Nivair H. Gabriel

@Discrete-Daniel: Loved your comment. Those are kind of the lines I'm thinking along ... but for artistic Trekkies, analytic-minded Whovians, and people who love both, know that I'm not trying to shove you in a box. I'm mostly just interested in finding out if different iconic shows really do create different characters or ambitions, and if so, what that might mean for sci-fi creators.

Cheers to everybody, and thanks so much for taking the survey.

Nivair H. Gabriel

genehuntlover

Zapp Brannigan's Girdle

A few months ago, I decided to look into this "Who" stuff I've been hearing so much about. I devoured all of the new series, including the spin-offs, and filled in with what bits of the classic stuff I could find. I'm now wholeheartedly a Who fan, but it can't be said to have played any role in my development.

I've always generally been a language and lit oriented person. I got my degree in French, I work as a legal proofreader, and now I'm thinking of following my passion and going back to school to get a master's in designing video games.

bluewyvern

MRCAB

B1663R

Jakus

As a lad I never got excited over an episode of Star Trek (until TNG's Best of Both Worlds, anyway), but I would endure any amount of pre-who rubbish, Roland Rat included, to see the next instalment of that show.

Urael

Tibeerius

The SF part of my brain was molded by anthologies of SF short stories of the 1940s, 1940s and 1960s and by the visual elements in the 1960s versions of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. There was also some graphic input by greats of SF illustration like Kelly Freas and Russ Manning.

ndgmtlcd

Freddie Freelance

da5id_nz

da5id_nz

(and yet I never did actually get around to taking Anthro 1685: Humans, Aliens, and Future Home Worlds because... it was idiotic. I took Literature 177: Robots instead.)

Lizzie24601

The artist only does Trek, no Who. NEVER Who.

@Discrete-Daniel: No jocks in Trek outer space? JT Kirk begs to differ.

Evil Tortie's Mom

Bluecell

lever2k

However, this survey doesn't have an option for anthropology, so I can't exactly fill it out.

Nimravus

For a long while I sought refuge in the Star Trek idea that the Future will be full of friends, interesting co-workers, a strong sense of human purpose, and all-around interstellar awesomeness. But as of yet, I haven't found that future.

Discrete-Daniel

aspiringexpatriate

BigViper

Justin K. Rivers

Because Star Trek is the future as told by my high school guidance counselor. Everyone respects one another's unique talents, and everyone is working together to go where no one has gone before. There are no jocks to tease you in outer space, and everyone will respect your knowledge of obscure 20th century videogames when you save the ship from aliens who abduct the crew and force everyone to solve a puzzle derived from "Myst".

Doctor Who is all about making the best of being a social outcast. While the Doctor is a Time Lord with unparalleled knowledge about everything, he has no home, no family, and no friends save for the occasional companion who shows intellectual promise. He compensates for all this alienation by discreetly traveling throughout the universe and selflessly meddling in the affairs of others just because he can. He deliberately lets his adversaries underestimate him and he relishes delivering comeuppance to people who take malicious advantage of others. And when it's all over, he moves on.

Discrete-Daniel

I guess it was only natural that I found a career that allows me to work with maps every day! :)

Although D&D did more than just influence my passion for maps and my career choice. It pretty much sparked my creative side for stories and a little writing. It also influenced my love of history and geography (which ended up being my college majors).
And by learning so much at such a young age, it reinforced a want and need to continuously learn.
If I could, I probably would be some recluse scholar tucked away in some remote location digging deep into any book I could get my hands on!

Craig Dawson

Chris Barrus

sqr

Zantor

Spacehamster

I'm a Computer Programmer by profession, but I've also started taking Art classes this year. Read from that what you will.

Spacehamster

Annalee Newitz

I'm a Computer Programmer by Profession, but I've also started taking Art Classes this year. Read from that what you will.

Spacehamster

That combined with the NASA glory days of going to the Moon, pretty much molded my impressionable little pre-teen brain before my skull had fully hardened.

Plus, kids my age just loved mod space babes in mini-skirts!

"Sock it to me!"

Zantor

I am 35 years old. I am a mapper and drafter and basically make maps and help run the GIS system for a utility company (in the engineering dept) but I am a pretty creative person.

Dungeons & Dragons and other roleplaying games influenced me more than any other thing. I always liked running the games and building the world.

As for movies... I would have to say that Indiana Jones and Star Wars influenced me the most when I was a kid. When I was 12ish I wanted to be an archaeologist like Indiana Jones, until I read archaeology books when I was 13ish and realized they didnt really do the adventurous things that Indy did!

As for TV shows. I liked the newer Star Treks of the last 20 years, but always found them a little too formulaic. I was impartial to Doctor Who when I was a kid... it was a little too goofy to really seriously get into the show.
X-Files has always been one of my biggest influences as an adult (and one of my all time favorite tv shows -until the last couple seasons). I also loved Farscape and the new BSG.

Ultimately, this survey pertains very little to my influences.

Craig Dawson

(hee hee hee)

92BuickLeSabre

If you're suffering through sci-fi's NTSC conversion of Doctor Who, please find some way to amend that. I caught a bit of the Christmas Special last Friday and it was the most disgusting transfer from PAL to NTSC I'd ever seen.

Someone wrote an article last week about this battle of the tv SF- who vs trek. Some unprofessional survey found that more writers were born from Doctor Who than from Trek. Tbh, it makes a little sense in a way that article didn't state, because Trek always gave you an answer, a perfect world with huge flaws that someone always figured out.

Sure, The Doctor saves the day all the time, but people also die all the fucking time, and they're not just RedShirts. Also, when the Doctor solves a problem it's in a way that forces the human companion, (i.e. audience) to think and use his/her mind.

It's a generalized argument that will catch me flack, because it can't be solid, different writers do different things, but I get a general feeling that The Doctor, being made explicitly for kids (implicitly for adults) runs opposed to Trek, being made explicitly for adults, implicitly for kids, doesn't require or encourage the audience to think as much.

aspiringexpatriate

Whitworthian

justcorbly

jalana

Justin K. Rivers

Dillenger69

Seriously, as a youngin, TOS reruns and Tom Baker basically defined my existence.

t3knomanser

I don't think it's the broad outlines that make the difference by the way Nivair, but the details. It was merely exposure to the awesomeness of Scotty v. exposure to the awesomeness of the Doctor's quick wit.

92BuickLeSabre

Belabras

NefariousNewt

MilesFromNowhere

Priam

lucky_you

Macloserboy