Star Trek: Discovery is available via streaming in the USA on CBS All Access and via Netflix in 188 countries around the world, and there therefore not subject to traditional broadcast television standards. However, in Canada the first run showings of Discovery are broadcast as a standard TV show on the Bell Media owned Space channel, on Sundays at 8 pm.
On Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council issued a ruling based on a complaint received over the fifth episode “Choose Your Pain,” which aired on Space on October 15. The complaint was regarding the use of profanity and violence in the show and whether it violated the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics and Violence Code. These codes state that programming with profanity or violence “intended for adult audience,” should only be broadcast between the hours of 9 pm to 6 am.
Violent scene from “Choose Your Pain” cited in complaint
Space defends not censoring episode on behalf of “loyal and engaged fan base”
“Choose Your Pain” is noteworthy as the first episode in the Star Trek franchise which contained the word “fuck,” or specifically the phrase “fucking cool” which was used by Cadet Sylvia Tilly and Lt. Paul Stamets. There were also a number of fight scenes as well as scenes depicting torture on board a Klingon ship which had captured Captain Lorca.
After the complaint was filed, Space responded to the CBSC, and explained their choice to air the episode at the 8 pm hour without edits. Here is part of their response:
After having viewed the episode prior to airing, Space acknowledged that the use of the word “fuck” “was surprising given the series and franchises’ previous 51 year track record of being fairly clean with regards to its content.” The broadcaster further explained that the “Star Trek franchise has an extremely loyal and engaged fan base so we took into consideration how the coarse language was used and we decided to air the episode uncut and uncensored in order to deliver the content our Space viewers expect.”
Star Trek: Discovery broke new ground for the franchise in “Choose Your Pain”
Council finds Space breached standards
In the lengthy finding, the CBSC states that Space did violate the Canadian broadcast standards by not bleeping out the profanity or choosing to air the show after 9 pm. They came to the same conclusion with regards to violence, stating “The majority of adjudicators concluded that given the large number and graphic nature of the scenes the program was intended exclusively for adult audiences and should have been broadcast after 9:00 pm.”
The CBSC has determined that Space has to air the following announcement on the air in prime time twice over the next week:
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has found that Space breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics and Violence Code in its broadcast of Star Trek: Discovery on October 15, 2017 at 8:00 pm. The program contained coarse language and violence intended for adult audiences which should only have been broadcast after 9:00 pm as required by Clause 10 of the Code of Ethics and Article 3 of the Violence Code. A classification icon should have appeared at the beginning of the program as required by Article 4 of the Violence Code.
A spokesperson for Bell Media provided TrekMovie with a brief statement on the ruling, saying:
In response to CBSC ruling, we are a member in good standing of the CBSC and will abide by the decision.
It is unclear how this ruling will impact Space’s approach to Star Trek: Discovery for the second season. The same spokesperson tells TrekMovie “The broadcast details for Season 2 are still to be confirmed.” If Space continues airing Discovery before 9 pm, it is possible this issue will arise again and in order to remain compliant, they would have to add bleeps or make other edits to stay within standards. Moving the show to 9 pm or later would avoid future issues like this.
Challenging content is nothing new for Star Trek
Discovery running into issues with controversial content is actually a bit of a tradition for the franchise, going all the way back to the beginning. NBC was quite concerned over The Original Series episode “Plato’s Stepchildren” due to the inter-racial kiss between Kirk and Uhura, although it doesn’t appear there were any serious complaints. However, in the UK the “sadistic” nature of that episode made it one of four TOS episodes that the BBC deemed inappropriate for what they regarded as a show meant for children. The others were “Whom God Destroys,” “The Empath” and “Miri.” And in Germany the episode “Patterns of Force” wasn’t aired originally due to the Nazi Party subject matter.
