The ‘Star Trek’ Episode That Was Banned Overseas for Nearly 30 Years

Star Trek: The Original Series was a groundbreaking show that has since inspired an entire universe of stories and unforgettable characters. It challenged viewers by positing an idealistic future over a dystopian one. By juxtaposing this future against a more primal human history, it showcases the best of what humanity offers. The show was no stranger to racially driven controversy, airing America’s first interracial kiss between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and exploring the horrors of racism and prejudice in the ever popular half-black-half-white alien race episode. This is why it is so surprising that the 21st episode of its 2nd season, “Patterns of Force,” was banned on German television between 1968 and 1995 due to the depiction of Nazi uniforms and the presence of several different Nazi symbols.

Star Trek: The Original Series

In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

Release Date

September 8, 1966

Creator

Gene Roddenberry

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

3

Franchise

Star Trek

What Happens In “Patterns of Force”?

The episode sees the crew of the Starship Enterprise investigating the disappearance of a Federation cultural observer, John Gill, on the fascist-like planet of Ekos, overrun with Nazi-like soldiers dressed in SS-type uniforms and bolstered by brown-shirted stormtroopers hell-bent on preserving the soul-crushing status quo. Ekos is at war with Zeon, a peaceful planet that starkly contrasts with the warlike society of Ekos. John Gill, Kirk’s history professor at Star Fleet Academy, decides to take the mission. As they orbit the planet, they are suddenly attacked with a thermonuclear weapon, a disturbing “what if the Nazis had the bomb.” The technology, Kirk surmises, is far too advanced for Ekos, and the Captain believes that Gill may be responsible for violating the Prime Directive and introducing advanced technology to a fledgling civilization. Kirk, First Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Chief Medical Officer Hank McCoy (DeForest Kelley) beam to the planet to investigate.

Upon arrival, the landing party soon discovers that Ekos is in the thick of a Nazi-like purge of Zeons, dressed in Nazi regalia and sporting swastika flags. The crew is horrified as a Zeon citizen is dragged off by the Ekos officers. As they continue to explore the planet and acclimate themselves to the hostile environment, Kirk and company come upon an outdoor news-reel-type film portraying a Nazi rally where citizens chant Nazi slogans, wave swastika flags, sport iron crosses and even make mention of a “Final Solution” promising genocide against the Zeon people and their destruction in the occupied city. Some clips from this reel, most notably the ones where Adolph Hitler is driving in his car, were taken from the authentic Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will.

Eventually, the crew finds Gill, drugged up and taken prisoner by the regime, where they learn that Gill had intentionally imposed a type of Nazi-style fascism on the then anarchic and wild citizens of Ekos. Gill posits that the Nazi regime on Earth was “the most efficient society” humanity has created and that it was necessary to bring law and order to the planet, and this did not sit well with German broadcasters at all.

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Why Did Germany Ban ‘Star Trek’s “Patterns of Force” Episode?

German networks decided that the episode was unfit to air and banned it until 1995, when it would be broadcast in the original English with subtitles on German paid programming. The episode was publicly broadcast on November 4, 2011, on channel ZDFneo. But why did it take so long to get on the air? Why did German censors ban the episode? A disturbing story though it is, the episode culminates with a total condemnation of fascism and, precisely, the Nazi regime. With a peaceful resolution between the two planets, viewers wonder how such a ban could happen and why it has lasted so long. Why is it that you can see swastikas in America but not in Germany? The answer has everything to do with what happened in Germany post-World War II.

Germany fell on May 7, 1945, and the Allied Forces quickly took control over the country, where they immediately banned the use of any Nazi symbols (the swastika) and literature (Mein Kamf) and the Nazi Party itself. In 1949, the West German government banned legal codification, putting an end to all public displays of Nazism, including but not limited to symbols and language, as well as propaganda, including the famous “Heil Hitler” one-armed salute. Germany, it would appear, had taken a hard line on hate speech. The idea was to stamp out the pernicious Nazi ideology that still existed because hardcore SS Officers and their families still lived in the country. As communism rose in the East, fascism was a tantalizing push-back against another equally authoritarian and murderous regime that was in danger of gaining ground in Germany. The tendency of people to fall into tribalistic political camps was too great, and the risk of a slide back into Nazism was possible, so the government took action.

In 1960, the German government wrote into law a framework which would “make it illegal to incite hatred, to provoke violence, or to insult, ridicule or defame ‘parts of the population’ in a manner apt to breach the peace.” Over time, the framework would extend to writing and, subsequently, screenwriting. So why was the Star Trek episode banned in Germany? It was forbidden because all the symbols, language, and ideology of the Nazi Party were shown. With Gills’s pro-fascist sentiments on full display, the German networks could not take the risk of showing an episode of Star Trek that so clearly violated the laws the German parliament had seen fit to enact. So, the episode was pulled and kept from German audiences for years.

Star Trek: The Original Series is streaming on Pluto TV in the U.S.

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