JJ Abrams Was Kinda Right About Trek Needing To Get Its Act Together

[jaime]

No, I mean, none of what was posted makes sense. What evisceration? When was Star Trek for kids? Kids watched it, but when was it for kids? Star Trek has always featured, in some form, sex, violence, political intrigue, and romance. Are you talking about a Star Trek no one saw? New films that no one saw? If you want to talk explosions and "evisceration", don't look to the new movies, what did you think of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan from 1982? You know, the movie that fans prize and adore, and wasn't made in this century? Remember where Khan murdered the Regula 1 crew? Where the Ceti eels oozed out of Chekov's ear, the same Ceti eel that had Captain __ try to murder our heroes until he was vaporized?

What about Star Trek III where McCoy is put in an insane asylum? Where a science vessel is blown to smithereens, killing all hands except our protagonists? Where Kirk, the hero, steals a Federation starship? Where Spock experiences the blood madness of Pon Farr and Saavik essentially has sex with him to cool his engines? Where Kirk's young son, David, is stabbed in the back, murdered by Klingons? Where Kirk and Kruge fight to the death and Kruge is kicked into a river of lava, being incinerated in the process?

Star Trek V where we see a three breasted woman dancing on a table top while three ambassadors discuss politics in a bar, sitting in a city that is taken over by terrorists who threaten their deaths if they don't get a starship? The cult leader flies them to the center of the galaxy where they meet God and promptly attempt to kill him after he tortures them like they were playthings? The discussion of life, the universe, philosophy, and what it means to really believe?

Star Trek VI! Holy shit! Kirk is okay with genocide! Racism and bigotry all through the film! The Chancellor of the High Council murdered, blood spattering everywhere! McCoy trying to save him, beating him in the chest, across his bloody wound as they're arrested and put on trial! Scotty calling Azetbur, the daughter of the Klingon Chancellor a bitch and stated that she must have killed her father! McCoy and Kirk sent to a gulag and forced to work the mines under threat of death! Kirk getting into a fight with a giant creature, whom he defeats by kicking it in the proverbial balls! Kirk kissing Martia passionately having known her such a short time. They escape, and in the process uncover a plot to assassinate the leaders at the peace conference. Martia, or the alien playing her, is vaporized before our eyes! Scotty shoots an assassin before he can murder the Federation President! The assassin crashes through the window, landing on the ground, and blood oozes from him as they rip away his face, which turns out to be a mask, but let's not pretend a kid will know that right away.

Star Trek First Contact. Borg, bullets and blood. We watch as crewmembers are torn apart, their arms severed, their eyes gouged to allow for cybernetic implants. Their captain, the hero, even shoots one of them instead of tries to rescue them. The other hero, the visionary inventor they all adore, ends up being a drunk, womanizing, profit seeker looking to cash in, not to better humanity. Data and the Borg Queen discuss having sex, including a "was it good for you" moment.

What. Movies. Were. You. Watching?

Man that's a long post that doesn't notice the difference between 'suitable for' and 'for'.
And yeah, many of those things, particularly, you will note, from feature films, which have ratings on them to show suitability, and are often edited before being shown on television, where audience is different.
By and large, with the odd episode only needing a trim for visuals here and there, Trek, has been family viewing.
Here in the UK it had a traditional early evening slot, and never needed the Buffy treatment (kid friendly edit for evening, reshow later with no cuts....Torchwood series 2 tried that model too) and going back...well, pretty much it's entire history, Trek has seen people come to it as children, and has been suitable for younger audiences.
Deep space nine, certainly by about season 4 onward, is a bit of an outlier in those terms.
But then (again in the UK) 8pm Saturdays is still a family viewing slot, even if it slants towards older children and teenagers.
Once upon a time, something Like Game of Thrones, or even Dark Matter would have aimed at that demographic. It is safe to say they do not.
With the exception of 2, and to a slight extent 6 (though the blood was pink, floating, and the film was rated pg) all the TOS films cover that wide range. 2 once edited does (I was surprised to see the full version with a 15 certificate in the 90s. Had no idea it existed.)
The tng films are also all within that gamut, with the exception of first contact, which skews to the older end and got a 12 certificate.
Voyager is so aimed at that wide gamut that it even has child characters. It didn't hold it back much, and shows the leap from characters such as Wesley and Alexander on Tng.

