Why was TMP G-rated?

[gottacook]

Was the G rating for TMP mandated by Paramount before the start of production? If so, why? If not, how was the decision made along the way to keep within the confines of G? Has anyone come across any documentary evidence one way or the other?

I have been critical of TMP's script (or, at least, what ended up on screen) and wonder whether the results would have been less disappointing to me and my cohort if there hadn't been a G constraint. Not that a space battle with phasers would necessarily have resulted.

 

[BillJ]

Was the G rating for TMP mandated by Paramount before the start of production? If so, why? If not, how was the decision made along the way to keep within the confines of G? Has anyone come across any documentary evidence one way or the other?

I have been critical of TMP's script (or, at least, what ended up on screen) and wonder whether the results would have been less disappointing to me and my cohort if there hadn't been a G constraint. Not that a space battle with phasers would necessarily have resulted.

I don't know if that was what they were shooting for or not. Probably not and the Director's Edition is PG, I believe, with not much changed.

 

[Jeyl]

I don't know if that was what they were shooting for or not. Probably not and the Director's Edition is PG, I believe, with not much changed.

The thing about alternative cuts is that they have to be submitted for rating regardless of how minimum the cuts are. This is why so many alternate versions of films come out as 'Unrated'. TMP's Director's Edition was simply re-rated with the standards that were in place at the time the new version was created, not the standards that it was back in 79.

 

[ozzfloyd]

With the amount of screen time devoted to "Decker's Pecker" it's amazing they got a G. Lol. Did anyone not see that those uniforms presented some awkward camel toe issues?

 

[BillJ]

I don't know if that was what they were shooting for or not. Probably not and the Director's Edition is PG, I believe, with not much changed.

The thing about alternative cuts is that they have to be submitted for rating regardless of how minimum the cuts are. This is why so many alternate versions of films come out as 'Unrated'. TMP's Director's Edition was simply re-rated with the standards that were in place at the time the new version was created, not the standards that it was back in 79.

I have a tough time imagining the standards were tighter in 2001 than they were in 1979 though.

 

[Ithekro]

The "Decker Unit" was adequately confined by 1979 standards.

The standards were more loose in 1979. The change in standards shifted things when PG-13 came out and became more ridged in backlash to what some directors tried to get away with under PG and PG-13 ratings in the 90s. G became a much different thing than it wa in 1979. It is far harder to get a G rating today than it was in 1979.

 

[Prologic9]

I have a tough time imagining the standards were tighter in 2001 than they were in 1979 though.

...All of the MPAA ratings have become much stricter over the decades.

In the 70's 'G' meant what is said... "General Audiences." It wasn't the purview of kids movies they way it has been the last 25 years.

Here are some other G rated movies;

2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet of the Apes (I think they said "damn" in there somewhere...)
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (ooo Sex AND violence!)

Meanwhile "PG" meant... parental guidance. PG movies used to regularly feature adult content and even full Nudity, making it more "adult" in many ways than even today's PG-13.

Thank you Logan's Run.

 

[Ithekro]

Keeping TMP from being PG keeps Roddenberry in check...slightly.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I remember seeing Dracula Has Risen From the Grave hard to believe it was G back then, but I was ten or eleven when I saw it. And I was with my younger sister and no parents were present. Simpler times.

 

[Maurice]

With the amount of screen time devoted to "Decker's Pecker" it's amazing they got a G. Lol. Did anyone not see that those uniforms presented some awkward camel toe issues?

"Camel toe" is a women's issue. "Moose knuckle" is the male equivalent.

 

[martok2112]

The original True Grit is rated G, and it has:
"Fill yer' hand you son of a bitch!"


As it stands right now:

G is pretty much for kids 5 and below.
PG is now what G was back in the 70's/80's
PG-13 is pretty much the new G.
And R.... well, R is R.

Let's put it this way:

Take "The Cat From Outer Space". Disney's 1978 sci-fi comedy.
The film was rated G back then. If they were to re-rate it today, or if it were shot the exact same way today as it was back then, it would easily get a PG rating.

