Is Star Trek "For Kids"?
- Thread starter Lysian
- Start date
https://i.imgur.com/aTrES9X.jpg
the more i think about it.. depends on the episode
the more i think about it.. depends on the episode
I think that T'pol pic gets into the near-nudity rule, so I've converted the pic to a link.
In a way, that does kind of prove a point.
I don’t know how the ratings work for Discovery, but I would guess “yes”.
Keep you're kids away from Discovery, that's a R - PG-13 Series. No idea why they did that, it doesn't make the train wreck any better.
HA!!! Nothing like enabling the emotionally stunted and making a profit off them. That's Entertainment ...
Discovery has two or three sex scenes, TOS has zero. TOS has violence, but usually ‘fantastic’ or not above the level of a fist fight in some sand. It has zero organs on show, unlike Discovery which goes about one and a half episodes before someone’s insides are on the outside, sometimes several organs, sometimes several someone’s. I like DSC, but let’s not be silly...the red paint and alien thorns are a world away from brains on a fidget spinner, and if the light was up a tad more we would know if it was just the Klingon Male with doubled genitals, as opposed to the occasional flash of Starfleet issue knickers in a vent shaft on TOS.
The difference, however, is only what was possible at the time given the effects and censors. GR wanted explicit sex and Kirk had a sexual encounter on average once in every four episodes.
Frankly the sex in Discovery has hardly been that much more explicit than TOS
"Conspiracy" was quite an outlier and "Harbinger" was such an outlier it wasn't even televised as such (although probably to the surprise and disappointment of the show makers).
that's an image of 4 outliers, im sure there are other outliers
A
Amaris
Guest
I don't think it is for kids, but I watched it when I was one anyway.
I gotta tell you, your list and qualifications of what constitutes sex and violence (especially since so much of it happens offscreen, and you seem to be counting kissing as a 'sexual encounter'*) reads like one of those ratings guides that UltraFundies put out.
I half-expected to come across something like "Catspaw - Use of magic" or "Wolf in the fold - demonic 'psychic' powers."
You can make a case for actual sex maybe three to eight times during the course of the show. Miramanee, Deela, and Drusilla are I would say certain. A few more if you stretch the notion of "sexual encounter" to encompass anything beyond simple kissing. Maybe four others in the pre-TOS timeline, but not on the actual show.
*I mean technically, yeah, that's true... but it also means I had my first sexual encounter at age 4, and.. no, just no.
For what it's worth, against my earlier posts, early Deep Space Nine (fall 1993) was deemed to be one of the 10 most violent primetime television shows of the week.
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-18/news/mn-2990_1_fox-television-network
I'm not sure if that means that then the vast majority of television was, compared to now, pretty non-intense, non-violent, all-viewers-acceptable, for early Deep Space Nine to be ranked one of the worst offenders, or what.
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-18/news/mn-2990_1_fox-television-network
I'm not sure if that means that then the vast majority of television was, compared to now, pretty non-intense, non-violent, all-viewers-acceptable, for early Deep Space Nine to be ranked one of the worst offenders, or what.
"Enterprise Incident" was listed twice. And I don't think that phasers or photon torpedoes were fired in the episode, though their use was threatened.
"Ultimate Computer" You greatly exaggerate the casualties. There were four starships with about 400 crew in each. M5 caused many casualties on all of the starships but only wiped out the crew of one of them, the Excaliber. Commodore Welsey asked Starfleet Command for permission to destroy the Enterprise.
"Shore Leave" Dr. McCoy, and possibly also Angela, are killed, but are brought back to life by the end of the episode. The knight is "killed", but turns out to be robot. Kirk has a fistfight with a robot double of Finnegan.
I don't remember any references to either real or fictional massacres and war crimes in that episode. Flint claims he was Solomon and Alexander, monarchs who fought wars, but doesn't mention any atrocities that might have happened in those wars.
It seems to me that TOS usually kept its violence within the limits of typical family shows and even children's shows.
Shows like the spy sitcom Get Smart, where people were killed in almost every episode.
The Japanese Children's show Jaianto Robo, shown in the USA as Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, involved much violence by and/or against children.
Jonny Quest, full of action, violence, and death. One would expect that the title child would develop PTSD after being in danger so much.
Which was the theme of The Venture Brothers, where Dr. Rusty Venture suffered major psychological problems after a childhood like that of Jonny Quest, and "Adventure Johnny" even more so.
Westerns were considered family viewing, but many people can remember being terrified as kids by the "Big Ghost Basin" episode of Cheyenne.
