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Gene Roddenberry was asked by a reporter about casting Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: TNG. "Surely by the 24th century, they would have found a cure for male pat
by brown 8y ago
Gene Roddenberry was asked by a reporter about casting Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: TNG. "Surely by the 24th century, they would have found a cure for male pattern baldness." And Gene Roddenberry responded "No, by the 24th century, no one will care."
- scythe 8y agoI like how it's somehow "progress" that we stop caring about things. If someone who spent their life contributing to society in exchange for green pieces of paper is willing to give up thousands of them to keep their hair, who am I to complain? Nothing in the Universe has any inherent value. Maybe it feels good to have hair, vs. not. How should I know? I've never been without it. We spend an amazing amount of money on fabrics made from insanely tiny fibers, $300 chairs, carbon fiber bicycles, 10-megapixel screens, and a cornucopia of crap whose only real purpose is making some fraction of life slightly more pleasant at a basic sensory level. But somehow if you want to keep the hair on your head it's a stupid complaint and nobody should ever do anything about it, don't you know that we need that money to find a malaria vaccine, how could you be so vain? Have you looked at EA's profits lately? How about InBev? I guarantee people will care in the 24th century. People will care about so many pointless things we'll have forgotten how to blow off the distress of balding men with virtue signalling. And we'll be better off for it.
- jrhurst 8y agoI think you miss the point of the quote. He was basically telling the interviewer his question was stupid. Yes. In the 24th century they can grow hair on a bald man's head, but they're not gonna judge him if he doesn't. Just like no one gives a fuck if Van Diesel or Dwayne Johnson doesn't have haie.
- raverbashing 8y agoMr Roddenberry was very progressive, though I think he might have been too optimistic with how humanity evolves (as others before and after him).
- ASalazarMX 8y agoI hope not. Humans have their inner demons, but historically, noble causes have revolved around reining them.
- ianai 8y agoEnough literature centers around a dystopian view.
- chongli 8y agoYes, and after Gene Roddenberry died the showrunners turned away from his vision. They made the Federation much darker when they introduced Ro Laren and the Maquis. This tonal shift took centre stage in DS 9 and Voyager. From the low key lighting to the interpersonal conflicts, these shows marked a dramatic departure from Roddenberry's vision. We saw how deep this rabbit hole really went when they introduced Section 31 and even went so far as to do an episode where the Federation imposed martial law on earth, something I never would have imagined Roddenberry doing.
- ASalazarMX 8y agoI thought you would mention Discovery. That show has strayed even further from Roddenberry's vision, but at the same time tries too hard to still be part of it via references. Enterprise, even with all its problems, managed to stay in spirit better.
- learc83 8y ago>That show has strayed even further from Roddenberry's vision I don't think Discovery was darker than DS9 at all. I thought it was a fantastic attempt to explore how a highly progressive society deals with a culture who doesn't share their ideals. They vast majority of the characters are huge believers in the highest ideals of the Federation. Throughout the series they struggle with sticking to those ideals, but at the end they manage to do it. I actually thought that the ending of Discovery was very similar thematically to Picard's decision with Hugh.
- kolbe 8y agoEven in the 21st century, you can choose not to care regardless of what other people might think.
- ianai 8y agoAs a bald man, I have mostly chosen to not care. But there are times where I wonder if it hasn’t severely, negatively impacted my life’s path.
- kolbe 8y agoAt the very least, you can live knowing that you ended up where you are in life because of who you are, not because of something you pretended to be. I have a techy friend from Harvard class of 2006, but he didn't want to be thought of as a nerd when he got there, so he pretended to be an alpha banker type instead. Well, fast forward 10 years, and no one bought the alpha schtick, and he missed his chance to be a billionaire working with Zuckerberg. You never know how positively the world is going to react to you being comfortable and confident with yourself.
- agumonkey 8y agoHalf of it is shallow society value. But half is a sign of body degradation, very few aren't distressed by that
- AndrewKemendo 8y agoAs a not-bald person I have no experience here so I'm curious if you would mind expanding on what you feel like the severe, negative impacts have been?