The reboot films? Nero wanders around 'hey, I'm Nero....fwoosh with mah predator spear thing' Khan snaps necks and mows down a room of people with a minigun.

There is a difference between 'suitable for children' and 'a children's show'

It's one Trek should remember, unless we as fans want to suffer from 'an aging population' or are so selfish that we want Trek made exclusively for 'us' rather than as it was always made, for everyone.

 

[Amaris]

Man that's a long post that doesn't notice the difference between 'suitable for' and 'for'.
And yeah, many of those things, particularly, you will note, from feature films, which have ratings on them to show suitability, and are often edited before being shown on television, where audience is different.
By and large, with the odd episode only needing a trim for visuals here and there, Trek, has been family viewing.
Here in the UK it had a traditional early evening slot, and never needed the Buffy treatment (kid friendly edit for evening, reshow later with no cuts....Torchwood series 2 tried that model too) and going back...well, pretty much it's entire history, Trek has seen people come to it as children, and has been suitable for younger audiences.
Deep space nine, certainly by about season 4 onward, is a bit of an outlier in those terms.
But then (again in the UK) 8pm Saturdays is still a family viewing slot, even if it slants towards older children and teenagers.
Once upon a time, something Like Game of Thrones, or even Dark Matter would have aimed at that demographic. It is safe to say they do not.
With the exception of 2, and to a slight extent 6 (though the blood was pink, floating, and the film was rated pg) all the TOS films cover that wide range. 2 once edited does (I was surprised to see the full version with a 15 certificate in the 90s. Had no idea it existed.)
The tng films are also all within that gamut, with the exception of first contact, which skews to the older end and got a 12 certificate.
Voyager is so aimed at that wide gamut that it even has child characters. It didn't hold it back much, and shows the leap from characters such as Wesley and Alexander on Tng.

The reboot films? Nero wanders around 'hey, I'm Nero....fwoosh with mah predator spear thing' Khan snaps necks and mows down a room of people with a minigun.

There is a difference between 'suitable for children' and 'a children's show'

It's one Trek should remember, unless we as fans want to suffer from 'an aging population' or are so selfish that we want Trek made exclusively for 'us' rather than as it was always made, for everyone.

Ah, see, you're talking about editing the movies for television so children can watch them. That's something completely different and irrelevant to the films themselves, as that means none of them are suitable as they are and have to be modified for children to see them on the television. None of this has to do with the status of new or old films. So, again, what is your point?

 

[Trekkin]

Generally speaking, TOS ran between 7:30-9:30pm (allowing for time slot changes). VOY changed around a bit between seasons, but had the same sort of slots. ENT meanwhile, had some first run episodes that aired from 10-11pm.

So no, not really intended for kids.

As for the movies, I can vouch for at least one 4 year old who made it about 15 minutes in before deciding she did not like TWOK at all. Turns out even when you cover their eyes, kids can still hear things, and work out from implications that scary shit is happening. Who'd have thought?

 

[jaime]

Ah, see, you're talking about editing the movies for television so children can watch them. That's something completely different and irrelevant to the films themselves, as that means none of them are suitable as they are and have to be modified for children to see them on the television. None of this has to do with the status of new or old films. So, again, what is your point?

All of the films were made with later TV viewing for a wider audience in mind. TMP was sold to TV before it was finished, and at points during filming they had scenes they knew would go in or be changed for TV. TWOK was made by the TV division (largely for budget reasons allegedly) and again had scenes that were known to be malleable for the TV version (including a tighter set up for things like the turbolift scene, though whether that was always intentional is a different question.)
All of the violent scenes can be excised without affecting the plot. No plot vital conversations are held say...over a corpse. None of the films ever go for a high rating, it doesn't suit the material, doesn't fit with their intended audience (internationally or otherwise) and hurts their bottom line for other things (merchandise...TV sales that aren't already in place before filming...getting bad press for being too violent for its reputation)
There's a story reason the phasers have a stun setting and an audience reason.

