Star Trek and the Ratings Creep

 

Okay, Quentin Tarantino wants to do an R-rated Star Trek movie. Given his proclivity for foul language, over usage of racial epithets (mainly the N-word) and graphic violence, this IS NOT a good idea.

 

Star Trek has been around the PG/PG-13 area since 1982. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture was rated G when it was released in 1979, but re-rated PG when it was remastered for DVD.)

Yes, there has been some mild colorful language in the series (Data saying “shit” when the saucer section of Enterprise-D was about to crash land in Generations, and Troi and Crusher talking about their “boobs” in Insurrection, and Kirk saying “bullshit” to Spock Prime in the 2009 reboot,) but for the most part Trek has avoided blue language.

Over time, the violence has ramped up, thus going into PG-13 territory when First Contact was released in 1996 (and yes, it did earn it because of the Borg.)

(Side note: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991 would have probably earned an R rating because of the copious amounts of Klingon blood that was spilled, but was changed from red to purple in post production.)

If Tarantino wants to do a Star Trek movie, stick to doing it with a PG-13 rating in mind, and save the R rating for the Blu-ray director’s cut. It worked with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which had a PG-13 rating in theaters, but sold like hotcakes when it was released on Blu-ray as the Ultimate Edition with an R rating.

 

Star Trek MPAA Movie Ratings (from the iMDB)

Original Series

Star Trek: The Motion Picture G (1979) PG (2001) Director’s cut

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) PG

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) PG

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) PG

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) PG

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) PG

The Next Generation

Star Trek Generations (1994) PG

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) PG-13 (The first time that the MPAA bitchslapped 
Star Trek.)

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) PG

(Now this is the anomaly.  Ratings creep started with First Contact, but backed off with this film?  WTF?)

Star Trek: Nemesis  (2002) PG-13

The Reboot (aka the “Kelvin Universe”)

Star Trek (2009) PG-13

Star Trek Into Darkness  (2013) PG-13

Star Trek Beyond (2016) PG-13

 

I have not watched Star Trek: Discovery, so I can’t comment on it.

 

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© Copyright 2019, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.