It has smoking, drinking and mild gunplay. Any one of those on their own would have given "TCFOS" a PG rating today. (Of course, if anti-smoking lobbyists had their way, TCOFS would be R rated for all the smoking in the movie.)

 

[Khan 2.0]

G is PG now
PG then = PG13 now (and in some cases R now)
PG13 then = PG-13/R now
R then = R (and in some cases NC17 now)

 

[Maurice]

(Of course, if anti-smoking lobbyists had their way, TCOFS would be R rated for all the smoking in the movie.)

Yeah. Sure.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

With the amount of screen time devoted to "Decker's Pecker" it's amazing they got a G. Lol. Did anyone not see that those uniforms presented some awkward camel toe issues?

As soon as I saw the thread title I started reading through the thread to see if we Decker's adventures with lycra got a mention. Fourth post, very good!

 

[T'Girl]

"Camel toe" is a women's issue. "Moose knuckle" is the male equivalent.

Never heard Moose knuckle before this, have commonly heard "Camel Nose" as the counterpart to Camel Toe.

G is pretty much for kids 5 and below.
PG is now what G was back in the 70's/80's
PG-13 is pretty much the new G.
And R.... well, R is R.

And originally X would be seen with the rare main stream movie, it wasn't just for porn.

"

 

[enterprisecvn65]

It's iffy I'll admit. But it had no nudity, no swearing, and the deaths were mostly off screen and when people died there was no blood or other gore involved.

Yeah the uniforms highlighted certain "features" but I think most young kids wouldn't catch on with just one viewing.

The story alone should have probably gotten it a PG, but it really didn't haven't much in terms of content that most parents would find objectionable.


Star Wars had the burned corpses of Luke's aunt and uncle a bloody arm on the floor, Greedo's charred body, imperial officers having holes burned in them when they got shot and rebel pilots seen in the cockpit with the explosion around them before they cut to an exterior shot of the ship being destroyed.....It really was pretty graphic compared to TMP

 

[Melakon]

G is PG now
PG then = PG13 now (and in some cases R now)
PG13 then = PG-13/R now
R then = R (and in some cases NC17 now)

Between '68-'70 there was only GMRX. Rated M was for Mature, usually meaning language or some nudity. In the original release of Barbarella, Jane Fonda was topless through the entire first reel. That was big stuff back then when you were still in high school.

 

[martok2112]

(Of course, if anti-smoking lobbyists had their way, TCOFS would be R rated for all the smoking in the movie.)

Yeah. Sure.

At one point, some anti-smoking lobbyists were pushing for precisely that. They wanted any movie that had smoking in it to get an automatic R rating.

Read the fourth paragraph in this link to get an interesting point of view. This guy cites that such activists would probably not demand retro-rating for movies that already have smoking in them, but he confirms that the idea is/was there.

http://nymag.com/daily/movies/2010/01/ao_scotts_meditation_on_tobacc.html

There are other examples out there.

For the record, I am a non-smoker.... I just don't get activist about it.

 

[Smellmet]

Star Wars had the burned corpses of Luke's aunt and uncle a bloody arm on the floor, Greedo's charred body, imperial officers having holes burned in them when they got shot and rebel pilots seen in the cockpit with the explosion around them before they cut to an exterior shot of the ship being destroyed.....It really was pretty graphic compared to TMP

Plus the bit a the beginning where Vader crushes that guys throat - that used to scare the hell out of me as a kid, the noise it makes was and still it pretty grim. How Star Wars got the 'U' rating it did is beyond me, it should have been easily been a PG and if was released today should be a 12/12A.

TMP however I was happy with it's rating, the only disturbing bit is the transporter accident, and that's more your imagination at play with that scene (Brundle-fly anyone?).

 

[Indysolo]

I have a tough time imagining the standards were tighter in 2001 than they were in 1979 though.

They absolutely were. Watch the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It's got gore and nudity, in addition to being a genuinely scary film. It's PG.

Airplane! (1980) has bare breasts filling the screen for several seconds and it is also PG.

Neil