The TOS episode “Miri” was deemed inappropriate in the UK
Later Star Trek shows also ran into controversy. A scene in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Phantasms” where Data stabs Troi garnered complaints and led to the scene being later edited out for airing in the UK. Graphic imagery from the TNG episode “Conspiracy” was edited out the first airing in the UK and when the episode airs in Canada (on Space), it caries a viewer discretion warning. TNG’s “The High Ground” was originally not aired at all in the UK and the Republic of Ireland due to references to the reunification of Ireland being achieved through terrorism. And according to Ron Moore at least one station in the US South cut the same-sex kiss with Jadzia from Deep Space Nine’s “Rejoined.” And as recently as 2004, for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Harbringer,” UPN cropped a scene showing Jolene Blalock’s T’Pol nude from behind. Interestingly, the unedited version of the scene aired in Canada.
The scene from Star Trek: Enterprise was edited for US audiences
You can read the full decision by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Board on Discovery at cbsc.ca.
Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space channel and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.
Oh Canada
Real Trek doesn’t have, need or use f-bombs!
Well, do get wound up about this extremely minor use of “language.” There are more important things to worry about.
Yeah, keep in mind it sounds like it was ONE person complaining and in Canada, unfortunately, thats all it takes.
A few years ago ONE person whined about a Dire Straights song and it got pulled/edited all across the country until everyone came to their senses.
What song?
Money for Nothing. For use of the “other” F-word (gay slur).
Wow. Just, wow.
TUP,
The snowbirds that come down here to winter are noted by the locals for their extreme politeness. One could easily imagine that limiting the occurrence of profanities in their daily lives is something akin to a matter of civic pride for them?
Although someone might find a YouTube of a Daytime Canadian Soap where they cuss up a blue streak, I have to wonder if it would be shocking to our profane US ears, or as mildly amusing to us as Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, eh?
I learned everything I know about Canadians from The Trailer Park Boys.
I generally think use of profanity is public is not seen as acceptable here though that is changing. Ride a bus around the time any school (elementary, Junior High or High) gets out and you’ll know what I mean.
Ill be in restaurants or theatres or other public places with friends and have to remind them to cut out the swears.
I wonder if I could mount a complaint about the programming on YES TV (a Christofascist TV channel airing here on cable in Canada) and get a response from the CBSC.
I’m not wound up. I get my Trek fix (by watching The Orville)!
Marja,
I don’t know why the use of profanity in Trek is something some get wound up about? NBC made a big stink about Kirk using “hell” as a profanity in THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER’s last line.
It earned STAR TREK a footnote in television history as the 1st scripted use of profanity to get by the censors to air.
Exactly.
But picard saying ‘shit’ all the time, that was alright.
Picard swearing in the movies, PG-13 rating, appropriate
um, he swore int he TV show. yes it was french but he was saying ‘shit’
The “S-bomb” is the same as the “f-bomb” to you?
s-bomb? You kidding me? It’s Shit and Fuck, these are not words to get in a tizzy over
The cartoon network uses the S word all the time now after midnight.
It does now. Get with the times.
No, it doesn’t. I’m glad that your happy with Discovery. Good for you. Not so good for the majority of Trekkers.
The majority of trekkers aren’t prudes.
People who want a Trekkish Trek without f-bombs are prudes?
Sadly yes, there’s nothing wrong with the F word.
Civilized people tend to disagree. There’s a reason you try to teach children not to say it.
You don’t need to teach them. They teach themselves. I learned every bad word in the book on my first day at school from all the other kids.
Star Trek fandom doesn’t need you.
Star Trek fandom needs a Star Trek show. Thank goodness for the Orville!
The irony is that you can’t handle one swear word but you can quite happily watch Penny Johnson Herald have sex with a pile of goo.
Yeah, okay.
^
Well everyone has a fetish.
I can handle “swear words”. I don’t want them in Star Trek. I don’t understand whatever issue you may have to demoralize me for my belief. And I don’t really care either. I’ve stated my opinion (and you just don’t like it).
Amusingly despite the 2 total uses of Fuck there was less total profanity than any single season of TNG, DS9, VOY, or ENT. Some people can’t handle reality.
Enjoy those poop jokes.