Star Trek's competition included the more family friendly and kid friendly Lost in Space. But as I remember, the child Will Robinson was in danger almost as often as Captain Kirk, and was often betrayed by his trusted friend Dr. Smith.
When the afternoon supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows was on the air, many kids rushed home after school to watch it. One story line involved a 9-year-old boy trying to kill his father, and a few months later another story line had the boy's mother try to burn them to death.
One western series made for families and children was The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, full of western action and violence. The child protagonist, Rusty B. Company, was probably in more danger in his show that Captain Kirk was in his.
The Disney Channel children's show The Wizards of Waverly Place had the protagonists commit what I consider legally murder in a few episodes. There was one scene which can be literally described as the protagonists laughing and joking while standing by the shattered corpse of a girl one of them just treacherously killed.
So I would say that TOS was within what was and is considered family friendly and child friendly TV.
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I just had a thought. Star Wars can also be argued to be "Just for kids!" -- it has a much larger child market -- yet the same people who'd say "Star Trek is for kids!" would still watch it. Some probably genuinely believe it and are holding the franchises to double-standards but others are probably looking for a reason to give to not watch instead of just honestly saying "I don't like it" or "I'm not interested" and think "It's for kids!" will cover it.
The other reason commonly given for not watching is "Star Trek is boring" but in that case, they probably did actually see some of it. So it's not prejudging even if it wasn't the type of Trek that might've gotten them hooked. There's enough different Star Trek out that there that you could find something that would fit someone's individual tastes even if they wouldn't like all of it. Liking one part of Star Trek doesn't mean you'll like the Entire Franchise; and vice versa for that matter. But there's a lot of throwing out the baby with the bath water, which is too bad.
The other reason commonly given for not watching is "Star Trek is boring" but in that case, they probably did actually see some of it. So it's not prejudging even if it wasn't the type of Trek that might've gotten them hooked. There's enough different Star Trek out that there that you could find something that would fit someone's individual tastes even if they wouldn't like all of it. Liking one part of Star Trek doesn't mean you'll like the Entire Franchise; and vice versa for that matter. But there's a lot of throwing out the baby with the bath water, which is too bad.
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So, as a "red shirt" I try to read old threads. This one is not older than one year, so I have to satisfy my strong need to give my two cents.
If you read all classical fairy tales, they are full of violent, killing, torture, misogyny etc. and I read several scientific articles that tell they are not harming the children, but they help them to improve their meaningful of justice, social integrity, character aspects, aggressiveness control and so on. So, it is not the matter using violence, however using context of violence.
If we talking about TOS are STD and not to forget they are TV shows which need ratings and do not judge them anachronistic way, yes they are using violence and sex. Question is what is the purpose behind.
As I remember Roddenberry told that he had huge problems with studio, since they found TOS very philosophic for the mass audience. And he tried the give positively message about future of humanity. I can say loudly: "TOS is most of the episodes very very didactic" and add whispering "I love it" .
What is the purpose of STD using violence? I am sorry, I do not want to offense any STD fans, but imho, STD is one of the wannabe trendy shows with overkill blink blink (which has of course right tho require its share of market and making money for the studios) but nothing to do with something philosophic or least tell us the issues about being human. What is the message of STD? Believe no one? I have real world for the shock and awe, I do not need to watch such as Trek. There is much more better shows for this.
(Yeah I know , I know I have to be grateful that Trek is revived!
)
If you read all classical fairy tales, they are full of violent, killing, torture, misogyny etc. and I read several scientific articles that tell they are not harming the children, but they help them to improve their meaningful of justice, social integrity, character aspects, aggressiveness control and so on. So, it is not the matter using violence, however using context of violence.
If we talking about TOS are STD and not to forget they are TV shows which need ratings and do not judge them anachronistic way, yes they are using violence and sex. Question is what is the purpose behind.
As I remember Roddenberry told that he had huge problems with studio, since they found TOS very philosophic for the mass audience. And he tried the give positively message about future of humanity. I can say loudly: "TOS is most of the episodes very very didactic" and add whispering "I love it" .
What is the purpose of STD using violence? I am sorry, I do not want to offense any STD fans, but imho, STD is one of the wannabe trendy shows with overkill blink blink (which has of course right tho require its share of market and making money for the studios) but nothing to do with something philosophic or least tell us the issues about being human. What is the message of STD? Believe no one? I have real world for the shock and awe, I do not need to watch such as Trek. There is much more better shows for this.
(Yeah I know , I know I have to be grateful that Trek is revived!
)
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T'Pol's Vulcan tramp stamp
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