By James Bacon: I cannot actually recall exactly when I saw the episode “The High Ground”, but I am sure it was in Malahide, County Dublin, at Ireland’s greatest Star Trek convention, Timewarp, held on the 6th and 7th of March 1993.

In Dublin, Ireland, we would have been watching RTE or BBC for ST:TNG episodes, months and years after airing in the US. Fans of course would work around problems, would communicate and share videos. NTSC ones would come over and be shown at gatherings in sitting rooms, evening events and conventions. It was a massive amount of excitement. 

The British Broadcasting Corporation, a public service broadcaster funded by government imposed TV licences, was never what I would call an impartial player. Although they aspire in these modern times to be impartial, their reportage of matters relating to Ireland was very poor. 

The level of probing and enquiry was non-existent at times and when British Army Officers said something had happened in the 1970’s, the BBC willingly reported it as accurate, factual, and then decades later happy to blame those who told the mistake ridden story. 

“The High Ground” was banned by the BBC. 

RTE the Irish National Broadcaster, not known for its liberal view at the best of times also decided to ban it. 

Historically it was not the only Star Trek episode that was banned by the BBC. The BBC, who had the rights to show the original Star Trek series, and where I first saw the series in the eighties, would not show “Miri”,  “Plato’s Stepchildren”,  “The Empath”, or “Whom Gods Destroy”. These were deemed too much for children, and indeed “Miri” had been received by the British public with much concern and complaint. 

Repeatedly fans asked for the episodes to be shown, and they were shown in Britain in the 70’s at Star Trek Conventions. The BBC stated upon repeated request that “After very careful consideration a top level decision was made not to screen the episodes entitled ‘Empath’, ‘Whom Gods Destroy’, ‘Plato’s Stepchildren’ and ‘Miri’, because they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease.”

It will not go amiss amongst fans that “Plato’s Stepchildren” is a vital episode, when it comes to diversity, as it featured the kiss between Lieutenant Uhura and Captain Kirk. 

Gene Roddenberry spoke at a Newcastle convention in 1984 about it, and was clearly unhappy that they were not to be shown. Fans were vocal, and also persistent in writing letters and making their concerns known. 

As well as banning four episodes, the heavy hand of the censor from the BBC was at play and many episodes had adjustments made. “The Man Trap”, “Patterns Of Force”, “Bread And Circuses” and the “Enemy Within” had scenes of violence removed. 

Seven episodes were edited for time, but it was not clear if this was pureley for time reasons, or because some sensibility in the BBC was offended or concerned. In one instance, “Arena” was edited and the BBC took time to tell the Star Trek Action Group that “it is not BBC practice to show the exact process by which gunpowder is made… to prevent the children emulating their heroes”.

Sky One, a satellite channel, did a deal with the BBC to air TOS in 1990 and they showed all the episodes and so were the first channel to show the three season 3 episodes ever in Britain. Sky’s run were the ones I recall watching avidly, every day, at 5pm if I recall correctly. The BBC did show them, themselves, in 1994 and indeed these were new copies. Which was good. 

The Next Generation therefore, so many years after The Original Series would escape the censor redaction methods, you might think, and as you know, they weren’t.

TNG episodes “Conspiracy” and “The Icarus Factor” were edited by the BBC and later some episode fell foul to the The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), previously the British Board of Film Censors. 

Yet “High Ground” was not shown by the BBC in the UK and Ireland, or by RTE, the Irish National Broadcaster at all. It was still worthy of a BBC news article in 2007, when a Northern Ireland Arts Festival deemed to show it and again more recently.

The BBC was no fan of science fiction in my view and would dump Doctor Who and had little interest in Star Trek in 1987 when TNG aired in the USA. So it was that TNG was first aired in the UK and Ireland by the BBC on the 26th of September 1990, quite some time after it had been shown in the USA, and luckily for me, I was already a comics fan who enjoyed Star Trek, and unaware and so it was exciting, as so much happened so quickly. 