The idea that Starfleet or the Federation has somehow completely eliminated expletives from everyone’s vocabulary is a bit of a stretch. Trek should never become vulgar, I agree, but the occasional “colorful metaphor” doesn’t seem out of place, at least to me. It’s all part of being human, instinctual swearing and spontaneity simply can’t be eliminated.
Agreed. And those that complain about Discovery by thumping the canon Bible know that in TOS, they still swore.
The use in this show was great and was meant to show the contrast between Cadet Tilly (due to being a cadet and her personality) and the “button down” Star Fleet officers. Stamets’ reply showed us insight into his personality as well.
Amusingly enough despite the total of 2 uses of the so called “f-bomb” there was less profanity overall than the average season of any other Trek series.
To Captain Matt, no such thing as Real Trek
You’re right! But it’s sad that the closest thing is a non-Trek production (Orville).
Orville is a parody
Yes, and a sometimes childish “parody”, (with horrendous dick-jokes) is more Trekkish than Discovery. How sad is that? At least Orville seems to be migrating away from the dick-jokes and doing some trek-like character development.
Then why all the comments? Go hang out on the Orville blogs. I don’t watch the Orville. I have nothing against it. But I’m not going to go over to an Orville fan page and start flaming the show.
Oville is a seth macfarlane cosplay ego trip.
Yeah, maybe. And Discovery is an agenda-driven PC POS, and NOT Star Trek!
Ummm pardon me? Trek has always been socially progressive sir. Bear in mind that it featured a racially mixed crew at a point in American history when segregation was considered the natural order of things.
Capt Matt, as someone who has been a Trek fan for over 40 years, I have to say that you seem to have never watched it.
I watched and studied ST from it’s beginning. Gene’s vision promoted tolerance and fairness while maintaining the plotlines (the “story” was the adventure). Now we have a group of obnoxious p.c. yaps who are a bit more consumed with their agenda than the story — and the show is mediocre at best. When you politicize Star Trek (or anything), you ruin it. No one will ever approach Gene’s (brilliant) approach. But they should be honoring it (not using his “vehicle”). Discovery isn’t Trek, and based on the comments of many of the “fans” here, isn’t that good either. And some of those fans are actually here defending f-bombs on ST and attacking me (some in an uncivil way) simply for voicing my opinion? Why so much anger? Could it be that the haters are projecting on me because deep down inside they know that parts of their “beloved” Discovery really are crappy?
Capt Matt gene’s only vision was to make money and get laid. Most of the things people love about Trek came from other people, like Gene Coon & DC Fontana. As for the idiotic “PC” comment, TOS was the most uber PC show ever made. They had a Black woman officer on the Bridge when black people in America were fighting for basic civil right. They had a Russian on the Bridge at the height of the Cold War when it was common for politicians to call an opponent a “pinko commie f–“. Top that off with the plain bald fact that the Federation is a Socialist Democracy.
As for Discovery, best first season of any Trek series ever made.
Oh by the way, thats a statement from Gene’s son about his father. Also many of the most beloved things in Trek, such as TWOK, were not only made by other people, Gene hated them.
Pc crap? You realize that TOS had a racially mixed crew at a time when people liked segregation right??
Ahem, not the mention of Irish reunification per se was the problem, but rather the mention of Irish reunification by means of violence – that is saying that the IRA “won”.
Thankfully, that’s one Trek-prediction that didn’t come true.
You’re right of course, thanks, I clarified that section.
Yet.
Meanwhile, at home, most kids are being exposed to much more adult-oriented material in person by their own parents, long before 9 p.m.
A-yup. I’ve seen toddlers at R-rated movies, and would be willing to bet those same kids get a regular diet of HBO/Law & Order: SVU and other programs at home.
I think he’s referring to the parents themselves displaying such behavior, in front of their kids. I could be wrong.
Im sure they were as surprised as anyone when the F bomb was associated with Star Trek. I have to admit I laughed at the line and then caught the significance of it after. I was glad I was not watching Trek with my son as we used to do when he was young. There was no warning about it or a notice prior. Its not that F bombs bother me… but I generally know which entertainment experiences are offering that level of content and which is not. I certainly would not expect to hear an F bomb on Mr Rogers neighborhood either… it an expectations thing I guess.