So yeah, sorry to burst a grown up bubble, but they were always made with audience consideration in mind, and that audience is not the kind of 'adult' your choice of examples suggest. They had slasher films for that at the time.
Go check the ratings of each and every Trek film. Look at the films of the day around them (triple breasted cat woman is really not an issue. She looked more like a live action thundercat than a human, and look at the first episode of that series...)

 

[Amaris]

All of the films were made with later TV viewing for a wider audience in mind. TMP was sold to TV before it was finished, and at points during filming they had scenes they knew would go in or be changed for TV. TWOK was made by the TV division (largely for budget reasons allegedly) and again had scenes that were known to be malleable for the TV version (including a tighter set up for things like the turbolift scene, though whether that was always intentional is a different question.)
All of the violent scenes can be excised without affecting the plot. No plot vital conversations are held say...over a corpse. None of the films ever go for a high rating, it doesn't suit the material, doesn't fit with their intended audience (internationally or otherwise) and hurts their bottom line for other things (merchandise...TV sales that aren't already in place before filming...getting bad press for being too violent for its reputation)
There's a story reason the phasers have a stun setting and an audience reason.

So yeah, sorry to burst a grown up bubble, but they were always made with audience consideration in mind, and that audience is not the kind of 'adult' your choice of examples suggest. They had slasher films for that at the time.
Go check the ratings of each and every Trek film. Look at the films of the day around them (triple breasted cat woman is really not an issue. She looked more like a live action thundercat than a human, and look at the first episode of that series...)

So none of them were family friendly until they were made family friendly. In other words, they were edited for television. Note my use of edited, in that they are not the original movie in its original format. Even a rated R movie can be cut down so kids can see it. Again, what is your point?

 

[jaime]

So none of them were family friendly until they were made family friendly. In other words, they were edited for television. Note my use of edited, in that they are not the original movie in its original format. Even a rated R movie can be cut down so kids can see it. Again, what is your point?

First, that Trek not just the movies.
Secondly, that even the movies were made with those edits in mind. There is tons of material explaining that, and it's visually apparent. David dies behind some bushes, there are very few violent on screen deaths, Klingons bleed pink, no plot relevant conversations take place during violent scenes or with the results of such on screen. (non humans don't count for some reason in censorship terms, and by and large that seems logical.) Swearing has an in universe explanation for pretty much not existing, and therefore occurs very little so as to be easy to edit. There is little to no nudity, and references to sex are usually veiled (Even your borg Queen scenes) enough as to 'go over the heads' of younger viewers or be edited to the tastes of a network showing the movie on television, even around the world.
These are decisions being made even before the film is finished and released.

Believe me, I can be as puritanical as the next guy as to 'the original version' or 'the directors vision'. I even prefer the original European cut of Blade Runner, happy ending and all.
But in these cases, the decisions were part of that original intent and always were.

If you edit a film that was not made with these cuts in mind, from an R rated original as you suggest, it will always be obvious, and often mess up the films narrative. (or leave you with a ten minute arthouse film with random scenes sat in a row...) Even middle range films can get silly....for years I never grasped why everyone was obsessed with Walter Pecks neck in ghostbusters, thanks to a TV overdub for profanity.

Star Trek has, and always should be, made with wider audience considerations in mind. For a start, it's easier to sell action figures that way, and more importantly Trek is now a generational thing, some of us watched as children with our parents.
I am not talking about making it into teletubbies here, but it doesn't need the game of thrones approach of decorative 'adult' (and by adult I mean stereotypical pubescent adult) paraphernalia on screen for plot scenes. I gave up on that show, but even I know about the running joke of having tons of plot moving conversations in front of a few naked people, and it's fundamental lack of subtlety, and over use of explicit rather than implicit imagery.
To be fair, the books are as bad in that regard.

