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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Just Dropped the First F-Bomb Ever in the History of the ‘Star Trek’ Franchise

Star Trek: Discovery has certainly brought a lot of “firsts” to the Star Trek universe.  The series has truly been a ground-breaking addition to the 51-year-old franchise bringing the first Asian female captain, the first female captain with a female first officer and the first openly gay couple just to name a few milestone.  In the most recent episode to stream on CBS All Access, the series had another “first” for the franchise.

On Sunday night’s fifth episode of the series, two characters dropped two separate f-bombs, something that has never happened in the Star Trek universe, ever!  The characters responsible for the colorful language were Cadet Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Lt. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) who had just wracked their brains in order to achieve a scientific breakthrough.  Anthony Rapp spoke with  IndieWire about breaking the franchise’s 51-year profanity-free status.  Rapp said:

“We were aware of it, we embraced it, and we had a blast with it.  These people just put their brains to work in a really tough way and they had a breakthrough. And I imagine there are scientists in their labs who might do that anytime. We didn’t drop the F-bomb in Star Trek by telling somebody to go fuck themselves. We did it by saying, ‘this is f—ing cool.’”

Showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg previously told Entertainment Weekly that the series would have a PG-13/R-rated tone and, that’s been apparent.  The series is definitely a little darker than the other Star Trek renditions and, the fact that the series airs on a premium streaming service allows them to go a further than they could on network television.  The showrunners, however, want to make sure the new series continues to uphold the integrity of the franchise and promises that they won’t be pushing the boundaries too far.  Harberts said:

“Every writer’s impulse when you get to work on the streaming shows with no parameters is to go crazy, but then you look at things like: How does nudity play on Trek? Eh, it feels weird. How does a lot of [profanity] on Trek? Not so great. Are there moments where it merits it that we’re trying to push here and there? I would say we’re trying to push more by having the type of complicated messed-up characters who aren’t necessarily embraced on broadcast.”

Are you watching Star Trek: Discovery?  If so, what do you think so far?  Were you surprised at the language used in the most recent episode?  Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below.

 

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