Sex Sells

**Snake_Plissken** · 08-20-2003, 02:49 PM

I answered 'yes' but the question should have been: does a hot body influence your 'purchasing' behaviour?

In my case the answer would be a resounding 'no'. At my store I see this all the time: a cute little rep peddling her crap comes in wearing a revealing outfit and expecting that somehow we'll droolingly accept whatever she'll throw at us. I love it when they dish out some excuse to bend over so that we get to peak into 'Da Cleavage' or get to look at their tight butts. You know, stuff like "oops I droped my pen, how silly of me giggle-giggle-giggle". Once I even had a rep from a large phone company who wanted us to be listed in their yellow page directory and the chick bent down so that I could see her red g-string. Saddly those stunts may not work on uncle Snake but they seem to work on the majority of the male population. The reason they don't work too well on me is that I'm very pig-headed and when I sense someone is trying to manipulate me I get very pissed; I also feel that my intelligence is insulted.

The same goes for chicks in sci-fi; If I watch Enterprise it's because I like the show, not because of some cheap skin scenes they'd throw here and there. For all I care they could turn T'Pol into a 45 year old fat vulcan and it wouldn't affect my apreciation for the character (although I'm not overly fond of T'Pol). In fact its not more hot women I want in my sci-fi but BETTER WRITTEN DIALOGUE, PLOTS AND CHARACTERS. Now THAT would 'turn me on'.

**Lowly Uhlan** · 08-20-2003, 05:04 PM

Yes I definetley like looking at the female body.

No,it (sexually-themed advertising) doesn't have any impact on what products I buy.

Does it have a place in Star Trek ?

I'll have to say yes.As stated peviously ,scantily clad females are a Trek tradition.Much more in the role of guest stars and aliens of the week than regular characters.Yep,the "Bringers of pain and Delight".Is this consistent with the Trek philosophy of total equallity?Only in the respect that a woman might want to show off her body because she's proud of it,not because she would need to wear catsuits to make up for inequality or to advance herself in any way.So I kind of wonder why an emotionless Vulcan or a Borg drone would want to show off,but I'll put that aside because I like watching Trek despite vague issues such as this one.And I don't mean to offend any female posters by calling it a vague issue.Its not that important to me personally,though I would be kind of bummed if T'Pol didn't wear skintight clothes.She's hot and I like looking at her.Same with Seven.

And one thing to take into consideration: Ratings
Voyagers rating went up when Seven made her debut.The Neilson's got to Star Trek.

And since I think I still have teenage hormones at the age of 36 I'm waiting to see how far they push the nudity in ENT.Will it get to the level seen in NYPD Blue?I'll keep watching regardless.

**REG** · 08-20-2003, 05:52 PM

Originally posted by Lowly Uhlan

And one thing to take into consideration: Ratings
Voyagers rating went up when Seven made her debut.The Neilson's got to Star Trek.

Feh. She did boost the rating of the show, but it declined after the initial attraction wore off and so was my confidence for future Trek TV series.

And if it goes the way with NYPD Blues, they lose a chunk of younger audience, unless that is the intended idea (you know how young boys and their stashed of adult magazine in his secret drawer). Still, I highly doubt it. Star Trek should be an inspiration for younger audience. After all, that's when I got interested in Star Trek, watching reruns in my teenaged years.

**WarriorKnight** · 08-20-2003, 09:20 PM

Heck sex is as much a part of Star Trek as is warp drive, phasers & technobabble.Roddenbery made sex a very big part of Trek because he knew it would help sell the show.Shoot read interviews with the man & the cast,you'll find lots of sexually refrences.Roddenbery even joked before TMP(& the ST 2 series) that he was wanted to do an X rated version of the show.Look at Rand & Chapel's uniforms in the original,their collars were very low cut(Chapels was the lowest;gee I wonder why that was

).

**REG** · 08-21-2003, 02:48 AM

So, that's Roddenberry's true vision, he wanted a sexual utopia, a grand-scale nudist family resort community.

