. Someone might have been smoking in the background, but I don't recall.

In the "West of Mars" episode (one of the second season stinkers), Smith exchanges places with Zeno, a notorious "superswift" gunfighter. Zeno smokes, a point noticed by either Will or the Robot.

In the third season episode "Promised Planet" (another stinker) John Robinson is given a "memory cone" by Will before the adults leave the youngsters on the "hippie planet." To activate it, Robinson must light the cone. So he reaches into a pocket and pulls out a cigarette lighter.

And there are behind the scenes photos of Marta Kristen relaxing with cigarette in hand.
 
I've never done those things either (excepting all the secondhand smoke I breathed in as a child of smoking parents -- I'm lucky that didn't do me more damage), but there is reputed to be some health benefit from a moderate consumption of wine, like a glass a day. Personally I can't stand the smell or taste of alcoholic beverages, but there are probably other ways to get the health benefits.
Have you ever tried cooking with wine? Steak with a red wine reduction? Chicken marsala? Beef burgundy? I don't know if you get the same health benefits from cooked wine, but once the alcohol has burned off and the reduction has mixed with the carmelized meat juices and spices, you get the most savory and delicious sauces -- and no alcohol taste.
 
Alcohol is like many things: it often takes a while to develop a taste for it. Some people never do like it, though. I remember how vile I thought whiskey and scotch and tequila were at first, but once I tasted enough top shelf stuff I grew to love them. I'll never allow myself to "get used to" cigarettes, though. When your lungs' first instinct is to immediately expel something you inhaled that should tell you something. ;)
 
That's a simulation of the Old West. I imagine there might be smoking in a Dixon Hill simulation as well but I don't see what that proves. I don't think anyone is arguing that Trek denies smoking ever existed at all.

I am merely giving an example of smoking on-screen. I am not debating anything. See below. :)

I am. And simulated or not, she was shown smoking.

:vulcan: What's the point? There are also revolvers and that doesn't mean people from 24th century are still using this kind of weapon.

There is no point. Other than answering the OP's question about whether there was any smoking in Trek at all. Admittedly, he did ask specifically about TOS and I widened the examples to TNG (after someone else had widened it to include the movies). That is all.
 
For what's it's worth, I did a little write-up a while back on "No Smoking" signage from the Star Trek motion pictures.

http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/?p=1643

Great compilation. Aboard the Enterprise I find these "No Smoking" signs somewhat hilarious, but for the Old City transporter station in San Francisco ("the worst duty station in town") I can absolutely believe it ("please extinguish your smoking devices outside of building" :lol:)

Bob
 
Have you ever tried cooking with wine? Steak with a red wine reduction? Chicken marsala? Beef burgundy? I don't know if you get the same health benefits from cooked wine, but once the alcohol has burned off and the reduction has mixed with the carmelized meat juices and spices, you get the most savory and delicious sauces -- and no alcohol taste.

That's kind of a myth -- cooking usually doesn't burn off all the alcohol, since that would require more time than the cooking usually takes.

I have occasionally had food with wine sauces, though, and I haven't been too crazy about them. I do regularly use dijon mustard, however; I developed a taste for it before I realized it was made with wine.
 
Am I correct in remembering in that apart from the bit in Space Seed where you can see smoke from Deforest Kellys hidden cigarette behind the medical scanner, there is no smoking in TOS? Thats quite amazing, possibly unheard of, for a 60s tv show.

Clearly Kelly and Nimoy were very heavy smokers among the cast, I am not sure about the rest of them. Thats part of the culture of the era though, unless you were a very heavy smoker it really didn't stand out, almost everybody had a few of the things now and again. Doctors used to suggest them for weight loss; in the 50s one told my mother to use a menthol cig to treat a sore throat like it was candy.

I gather the networks pressured Roddenberry to include some tobacco references to appease the largest advertisers of the day, and that he steadily refused to do so. I really appreciate that, I know in my own mind that both Mike Hammer and Miami Vice influenced my early smoking choices when I was young and stupid teenager, I can't imagine the effect it would have had on me as a child seeing Kirk lean back in the command chair and spark one up after a mission.

What do we know about the tobacco lobby attempts to influence the show, and why was did it seem to be personally important for Roddenberry to hold out on the issue? It must have been quite a battle, tobacco revenue really helped build the networks and they were/are insanely powerful.


Okay, where do we start?

Simply put, Roddenberry was pressured to have Spock smoke ciggies by network brass; Roddenberry said 'Listen, they're not going to smoke in the future.' As it turns out, Star Trek did have ciggy revenue from ciggy commercials even if Roddenberry didn't want Spock or others on the Enterprise smoking.

BTW, here's an old original broadcast of the show from 1967 complete with commercials:

[yt]http://youtu.be/i-fAA3yOwVQ[/yt]
 
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