Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery - Official Thread (3 Viewers)

[TonyD]

I don’t disagree with any of that.

 

[TJPC]

My wife and I thought it was f#*%!ing hilarious.

 

[Greg.K]

While I didn't mind the f-bomb myself (and don't find it nearly as out of place as I would in Star Wars, where hell and damn are as far as they have ever gone with swearing), I do see the point of view of parents who don't want it. I hope they don't make a habit out of it.

 

[TJPC]

I think it is highly likely that if the show is ever put on regular broadcast TV all offensive words will be blipped.
We notice this already in Canada that depending on whether a show is PVRed from the Canadian or US feed there is more swearing. The US feed sometimes seems to blip even the most innocuous swearing like hell and damn.

 

[Hanson]

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.

The next Star Wars movie? The Disney holiday family film? Yeah, the f-bomb would be surprising. But back in the day, if Han said, "let's get the fuck out of here" in Empire, I would have thought it was totally fucking cool. If K2SO told someone to fuck off in Rogue One, it would have totally worked. Because that's a darker film than the main story.

I'm not going to lie and say Tilly didn't surprise me. Like, did I just hear that? But that let me know what kind of show Discovery is, and a big thumbs up from me to that. It's not going to conform to broadcast standards, which is only natural since it's a streaming show (The Good Fight apparently has a lot more fucks to give).

There's going to be a certain contingent of viewers that would prefer that the show "Remain Star Trek" (which means different things to different people). They were there when TNG launched. They were there when DS9 launched. "This isn't Star Trek to me" has been a cry for 30 years now. It's been overly dramatic for three decades. My only advice is, don't watch the show. Cancel your All Access subscription. It gives you more voice in the matter than ever before (although I wouldn't want to be stuck in the moral dilemma where you hate Discovery but love The Good Fight).

The funniest thing about the exchange is that you can drop one fuck in a PG-13 movie, but they dropped two. So technically, the show is R rated.

 

[jcroy]

Currently I'm not willing to present something like ST: Discovery to any of my young nieces/nephews.

They'll have to find Discovery on their own independently.

 

[Dave Upton]

I think the use of profanity while problematic for some parents, isn't an issue. I work in a highly technical field and I've spent a lot of time around officers in the US Navy, all of them swear. Is it really realistic to assume that our space navy 350 years from now wouldn't curse at all? Sure, the word might not be "f&ck" - but it will be related i'm sure.

I thought Firefly solved this nicely by doing it in Mandarin, while other series have used the word frag etc. It's debatable which makes the most sense, but I am actually pleased they are letting this happen.

Finally, I would be MUCH more concerned about violence and horribly mutilated corpses than a few f bombs, if I were evaluating Discovery for own children.

 

[BobO'Link]

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.

Yes, but no more so than than that between Spock and McCoy. Certainly not enough to be the set up for the scene in question.

 

[Hanson]

It's trope. They've done with gay and straight couples. Grissom and Sara Sidle in CSI didn't overtly show anything and then one day it was revealed they had hooked up a while ago. McCoy and Kincaid on L&O. It's not supposed to be telegraphed, the point of it is the surprise, but if you rewatch, you can see the breadcrumbs. I don't really understand why anyone has a problem with it on any level.

 

[joshEH]

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

Again, though, it was established in TOS that Garth was already a living Starfleet legend by the timeframe of Discovery, one of the most decorated, revered starship captains in its entire history even before Axanar -- he rightly should've been included in that list. I'm basically just chalking it up to a total brain-fart on the part of the writer.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just caught up. I liked the show but I'm extremely unhappy with CBS All Access. I paid the $9.99 for the commercial free version, my AppleTV displayed that I had chosen the commercial free subscription...and yet, I still got ten minutes of commercials per episode. Not happy.

 

[Dave Upton]

I just caught up. I liked the show but I'm extremely unhappy with CBS All Access. I paid the $9.99 for the commercial free version, my AppleTV displayed that I had chosen the commercial free subscription...and yet, I still got ten minutes of commercials per episode. Not happy.

On Chromecast with the 9.99 plan i'm not getting commercials, FWIW. Sounds like they owe you a refund.

 

[Carabimero]

I just caught up. I liked the show but I'm extremely unhappy with CBS All Access. I paid the $9.99 for the commercial free version, my AppleTV displayed that I had chosen the commercial free subscription...and yet, I still got ten minutes of commercials per episode. Not happy.

Compared to Netflix or even Amazon prime, the service is crap. I paid $99 a year for commercial free service and I occasionally get commercials, terribly compressed images, glitches all the time, and sluggish customer service.