So ridiculous. Just broadcast it after 9 pm. See? That was easy.
Families with children who want to see the show can talk about it with their kids (for kids of an age to have discussions like this). Were the torture scenes strictly necessary? Was Voq’s physical transformation necessary? Why did the writers make those choices? [I wonder this myself — to me the only value in showing torture is showing its long-term effects, and the writers cheated with TyVoq’s PTSD.]
Personally I would not let a child below the age of reason see the show, because it does need/merit discussion.
As for the “F BOMB” [a phrase I think is ridiculous] I have heard it in public, in the grocery, in the coffee shop. It’s making inroads into daily discourse. Children have heard FAR worse on the playground; as far as “fucking cool” goes, it’s a positive iteration of the word, as opposed to something a kid might demean another kid with.
If you want to sanitize your kids’ lives, good luck with that in the age of internet, cable TV, streaming, and the incredibly easy access to p*rn* too many kids have these days. I would personally be a hella lot more concerned with that than a collegial conversation with “fook” in it.
I can think of lots of words used with a ‘positive iteration’ that would not go over well if spoken by a 5 year old or someone significantly older at home or in mixed company – – and I’m not talking about dropping an f bomb. So, sure, I hear people drop it in public all the time, that doesn’t necessarily mean people want to hear it and parents are usually the first to throw a dirty look in the direction who says it loud enough that their kids will hear it.
Does the language bother me? No. Was there any real reason to use it in the episode? It was a throwaway without any real emotional weight behind it.
Broadcasting outside of prime time is sort of a big deal for viewership. Im sure Star Trek is watched by a lot of teens as well (who would certainly be able to see some adult language even if their parents pretend they’ve never heard the word).
I dont really care what they do as long as we get it unedited. It doesnt really matter to me if it means showing it later or if Space wants to air it early with potential editing as long as they include unedited later that night.
I agree. Move it to 9pm. Suddenly it’s not a problem anymore. Jeez….
It is if you’re the network that sees higher viewership at the earlier timeslot.
I think I learned every four letter word on my first day of school.
Agreed just air it after 9 and you get around that problem.
THough personally I don’t understand why anyone thought Trek needed an f-bomb in the first place.
I don’t blame Canada… wait, that’s a song, right? Anyway… it’s good to have standards. Even Trek has standards. I didn’t find the f-bomb worthwhile in that context. They dropped another in the new ‘Lost in Space.’ I think Trek, entertainment, and governments can acknowledge that people cuss without giving their blessing. We SHOULD aspire to better behavior.
Which has always been a central theme of Star Trek. We’ve evolved to become far better versions of ourselves and even Star Trek at its darkest was to preserve what humanity had become.
They didn’t exactly drop an F bomb in Lost in Space. A character starts to say F and it switches to another scene.
I really like lost in space. I like it much better than Discovery I’m afraid.
I found that the only thing I really enjoyed with the first episode of Lost in Space was the robot, it was great.
How?!
The father mumbles and whispers, the mom is ice cold and the kids are…. well let’s just say that the kids are not good. The moment I checked out was when the one in the ice in the pilot told her sister how to perform a complex medical procedure. Totally unbelievable.
I watched the first episode of Lost in Space. I’m afraid saying you like it better than Discovery isn’t really a good sign….
We’re building the wall on the wrong border!
Ha! I think you may right!
Ah yes because we have moral standards up here for family entertainment.
Not sure if comparing the first inter-racial kiss on American television during the height of the civil rights era and saying f*** on Discovery are even remotely comparable.
There were 3 previous interracial kisses on US television before Plato’s Stepchildren aired. As Trek fans we often repeat the legend that our show did it first, but history shows otherwise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_interracial_kiss_on_television
The point is still valid either way. Dropping an f bomb falls far short of Kirk kissing Uhura.
I won’t watch the show with my younger daughters. I’ll keep subscribing to CBS Alll Access, so it won’t yet affect CBS’s bottom line. But the gore and Klingon nudity will. I was fine with an isolated use of profanity as long as it has a in universe reason for its use ala Star Trek IV.
