Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery - Official Thread (4 Viewers)

[Bryan^H]

Kirk just lost the love of his life. It was the perfect line. Also, IMHO, "hell" and "f*ck" are in two different universes. And "F*ck" needed to stay in the other universe, as far as I am concerned. Unlike Kirk's line, which was great, the use of "f*ck" in that scene felt terribly forced, used for its own sake and not with just cause. Just my two cents.

I also felt like Dr. McCoy's sudden epidemic of swearing when the movies started was odd, but I got used to it.

It is a slippery slope. After the word "fucking" has been used twice in one episode, where does the barnyard language stop? Like I said, I'm not a prude(Quinten Tarantino is my favorite movie director) but the F word, the S word, and other lowly curses don't belong in Star Trek. "That is so Fucking Cool" was a huge turnoff for me. that phrase shouldn't exist 200 years in the future, slang changes greatly over time ("double dumbass on you" as Kirk is completely unaware of that language from Star Trek IV), and if it does, it has no place on a Starship.

EDIT: and I have a personal disappointment as someone close to me was looking forward to watching this show, I now have to find an excuse to tell her that she cannot.

 

[Sam Favate]

It is a slippery slope. After the word "fucking" has been used twice in one episode, where does the barnyard language stop? Like I said, I'm not a prude(Quinten Tarantino is my favorite movie director) but the F word, the S word, and other lowly curses don't belong in Star Trek. "That is so Fucking Cool" was a huge turnoff for me. that phrase shouldn't exist 200 years in the future, slang changes greatly over time ("double dumbass on you" as Kirk is completely unaware of that language from Star Trek IV), and if it does, it has no place on a Starship.

EDIT: and I have a personal disappointment as someone close to me was looking forward to watching this show, I now have to find an excuse to tell her that she cannot.

I've been introducing my 8-year-old kids to Star Trek over the last year or so, and they were looking forward to seeing Discovery. Now I have to say it's not appropriate.

 

[Bryan^H]

I've been introducing my 8-year-old kids to Star Trek over the last year or so, and they were looking forward to seeing Discovery. Now I have to say it's not appropriate.

Same here. My 12 year old niece loves Star Trek. Mainly TOS, and TNG, but TOS is her favorite.
Whenever she is over she wants to eat snacks, and watch an episode. She enthusiastically told me about Discovery a few weeks ago(I'd known about it for a long time, but didn't let her know that) she said it looked awesome, and that would be our next show to watch.

Being MA, I screened it first, and I'm glad I did.
Now I don't know how to tell her that we have to skip STD.

Like I said, making Star Trek an adult only show is infuriating. It really makes me mad.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Like I said, making Star Trek an adult only show is infuriating. It really makes me mad.

Count me among those that think it was an unnecessary and dumb decision on the part of the producers to include the swearing.

They are limiting their audience. What sense does that make?

I get that there are adult-themed shows in the entertainment universe. But Star Trek has never been one. I fear that it's part of the cultural slide in which some don't understand that there are still many parents who care to what their children are exposed. It is a miscalculation.

 

[Bryan^H]

I get that there are adult-themed shows in the entertainment universe. But Star Trek has never been one. I fear that it's part of the cultural slide in which some don't understand that there are still many parents who care to what their children are exposed. It is a miscalculation.

Exactly! This isn't Game of Thrones, or The Sopranos. Why go there? What purpose does it serve except to alienate a potential audience. It makes absolutely ZERO sense.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

The previous episode does hint that Dr. Culber and Stamats are somewhat familiar with each other. It's not outright clear, perhaps from editing or direction, but this is the scene in question that provides that clue. In rewatching it, it does imply a bickering relationship.

Yep, and the relationship reveal at the end of this last episode made sense to me in that they are professionals who save their relationship matters for off hours. The Stamet's character is ornery (not unlike the grumpy Bones) and his particular combative approach to his partner in the scenes they have shared actually told me something significant about their relationship - that they are strictly professional in the work environment (Stamet's doesn't cut his partner ANY slack). I really liked that about their relationship now that we've seen that they are IN a personal relationship.

Didn't feel tacked on whatsoever. We've seen that kind of relationship reveal in movies and TV shows before and I have always liked it - as I did here.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Count me among those that think it was an unnecessary and dumb decision on the part of the producers to include the swearing.

They are limiting their audience. What sense does that make?

I get that there are adult-themed shows in the entertainment universe. But Star Trek has never been one. I fear that it's part of the cultural slide in which some don't understand that there are still many parents who care to what their children are exposed. It is a miscalculation.

I can live with the cussing, but it still took me by surprise and I don't know that it was needed. So far, even with some of the gooey, bloody moments, the 'F' word stands as the most mature thing on the show that might give folk pause before letting their younger ones watch it.

If the show put it in to remind people that it won't be beholden to the old broadcast TV standards, and now moves on until it has a better time/moment to whip it out, I could be okay with it (when my son is old enough and we watch more and more Star Trek together (I play TOS in the background as we hang out on Saturday mornings playing), if it's sparingly used, I can just mute when needed).

