Bad Language in Discovery
- Thread starter Jamie Calderhead
- Start date
This scene made a current affair news show in Australia.
It was the first time I'd seen "Discovery" mentioned on mainstream TV here.
It was headlined something like after 50 years Star Trek has swearing. The show panel members denied ever watching Star Trek but speculated whether swearing was necessary.
It was the first time I'd seen "Discovery" mentioned on mainstream TV here.
It was headlined something like after 50 years Star Trek has swearing. The show panel members denied ever watching Star Trek but speculated whether swearing was necessary.
Really? Which one?
Like you, I've seen nothing about Discovery on mainstream TV, or even in newspapers for that matter.
Looking on the bright side of things, if Discovery ever manages to air on the CBS broadcast network, we can get a delightful scene where they dub in something ridiculous over the curse words.
I found the way they chose to incorporate the word "fuck" into the dialogue in DSC to be completely natural and funny, and something I would readily do with my friends, family, or even certain coworkers, depending on the situation, obviously. Time and place and knowing your audience is important.
I like that they used it positively as an expression of awe and wonder at the amazing things they were doing, something which other Trek crews who had become somewhat jaded with space exploration had lost, and something I totally believe a young, socially awkward scientist would say. If they had used it negatively, like "I'm going to kill you fuckers" or "You're a fucking asshole" I would agree with it being somewhat gimmicky, but this was fun and lighthearted in the vein of Data's "Oh, shit" and seemed like a natural escalation from previous examples of cursing in Trek.
I think Scotty's use of "I bet that Klingon bitch killed her father" in ST:VI was "worse" than this is (though it fit the context of the crew eventually overcoming their own bigotry), yet I've rarely heard many complaints about that. When I say worse, I don't mean I have a problem with it or with any of the very rare cursing in Trek, I'm just trying to compare them in terms of their relative severity in my opinion.
I can't imagine that there's an eight-year-old in America not raised by wolves or on an isolated compound who hasn't heard the word "fuck" already (or worse) from friends or schoolmates, and in a worse context than it was delivered here. I'm not going to judge anyone's parenting style or viewing habits, but I think the child will probably be just fine hearing this, and you can always take a moment to talk to them about how it's not appropriate for them to use that word until they're older.
Also, no one should have been caught by surprise by this. There were numerous articles and discussions about how this show was going to take advantage of the streaming service to feature more adult content than your average Trek series would. We talked about how CBS All-Access' previous broadcast to streaming spin-off The Good Fight (based on The Good Wife) featured f-bombs the broadcast series wouldn't have been able to air.
Anyway, I'm off to buy some guns at the supermarket, since apparently that's something we do here.
I found the way they chose to incorporate the word "fuck" into the dialogue in DSC to be completely natural and funny, and something I would readily do with my friends, family, or even certain coworkers, depending on the situation, obviously. Time and place and knowing your audience is important.
I like that they used it positively as an expression of awe and wonder at the amazing things they were doing, something which other Trek crews who had become somewhat jaded with space exploration had lost, and something I totally believe a young, socially awkward scientist would say. If they had used it negatively, like "I'm going to kill you fuckers" or "You're a fucking asshole" I would agree with it being somewhat gimmicky, but this was fun and lighthearted in the vein of Data's "Oh, shit" and seemed like a natural escalation from previous examples of cursing in Trek.
I think Scotty's use of "I bet that Klingon bitch killed her father" in ST:VI was "worse" than this is (though it fit the context of the crew eventually overcoming their own bigotry), yet I've rarely heard many complaints about that. When I say worse, I don't mean I have a problem with it or with any of the very rare cursing in Trek, I'm just trying to compare them in terms of their relative severity in my opinion.
I can't imagine that there's an eight-year-old in America not raised by wolves or on an isolated compound who hasn't heard the word "fuck" already (or worse) from friends or schoolmates, and in a worse context than it was delivered here. I'm not going to judge anyone's parenting style or viewing habits, but I think the child will probably be just fine hearing this, and you can always take a moment to talk to them about how it's not appropriate for them to use that word until they're older.
Also, no one should have been caught by surprise by this. There were numerous articles and discussions about how this show was going to take advantage of the streaming service to feature more adult content than your average Trek series would. We talked about how CBS All-Access' previous broadcast to streaming spin-off The Good Fight (based on The Good Wife) featured f-bombs the broadcast series wouldn't have been able to air.
Anyway, I'm off to buy some guns at the supermarket, since apparently that's something we do here.
"The Project" last week (I think)
Yeah it jarred not because of its nature but because of its placement. It felt forced and put in the scene because we were promised they would drop it in somewhere. It wasn't even acted out well to be honest.
It's kind of interesting when less invested fans or those who profess not to be watchers of a show express a view. They kind of reflect a different kind of gut reaction. I've seen The Project - a lot. The panel are not what I would call precious. So if they speculated whether it was necessary is possibly not an isolated reaction. Personally I see two angles. One is the sensitivity of the word, which is everyone personal right to have especially in how they choose to filter life and profanity to their own family. The other angle is the one that struck me more and it was how drippy the scene was, lol.
They've used: the a-word, the n-word, the s-word, and now the f-word. Progress!
I interpreted the pause to be kind of a little breaking of the 4th wall moment (as well as funny). The pause, in addition to the in-story meaning, also mirrored the reaction the producers thought some of the fans might have when the show aired.
If this is what they were thinking, obviously they were right, about some of the fans, at least.
They must have done zero research. Since, as mentioned in this thread, Star Trek has had swearing in it, starting about 50 years ago.
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Interesting how people can have such widely varying opinions on the same thing.
Not sure how it came across as "forced". Or why the "placement" was jarring. I'm sure people were expecting it to be used in anger, instead it was an exclamation of amazement and wonder. Maybe that was jarring.
Just on that concept. Is it ever a good idea to have a moment where the audience thinks the producers have made a statement? Stepping out of a scene and going - hey here's a pause now.. look big red foam finger pointing at.. F bomb. That's cringe worthy if they did that, but the pause was awkward so maybe that is what it was about.
Supermarket? Like Safeway?
Come to America, dude. It ain't all Wyatt Earp here.
*Cough*Wal-Mart*Cough*
My family bought groceries there for years. That's what makes a supermarket a supermarket, as far as I can see.
They sell groceries. It's one of the departments. They also sell consumer electronics, sporting goods, clothes and do automotive work. IIRC, groceries are a recent addition. Some supermarket and regular markets were quite concerned when Wal-Mart made the announcement.
Wouldn't surprise me if they did little research to be honest. As I say I watch The Project and they're kind of smug and glib.
Supermarket? Like Safeway?
Come to America, dude. It ain't all Wyatt Earp here.
Walmarkt and such. For us, those are supermarkets. Perhaps your term is different.
I haven't been myself, but some friends have. They've all reported that same strangness of being able to buy guns in stores where you also buy food and clothing. Really, you guys might think that's normal, the rest of the world is just weirded out.
Which...I guess is kind of a shame because I think I was probably six years old when I first got into TOS. But Trek has been skewing older for decades now and really doesn't appeal to kids anymore anyway.