I watch via other means. The picture is better, and I am guaranteed no commercials. And I don't have to deal with so-called customer service.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

On Chromecast with the 9.99 plan i'm not getting commercials, FWIW. Sounds like they owe you a refund.

If I could figure out who to talk to, I'd ask - there's no contact info on the AppleTV page.

edit: I contacted iTunes support via Apple's website. They canceled my CBS account and have issued a refund to my credit card.

I really want to do the right thing and pay to watch this show legally. It would be the easiest thing in the world to torrent it, and would have been easier to do that in the first place. I believe in paying for my content. But what's a person supposed to do when they've done everything right, tried to pay for it, and still don't get what's being offered? Apple was at a loss in explaining why it wasn't working right.

 

[Nelson Au]

About the swearing, I have been watching The Good Fight, the first 5 episodes, I actually binged through three. The F word is used a lot. The main character Diane played by Christine Baranski used it first when she found out all her life savings were gone by a Bernie Madoff character. So it was justifiable, but I can see if you are used to the Good Wife, where that language was never used, then it can be shocking. They pushed the limits in Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home, and Star Trek 6 when Spock is innocently using the swear words. Once as a joke and the other to make a point.

What's interesting is context. In City in the Edge of Forever, it was felt as pushing the limits of TV because of the way the word "hell" is used. But in Space Seed and The Doomsday Machine, the word "hell" is used as a quote from Milton and Decker refers to the Machine as right out of hell. Those two references didn't cause a stir, I don't think. Personally, I like how McCoy uses Blazes. It's a quant phrase probably, but it's kind of cool to hear today. I'm referring to DeForest Kelley's McCoy.

So in Discovery, from the scene in question, the profanity seems to have been used to really emphasize how cool what they discovered was. Perhaps it won't be used again.

As to whether the profanity should be used in a Star Trek series, that's an interesting question. It does feel wrong for TOS. And TNG and the rest if the spin-off series for sure. And the producers argued this series is meant for family viewing. If Discovery ever comes out on blu-ray, maybe you can set the player to play the version without the profanity. I noticed on the PBS app, you can choose to watch the Ken Burns documentary of The Vietnam War with or without the profanity. I'm not a parent yet, but I would likely hide this language from my kids. But at the same time, I know that kids are exposed to a lot of stuff much earlier then when I was a kid. And from school too, so is it really realistic to think they don't know these words? I think they do, but at home they know if the parents don't allow it, they don't use the language. So I can kind of see that the producers of Discovery wanted to make a series with profanity as they might have felt it was more realistic, or that they could, or both. If the parents know there is language in a film or TV show, they have the power to control if the kids can or cannot see and hear it.

 

[Nelson Au]

About the Tyler character, there is interesting speculation about him on trekmovie that aligns somewhat with the speculation here. I'm looking forward to seeing what they might reveal during this Sunday's episode.

 

[Carabimero]

Again, though, it was established in TOS that Garth was already a living Starfleet legend by the timeframe of Discovery, one of the most decorated, revered starship captains in its entire history even before Axanar -- he rightly should've been included in that list. I'm basically just chalking it up to a total brain-fart on the part of the writer.

Perhaps later in DISCOVERY, when we get to the critical starship fighting, Garth will make an appearance and become a legend right before our eyes. If that's the case, they properly left him off the list.

 

[Blimpoy06]

I don't recall anyone being that upset when Data used a "colorful metaphor" in Generations when the ship falls out of orbit. I think the audience I saw it with was very amused by the use. But that was a film. Discovery is rated for adults. Some language should be expected.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I don't recall anyone being that upset when Data used a "colorful metaphor" in Generations when the ship falls out of orbit. I think the audience I saw it with was very amused by the use. But that was a film. Discovery is rated for adults. Some language should be expected.

Still lurking in the thread on a random basis even though I've only seen the 1st episode on CBS...

I can't comment upon the usage of the F-Bomb in ST: Discovery, but I would argue that part of the reason that the profanity (such that it was) in the theatrical films did not upset audiences was because it was played for its comedic value. (Stating the obvious - the incongruity of unemotional, logical characters slipping into more colloquial speech. Spock's 'One damn minute' in ST: IV, and Data's 'Oh Shit' in ST: VII) I'm guessing (and that is all it is) that this was not the case in ST: Discovery.

I probably shouldn't be reading this thread as maybe someday I'll view the series; but it is Trek so I'm probably going to drop in from time to time.

- Walter.

 

[TJPC]

It was played for comic effect on STD