Contraversial STNG episode finally airs in Ireland 17 years later

From syfyportal, The episode was first filmed 17 years ago, and now, in the next few days, it will finally be shown for the first time in Ireland.

The episode is "The High Ground" from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that first aired in the United States in 1990. While most of the TNG episodes eventually made their way to other countries, "The High Ground" never aired in Ireland.

Was it censorship? Or was it an effort to keep the peace?

The beef the government and critics have had against the episode is a simple line Data (Brent Spiner) speaks in the episode that says Ireland won't unite until 2024, and only then because the terrorists in that region would be successful. Ireland spent years with constant infighting, and in 1990, didn't seem to have any end in sight.

But peace was achieved in Ireland well before 2024, with those fighting putting down their funs, and with "unionism" taking root in the country.

"When this film was in production back in 1990, anyone forecasting the prospect of Sinn Fein decommissioning their guns, supporting the police, recoginizing the courts and taking ministerial positions within U.K.'s Stormont administration would have been looked upon as not living in the real world," said Robin Newton, councillor of East Belfast Democratic Unionist Party. "Whether it is from partisan fictional propaganda or a part line political source, Unionist confidence can withstand the attack."

That so-called "attack" is coming from a special airing of the episode at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, according to The Belfast Telegraph as reported by TrekToday. But it's not an attack at all, said Sean Kelly, the director of the arts festival. Kelly said he's interested in attracting Trekkies to the festival by showing the episde, and also "because of the issues it raises in relation to censorship."

Ireland wasn't the only country that never had a chance to witness "The High Ground" -- at least through government sources like BBC and RTE. None of the United Kingdom has seen the episode where Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is taken hostage by a terrorist organization that feels violence is the only way they're going to be heard. The episode would be aired on Sky One in an edited form, but would actually be aired unedited by the provider in May 2006.

"People will see the funny side of an occasion on which the powers that be decided to censor an episode of a popular science-fiction series because of what was happening politically at the time," Kelly said.