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Why are there no overweight or obese people in Star Trek?

anyhow i'm sure future fat people would move around on vladimir harkonnen-like anti-gravity thingamajigs. the ships would be full of massive fleshy spheres gently floating along.
 
It would seem to make sense that Fat people would be better at zero gee combat, there would be more impact behind their blows.
 
What bothers me is that while there are a few chubby guys on Trek, there isn't a single chubby woman.

That's less of a Trek thing and more of a Hollywood thing, IMO. If there was a role for an older, matronly woman, they'd fefinitely cast a heavier-set woman for that...
 
I believe the reason there is no fat people in the Federation is because replicated food is supposed to be nutritionally balanced. Which I guess that also means that the meals are satisfying enough so that you don't overeat.

As for why there are no fat people on Star Trek??? Well, "that's Hollywood," babe!

And to the previous gentleman who felt bad for being overweight, don't. I'd rather date a guy that is overweight than is thin. Guys that are overweight are more attractive. :)
 
I used to work with a slightly overweight woman way back in the late 1980s/early 1990s who complained that TNG had no overweight people. Her husband was slightly overweight, too. She used to say, "They always costume overweight people in these flowing type of outfits that hide the bulges! Riduculous!"

It's weird to think back to a time when all we had was TOS/TNG!
 
That's less of a Trek thing and more of a Hollywood thing, IMO. If there was a role for an older, matronly woman, they'd fefinitely cast a heavier-set woman for that..
Definetly a Hollywood thing:rolleyes:...and a sad thing its also.
Its good that we have actresses like Christina Hendricks:bolian:, who help to break the skinny mold:cool:
( I know that she aint fat..but I take her curvy(ier) figure anyday over those skinny anorectic types:)..)
 
I'm happy composing fanfic on the automatic assumption that there are overweight people in the Federation. You just don't see that aspect of the characters you're reading about as the be-all/end-all focus in pro-lit. Geordi LaForge was blind and from what I've seen, Admiral Paris was fairly stocky.
 
Its simply the way television works (especially in the US). Thin beats fat hands down every time, depressing but true.

In regards to some of the earlier discussion, obesity is by no means the new AIDS. A mate of mine is HIV positive and with modern medicine he's expected to live at least 40 years quite comfortably. People of a similar age (35) who are morbidly obese have significantly shorter life expectancies.

People make a lot of excuses for obesity but there's no need. If you like to eat then eat, its a free country. I smoke knowing the risks, I may well get lung cancer but at least I get to annoy non-smokers by breathing my noxious breath in there general direction. The non-smokers have pretty much won with the smoking ban in pubs and other public places though. Nightmare.

Thankfully I live in the UK so don't have to worry about health insurance. I can smoke till im 90% tumour and still get treated the same as a 25 stone burger munching machine.

In the future I should imagine obesity will be slowly but surely curbed through better food technology and non-invasive surgery. Hopefully they will have hollo-ciggies.
 
Great attitude. I'm damn sure your girlfriend/wife/kids/sisters/brothers/or whatever family you have, will be totally relieved, seeing you getting lung cancer instead of dying due to a stroke
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Great attitude. I'm damn sure your girlfriend/wife/kids/sisters/brothers/or whatever family you have, will be totally relieved, seeing you getting lung cancer instead of dying due to a stroke
doctordel.gif

Family don't know, friends smoke too and the missus likes to drink (we trade off vices, I don't touch booze having lived with an alcoholic). I know its awful and it stinks but I enjoy it. I go with the 'might get hit by a bus tomorrow' outlook on life. My family won't get to see me die of lung cancer, the second I'm diagnosed I'l book myself into Dignitas.
 
Why does your family not know? Sure... It's your decision. You have to deal with the consequences, you and your people. I'm not one of them, thus it's none of my business and frankly I could care less. But this...

but at least I get to annoy non-smokers by breathing my noxious breath in there general direction.
is just wrong. Don't be a dick!
 
I was kidding bout the blowing smoke thing, I'm not a knob. The family does't know because I don't think my mam would understand. What they don't know can't hurt them.

