Keiko's age???

[Shat Happens]

>menopause in the 24th century

For the hew-man species, it's not so good that females are able to reproduce for too many years. Imagine a Keiko having her first child in her mid or late 20s and keeping having babies until her 100s. Now multiply it for every woman. It gets exponential and headache inducing, but surely it is a lot more babies than healthy for the species.

 

[Armored Saint]

^ Yep. Picard was 59 when TNG first aired. Although I don't remember how long it took before they ever gave a year for Picard's birth (2305).

That reminds me the problem in Tapestry....Picard's supposed to be in his early 20's and Q says the're approximately 30 years before his new injury...so it fits with Stewart ages, but not with age established for Picard.

And when we think about that, Picard and Robert are very unlucky to have their two parents already dead. (Of course, there's a big deal of orphans in Star Trek main cast.)

 

[USS Fardell]

>menopause in the 24th century

For the hew-man species, it's not so good that females are able to reproduce for too many years. Imagine a Keiko having her first child in her mid or late 20s and keeping having babies until her 100s. Now multiply it for every woman. It gets exponential and headache inducing, but surely it is a lot more babies than healthy for the species.

But, the Federation is growing all the time. (LOTS of colonies, colonies producing colonies further out. Constant emigration from Earth and the earlier colonies...)

 

[borgboy]

Also, I don't generally get any suggestion that humans in the 24th (or 22nd and 23rd) are having more children despite their longer lifespans. People are probably out there living their dreams, exploring arts and careers, having romances, and often having children later in life. But even the ones that have children early don't seem to be having lots of children scattered over their long life.

 

[Melakon]

More effective birth control.

 

[SoM]

More effective birth control.

Hell, if they know they can regrow them whenever they *want* children by popping a pill, maybe a lot of women opt for hysterectomies. (Menopausal women might "refresh" their ovaries in a similar way.)

 

[borgboy]

We know that Sisko and Kassidy were taking a once a month shot or something from sick bay for birth control. Going to the doctor every month for birth control sounds pretty inconvienient, but maybe they just did it that way since they had such easy access to their personal doctor. I'd expect there would be easy access to very reliable birth control to the general public.
If I'm remembering correctly, in the novelization of STII, there's exposition on Saavik and David using some kind of "bio" control method of birth control. It sounds vaguely tantric, like David could control himself not to finish at the wrong time and place (trying to keep it clean, it's hard to word this so that my meaning is clear without being offensive)

 

[Shat Happens]

Kids (in Star Trek) = problem.

Kirk visited a planed and got boom boom in the head.
Charlie X also was trouble.
Picard from day 1 was bothered by the kids in his ship.
One word: Wesley.
Sisko was the only captain with a kid and wound up as war widow single father.
Janeway was single no kid but crazy.
Archer had a dog.

 

[Melakon]

And having a kid on Star Trek always cost more money to shoot, because you have to pay for the studio teacher.

Exceptions: Robert Walker Jr. in "Charlie X" and Michael J. Pollard in "Miri", since they were 27 at the time.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also the greater the odds of children's survival the fewer children families have. There's probably a very small number of unplanned children and most families probably don't have more than one or two.

 

[Keith1701]

In Trek's time, the age of 100 is considered the prime of life, so I can only assume any issues relating to menopause have also been taken care of.

Good Question???

 

[2takesfrakes]

I've always thought that Keiko was too pretty for O'Brien, myself ... and if she wasn't so bitchy all of the time, I would've considered her too "good" for him, as well. But, all-in-all, he did alright for himself, Miles did.

 

[Lance]

A nice picture there, 2takes! Rosalind Chao was (and remains!) a beautiful woman.

 

[2takesfrakes]

There's a lot of dislike aimed at Keiko and I do understand it, though I don't share it. As you've mentioned, Rosalind Chao was quite a beautiful woman, and she has a nice voice, actually. I still can't believe that the writers prefered Miles' bromance with Julian over giving Rosalind more to do. A waste of what seemed to be a sweet actress, really. I guess DS9 just wanted O'Brien and felt burdened with all of his "baggage." Whatever ...

 

[Ithekro]

Well one thing is that from observations, some Japanese women look much younger than they are for an extended period of time. Rosalind Chao was in her 30s when we first see her in Star Trek, and almost 40 by the end of Deep Space Nine. She is now 54 and doesn't look like she's aged all that much in the last 22 years.

Now imagine that plus human/Federation genetics in 300+ years. No telling how old Keiko is anymore, save that she's finally old enough not to be mistaken for a high school student.

 

[Last Redshirt]

I think I can recall seeing Rosalind Chao in MASH some time ago, and found her very talented. Whatever my grievance with Keiko, I can't fault the actress in her case. Keiko was underutilized in DS9, IMO.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well one thing is that from observations, some Japanese women look much younger than they are for an extended period of time. Rosalind Chao was in her 30s when we first see her in Star Trek, and almost 40 by the end of Deep Space Nine. She is now 54 and doesn't look like she's aged all that much in the last 22 years.

Now imagine that plus human/Federation genetics in 300+ years. No telling how old Keiko is anymore, save that she's finally old enough not to be mistaken for a high school student.

Chao's ancestry is Chinese.