I must have read this whole franchise wrong. I initially liked the Trek series for all the WRONG reasons.

Now that I'm on the same page, yes, I want to see more skins and less story development on ENT. IOW, keep it status quo.

**Tobian** · 08-21-2003, 03:09 AM

Actually that's a good idea. They could take the crew of the Enterprise, zip them to the 31st century, get loads of time travel equiptment, then head on back to 21st century california.

They could then theme their episodes around Bikini contests, life saving (using technology of course - well and leeches...), and generally getting as naked as possible for no apparent ratings *cough* I mean reasons..

and call it ***Startrek: baywatch***

I'm putting my order in for the DVD's now!

OOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOO - you could have whole beach decon scenes. holodecks running 'vulcan love slave' on a year round basis and the Borg could turn up every other epsiode only to be beaten back by 31st century technology and technobabble! Can't hardly wait!

**REG** · 08-21-2003, 08:41 PM

Revise the title to Botany Baywatch or Deep Throat 6-Nine.

**Dan Gurden** · 08-22-2003, 09:09 AM

Originally posted by REG
So, that's Roddenberry's true vision, he wanted a sexual utopia, a grand-scale nudist family resort community.

Well, thats pretty much a description of both the 1960's utopian ideal of the hippy movement, which was quite a significant contributor towards the decade that spawned Trek, with a combination of many of the stories about Gene Rodenberry famed love of women.

Heaven forbid that Gene would ever had fallen in love with one of the actresses on the show, form a long-standing relationship with her and then cast her in every incarnation of his show... Oh Wait. That did happen. Considering the bitching that Braga gets for his relationship with Jeri Ryan, youd think that Trekkies/Trekkers of all people would remember that Gene did that first...

**Sea Tyger** · 08-22-2003, 01:27 PM

Heck, he did it twice. Remember that he and Nichelle Nichols apparently had a brief romance at some point before TOS.

I, personally, could do without half the decon scenes (the only scenes in which it seemed to be dramatically appropriate were when T'Pol, Reed and Sato were "relaxing" after a stressful mission at the end of an episode; during T'Pol's pon farr difficulties; and with Archer's "wet" dream in sickbay...because they contributed to the storyline -- I will not entertain comments about the merits of any of the storyline...I was just making a point about the decon scenes and how they fit within the story), but I certainly have to say that compared to most of the other drek out there in TV land, Enterprise is pretty mild in the "sex sells" department.

I'm with C5; I like the show, and generally gloss over things like JB's catsuit and "gratuitous" decon scenes. They don't bother me enough to worry about it, just like the butt shots on NYPD Blue (although I think they should give us early warning if Dennis Franz's butt is going to appear on screen, so I can avert my eyes and avoid being blinded...

).

**REG** · 08-22-2003, 06:15 PM

Originally posted by Dan Gurden

Heaven forbid that Gene would ever had fallen in love with one of the actresses on the show, form a long-standing relationship with her and then cast her in every incarnation of his show... Oh Wait. That did happen. Considering the bitching that Braga gets for his relationship with Jeri Ryan, youd think that Trekkies/Trekkers of all people would remember that Gene did that first...

There's a difference. Majel Barrett was cast in a minor role that didn't get far, trying to have an unrequited love for Spock. Eventually, the Nurse Chapel was dropped. Probably because Gene wanted to court her but does not want a conflict of interest.

Not so with Braga-Ryan romance. Not only was Jeri Ryan cast in the mid-season as part of the regular character, her role expanded to the point where I dubbed the many latter seasons of VOYAGER as the "Seven of Nine Show." At the same time, she went through a divorce and eventually hooked up with Braga 2 years into her employment.

Again, BIG difference. Smart move on Gene's part. Questionable move on Braga's.