But, I'd rather he be exposed to sex and swearing over violence every day of the week (as long as him mum doesn't find out)

 

[Bryan^H]

If the show put it in to remind people that it won't be beholden to the old broadcast TV standards

Whatever the reason, it is there, and the paradigm of Star Trek has been changed. It is no longer a family oriented series. It is an adult series.

 

[Hanson]

And that's where you didn't bother to fully read my criticism but jumped to a conclusion. I plainly stated I'd feel the same had it been a traditional male/female couple. OK... maybe I should have been more "PC" and said heterosexual, but it makes no difference. That scene played disingenuously no matter who you put there, a gay couple, *or* a straight couple.

So if they were a male/female couple, you would criticize it in that case for pushing the "heterosexual agenda"?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Whatever the reason, it is there, and the paradigm of Star Trek has been changed. It is no longer a family oriented series. It is an adult series.

Well, around PG-13 at least. I saw Aliens when I was 11 and turned out okay so I’d say this show so far is still okay for teen, pre-teens (but everyone has their own age level for these things).

 

[TonyD]

So you guys are trying to hide or pretend children don’t hear or know that word?

It’s an over reaction I think.

I saw movies my parents took me to when I was younger than 10 that had plenty of cursing and it didn’t do anything to me.

I don’t curse never did. Hearing those words on tv or in a movie shouldn’t cause you to not allow a child or younger person to watch.

Give them a little credit. What’s the worst that happens? They say the word? The horror.
Teaching moment.

 

[Bryan^H]

So you guys are trying to hide or pretend children don’t hear or know that word?

It’s an over reaction I think.

I saw movies my parents took me to when I was younger than 10 that had plenty of cursing and it didn’t do anything to me.

I don’t curse never did. Hearing those words on tv or in a movie shouldn’t cause you to not allow a child or younger person to watch.

Give them a little credit. What’s the worst that happens? They say the word? The horror.
Teaching moment.

Yeah, whatever.

 

[SamT]

The Outcast from TNG addressed this topic allegorically. Though you can say they didn't fully try by using female actors so Riker isn't seen kissing a man. Though he was up for it to make the story more effective. DS9 addressed it when Jadzia Dax met an old love whose Symbiont is now in a female host. Star Trek Beyond did it too by famously making Sulu gay.

Riker is gay?

 

[joshEH]

 

[TonyD]

Yeah, whatever.

Wow. Ok

 

[TJPC]

Riker is gay?

In the episode Riker has a liaison with a member of a species that has only one sex. If one decides they are only attracted to “males” as the one who is attracted to Riker, they are considered an outcast and are “re-educated”.
This character is played by a woman, who is supposed to be “unisexual”.

 

[Carabimero]

If I have my chronology correct, Garth has yet to pull off his brilliant tactics, so his name wouldn't be included on the list. Yet. Maybe soon, though.

 

[joshEH]

^ Actually, Captain Garth was pretty much already a living legend from the very moment he graduated from Starfleet Academy -- here's Kirk's exact dialogue from "Whom Gods Destroy":

"No, I- I can remember. You were the finest student at the Academy, the finest starship captain. You were the prototype, the model for the rest of us."

Kirk also goes on to mention (twice) that Garth's exploits were required reading at the Academy, which Kirk graduated from around 2254, so he's already well-established by the timeframe of Discovery. And "Whom Gods Destroy" treated the Antos IV genocide as a pretty recent event, in 2268. Garth was described as a new inmate, nobody knew about his powers until he took over the facility, and Kirk reacted to Garth's fall as if he still hadn't gotten used to the reality of it.

Come to think of it, Pike shouldn't even be on the list, either. As of 2256, according to canon, he shouldn't have been a captain long enough to have accumulated as many decorations as Archer surely did over the course of his long career, for example.

At least it would've been nice if the list hadn't consisted entirely of familiar names. There should've been a few names on the list that we didn't recognize, names to get fans (and writers) speculating about who they were and what they were renowned for.

 

[Carabimero]

^ Actually, Captain Garth was pretty much already a living legend from the very moment he graduated from Starfleet Academy -- here's Kirk's exact dialogue from "Whom Gods Destroy":

Yes, but this is ten years before Kirk, and before Axanar.

 

[Bryan^H]

Wow. Ok

I'm sorry man, I'm not trying to be like that.

The F word has been used in Star Trek. Am I out of place to say that is wrong? Am I reading too much into it, being overly dramatic?
I don't think so. I have been trying to think of a comparison I think would be equally out of place. Star Wars. Let's say In the next SW movie Luke Skywalker shows Ray a Jedi trick. She is amazed by it and says "that is so fucking cool" to which Luke says "yes it is so fucking cool".

Would that be out of place? Would it seem normal? No, it would be a jarring line that should snap the viewer right out of the moment, out of the whole universe. Well, that is how I felt when I heard it used on a Star Trek series.

There are phrases and words that simply do not fit in certain shows.