But back on point....Trek has always managed to dance away from too 'dark and gritty' in an explicit way, and long may it continue to do so.

Edit for forgetfulness: a good rule of thumb is if you are cutting more than about ten minutes tops for a film, and about 4 for TV, then you probably shouldn't be cutting it down, especially if it's cutting vital plot dialogue.
I do not think any of the Trek films fall afoul of that, even Khan or Contact.

 

[Amaris]

First, that Trek not just the movies.
Secondly, that even the movies were made with those edits in mind. There is tons of material explaining that, and it's visually apparent. David dies behind some bushes, there are very few violent on screen deaths, Klingons bleed pink, no plot relevant conversations take place during violent scenes or with the results of such on screen. (non humans don't count for some reason in censorship terms, and by and large that seems logical.) Swearing has an in universe explanation for pretty much not existing, and therefore occurs very little so as to be easy to edit. There is little to no nudity, and references to sex are usually veiled (Even your borg Queen scenes) enough as to 'go over the heads' of younger viewers or be edited to the tastes of a network showing the movie on television, even around the world.
These are decisions being made even before the film is finished and released.

Believe me, I can be as puritanical as the next guy as to 'the original version' or 'the directors vision'. I even prefer the original European cut of Blade Runner, happy ending and all.
But in these cases, the decisions were part of that original intent and always were.

If you edit a film that was not made with these cuts in mind, from an R rated original as you suggest, it will always be obvious, and often mess up the films narrative. (or leave you with a ten minute arthouse film with random scenes sat in a row...) Even middle range films can get silly....for years I never grasped why everyone was obsessed with Walter Pecks neck in ghostbusters, thanks to a TV overdub for profanity.

Star Trek has, and always should be, made with wider audience considerations in mind. For a start, it's easier to sell action figures that way, and more importantly Trek is now a generational thing, some of us watched as children with our parents.
I am not talking about making it into teletubbies here, but it doesn't need the game of thrones approach of decorative 'adult' (and by adult I mean stereotypical pubescent adult) paraphernalia on screen for plot scenes. I gave up on that show, but even I know about the running joke of having tons of plot moving conversations in front of a few naked people, and it's fundamental lack of subtlety, and over use of explicit rather than implicit imagery.
To be fair, the books are as bad in that regard.

But back on point....Trek has always managed to dance away from too 'dark and gritty' in an explicit way, and long may it continue to do so.

Edit for forgetfulness: a good rule of thumb is if you are cutting more than about ten minutes tops for a film, and about 4 for TV, then you probably shouldn't be cutting it down, especially if it's cutting vital plot dialogue.
I do not think any of the Trek films fall afoul of that, even Khan or Contact.

No. You're talking about what selective editing can do. These Trek films weren't made for editing on television so kids could watch them. That was the work of an editor who felt story could suffer a little so the kids didn't see Spock's face peeling.

 

[jaime]

No. You're talking about what selective editing can do. These Trek films weren't made for editing on television so kids could watch them. That was the work of an editor who felt story could suffer a little so the kids didn't see Spock's face peeling.

