Some of the greatest works of fiction across books, TV, and movies hold a lot of subtext very relevant to the actual world. That is also true for Star Trek: The Next Generation, which gave fans plenty of characters that have since become iconic. While the series, which spanned for 7 seasons from 1987 to 1994 is mostly hailed positively, one particular episode invoked a ban in Northern Ireland due to one particular dialogue.
The episode in question is The High Ground, which was the 12th of the third season. It was aired on January 27, 1990, and included a line that referenced the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the ‘re-unification of Ireland in 2024.’
This The Next Generation Episode was banned in Northern Ireland
The High Ground was initially released in the US in January 1990. It came at a time when Northern Island was fraught with violence between British loyalists and Irish nationalists who wanted a united Ireland. The sectarian violence resulted in thousands of deaths and meant a constant state of riot in the region.
The episode itself saw Dr. Crusher, portrayed by Gates McFadden, being taken hostage by insurgents engaged in a power struggle on a non-federation planet. Brent Spiner’s Data is seen talking about a range of terrorist methods that the Enterprise could make use of in order to save Dr. Crusher.
He ended up citing a range of examples, which also included the “Irish Unification of 2024.” The sheer sensitivity surrounding the topic brought forth an outright ban in Northern Ireland and a similar situation in the United Kingdom. As the episode was released in the UK in November 1992 (BBC), it was edited and the specific comment was changed.
The episode would then not air on the BBC in 2007, and then was never aired again, despite the original dialogue being taken out. Further, it was not shown on any Irish networks in any form, an attempt to not incite further violence at a time when the IRA consistently pressurized Northern Ireland to gain independence from the United Kingdom.
Several tragedies were related to this period, and the prediction of such a unification simply hit too close for comfort for the Northern Ireland government.
Writer Melinda Snodgrass was stunned by the controversy surrounding The Next Generation’s The High Ground
The Next Generation’s Data had cited this supposed unification of Ireland in 2024 as an example of when terrorism represents an effective way of accelerating political change. However, the writer of the script, Melinda Snodgrass (via Looper) claimed that the message she wanted to convey was considerably different:
I was a history major before I went to law school and I wanted to get into that; discuss the fact that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. I think what I wanted to say was: if we’re talking and not shooting, we’re in a better place.
Snodgrass claimed that she did not want to promote, or justify violence in any way, and could do nothing by the time she realized the controversy had developed:
We became aware of it later … and there isn’t much you can do about it.
Simply put, Snodgrass wanted Data to convey how any guerrilla warfare attempt to retrieve Dr Crusher would in itself represent an act of terrorism for the other side, despite what was at stake.
The Next Generation is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
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