It's not the smoke I'm worried about (I only have about 3 a day in the evening) it's my bad diet. Im lucky enough to have a super fast metabolism so I don't put on any weight but it must be playing merry hell with my innards.

The smoking and diet will change sharpish when the missus gets pregnant.
 
Why does your family not know? Sure... It's your decision. You have to deal with the consequences, you and your people. I'm not one of them, thus it's none of my business and frankly I could care less. But this...

but at least I get to annoy non-smokers by breathing my noxious breath in there general direction.
is just wrong. Don't be a dick!
And how does this relate to Star Trek?

Leave the personal comments out of this thread.
 
i still don't know people can compare obesity to baldness.

if you ever saw an xray of someone who's obese you'd see the fat rests around the internal organs of the body.

it's not the same as having a bald head.
 
I'm still a bit of a newbie around these forums, but, anyways...

Like others have said, the reason you don't see many overweight people in ST, is because that's how Hollywood does things.

Also, like someone else said, replicators supposedly make meals that are perfectly balanced in nutrients. You could order a hot fudge sundae, and probably have it be perfect for you. And also Starfleet likely has physical requirements that need to be met before you can even be posted...particularly in fields like secuirty, where you will need a good level of physical fitness.

That said, the very first post in this thread really ruffled my feathers. Big can be beautiful. *waves hand* Married for 12 years this year. And us "big folk" don't need you feeling sorry for us.

(edited for typos)
 
It is a shame that I cannot "choose" to cease paying income tax. I see it all the time in my job, people that look down on you for working whilst they go into town on their "mobility scooters" to spend their "disability benefits". Wasting NHS resources whilst someone else cannot get a life-saving drug because of a quango's decision. Obesity is not a disability - eat less and excercise more.

Whilst I agree with what your saying, Not a great amount of Overweight or Obese are actually disabled, I live in the same Country as you, I know how messed up some things are, but I still say its the individuals choice, the real thing you should look at is how they are losing out, sure there might be a few who are living off the state, but are they happy? Who the heck is going to be happy zooming around on a Mobility Scooter, being unable to move properly or work...

You say you consider yourself "Leftist"? Yet what you've said is pretty "Right-Wing", as someone else who also considers themselves "Left-Wing", I think about all the aspects, i'm not encouraging it, but i'm not going off on a tangent about how...
It riles me that I pay taxes to fund some lard-arse's "life-choice"
Seriously, this is classic "Tabloid" nonsense (The S*n, White Van Men, The whole corrupted "Working Class" identity "This ain't what I pay my taxes for, grrr!"), your entitled to your opinion, but we all pay tax, if you were disabled or injured you'd be entitled to the very benefits that you are paying for yourself... People tend to ignore that fact when the bitch about how Disabled people are living off their Taxes

I am not bitching about disabled people. I am bitching about people who are "disabled" through their own choice of foods/lack of exercise. As I said, I see alot of it in my job so don't tell me it doesn't happen. People are quite happy to sit in their scooter and have someone run around for them.

I openly recognised and pointed out the aparrent clash of my political beliefs and my opinion on this subject but thankyou for highlighting them again for me.

If you look at my location you will understand why I censored the rag ("news"paper) you mentioned. It doesn't even get sold around here and I don't appreciate being linked with it. For the record, I read The Guardian.

And, it's "You're".
 
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Why no fat Star Trek characters? Some suggestions:

1. It is a star ship: astronauts have to be fit, no matter what their particular specialty, whether medicine, combat, engineering, psychology, etc.

2. The future according to Roddenberry has supernatural medical and nutritional technology. Space-age liposuction, preservation and flavour without harmful additives, pain-free weight maintenance.

(3. And those of you who want to see more fat people in science fiction television can be happy that the trend is inching away from 1960s eye-candy in mini-skirts: we now have Donna Noble and Eli Wallace. Of course Doctor Who had Colin Baker and Perpugilliam Brown, not exactly fat, but plumper than your average television actor and actress.)
 
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