OK. So the behind the scenes stuff talking about 'this will be in the TV edit' for the motion picture didn't happen? The different version of the turbolift scene in 2, for 4.3 ratio editing, didn't happen, kirk and company don't spend a second walking away from the corpse of Scottys nephew to have their plot relevant conversation, and everyone just stood around the pile of corpses on Regula nattering? Every horrific scene in Trek films went on for so long that cutting it out would shred the film, as opposed to a second or so here and there? David and his executor fell behind that handy bush because show don't tell no longer applied in a visual medium that saw a baddie alien vaporised 20 minutes earlier? Zefram Cochrane was like Sipowicz in Nypd Blue, as opposed to little more than a comedy drunk routine with bad flirting?
The borg Queen explicitly propositioned data as opposed to the slightly more subtle dialogue. Data doesn't even say sex, he says 'sexuality' to science it up and tone it down. Hell, the borg Queen doesn't even have breasts as such.
These are decisions made while producing the films, with an eye to wider audiences, and television edits, which are very much an important thing back then.
I think I can give you Nemesis, as by then it was less of a concern, and frankly Nemesis does not have the care and thought behind it anyway. I don't think I have ever seen a TV version shown on a mainstream channel before 9pm, and I do not know which cuts of the films Syfy is currently airing. But current wouldn't matter anyway, as they weren't producing for TV now, they were producing with an eye to TV then.
And that's the key thing here, they considered their target audience in cinema (deliberately avoiding too high a rating, that affects merchandise and limits your box office) and on television (sales before shooting finished, sales afterwards, international television rights, home video rental in the age of the 'video nasty') and took those on board when they were making their films. Explicitly stated by production staff at the time, and obvious when viewing. (spock can bleed as much as he likes. He bleeds green.)

 

[Trekkin]

And that's the key thing here, they considered their target audience in cinema....Spock can bleed as much as he likes, he bleeds green

And yet...

The fatally burned, but distinctly not bleeding Spock :



The fatally burned humans:






Also, 60's tv censorship was less about producers being 'considerate of their audience,' and more along the lines of 'they were terrified of being outright yanked off the air.'

 

[jaime]

And yet...

Fatally wounded Spock:



Fatally wounded humans:

I was referring specifically to the scene mentioned.

And yup there they are.
Not as gory a they could be though. Not much of the actual red stuff going on. The good guy can (and was) be practically edited out, and Khan is a bad guy. Now I am not saying that kind of thinking is super logical, but it is exactly the kind of thinking that applied in these situations back then.
I would also say that Star Trek 2 is an 8pm sort of film, not a Sunday afternoon type of film, but it is not the only star trek film in existence, it's a bit of an outlier in lots of ways.
However, in terms of the television editing decisions being made, there are definitely decisions being made from a TV perspective on Wrath of Khan. (turbolift scene, the Genesis video with its easy to crop panel borders, the fact it's made by the TV division of Paramount, with people who come from a TV background. There are various reasons for these, but I don't think there can be any doubt that these things happened.)
Khan in the UK, in its uncut format is a 15. In its more commonly seen version prior to that, it is not. The big cut is to the Regula scientists. BA dum bum.
But there it is.
There are plenty of things in even TV trek that are, shall we say, close to the bone. Particularly now some are in HD. But they are almost universally shot in such a way as to make the edit easy, or downplay the ickier aspects. Because they had a certain audience in mind.
Not to say some writers and producers didn't push at that limit from time to time (step forward mister Braga, I'm playing your tune. Borg Queen having a soliloquy with an opened head on the table in shot. That must have annoyed foreign censors no end.) but overall, Trek has a wider audience and tones itself accordingly.

It's also worth thinking about when the films were made for a general audience with an eye to the older star trek fans, d the TV show was more for everyone (tng)

There weren't many movie based toys for kids between star trek 1 and 5 at the time, and the playmates line is definitely made with children in mind.

Franchise films concentrate on their audience more than any other, whether it be upping the gore for a horror franchise, or toning it back for one that has a tradition of being family friendly.
It really must be looked at in context of its time period, and there's plenty of information out there on how these things work in Trek in general.

 

[BillJ]

It's also worth thinking about when the films were made for a general audience with an eye to the older star trek fans, d the TV show was more for everyone (tng)

No. Just no. You are confusing your opinion with what actually takes place on screen. I can count three attempted rapes on TOS ("The Enemy Within", "Gamesters of Triskelion" and "Day of the Dove"). Deep Space Nine was about war. TNG and Voyager both used the Borg to gruesome effect.

The very first Star Trek pilot had a dude get impaled on a spear, Pike in a pit of fire and talked in some pretty frank terms (for the time) about sex.