I wont debate your choices as a parent. Thats totally reasonable. Its up to viewers to decide, and should not be up to some government agency.
I think for me, by the time my kids (I dont have any) were old enough to understand and appreciate Discovery, I’d be okay with them watching. VERY young kids swear at school now and the nudity was nothing.
I completely understand this take, as someone who started watching Trek at age 7, and who introduced 90s Trek to his own son at a similar age.
It is a shame, but no the something that bother she me terribly now that my son is an adult.
My 11 year old daughter has no problem with Discovery and eagerly awaits its return. She has seen worse than anything Discovery did in Willow (Ron Howard, Val Kilmer, and Warwick Davis).
For God’s sake, have they never watched the Radio-Canada TV series Unité 9? Or Fugueuseon TVA? Both series aired at 8PM on a weeknight and had bona fide rape scenes (including nudity in Fugueuse’s case), *this TV season*. Unité 9 is a prison series mutch like Orange Is The New Black, so swearing happens quite a bit… Both series AFAIK haven’t had any issues with the CRTC.
And as far as I know, Quebec is still a part of Canada.
Space Channel is full of BS. The profanity was unnecessary. The Star Trek producers are trying too hard, as always. Look how cool we are, we said the F word!
Critics like you are trying too hard. It was a fun and fine scene. Plenty of shows have obscenity and it works just fine.
Expressing an opinion is not being a critic. Sorry you can’t handle real life where not everyone agrees with you. Ask your mother to cook you your favorite meal tonight. It’ll make you feel better!
I think you’re missing the point. It wasn’t the word itself but when it aired. No issue had it aired after 9:00 p.m.
I have yet to meet a person in the real world who actually likes Discovery. It’s like they were developing a different show and just added some things to call it Star Trek.
The sense of wonder is completely gone.
I’ve met quite a few here in the UK, new to the franchise fans but still… it’s extremely popular. Not that you ever guess from visiting this site.
Your personal experience with people who watch and or like it does not mean it’s popular any more than the fact that no one I work with or know personally were even aware CBSAA even exists means there are no subscribers to CBSAA.
The profanity in this case seemed entirely ‘appropriate’ to me, considering the situation and character involved. I didn’t see it as ‘trying to be cool’ at all. It seemed very natural.
I’m not sure. There was no emotional weight to it and the line itself was a bit of a throw away.
Most people use the f-word in a throw-away fashion. Basically, Tilly got excited and it slipped out. No big deal.
Ummm that was the CRTC who clamped down on it try reading the article.
It looks like Canada has an STD problem.
Well, ‘Double Dumb-Ass’ On Them!
What’s that TNG Episode, ” Conspiracy ” ? Where that Starfleet admiral ingests that mind control bug so Riker and Picard phaser him to death and his head explodes and his chest cavity opens up ?
I never saw that scene unedited until TNG was on Netflix.
It aired unedited in Canada!! lol
At 11am on a Saturday morning where I lived.
I watched it when it originally aired and remember thinking, “Cool!” That scene was never edited for syndication.
Its lame. Its 2018. Space is a cable station.
What makes this even extra dumb is that several years ago, Degrassi High aired a made for TV movie that included two uses of the F word. That was a show AIMED at kids, airing in prime time and on CBC, the state broadcaster available OTA in every home in the country.
It was allowed because it was “educational” or something. Oh and probably no whiner complained.
The Walking Dead was made a big deal when last year it was announced AMC was allowing two uses of the F word per season. As a cable channel, they could do just about whatever they wanted.
Bell wont want to be seen as thumbing their nose but really, they should say “we’re a cable channel, its 2018, F off”.
Oh, I think Bell Media is probably quite happy about the publicity this is generating for Space…
And were the brutal surgery/sex scenes a problem?
Nahh, heck no. That’s why Law & Order: SVU can air during the daytime in reruns in the US. Mentions of horrible sex crimes, sexual murders, child rape and more, but it’s okay because it’s a police procedural.
