back to article Nazi Star Trek episode finally broadcast in Germany

German television has finally aired an episode of Star Trek, which was previously held from broadcast due to a Nazi theme that ran throughout. Filmed in 1968 for the second season of the original series, Patterns of Force features Kirk and Spock dressed in Nazi uniforms, trying to blend into a planet overrun by aliens that …

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  1. Alex Walsh

    "For you Kirk, zee Trek is over."

    *pistol whipping*

    Although I imagine he managed to find a well dressed German Fräulein to get jiggy with first.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      "For you, Kirk, zee Google+ iz over!'

  2. Anonymous Coward 15
    Pint

    Don't mention

    The interstellar war!

  3. Nick 10

    What About Fawlty Towers?

    Apparently, "Don't mention the war" is the only Fawlty Towers episode which wasn't shown in Germany.

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      I dated a German lass a few years ago. She didn't understand that in Fawtly Towers we are laughing AT Basil, rather than WITH Basil.

  4. John Styles

    Remind me, have they shown the Next Generation one in Britain that mentioned in passing that Ireland was reunited in 2024 due to a successful terrorism campaign?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      When first shown on the BBC the line was edited out. It has subsequently been aired unedited, although I'm not sure which channel that was on.

      1. Annihilator

        Aired unedited

        I've seen it, and would only have seen it on TV. Every chance it was Sky 1 though, when all they did between 4 and 7 each night was alternate the ST franchises.

      2. MrF
        Headmaster

        The English Channel, of course. Duh.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Colm Meaney

      Is that the episode where Colm Meaney goes all misty-eyed, reminiscing about some of his other roles (both on- and off-the-screen)?

      1. NogginTheNog
        Coat

        Like the Commitments?

        "On a fucking SUZUKI?!"

  5. Lee Dowling Silver badge

    "with viewers strictly warned that no one under the age of 16 should watch it."

    And thus INSTANTLY attracting the attention of every under 16 year old in the country as to why these guys were so "important" that they couldn't be shown to children.

    Talk about unintended consequences. If you'd just broadcast the damn thing in the middle of children's TV and parents *hadn't* made a fuss, nobody would care about it whatsoever. But by "banning" it and provide stark warnings about it not being suitable for children, you have just intrigued an entire generation.

    I still say that Germany (and France) should have called all toilets "Nazis" and marked them on signposts / doors with the symbol of the Swastika across the entire country. Just how many Nazist lunatics do you think you'd get worshipping the name/symbol then, instead of how many you get now that you've "banned" it's use?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      A common complaint these days (and a couple of decades backwards) is that because of anti-Nazi laws being interpreted as "not showing Nazi stuff at all" instead of "not showing Nazi stuff in a good light" has been that a good bunch of people do not know how bad they were, and some Germans don't even know there *was* a Second World War at all! The missus was shocked when she discovered this.

  6. Lockwood

    Was the Voyager 2 parter with the whole Hirogen Nazi holodeck thing aired in Germany?

    1. Christoph Hechl

      Yes. At the time voyager was aired that wasn't seen as problematic any more.

  7. stu 4
    Gimp

    Enterprise

    hmm. what did they make of the last episodes of Enterprise then ? they even had aliens dressed up as Nazis in that....

  8. Annihilator
    Paris Hilton

    "No laws"

    I'm confused, I recall that Return To Castle Wolfenstein was denied a German release due to the overt references to Nazi Germany, and that all references to it had been banned under law?

    So is it illegal, or isn't it?

    1. Christoph Hechl

      No, it is not.

      A book, video or game can be put on what we call the index.

      In that case stores are still allowed to sell them, but no active form of marketing is allowed, not even putting it on the shelves. Therefore these items are sold from under the counter if somebody specifically asks for them.

  9. Anonymous Coward 101
    Happy

    Did Kirk defeat their version of Hitler with a sock to the jaw, like he defeated every other baddie in the show?

    1. Annihilator
      Happy

      Not just baddies

      He also manages to work it into his charms with the ladies...

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VuIShM5kAQ

  10. WarMentioner
    Headmaster

    Don't ever mention...

    I remember quite well (as a Jerman livink in biutiful Bavaria) that the 1968 episode was aired end-1990s in Austrian television for the first time in its dubbed German lingo version: quite unspectacular I thought... and still think: it's quite a dull episode actually...

    The Voyager 2 Résistance Hirogen episode was aired along with the other ones without any trouble or uprising or warnings what so ever..

    I guess that ZDF itself found it extremely odd to have a sci-fi series cover such a serious topic in such a dumb way and banned it first from being aired...

    Fawlty Towers was aired by Franco-German tv station ARTE a couple of years ago also alongside the German tourist episode in subtitled version: that one's pretty funny actually, also for me as a German...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    I always hated those Star Trek episodes

    ..where to save money they raided the props department to do episodes that looked like lame westerns/WW2 movies/gangster epics, etc.

    However, I have to chuckle at the picture above with the classic shirtless-and-oiled-up Kirk with his glistening chest.

    Now, if they really want to test German sensibilities, they need to bring back Baywatch and do a Nazi episode :)

  12. WarMentioner
    Facepalm

    Baywatch going WW2?

    ...only if you get Prince Harry as cast!

    I wonder what the US audience was thinking at the time they aired this episode first in 1968 with a Vietnam war raging and still no man on the moon but Star Trek turning Nazi ? :)

    I guess if you really want to test German sensibilities about WW2, you need to show disrespect for the victims: that would be the only thing to drive Germans mad, since respect for the victims is enshrined by German sensibilities since the 1980s...

    BTW: try asking young people in Berlin about World Wars: they won't even know what you're talking about when they're asked for the *Second* WW...

  13. Anonymous John

    "In a bid to make the trains run on time"

    Wasn't that Mussolini?

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