When did Trek become a 'family' show?

[JirinPanthosa]

That's kind of a dick move to spring a nude scene on an actress after she signed the contract.

You'd think that if her contract didn't have a nudity clause in it, that that might be the cause for a lawsuit. Of course, with it being Showtime, maybe a nudity clause was standard.

If her contract had a nudity clause in it wouldn't be grounds for a lawsuit but the way you talk about it, it sounds like the conversation went like this.

STUDIO: Oh yeah, and there's some light nudity in the script, so we need you to sign a nudity clause.
ACTRESS: What kind of nudity? I wouldn't want to do full frontal or anything like that.
STUDIO: Oh, nothing serious, there's some light toplessness.
ACTRESS: Ok, well, I'll sign then.
STUDIO: Gotcha! Full frontal.

Not illegal, but a giant dick move.

 

[FormerLurker]

That's pretty much how it went. She hasn't done a whole lot of acting because of it. Vaitiare Bandera is her name.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Is that also why they killed her so early?

 

[FormerLurker]

No, that was the plotline of the show. She came back during the second season as Apophis' mate, and that's when they killed the character for good. But the actress took a long time away from film acting due to the nude scene fiasco. She still acts, and has recently resumed acting in film and TV, but stayed away to concentrate on her family.

According to IMDb, she now acts under the name Vaitiare Hirshon, and is married with two kids.

 

[The Wormhole]

No, that was the plotline of the show. She came back during the second season as Apophis' mate, and that's when they killed the character for good.

Although she does return in the second season, it was actually in the third when they killed her off.

 

[urbandefault]

They changed some stuff from the movie to the pilot, but I never understood why they changed the pronunciation of her name.

 

[eyeresist]

All Star Trek shows (with the possible exception of late Voy and Ent) were still made in a time when most shows tried to appeal to as large an audience as possible

And yet: The exploding head and guts in TNG's Conspiracy, and moral darkness of DS9's In The Pale Moonlight.

 

[Orphalesion]

^The exploding head was a one time occurance and might actually been an experiment to move TNG into a more "mature"/"action" direction which obviously did not pay off (for whatever reason)
Ds9 was more morally ambiguous as a whole but still a lighter shade of grey, haven't re-watched "In The Pale Moonlight" yet so can't say anything about it. Tough I doubt it is nuBsg levels of "GRIM DARKNESS, THERE IS NO HOPE, ALTRUISM IS A CHILDISH LIE!!"

 

[kirkfan]

I don't think any of the episodes or movies have ever gotten higher than a PG rating

I remember noticing quite a few voyagers were M rated upon hiring them out here in Australia

That must be the scene where Janeway and Paris mate as lizards.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I think it became a family show when the first Trekkie nerd had a kid and realized that if they brainwashed them early, they could at least have ONE person that would enjoy Trek with them.

With the exception of "Conspiracy", which I don't usually watch either because it's not a very good episode and is just gory and gross, I can't recall anything in Star Trek that was "too adult" for my kids as long as I talked with them afterward about what we watched.

But then, I've never had a problem with my kids seeing non-sexual nudity, either. So YMMV.

 

[Kilana2]

With the exception of "Conspiracy", which I don't usually watch either because it's not a very good episode and is just gory and gross, I can't recall anything in Star Trek that was "too adult" for my kids as long as I talked with them afterward about what we watched.

That´s why the German youth protection removed the head explosion scene out of "Conspiracy". I may as well watch it, but the cut of the scene is conspicuous and you know that something is missing. Later on they forgot to remove that scene in the episode where Riker had these flashbacks. Keeps haunting me .

 

[kirkfan]

With the exception of "Conspiracy", which I don't usually watch either because it's not a very good episode and is just gory and gross, I can't recall anything in Star Trek that was "too adult" for my kids as long as I talked with them afterward about what we watched.

That´s why the German youth protection removed the head explosion scene out of "Conspiracy". I may as well watch it, but the cut of the scene is conspicuous and you know that something is missing. Later on they forgot to remove that scene in the episode where Riker had these flashbacks. Keeps haunting me .

It would be like removing the head spinning and the pea-soup spitting from The Exorcist.

 

[Nightdiamond]

I think it became a family show when the first Trekkie nerd had a kid and realized that if they brainwashed them early, they could at least have ONE person that would enjoy Trek with them.

With the exception of "Conspiracy", which I don't usually watch either because it's not a very good episode and is just gory and gross, I can't recall anything in Star Trek that was "too adult" for my kids as long as I talked with them afterward about what we watched.

But then, I've never had a problem with my kids seeing non-sexual nudity, either. So YMMV.

In "The Price" , there's a pretty erotic scene where Dianna beds this guy, and they are rolling around in bed. She straddles him, then start rubbing his chest with oil.