What I totally don’t get is how brutal violence on TV is okey dokey but respectful, non-violent sex is not. The sex in the L’Rell/TyVoq scene was rape and the violence in the surgery flashbacks even freaked me out a little, but heavens, don’t let anybody say “f^ck” — it’s just too, too terrible!
This reminds me of when Bono was giving thanks for some award he [or U2] had received and said “this is feckin’ brilliant!” [which in Northern Ireland means, “This is really great!” and such a tempest arose, the broadcaster was fined — for an impromptu and pretty innocent [in context] comment.
—————————————————-
Language does not concern me in that it is uttered. It is HOW the language is uttered that should cause us concern. That Cadet Tilly said “this is f^cking awesome” with a sense of wonder and that LT Stamets confirmed that he felt the same wonder using the same word does not concern me in the slightest.
Move that modifier to another context, such as a text from a high schooler saying “Doug is f^cking Suzy” and then sending it to all their friends, now that’s not very awesome at all, in fact it’s sad and invasive.
Language and how we use it, folks. Witness th’Rump in Chief.
I just find that N America seems to be bass-ackwards when it comes to violence and language/sex. Someone says “fuck” (in ANY context) and many people lose their minds. Show a butt crack on TV and many think the world is ending. Yet it’s perfectly fine to depict brutal rapes, torture, violence, etc. IMHO such attitudes do not help society. I’m not saying there is no place for violence in story telling. But there is a time and a place. Personally, I would crack down on the hours on TV when violence is shown more so than language. But I guess that’s just me.
Americans are a violent and psychotic people.
Probably a disgruntled “fan”, mad that Disco uses holographic comms or sets not made out of cardboard
Canada needs to lighten up just a little bit.
There are things airing on Canadian broadcast television that you won’t see in the U.S. They lightened up a long time ago.
Well the one prude who complained sure does.
Says the country in regular conniptions about gays and transgendered people.
I get it. Perhaps they should make a ‘radio-edit’ version of the episode, just record the line slightly differently. As for the violence, it all seemed to fit into the storyline as far as I could tell. Now, whether ‘kids’ (what ages are we talking about here?) should be watching Discovery or not, I think they still should. The overall lessons of Trek are still in there, and I think will become more ‘front and center’ as the show continues.
They certainly could and if thats what airs in Canada at its usual time slot, so be it. But only if they air the unedited version same night, hour later.
Censorship sucks.
I guess the lesson in STD is “Genocide is bad.” Good thing we have STD to point that out for us.
And yet humans still do it.
If only they could all watch STD. All the drug warlords and petty dictators would just stop and start embracing IDIC. Just like you do, HN4.
Felgercarb.
lame. Americas need to stop being such a prude! Oh no. They swore!! Sheesh
Has happened outside the Americas too. In the UK with Doctor Who for example, and it wasn’t even the actual word.
http://metro.co.uk/2011/08/30/doctor-who-fans-up-in-arms-after-f-word-in-lets-kill-hitler-episode-132669/
Can’t say I dislike the occasional salty word, but I sure hope next season the big issues aren’t whether they should or shouldn’t say a word, show a naked breast, how much canony canon is in their canon, or checking out their sweet special effects and TOS shoutouts and get back to asking: what would we do if [insert moral quandry]? You know, something that’s not easily fixed with a bomb threat.
That’s the kind of Star Trek people will be talking about in the future.
I’m glad they don’t air The Trailer Park Boys in Canada.
I think everyone is missing the point. Canadian television is fairly permissive. It wasn’t the word that was the issue, it was the hour in which it aired. That’s the long and short if it.
It was one person whining. As I mentioned previously, using the F bomb in a show geared towards kids and teens in prime time on an OTA channel was fine in the 90’s because “gritty educational realism” but someone doesnt like F bombs in their Star Trek on a cable channel and we get this nonsense.
They do.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is not a government agency and has no power. Non story.
It functions in much the same way the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board in the U.S. except that it’s a self regulatory agency created by the industry itself. Their ruling was based on a violation of Canadian Broadcast Standards, not those established by the Standards Council.