Sometimes as I watched it, I would get a  bit confused, not unsurprisingly when one considers that the BBC showed many of the  first season episodes out of order. I was no hardcore fan, my friends were watching it, I enjoyed, and my pals like Mick and Phil were avid fans, and one watched and enjoyed it and chatted about it.

At this time Star Trek became huge in Ireland. Octocon, the National SF convention in 1992 was mislabelled as a Star Trek event and it caused so many difficulties, doubling attendees to over 600 as hundreds more people turned up than expected. To the disdain of many, this was not the plan, but to others, this was opportunity.

Star Trek fandom exploded, and many who ran Octocon joined other fans and helped start a Star Trek fanclub, Starbase Ireland which ran events, Federation Day, and as a club, I joined. There were many conventions, there were multiple Irecon’s, Q-Con with John De Lancie in attendance, VisiCon with Nana Visitor.

But really in 1993 there was Timewarp, which was amazing. Again, the Octocon peeps had a major hand amongst others, which in many ways was brilliant. Philippa and Helen Ryder and Noreen Monahan had chaired the first three Octocons successfully, and there was a changing of the guard after 1992 that was tricky, but which saw Pádraig Ó Méalóid step into the breach to co-chair with Jame’s Peart and I was welcomed from staffer, to committee at only 18, and joined the likes of Maura McHugh onto the Octocon committee.

Timewarp at the time was Ireland’s largest conventions with well over 1,000 people and a fabulously amazing event. It was exciting. I watched on a lot, and many of my friends really embraced it all, while I enjoyed the bits I enjoyed, and longed for more Star Wars, worked the Octocon fan table, drank and danced.

I cannot recall where I saw “High Ground”, but know that it was at Timewarp for sure, absolutely, one hundred percent, I think. There was excitement about its screening, and I may have seen it there as it was exclusively shown. 

And, this was all great. One doesn’t need to be fully immersed in a fandom to enjoy it, and I found this with Trek, meeting some great people, with massive passions and enjoying their company, and indeed, mocking the Red Shirts for their heavy handedness, as the Ops team were as ever zealous about their duties and all in Red shirts, some good pals to this day, 31 years later.

George Takei was a phenomenal guest, his spirit and humour, and generosity was incredible. (See RTÉ Archives: “Star Trek Boldly Goes To Malahide”.)

“The High Ground”, originally aired in 1990, was not due to air until early January 1992, as the BBC showed the episodes weekly from 1990, and it just was never shown. This may sound odd to the US fan, but unfortunately the US got to see tv and films months ahead of Europe. 

The BBC lost the rights to show Star Trek, which given it was BBC2’s highest rating TV, was typical.  And so to the few moments of science fiction, with an alternative history, that saw two national broadcasters ban Star Trek. 

Here is an excerpt from the script, written by Melinda Snodgrass, to help illustrate how quick this was. I was expecting a hotbed of rebellious sentiment and anarchism, the cook book open, and a preparedness to really agitate. Instead, there are a few thoughtful lines between Picard and Data, and I often wonder if the same lines would work between Kirk and Spock, they were mere utterances, a little alternative history in a science fiction programme. 

DATA: Dimensional shifting is such an unstable procedure, sir, that I cannot say. Sir, I am finding it difficult to understand many aspects of Ansata conduct. Much of their behavioral norm would be defined by my programme as unnecessary and unacceptable. 

PICARD: By my programme as well, Data.

DATA: But if that is so, Captain, why are their methods so often successful? I have been reviewing the history of armed rebellion and it appears that terrorism is an effective way to promote political change.

PICARD: Yes, it can be, but I have never subscribed to the theory that political power flows from the barrel of a gun.

DATA: Yet there are numerous examples where it was successful. The independence of the Mexican State from Spain, the Irish Unification of 2024, and the Kensey Rebellion.

PICARD: Yes, I am aware of them.

DATA: Then would it be accurate to say that terrorism is acceptable when all options for peaceful settlement have been foreclosed?

PICARD: Data, these are questions that mankind has been struggling with throughout history. Your confusion is only human.

