- The High Ground, released in 1990, was only broadcast once in the UK in 2007.
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A Star Trek episode that referenced an “Irish unification in 2024” is still banned in Ireland.
Episode 12 of the third season, titled The High Ground, was released in 1990 and involves a terrorist organization taking a crew member of the Federation Starfleet starship USS Enterprise-D hostage in a attempt to promote their objectives.
But a controversial moment in which an android character called Data, played by Brent Spiner, cites ‘Irish unification in 2024’ as an example of a political goal achieved through violence, led to the episode only being shown once in Ireland in the 34 years that have passed since then. its launch.
Concern about the potential ramifications of the line was so great that the episode, which was first broadcast in the US, was not shown on the BBC or the Irish network RTV.
In 1992 a redacted version was broadcast on Sky without the sensitive line.
An episode of Star Trek titled The High Ground was never shown in its premiere in Ireland and Britain amid concerns about its political message about “Irish unification in 2024”.
A character named Data referenced Irish unification as an example of a political cause achieved through violence.
While the episode aired in the US, it was never broadcast in Ireland and was only shown once on the BBC, in 2007.
The High Ground was finally broadcast by the BBC on 29 September 2007, in what is believed to have been its only broadcast.
In addition to Irish unification, Data offers two other examples of violence that managed to achieve a political cause: Mexico’s independence from Spain and the Kenzie Rebellion (an event in the Star Trek universe).
The decision not to air the episode in 1990 reflects the febrile political situation at the time, during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, amid terrorist threats from the Provisional IRA, which had declared goals of liberating the region from British rule.
More than three decades later, Northern Ireland has elected its first republican Prime Minister, Michelle O’Neill, regional leader of Sinn Fein, a party with roots as the political arm of the IRA.
Last month, Stormont’s devolved administration was up and running with the return of power sharing after a two-year hiatus.
Melinda M. Snodgrass, who wrote the Star Trek episode, said the story deliberately resembled the situation in Northern Ireland in the 1990s.
The episode’s writer, Melinda M. Snodgrass, confirmed that the reference to terrorism was an intentional parallel to the febrile situation in Northern Ireland at the time.
He said he wanted to explore the idea that “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.”
The original season of Star Trek first hit screens in 1966 and ran for two years.
It returned for a second series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, which aired from 1987 to 1994.
He bbc He said he couldn’t determine exactly why a ban was implemented, given that it “goes back a long time.”