The National Association of Broadcasters wasn’t a US government sanctioned entity, either, but because it was an organization via which the industry regulated itself, it was responsible for keeping a lot of content off the air with its Code and THAT’S the power it wielded.
And that’s why Broadcast TV is dying a slow death. I stream all my shows now.
HN4,
It’s my understanding US television stations abandoned the self-regulation aspect of the NAB with the rise of uncensored original pay cable programming in the 1980s. What censorship exists today is a combination of FCC regulations and advertiser (“We won’t pay for THAT!”) based guidelines.
I remember the days when talking about Trek we used to talk about exploration, wonder, IDIC, equality and moral lessons. Now, we are talking about klingon junk and f-bombs. How times have changed. (The jury is still out if it is for the better. My personal opinion is it is not.)
I think the conversation is being driven by the ultra-hard-core fans who cannot accept any kind of change to the franchise and cannot understand that this show is not being made solely for them. They are obsessing over minor details so much that it looks like a massive deal. And it isn’t.
I have been a Trek fan for 22 years and I have Aspergers. I have been able to accept these changes even when I find change extremely difficult because of my neurodevelopmental disorder. I don’t care that the Enterprise has been redesigned or that Tilly dropped an f-bomb or that we saw a Klingon breast for less than second. They are non issues.
What I struggle with most is the reaction of this minority who are frequently rude and derogatory, make sexist comments about female characters and production staff and who routinely belittle anybody with anything positive to say about DSC. Everytime they do, they forget a central tenant of the franchise: IDIC.
Agreed AdAstra. Also, we could have 10 threads about creative exploration of Trek and one like this and people crawl out of the woodwork to say “oh wow, all we do is talk about F bombs”.
The complaint was silly but the ruling is serious and newsworthy.
“They are obsessing over minor details ”
Minor details like changing a major complex character into a one dimensional mustache twirling bad guy. Minor details like Klingons abandoning a war they were clearly winning because ONE person had a switch to a bomb. Minor details like what was said to be a major character struggle vanishing without a trace a few episodes in. Sure. Whatever. And that list just goes on and on.
Yes, those.
Fans have been talking about Worf’s junk for years on the internet. This isn’t new.
A Pascale,
The language thing goes back even further with Trek than you mention. NBC did not want to air CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER’S last line:”Let’s get the hell out of here.” As I recall, it was as controversial as whether network television would air GONE WITH THE WIND’s “I don’t give a damn.”
It was the use of “hell” as a profanity that earned STAR TREK this footnote in television history:
”Kirk uttered what is believed to be the first swear word broadcast on TV (“Let’s get the hell out of here!”) in the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever,”” — ‘Trekkies ready for DVD set’ | Mike Snyder of USA TODAY |
DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE | ‘Family&Relationships 3C’ SECTION | Rochester, NY | September 2, 2004
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/136871203/
The other instances of censorship are fairly isolated. Discovery is the first Star Trek show to consistently challenge parents to have to decide if it’s approriate for their kids. Doesn’t make it bad, but saying it is family-friendly would provoke a debate.
Was Kirk making out with alien women family friendly?
Ian,
Growing up in the South of STAR TREK’s first decade, I can assure you that Bible thumping and segregation tolerating parents were consistently challenged to have to decide if STAR TREK on NBC was appropriate for their kids.
Is it marketed as family friendly? It doest contain a rating that would lead parents to consider that.
Its not up to the government to babysit children. I suspect the complainer just complained because F-bombs offend his Trek fandom.
I would like to make fun of the countries of the first world, but all that absurd censorship exists in countries like mine (Argentina) through cable: blurred tits and ring fingers, censored blood. It is always better to download a series of internet or buy it on DVD than to watch it directly on television.
It’s a slapped wrist. It’s useful to have such things clarified though.
Working on a UK TV show recently, we were not allowed to use f-words until 9.07pm, to ensure we were sufficiently within post-watershed time.
I’m surprised the show went out before nine, quite frankly.
Im pretty sure The Walking Dead is on at 8 and by the standards of this whiner who complained, would be judged far harsher.