Spoilers R rated content - what does it add?
- Thread starter Smoked Salmon
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hrmm. Discovery had my deep, deep annoyance and grudging half-interest. Now it has my attention... 
It adds nothing. I'd rather have more science fiction than 9th grade boy humor/R rated content.
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Depends on the family. My experience has been that parents who are ever so slightly overprotective of Little Innocent Davy and not wanting him to see things that might confuse or startle him, probably wouldn't let him watch Star Trek in the first place, what with its reputation for liberal themes, plus Discovery allowing a pair of openly homosexual characters to go about their business in public without someone pointing out their sins to them.
OTOH, there are families like mine, whose parents grew up on Twilight Zone, Godzilla, Star Trek and The Outer Limits and basically got it in their heads that scaring the shit out of your children is a GREAT way to toughen them up for those moments when real life goes totally pear shaped (they were probably right, but JESUS CHRIST there was a lot of screaming that day I woke up and found a hand painted, fully detailed, life-sized vinyl facehugger sitting on my bedroom floor. Very fucking funny, mom!)
So, yeah, it depends on the family. Trekkies won't care, scifi nerds won't care. Helicopter moms, stepford wives, evangelicals and hipsters will care, but they were never going to watch Discovery anyway.
Exactly how much time for "science fiction" do you think two F-bombs and a shit take away? And the mangled bodies, the shot would have been the same, just with unmangled bodies. The idea that this content is "taking away" from "science fiction" is just silly.
Trekkie SF nerd, bit of a helicopter parent, with a christian background here. I just blew a me shaped hole in the end of that theory. My six year old was excited at prospect of new Trek...New Trek is not suitable for him to watch. They are lucky I (and possibly some others like me) stuck with it, but it is going to affect their bottom line. No DISCO toys will be sold to kids (still far and away the biggest toy market) and it’s gonna burn a lot of moolah avenues, and affects the longevity of the show.
Trek has pretty much given up trying to reach younger audiences--it simply can't compete with Star Wars on that level, so DIS seems to be the franchise's decision to just concentrate on older audiences. There will still be DIS toys, but they will be aimed at adult collectors (The Walking Dead does the same thing, and the same company that does their toys--or collectables--will coincidentally also be doing ones for DIS).
McFarlane. They have done adult oriented figures fro donkeys years, but they also aim at the teenage market. I can’t remember who did the Buffy figures, but mcfarlane did Spawn (obviously) Clive Barker, Movie Maniacs....but also a ton of money on Yellow Submarine, Metal Gear Solid...vídeo games and comics basically. It’s not playmates, but it’s not exactly triple figure price, three heads and a certificate of authenticity either. Middle market stocking fillers, with some intended play and display element as well as collectors pieces.
But then TNG was probably the first and last time Trek really seriously broke into the playground market. I don’t think it’s something they should give up on, again, longevity for the brand means adopting a generational approach.
The thing is, though, that Trek does skew towards an older audience and has increasingly so over the years. Playmates tried to have a big part of their Star Trek XI toyline aimed at kids and it failed miserably. Hasbro tried to do something with Into Darkness for their Kre-O line and that didn't work so well with kids either. It got so bad that no major toy company wanted to do a toyline for Beyond, and that movie was tailor-made for one, IMO. MacFarlane Toys, though, apparently knows to aim their new Trek toyline at the adult collector's market because adults seem to be the only ones interested in Trek toys. So it's a case of knowing where most of the fanbase is.
IMO, If CBS or Paramount really want to get younger audiences into Trek, then they will have to make something for younger audiences. Otherwise, it'll just continue to skew older still...
I think the answer will depend partly on how ratings and earnings work in subscription systems. That is, presumably Netflix paid for a substantial portion of production costs because it expects a certain increase in subscriptions given the presence of the show. From there, they'll probably look at the number of times episodes from the show were viewed.
That means producers may allow a certain amount of R-rated content to see if it will allow for both to increase. Otherwise, they will probably cut down on it for future episodes.
In my case, I think cutting down on that and looking for other ways to attract audiences is better, and only because I think too many shows now resort to such.
That means producers may allow a certain amount of R-rated content to see if it will allow for both to increase. Otherwise, they will probably cut down on it for future episodes.
In my case, I think cutting down on that and looking for other ways to attract audiences is better, and only because I think too many shows now resort to such.
I have no idea what R-rated content adds but it's fucking cool.
