There’s been the odd bit of harsh language in “Star Trek” over the years, and “Picard” has featured its occasional use from Starfleet Admirals to Romulans.
But the most recent fourth episode of the show’s third season saw a scene in which Admiral Jean-Luc Picard recounts a joyride in his youth with his best friend at Starfleet Academy, Jack Crusher.
Describing a dangerous trip aboard a failing shuttle, Picard lets slip an expletive that’s prompting a large discussion and even a little backlash amongst the fanbase who have otherwise been receiving this season much better than the last two.
It wasn’t in the script, rather it was ad-libbed by Patrick Stewart according to showrunner Terry Matalas. Matalas, who admits he was taken aback by the word coming from the Picard character, explains to Collider:
“That moment actually wasn’t scripted that way, Jonathan [Frakes, who directed the episode], Ed [Speelers], and Patrick [Stewart] had created this incredibly intimate moment between a father and son, they were rehearsing and what they had crafted was so genuine and so intense, that came out in the moment. Patrick said it and felt it, and it was real, a couple of times.
When I got the director’s cut, I was so taken aback by it, but it was so real, and everything you do as artists, as writers and actors, even as editors, is authenticity. That’s the thing you want to feel. I was really torn because hearing that word come from your childhood hero, Captain Picard, it throws you. But wow, is it powerful, and it’s a moment between a father and son.”
“Star Trek” has generally avoided that kind of language as its utopian future was meant to show people have “grown beyond” it. But the move to a streaming age with less strict network standards and more mature material opens those doors. The fanbase still has issues with it though, as Matalas is well aware:
“At first, I said we should look for an alt, and everyone talked me out of it. Everyone said, ‘No, no, no, no, no’. So then you start to go back and ask yourself, ‘Is Gene Roddenberry rolling over in his grave at this moment?’ ‘Are you going to get the backlash to the first time that word was used in season one, which did not go over well?’ And yes, probably.
Even though to this day, I am uncertain about it. The conclusion I came to is, yes, Star Trek is about hope and optimism and certainly cursing is not really in that vein. But it is also not just an exploration of the final frontier, but an exploration of humanity and the human heart, and that was such a human moment and real. It had to stay in. I stand by it, and the criticisms will be valid for anyone who doesn’t like it, and anyone who does are equally valid.”
“Star Trek: Picard” third season is streaming now on Paramount+ with the fifth episode of its ten-episode run to air this coming week.