**Bill Harris** · 08-22-2003, 10:51 PM

Originally posted by REG
There's a difference. Majel Barrett was cast in a minor role that didn't get far, trying to have an unrequited love for Spock. Eventually, the Nurse Chapel was dropped. Probably because Gene wanted to court her but does not want a conflict of interest.

Non sequitor. Your facts are not coordinated.

They were already involved when she was cast as Nurse Chapel. Hells bells, they were involved when he cast her in the role of Number One!

**Tobian** · 08-23-2003, 05:15 AM

Uhm yea, but I don't think you can argue that Nurse chapel was a major role in the series, other than a little comic relief to embaras Spock; Unlike 7 of 9 who practically ran the ship

**Yamakawa** · 08-23-2003, 06:08 AM

Okay I am going to answer yes and no to this.

First, I think sex can sell if it is done right. I know several guys that if the woman looks like she's their type, they'll be lulled into buying what ever she has just to try and get closer to her.

Do I like looking at sexy women. That really depends. When I was 17 or so, I really enjoyed it, but at some point I overdosed or something. Part of the reason is that the comercials or who ever is trying to get you to buy goes with what is considered the 'ideal woman.' In the US that seems to be large breasted, blonde or red heads. Sure you'll get the other types but they're still based off of the sterotype to some degree or another. Well for me, I don't see anything special about blonde and find red heads a big turn off. I also prefer A or B size breasts over the C or D they give you (really big turnoff for me).

The other part is that for the most part the sex stuff is just there. They just put it on there and think that it'll sell more. I especially hate when they have a sex scene for no good reason what so ever.

For a woman to grab my attention in a sexual way, they really have to something special to grab my attention not just that i can see their panties or some cleavage (this coming from a man who lives in a country where the high school girls wear mini-skirts and all the men are praying for the kamikaze (devine wind) to come and blow those skirts up so they can get a peek). My girlfriend doesn't wear any really revealing clothing but she has my attention very easily just because she is so animated that it enhances her natural beauty.

Okay enough blabbering from the peanut gallery.

**REG** · 08-24-2003, 02:19 AM

Emphasize sensuality over sexuality? That I can support.

Even you can sell sex under the most conservative of clothing.

**Polanski** · 08-24-2003, 10:17 AM

Well I am the second person who said "No"...

I am a Narrator who runs a long term Star Trek campaign. The ship (currently USS Courageous) is under command of a female human captain (Alexandra Polanski).

She is 46, intelligent, quite attractive and always properly dressed, I would not have it any other way. And my players know very well what would happen if the likes of 7 of 9 would enter her bridge. Generally they would be dismissed on the spot to their quarters to change their outfit to more appropriate ones and ordered to review Starfleet regulations and proper code of conduct onboard the Starfleet vessel where she is the captain.
While in their private time and off duty their attire and behaviour as long as not forced or offensive to anyone would be theirs to choose at will.

I am also a red blooded male who agrees with the statememnt that the God is a male since he has created such a beautiful creature that the woman, or the female is and can be...

Still that does not excuse the general bad taste that the makers of Trek have towards specific female characters.

Look at other TV sci-fi series:

The respectable ones:
* Babylon 5: Susan Ivanova, Talia Winters, Deleen...
* Stargate SG1: Samantha Carter

On the other hand, Star Trek does not stands alone:
* Andromeda: Rommie, Becka Valentine, any other female
* Farscape: Depends on the episode

I understand very well that the a nice or provocative outfit on a rare ocassion is nothing terribly wrong, I too have portraited the captain in red evening dress during christmas dinner or tank top and sweet shorts during private exercise on the holo-deck, but those were rare and few in between. The only time she would appear incorrectly dressed on the bridge would be if it happend to be a "Q" joke. ("Captain, this leather outfit is somewhat form fitting is it not? - Q I will kill you for that...")

Well, anyway, my feedback on the subject.

Kind Regards
Daniel

View Poll Results: Do you like looking at a hot body (whether it be male or female)?

Thread: Sex Sells

Thread Tools

Posting Permissions