10 Shocking Moments Star Trek Used Profanity

The very first episode of Star Trek to include the f-word was, then, very aptly titled Choose Your Pain. Or, in light of the Keele University study, should that really be 'Choose Your Language'? In fact, in the Discovery season one installment, we got two effs for the price of one, so nobody on the set must have been hurting that day.

During a 'science-the-poop-out-of-this' discussion about how they might stop using Ripper The Tardigrade as the mycelial network's designated driver, it's Tilly who drops Star Trek's first f-bomb when she says, "This is so f**king cool!" Tilly promptly apologises, but Stamets giddily replies, "No, Cadet. It is f**king cool".

The use of the expletive had some fans up in arms. In response to the criticism at the time, in an interview with the A.V. Club, Discovery co-executive producer Aaron Harbets explained that the first f-word of the franchise was included,

Because we are streaming, so we could do whatever we want. […] It was in the context of three scientists having a victory and celebrating. […] It was sort of like nerds unite, they kicked a**, and dropped a few F-bombs, fine.

Nevertheless, some found the sudden addition of such strong language in Trek to be rather jarring. The f-word seemed so out-of-place for the usually more mild-mouthed characters of a franchise that had never gone boldly beyond PG-13.

This wasn't the first time that switch-to-streaming swearing had riled up some fans. When the series Designated Survivor was picked up by Netflix for a third season, the show went from dropping an odd SOB to making a run for most f***s in a season, which didn't sit well with some long-term fans.

Technically speaking Tilly was far from the first to use such language in Star Trek. One of the possible translations of the Italian "che cazzo," delivered by the Da Vinci hologram in the Voyager episode Scorpion, is 'what the f**k!' In CERTAIN instances, you could also render the French 'm**de', which Captain Picard is known to let slip, as the f-word in the English translation.

Also, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, one of the 20th century garbage men at the Golden Gate park was originally scripted to say, "What the f**k was that?" The swear was downgraded to "hell" in the final version.

Since Tilly, Stamets, and the tardigrade, the four-letter words have continued to flourish…