For nearly four decades, Jean-Luc Picard of B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� has largely been presented as genteel, erudite and B次元官网网址� at times B次元官网网址� quite buttoned up.
Yes, he loses his temper. Yes, he was reckless as a callow cadet many years ago. Yes, he occasionally gets his hands dirty or falls apart.
But the Enterprise captain-turned-admiral stepped into a different place in last weekB次元官网网址檚 episode of the streaming drama B次元官网网址淪tar Trek: Picard.B次元官网网址� Now, heB次元官网网址檚 someone who B次元官网网址� to the shock of some and the delight of others B次元官网网址� has uttered a profanity that never would have come from his mouth in the 1990s: B次元官网网址淭en fB次元官网网址�-ing grueling hours,B次元官网网址� Patrick StewartB次元官网网址檚 character says at one point during an intense conversation in which he expects everyone will die shortly.
The whole thing was in keeping with the more complex, nuanced aesthetic of this decadeB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� installments. And the online conversation that ensued illustrates the journey undertaken when a fictional character voyages from the strictures of network and syndicated television to high-end streaming TV.
B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址橲tar TrekB次元官网网址� was G-rated when it first came out. B次元官网网址楾he Next GenerationB次元官网网址� was clean-cut and optimistic. What weB次元官网网址檙e seeing now with B次元官网网址楶icardB次元官网网址� is a little bit more of the grit,B次元官网网址� says Shilpa Dav茅, a media studies scholar at the University of Virginia and a longtime B次元官网网址淭rekB次元官网网址� fan.
Over the weekend, B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� Twitter reflected that tension.
B次元官网网址淭otally out of character,B次元官网网址� said one post, reflecting many others. Some complained that it cheapened the utopia that Gene Roddenberry envisioned, that humans wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be swearing like that four centuries from now, that someone as polished as Picard wouldnB次元官网网址檛 need such language.
B次元官网网址淧art of Star TrekB次元官网网址檚 appeal is the articulate way characters speak. Resorting to gutter language feels like a step backward since Star TrekB次元官网网址檚 characters are meant to be better than this,B次元官网网址� John Orquiola for the website Screen Rant on Sunday.
The backlash to the backlash followed.
Christopher Monfette, the Paramount+ showB次元官网网址檚 co-executive producer, wrote an extensive and persuasive about the moment and why he believed it worked.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 easy to hear that elevated British tone escaping the mouth of a gentlemanly Shakespearean actor and assume some elevated intellectualism,B次元官网网址� he said, while acknowledging: B次元官网网址淐riticism of its use is fair even if it just strikes a personal nerve B次元官网网址� or if youB次元官网网址檝e equated B次元官网网址楾rekB次元官网网址� with more broader, family-friendly storytelling. But regardless, cursing in the show is carefully debated & discussed in the room or on set. We donB次元官网网址檛 take it lightly.B次元官网网址�
The showrunner for B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� this season, Terry Matalas, said the F-word from Picard wasnB次元官网网址檛 scripted but was a choice by Stewart in the moment. The result, Matalas said, was B次元官网网址渟o real.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淓verything you do as artists, as writers and actors, even as editors, is authenticity. ThatB次元官网网址檚 the thing you want to feel,B次元官网网址� he told . B次元官网网址淚 was really torn because hearing that word come from your childhood hero, Captain Picard, it throws you. But wow, is it powerful.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� has a long history of pushing boundaries, linguistic and otherwise.
B次元官网网址淟etB次元官网网址檚 get the hell out of here,B次元官网网址� Capt. James T. Kirk said on network TV in 1967, when that word was edgy. HeB次元官网网址檇 just lost someone dear to him in the most trying of circumstances. Dr. McCoy, the shipB次元官网网址檚 irascible physician, would often say, B次元官网网址淒ammit, Jim.B次元官网网址� And in the larger realm, the original series delicately danced with NBC censors over everything from womenB次元官网网址檚 costumes to racial, sexual and war references.
But the crossing of last weekB次元官网网址檚 linguistic frontier is an interesting case. It highlights the turbulence generated when a beloved character born during the B次元官网网址渇amily-friendlyB次元官网网址� TV era evolves against the streaming landscape, where constraints are fewer and opportunities for unflinching authenticity greater.
B次元官网网址淭his isnB次元官网网址檛 just a rethinking of a fictional world. This is the same actor and the same character in the same setting that we had before. And all these years, he has been speaking and behaving in a certain way,B次元官网网址� says Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
Sometimes this transition unfolds erratically.
Velma, a member of the Gen-X-era Saturday morning cartoon B次元官网网址淪cooby Doo,B次元官网网址� recently appeared in a more multicultural cartoon reboot on HBO Max that featured a high-school shower scene and overt sexual references. It has been roundly panned.
Several years ago, when B次元官网网址淩iverdaleB次元官网网址� premiered, the attempts to push Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica from the sunny world of comics into the darker realm of teen drama produced uneven, sometimes jarring results.
B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� is in a whole different universe, so to speak.
Roddenberry famously framed it as a utopian future where the main characters generally avoided conflict with each other, their society wasnB次元官网网址檛 motivated by greed and humanity was seen as inexorably moving forward. Purists have criticized the recent years of what they call B次元官网网址渘ew TrekB次元官网网址� as a darker, more fragmented universe.
Nonsense, say many others: Both allegory and word usage . After all, it was only seven decades ago that Lucille Ball (and her character) was expecting a baby on B次元官网网址淚 Love LucyB次元官网网址� and the word B次元官网网址減regnantB次元官网网址� on national television B次元官网网址� except, oddly, in French.
And for years before and after that, HollywoodB次元官网网址檚 production code prescribed the ways morality and amorality could be depicted in film, with strict regulation of everything from sexual innuendo to whether criminals were portrayed sympathetically to whether the good guys won.
Hence the term B次元官网网址淗ollywood ending,B次元官网网址� which remains with us today in .
All of which raises the question: Could it also be the boundaries themselves that help create memorable film and television, rather than merely the breaking of them?
B次元官网网址淪tar Trek had a certain kind of sincerity B次元官网网址� almost like B次元官网网址榯he 23rd century will be a family-friendly kind of thing,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Thompson says. B次元官网网址淭he question is, what happens when your characters outlive the media industry standards? How do you accommodate the fact that youB次元官网网址檙e no longer limited without completely betraying the world that youB次元官网网址檝e created?B次元官网网址�
In this case, Stewart has said he returned to the character because he was persuaded there were new stories to tell. Just as he had aged two decades since his last B次元官网网址淪tar TrekB次元官网网址� appearance, so, too, had Picard B次元官网网址� with all the evolution that went along with it.
The kind of evolution, perhaps, that might make a man facing his own end choose a word that still carries a lot of power B次元官网网址� even in todayB次元官网网址檚 swearing, streaming world. When Jean-Luc Picard says that word, you can be absolutely sure he means it.
B次元官网网址擳ed Anthony, The Associated Press