It's pretty tame by today's standards, but I think this appeared in 1989 or something. And when TNG aired in the afternoons.

Data tells Tasha, 'fully functional, various techniques, wide variety of pleasuring'. That was borderline word porn

One of the odd things I love about early TNG.

In Enterprise, you had the butt cleavage scenes, and there's the scene where mirror universe Archer and Hoshi have just finished doing it.

She rolls out of bed wearing a slinky black thong--probably one of the most graphic scenes on Trek. By then I think they were trying to be more risque.

 

[kirkfan]

I think it became a family show when the first Trekkie nerd had a kid and realized that if they brainwashed them early, they could at least have ONE person that would enjoy Trek with them.

With the exception of "Conspiracy", which I don't usually watch either because it's not a very good episode and is just gory and gross, I can't recall anything in Star Trek that was "too adult" for my kids as long as I talked with them afterward about what we watched.

But then, I've never had a problem with my kids seeing non-sexual nudity, either. So YMMV.

In "The Price" , there's a pretty erotic scene where Dianna beds this guy, and they are rolling around in bed. She straddles him, then start rubbing his chest with oil.

It's pretty tame by today's standards, but I think this appeared in 1989 or something. And when TNG aired in the afternoons.

Data tells Tasha, 'fully functional, various techniques, wide variety of pleasuring'. That was borderline word porn

One of the odd things I love about early TNG.

In Enterprise, you had the butt cleavage scenes, and there's the scene where mirror universe Archer and Hoshi have just finished doing it.

She rolls out of bed wearing a slinky black thong--probably one of the most graphic scenes on Trek. By then I think they were trying to be more risque.

Armin Shimmermann Frenching another guy...

 

[Orphalesion]

Armin Shimmermann Frenching another guy...

Eh...I could dig that. He wasn't bad looking outside his quark makeup.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

When I was a kid my parents were concerned about me seeing the torture in Chain of Command.

 

[kirkfan]

Armin Shimmermann Frenching another guy...

Eh...I could dig that. He wasn't bad looking outside his quark makeup.

"could"? He did, in Profit And Lace.

 

[Orphalesion]

^ I'm only up to season 3 with my Ds9 rewatch. However you should bring up that episode in the Outcast thread over in the TNG forum, the "causal sex change" part could lead to a good discussion.

 

[kirkfan]

^ I'm only up to season 3 with my Ds9 rewatch. However you should bring up that episode in the Outcast thread over in the TNG forum, the "causal sex change" part could lead to a good discussion.

I am not having any more discussions in the TNG forum, not with the control freak currently in charge there.

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

^The exploding head was a one time occurance and might actually been an experiment to move TNG into a more "mature"/"action" direction which obviously did not pay off (for whatever reason)

Actually I have some information on this that I got from the research and interviews on Mission Log of people who were there for the making of this episode.

Mission Log Podcast: a weekly podcast that's mission is to go through the entire Trek universe, in order, with discussion, researched trivia, interviews with people involved, found actual documents posted on their site, messages, meanings. (except they are still considering how to do the DS9/Voyager overlap )

So here is what I learned about the Conspiracy exploding gore thing:
-GeneR was still stinging from lack of creative control with TOS. And not as simplistic as ego either, the TOS thing took him down health wise, emotionally, and had impacted his family life. TOS was major trauma for him.
-He now has agreed to do TNG with contract signed 'total' creative control for the series.
-A network or studio guy (named in the podcast) made a note to Gene that that scene in Conspiracy needed toning down a bit.
-So Gene had production ratchet it up a bit.
-Another note from studio or network guy
-Gene does the opposite and ratchets it up again.
-I forget how many repeats of this there were but enough that people in Gene's production side were concerned.

In the end:
-Gene has Conspiracy alien gore/whatever to giant BIG (for the time) for what he recognizes is a 'Don't Cross This Line' interference from studio or network. And he is making a giant BIG statement to them.
-the studio or network guy apologizes for overstepping Gene's contracted control & says it will never happen again.
-asks him to put Conspiracy back to what it was before he intruded
-Gene ignores this and airs the biggest baddest version (for its time) Conspiracy has gotten to in this power play.

And we get our first (and maybe only?) Trek episode to come with a viewer or parental warning before it starts.

And while Gene held personal control of TNG nobody from the studio or network crossed the 'Don't Cross This Line' again.


Right. So here's the catch; I can not remember if this information came in
-Supplemental #014: Richard Arnold
--or--
-the Conspiracy podcast #120
--or--
-a different supplemental podcast.

Sorry.

I'm leaning toward Richard Arnold because he was there for all this and I am remembering 'someone' being interviewed on Mission Log, telling this story first hand because they were there and witnessing all of this.