"Conspiracy" from TNG season one had a head exploded by phaser fire in very graphic style.

 

[jaime]

No. Just no. You are confusing your opinion with what actually takes place on screen. I can count three attempted rapes on TOS ("The Enemy Within", "Gamesters of Triskelion" and "Day of the Dove"). Deep Space Nine was about war. TNG and Voyager both used the Borg to gruesome effect.

The very first Star Trek pilot had a dude get impaled on a spear, Pike in a pit of fire and talked in some pretty frank terms (for the time) about sex.

"Conspiracy" from TNG season one had a head exploded by phaser fire in very graphic style.

Again, do not confuse implicit/explicit, do not confuse 'suitable for children' with 'made for children' and I suppose I should throw in I am not talking about toddlers here (though many episodes are)

You can talk about whatever you like in an episode, how you talk about and what you show of it is where censorship, editing and audience sensibilities come in.

The exploding head in conspiracy is even infamous for 'going too far' and is edited in almost every showing of the episode on television as far as I am aware.
You can imply all sorts in a script without outright stating it, but again, that's something an older viewer will get and a younger viewer will not. Deep Space Nine skews older again, especially by its later seasons, but had a different audience in mind by then (still a syndicated TV audience mind you) and again, isn't really explicit in a lot of areas it could have been.
Voyager has its moments of gruesome (more so the vidiians) but overall keeps itself in the bounds of that, and again, keeps the gore on the limits or in editable form. Worst case, as with every series, a foreign network could choose to just not show a controversial episode. The vast vast majority of Trek, keeps within its traditional style.
Yeah you can have someone impaled by a spear, but it won't be a lingering gore shot, full of glistening wet realism. It will be pantomime. And not just because itvwas the sixties when you weren't allowed to show that stuff to adults, let alone kids of any age.

Producers consider their audience. Star Trek's audience included children (hence the toys, the comics...these things were not usually aimed at adults back in the sixties, and then there are later examples of things like the starfleet academy books) and while the films targeted an older audience, they clearly also kept an eye on television audiences which tendedbto include younger people, or 'audiences of a sensitive disposition'.
It's documented in making of, interviews, directors commentaries, all over the shop...

*shrug*

I give up. Star Trek will be brilliant when it's a game of thrones style drama about the Klingon houses, with rape and slicing and dicing, and the federation can be all about hardened war veterans in starfleet and corrupt politicians. Maybe Kevin spacey can play the president, and we can remake the rambo films but in space with an embittered Picard or Sisko still living the dominion war........Oh and every plot point can be discussed in front of naked orion slave girls.
Because you know......it's not a kids show.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

No. A drama exists to make money.

From a philosophical perspective, this line of argument isn't very convincing.

All it says is that ONE priority of a show is to make money.

Doesn't preclude other motives and objectives.

Fairly sure that Star Trek - notwithstanding Gene's self revising history - was always produced with profit being the first and foremost concern. It ain't a charity documentary.

So "first and foremost concern" being thrown around all the time on these forums, is a very poorly thought out argument for justifying a lack of care for artistic concerns. If money had been the first and foremost concern behind Star Trek, it would never have taken 'risks', never have had so much thought and effort poured in. Clearly people wanted to do something beyond earning a living. Clearly art is one example of a potential exception to a purely commercialized view of production/supply/demand.

 

[BillJ]

The exploding head in conspiracy is even infamous for 'going too far' and is edited in almost every showing of the episode on television as far as I am aware.

It has never been edited here in the States that I'm aware of. Even BBC America shows the scene unedited.

I give up. Star Trek will be brilliant when it's a game of thrones style drama about the Klingon houses, with rape and slicing and dicing, and the federation can be all about hardened war veterans in starfleet and corrupt politicians. Maybe Kevin spacey can play the president, and we can remake the rambo films but in space with an embittered Picard or Sisko still living the dominion war........Oh and every plot point can be discussed in front of naked orion slave girls.
Because you know......it's not a kids show.