Confusion over complex human issues, is not a poor thing. It seemed, even in context of the overall episode, mild. 

The Troubles started in 1968, and the death toll peaked in 1972 with nearly 500 people killed. The Seventies were extraordinarily brutal, and between 1973 and 1976 the toll was between 250 and 300 a year, then it went to around 100 a year, dropping to a low of 57 in 1985. But for 1988, it was 105 and 1989 was 75 and by 1991 ninety-six people who died seemed all too real. All too horrible, and all so distant from Dublin, where I was immersed in comics, science fiction, and the ideas of going to conventions. It seemed far away, and by the time I was dating a Star Trek fan from Portadown in 1995 it was all quiet and coming to an end.

So, it was a raw time for sure. 1992 was a year of much sorrow. The Teebane bombing saw eight Protestant workmen killed, a RUC police officer reportedly distraught by the killing of a colleague shot dead two Sinn Féin activists and one civilian. The Sean Graham bookmakers’ shooting saw Five Catholic men and boys killed and then another betting shop in Belfast saw the killing of three Catholic civilians. Coalisland RUC base in County Tyrone was attacked, and the British Army ambushed the unit, killing two. A truck bomb at the Baltic Exchange in London killed three civilians and caused £800 million worth of damage. Cloghoge checkpoint was bombed, killing a soldier and wounding 23.  The Coalisland riots saw a variety of violence, resulting in rioters being shot at, while a soldier was killed by sniper. A 2000 lb bomb at the Northern Ireland Forensic Science Laboratory in South Belfast. The laboratory was obliterated, seven hundred houses were damaged, and 20 people were injured. These are just the larger occurrences, so many injuries and punishment beatings or shootings, and the horror of war. 

So it was a time of violence and sensitivity. Yet, fans were travelling up and down across the border, and enjoying conventions and good company, regardless of religion. It felt like a dreadful imposition to be not allowed to watch a simple TV programme, and a continuation of the heavy handedness of government backed broadcasters. Yet, it really didn’t matter, it was just another challenge for fans. 

And fans worked around it. When Sky One showed it, it was edited and only broadcast unedited in May 2006. Indeed, the BBC showed this unedited version in September 2007. Seventeen years after its screening.

The fannish relationships transcended sectarianism; guests at science fiction conventions would be from all sides of the border and it made no difference at all. I never heard a fan use the episode to justify or politicise an element of the Troubles, and indeed, this article may be about as political as it has been, my own cynicism and disdain for authority showing through.

It was a great time for fans, joined in the universal desire to have a good time, hang out, take part in raffles, drink, and meet and chat and make friends.

Despite 1992 being a dreadfully violent year, the Northern Ireland peace process was near, initially privately behind closed doors, and in 1994 the provisional IRA had a ceasefire and despite a return to violence, there was a second ceasefire and  the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, saw politics take centre stage. 

I was so surprised when I saw “The High Ground”. It was possibly more of an analog of the American Revolutionary War rather than the Troubles and indeed Washington was referenced. Was he a terrorist who won? It is a wonderful question, and of course years before America herself became such a large terrorist target. 

It sounded like Picard was trying to show Data that the complexities of human affairs are confusing, and difficult, and it was such a quick reference, and such a short set of lines, that, why would anyone get upset about it too much. Yet that was the way it was, while some castigate the way American TV has portrayed some European elements and indeed, I was not always impressed as expressed already, I thought that it was bit much to ban this episode, and was a bit nonplussed by it all.

That was OK. I recall being much more interested in dancing with friends at Timewarp, and meeting fans from a different heritage, background and community to my own, and not really being too worried about the politics and more worried about whether the next song would be good for us to dance to, Star Trek fandom doing its bit for cross community relationships, bringing diversity together, overcoming societal bigotry and not at all being the concern that must have been on the mind of the censors.  

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This article originally appeared in edited form in Journey Planet in 2018, all and any inaccuracies are the fault of the correspondent’s flawed memory.