I have to agree. In PG-13 you can drop one F-bomb in a non-sexual context. Dropping two makes it "R-rated" in only the most technical sense. "They said it twice instead of once! Oh no!!!!" This is still basically PG-13.
Most premium cable, web series -- probably all, but I haven't seem them all -- but, at least the ones I've seen, have had profanity. That's not trying to be a 14-year-old, that's the way some people speak.
When they dropped the F-bombs in Discovery, it was Tiley who, as a Cadet, is basically a Senior In College and Stamets who's the Hip & Down With It Adult in this case. And they were speaking casually, informally.
If Lorca, Conrwell, and the other Admirals started throwing F-bombs during an official Starfleet briefing, then I'd take issue with it. It's all about context, where it's placed, and whether or not it would make sense. That's the difference.
In this case, crying about an f-bomb or two is for lackeys, and context is for kings.
See the bolded part.
No DISCO toys will be sold to YOUR kids, to be sure. Me, I'm the kind of parent who just had a conversation with his nine year old about "polite language vs. friendly language" as to why he should not swear in public. Of course, having to explain to him why Bruce Lee's character almost killed that guy at the end of "The Big Boss" was a fascinating conversation too.
Regardless, the Christian Helicopter Parent of Family Values isn't really Discovery's target audience, and history shows that that audience has never really been big enough to be worth pandering too, especially in science fiction.
As a kid, growing up in the 80s, I remember my parents (one a huge sci fi nerd, the other big on fantasy) letting me watch whatever they had on VHS at the time, so I grew up on movies like Alien or A Clockwork Orange and watched them when I was 6 or 7.
It made me appreciate the genre(s) and movies as an artform in general and honestly, I didn't suddenly turn into a serial killer or psychopath. I really don't see a point in keeping kids away from anything not labeled 'family friendly'.
It made me appreciate the genre(s) and movies as an artform in general and honestly, I didn't suddenly turn into a serial killer or psychopath. I really don't see a point in keeping kids away from anything not labeled 'family friendly'.
I think i’ll Just chalk this one up to cultural wire crossing.
You see, over here, we have a rating system and a watershed, and christian or otherwise, it’s considered inappropriate to expose kids to certain levels of violence in the media. Not to mention the difference between a nine year old and a six year old.
So I'm by no means prudish. I watch plenty of shows with adult content. So, in theory, an TV-MA/R-rated level Trek shouldn't bother me.
What bugs me is that, 99% of the time, the show isn't worse than TV-14, but they pepper in brief moments that put it over the limit for that rating. Sure, the f-bomb seen was amusing, but it wasn't really necessary. The frontal Klingon nudity even less so. It just feels kind of pointless beyond "Hey look guys, we're a mature show!"
It also led to a slightly awkward conversation with my father-in-law. My wife has a half-brother and half-sister who are significantly younger than her, and my father-in-law is a Trek fan. I offered him my All Access log-in, but had to warn him he couldn't watch it in front of the kids (they're overly protective of them, their son is almost 16).
What bugs me is that, 99% of the time, the show isn't worse than TV-14, but they pepper in brief moments that put it over the limit for that rating. Sure, the f-bomb seen was amusing, but it wasn't really necessary. The frontal Klingon nudity even less so. It just feels kind of pointless beyond "Hey look guys, we're a mature show!"
It also led to a slightly awkward conversation with my father-in-law. My wife has a half-brother and half-sister who are significantly younger than her, and my father-in-law is a Trek fan. I offered him my All Access log-in, but had to warn him he couldn't watch it in front of the kids (they're overly protective of them, their son is almost 16).
"Over here" where? I literally grew up NEXT DOOR to people who had that same standard, wouldn't let their bratty ass kid watch TV shows because they were "too violent." I remember him giving me this huge lecture about how my parents were so horrible and irresponsible because they let me watch Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Some day I'll remind him of that conversation if and when he ever gets out of prison. Of course, just across the street from us there was a kid who was suspended from school for calling his teacher a "fucking bitch" and his mom showed up at the front office and yelled at the principal for violating his first amendment rights. When I found him on facebook two years ago I found out the kid is now a lawyer for Citibank, which isn't really surprising frankly.
Don't play the "culture" card. Individual taste and preferences shape people's choices, and the taste and preference of conservative christian "family values" republicans isn't what Star Trek is specifically aiming to please.
Depends on the kid.
Dude, you dropped the ball. You're LITERALLY his older brother, you shoulda just given him your login and said "Don't tell dad! <fistbump>"
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