There are lots of different ways to aim a show at mature audiences. You've picked the extreme.

All it says is that ONE priority of a show is to make money.

It is the first priority. If it doesn't make money, it doesn't stay on the air.

 

[jaime]

It has never been edited here in the States that I'm aware of. Even BBC America shows the scene unedited.



There are lots of different ways to aim a show at mature audiences. You've picked the extreme.



It is the first priority. If it doesn't make money, it doesn't stay on the air.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

Was banned then edited.

Yes I chose the extreme to make a slightly mocking point. I think it's called burlesque as an approach, though I may be mistaken.

A show only makes money of it has an audience that spends on advertised products or merchandise. Or if it has a big enough audience that different networks will throw money at you to be allowed to air it. Sometimes, it's just for the subscription cash or the critical acclaim, but that's fairly rare (the BBC is a whole different game, but then UK TV in general is.)

 

[BillJ]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

Was banned then edited.

It was never banned nor edited here in the US. I watched the episode in first run in 1988 here. And subsequently in strip syndication, then during its various cable airings, on DVD, then on Netflix, then the remastered Blu-ray's.

I can't speak for Canadian or British broadcasters.

 

[jaime]

It was never banned nor edited here in the US. I watched the episode in first run in 1988 here. And subsequently in strip syndication, then during its various cable airings, on DVD, then on Netflix, then the remastered Blu-ray's.

I can't speak for Canadian or British broadcasters.

Indeed. But I can cos I am British lol.
But seriously. That's my whole point, these things are known quantities when they make the show's. They know that part is going to get edited. It's not plot vital nor vital to the show. (interesting the raw meat part, I thought they banned that after lambert got sick on Alien. Maybe only here, or maybe it wasn't filmed with actors present.)
For the sake of a few seconds cut, the audience is widened by a whole country's worth of people. Where it is shown in an early evening slot, pretty much straight after the kids/teens programs have finished.

 

[BillJ]

For the sake of a few seconds cut, the audience is widened by a whole country's worth of people. Where it is shown in an early evening slot, pretty much straight after the kids/teens programs have finished.

For the new show, the timeslot is irrelevant, at least here in the US as it will be on a streaming network. So folks can watch it whenever they choose. But then, people have had that option since the early-80's when they could simply record something and watch it at their leisure.

And, obviously, they weren't worried about being edited because the show was being made for American broadcasters. Which makes sense, since the show was made by an American production company.

 

[jaime]

For the new show, the timeslot is irrelevant, at least here in the US as it will be on a streaming network. So folks can watch it whenever they choose. But then, people have had that option since the early-80's when they could simply record something and watch it at their leisure.

And, obviously, they weren't worried about being edited because the show was being made for American broadcasters. Which makes sense, since the show was made by an American production company.

The time of is irrelevant there as it will be streaming. The rest of the world? We don't know. And international money talks as loud as American, heck, Baywatch got saved from cancellation by it.
And they have always had an eye to the international audience, look at the press the new series launches got just in the UK.
At least three of the 80s/90s series stars were British. Like the federation, Trek encompasses more than one group in its audience. (At least two of the current novel writers that I can think of are also Brits, and we nearly got a French speaking captain Janeway.)

 

[BillJ]

The time of is irrelevant there as it will be streaming. The rest of the world? We don't know. And international money talks as loud as American, heck, Baywatch got saved from cancellation by it.
And they have always had an eye to the international audience, look at the press the new series launches got just in the UK.
At least three of the 80s/90s series stars were British. Like the federation, Trek encompasses more than one group in its audience. (At least two of the current novel writers that I can think of are also Brits, and we nearly got a French speaking captain Janeway.)

It is still an American program made for American audiences. CBS wouldn't be making new Trek if they weren't going to show it here. Being American is part of Trek's cultural identity. Just like "being British" is part of Doctor Who's cultural identity. Or being Japanese is part of Space Battleship Yamato's cultural identity.

I'm not for a homogenized world.