# Another Holodeck question: Is sex prohibited? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774 "2012-06-01T14:27:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/41 "2012-06-01T20:49:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Wasn’t there an episode where Data was on duty on the late shift when someone asked him how things were going, and he consulted the computer and said something like “150 crew on duty, four in Sickbay, 525 asleep, 47 off-duty in Ten-Forward, and 493 off-duty but awake, including 34 engaged in sexual relations.” That last number should’ve been odd. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/42 "2012-06-01T21:00:09Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Wasn’t there an episode where Data was on duty on the late shift when someone asked him how things were going, and he consulted the computer and said something like “150 crew on duty, four in Sickbay, 525 asleep, 47 off-duty in Ten-Forward, and 493 off-duty but awake, including 34 engaged in sexual relations.” No no no. They were “romantic encounters” and Data was reporting on a mangled audio signal that he had deconstructed which was an echo from a previous iteration of a time loop where the Enterprise keeps getting blowed up. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/43 "2012-06-01T21:19:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That last number should’ve been odd. It’s only odd that it’s so small. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/44 "2012-06-01T22:19:05Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > No no no. They were “romantic encounters” and Data was reporting on a mangled audio signal that he had deconstructed which was an echo from a previous iteration of a time loop where the Enterprise keeps getting blowed up. “Cause and Effect” Season 5 ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/45 "2012-06-02T01:31:53Z")
In the episode where Data kills a borg and feels anger for the first time, I believe he says something along the lines of: “I have failed in my attempt to recreate emotions. I listened to 4 symphonies blah blah something about comedy blah blah and viewed 3 holodeck programs considered arousing.” On Futurama, whenever the holoshed characters come to life Zap Brannigan gets slapped with a paternity suit. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/46 "2012-06-02T01:46:55Z")
The documentary “Trekkies” ends with clips of Star Trek-themed comedy routines. One of them imagines Picard looking for the fourteen-year-old Wesley, only to find him locked in a holodeck. When Picard suggests that Wesley needs to see Counselor Troi (presumably about his raging hormones, Wesley’s reply suggests that he’s having sex with a virtual Troi. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/47 "2012-06-02T03:14:52Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Or they could just beam any residual fluids out to space or something. Lends new meaning to the episode title “Space Seed”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/48 "2012-06-02T04:07:33Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > including 34 engaged in sexual relations." It would have been more entertaining if it had been an odd number. Well I’d have laughed, at least. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/49 "2012-06-02T06:52:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > One of the problems of Starfleet doors: there’s no knob, so you can’t hang a sock on the doorknob to tell the rest of the crew to stay out. Great, now I’ve got this image in my head of a door that talks like a happy vertical people mover with the voice of Majel Barret. 'Captain, are you sure you haven’t considered all the possibilities that _holodeck 5_ might have to offer? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/50 "2012-06-02T07:25:38Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Lends new meaning to the episode title “Space Seed”. Is there an [echo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15123337&postcount=36) in Holodeck 4? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/51 "2012-06-02T13:34:13Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Is there an [echo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15123337&postcount=36) in Holodeck 4? :dubious: Oh good, my ‘[Dollhouse](http://tv.ign.com/articles/984/984841p1.html)’ holonovel just arrived in the transmission from Starbase 42. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/52 "2012-06-02T15:51:42Z")
This is a different show, but on the fifth season of Babylon 5 a holo-brothel opened for business. It had no restrictions on the image of the person you would be “involved” with, and wasn’t as realistic as a ST holodeck(you wore a sensory suit to reproduce the sensations you wanted.) The captain of the station was inclined to live and let live, until she saw an image of herself, dressed in a sexy teddy, that one customer was asking for. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/53 "2012-06-02T17:09:04Z")
I don’t recall that episode at all. And I mean that in the real, literal way, not in a fanboy-denying-the-existence way. Was that maybe from one of the spinoff movies, or something? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/54 "2012-06-02T17:52:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t recall that episode at all. And I mean that in the real, literal way, not in a fanboy-denying-the-existence way. Was that maybe from one of the spinoff movies, or something? Spinoff movie _River of Souls_. Really terrible unless Tracy Scoggins in a bustier is your thing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/55 "2012-06-02T18:23:13Z")
Besides, it stole from an earlier episode of “station commander objects to a business venture after seeing himself depicted as a teddy”. OK, “as”, “in”, close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/56 "2012-06-02T19:10:32Z")
Shoot, I forgot it was in the movie, I was remembering it as in the series. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/57 "2012-06-03T12:15:49Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > Wil Wheaton claims that from time to time, Jonathan Frakes still will get a far-off look in his eyes and whisper the name “Minuet.” Which sounds suspiciously like the Russian word for “blowjob.” I always thought the implication was pretty clear. :dubious: I also have no doubt that Janeway occasionally got it on with that Irish dude she conjured up. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/58 "2012-06-03T15:09:02Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Spinoff movie _River of Souls_. Really terrible unless Tracy Scoggins in a bustier is your thing. Wait, what? Huh? I gotta get a TV… ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/59 "2012-06-03T15:38:36Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I would imagine creating holodeck versions of crewmembers for fantasy purposes is frowned upon because it fosters an artificial sense of familiarity that can bleed over into real life situations. This is exactly why, some years ago, I stopped basing the characters in my erotic fiction on people I knew in real life. Aside from the “artificial sense of familiarity”, there’s the problem that, once somebody becomes a “character”, they stop being a “real person”. I found myself thinking of my stories every time I interacted with these people IRL, and decided to knock it off. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774/60 "2012-06-03T18:02:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Which sounds suspiciously like the Russian word for “blowjob.” I always thought the implication was pretty clear. :dubious: > > I also have no doubt that Janeway occasionally got it on with that Irish dude she conjured up. IIRC the Doctor actually advised Janeway to have a sex with her holo-lover as a form of stress relief (since any relationship with a crewmember was out of the question). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-holodeck-question-is-sex-prohibited/623774.md?page=4)