How Star Trek and Swear Words have Changed TV Characters’ Mores

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For nearly forty years, Jean-Luc Picard from the “Star Trek” TV show has mostly been shown as polite, educated and in control. That said, he sometimes gets angry, he was quite reckless when he was first a young cadet and there were times that he got really worked up or actuially cried.

In last week’s episode of the “Star Trek: Picard,” the Enterprise captain had transformed into an admiral. Consequently, he dropped a shocker phrase to some and thrilled others – “Ten darn long hours,” Patrick Stewart’s character uttered during an intense moment, where he thought they would all die soon.

This recent event fit the style of all this decade’s “Star Trek” show episodes. People’s reactions to it online are proof of how a fictional character goes from simply appearing on tv shows, to being part of a more expensive streaming service.

When “Star Trek” first came out, it was suitable for all ages. The “Next Generation” series had a lot of optimism within it. But now with the new show “Picard”, it has taken on a grittier tone – this is what Shilpa Davé, a media analyst who loves “Trek”, had to say. On Twitter over the weekend, people talked about their mixed feelings towards this change in direction.

“Many people were surprised by this,” one post said. Others believed that swearing in the show made Gene Roddenberry’s utopia less perfect and polished, as someone like Picard wouldn’t need to use such language four centuries from now.

People really like the way people talk in Star Trek because it’s usually polite and smart. But, a recent episode had a character saying something bad, which caused some people to be angry. The show’s producer wrote a long explanation why he thought it was okay for the character to do this.

When we hear an actor perform in a Shakespearean play, we might think that the British accent suggests intelligence. People may feel it’s unfair to use this tone and that it doesn’t go with more kid-friendly shows like ‘Trek’. However, the production team takes into consideration things like cursing in the show seriously and do not approach it lightly. They often discuss it and make sure they use appropriate language.

The person who wrote the “Star Trek: Picard” series this season, Terry Matalas, said the special F-word came from the actor Patrick Stewart and wasn’t part of the script. According to Matalas, it felt really real. He added that when artists make something like this, they want it to feel authentic. Though he was surprised at hearing Picard (an iconic character) say that word, he found it very powerful.

“Star Trek” has always been known to push the boundaries with language. Back in 1967, when saying “hell” was kind of bad, Captain Kirk said, “Let’s get the heck out of here,” when he had lost someone close to him. Other characters like Dr. McCoy usually said things like “Darn it, Jim.” The show also faced challenges with censors related to topics such as costumes for women, racism, sexual content and allusions to wars.

Last week something important happened – a beloved character changed in interesting ways because of the way TV shows are now made. Streaming services have fewer restrictions and give producers more opportunities to tell stories that feel real.

Robert Thompson, from the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, says that this is not just an idea they thought up. It’s actually the same actor playing the same character in the same setting as before, but they’ve changed how he talks and behaves.

The popular Saturday morning cartoon from the Gen-X era, “Scooby Doo,” recently received a reboot with more diversity and characters who go to high school. However, this version of “Scooby Doo” which features a shower scene and hints at teenage romance was generally disliked by viewers. Something similar happened with the comic “Archie,” where it was adapted into a TV show, but failed to keep its original innocence due to its exploration of darker aspects of teen life.

“Star Trek” is like a different world. The creator wanted to show it as a perfect place where people try to ignore fighting and keep away from greediness. They thought of humanity as improving all the time. But some fans think that recent years have shown “new Trek” as seeing life much darker and more divided.

Many people disagree: Over time, things change and so does the language used to talk about them. About 70 years ago, Lucille Ball (and her character) in the show “I Love Lucy” was having a baby but the word “pregnant” could not be said on television – strangely enough though, it was ok for it to be said in French.

For many long years, Hollywood was allowed to make movies about morality and amorality, but only in very specific ways. This included things like no sexual jokes and always portraying criminals in a negative light. You may have heard of the phrase “Hollywood ending,” which still lingers on today. This is what they were talking about back then!

So, might setting limits actually make film and TV shows more memorable, rather than just going beyond these boundaries?

“Star Trek had a special kind of caring feeling, almost like it was saying that the world in the 23rd century would be like one big happy family,” Thompson said. “But with time passing by, how do we keep up with the characters changing and how can we do it without going against what we promised our audience in this amazing universe?”

Stewart said he came back to the character because he thought there were still new stories to tell. Twenty years had passed since his last “Star Trek” appearance and Picard had also changed during that time. He was now older and wiser and could use words that are powerful, even today in this world with lots of swearing. When Jean-Luc Picard says something you can be sure it has meaning behind it.

Ted Anthony has been a writer since 1990 and works for Big Big News. You can follow him on Twitter @anthonyted.