- magduf 8y agoPatrick Steward is one of the very few men who looks really, really good with a bald head (which he had from an early age, he was in his early 30s in 1984's "Dune" IIRC). Most men just don't look very good that way.
- arunix 8y agoPatrick Stewart (b 1940) was 44 in 1984.
- humantorso 8y agoI dont think that is true. Most men look okay bald - better than the alternative in any case.
- hfdgiutdryg 8y agoThat's an extremely subjective statement and, I think, a modern sentiment. Starting around the 1990s, it became much more acceptable for men to be bald, either trimmed very short or shaved. I mostly thank Patrick Stewart and Michael Jordan for the push toward normalizing it.
- electricslpnsld 8y ago> Patrick Steward is one of the very few men who looks really, really good with a bald head Say what? Lot's of guys rock it! Off the top of my head Jason Statham, Michael Jordan, shaved-head Sam Jackson, Johnny Ive, shaved-head Bryan Cranston all pull it off pretty damn well. What would Vin Diesel even look like with hair?
- magduf 8y agoYou're listing mostly a bunch of very successful actors and entertainers, most of whom (except Jordan) probably wouldn't have gone very far if people thought they were ugly. If Vin Diesel looked bad, he wouldn't have gotten the parts he did. So this is confirmation bias. Out of the whole population of bald/balding men, these men are the exceptions.
- CydeWeys 8y agoPresumably by the 24th century they've also cured sunburns and skin cancer too. Meanwhile, in the present day, the top of your head is the part of your body most exposed to the Sun, and hair is useful in preventing sunburns. So being bald isn't equal to having hair.
- jlebrech 8y agothey can also dematerialise you and dematerialise you in seconds. so i guess it'll fix a few ailments on the way. but then why not just teleport someone who's dying into his fully healthy state.
- Harvey-Specter 8y agoWe don't even need a cure for cancer, we'll just not re-materialize the tumors. Brilliant!
- RobertoG 8y agoWil McCarthy's "The Queendom of Sol", very funny and entertaining series, recommended for whoever interested in that crazy idea (and a lot more): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1361835.The_Collapsium https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1361835.The_Collapsium
- jlebrech 8y agowe could sequence someone's genes at 20 and just teleport you in your 20 year old self every time.
- simias 8y agoYou'd have to keep the brain intact if you actually want to keep existing continuously. That sounds trickier.
- jerf 8y agoA lot centers around how you read the series to gauge the power of transporters. Bear in mind these are machines that A: Can accidentally leave a full copy of you behind (Riker) B: Can take your body and split it into "good" and "evil" halves, later recombining them (Kirk) C: Can combine two unrelated life forms together into one (Tuvix) and separate them later and the coup de grace for this discussion D: Can turn you into a childhood version of yourself that still has your full memories (Picard, Guinan, a few others) So, canonically, the "beam yourself into a younger you" problem is all but solved. Yes, with various minor environmental pokes and prods, but meh, they've demonstrated the ability to replicate those when necessary, so hardly a stopper. That last one is one of the most egregious examples of how weird it is that nobody ever follows up on anything that happens in Star Trek. Whoops! Figured out how to turn an old man into a ~14 year old with all his memories! Ha ha, life sure is weird, but otherwise uninteresting, right? Unimportant! Move on!
- jvozza 8y agohttp://www.syfy.com/syfywire/little-known-sci-fi-fact-patrick-stewart-almost-wore-this-wig-to-be-captain-picard http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/little-known-sci-fi-fact-patric... Roddenbery originally didn't like the idea of a bald captain and made Stuart audition in a wig. After the initial audition he decided that Stuart was perfect no matter how much hair he had. There are a few photos online of him in the wig and man does he look goofy.
- ghostbrainalpha 8y agoStewart With Wig (Picture) https://ap-pics2.gotpoem.com/ap-pics/item/12931/822.jpg https://ap-pics2.gotpoem.com/ap-pics/item/12931/822.jpg?
- SilasX 8y ago“But still cast good-looking actors for the roles, because viewers care.”