20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek Generations

8. Data Uses Profanity To Avoid A "G" Rating

Star Trek Generations Picard Kirk
CBS Media Ventures

It's of course no secret that the vast majority of blockbuster movie releases aim for a PG-13 rating, because a more adult-skewing R-rating can be incredibly risky where larger-budget material is concerned.

But there's also a fascinating, largely unspoken phenomenon that goes the other way, whereby studios prefer to avoid their bigger-budget live-action movies getting a mild G-rating, because it has historically stunted the box office of films that aren't strictly family-friendly.

G gives the impression that a film is harmlessly inoffensive to all, and in the context of Star Trek that might imply it's toothless and sanitised to a fault.

And so, the decision was made to include a single piece of profanity to boost it to a PG rating, when Data (Brent Spiner) memorably says, "Oh s**t!" as the Enterprise takes a dive.

Ultimately only one more Trek film after this, Insurrection, was rated PG, with the franchise deferring to the blockbuster-typical PG-13 from that point onward. First Contact, sandwiched between the two movies, was meanwhile the series' first PG-13 entry.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.