JamesG
11-13-2025, 12:06 AM
Star Trek: Patterns of Force
In 1968, TV viewers were given the gift of a "Star Trek" episode entitled "Patterns of Force," which follows Nazis on an alien planet.
Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) travel to the planet Ekos, where they discover Kirk's former history professor, John Gill (David Brian), taught the Ekosians about Nazi Germany because he thought the regime was the most efficient form of government.
Now, the Ekosians have become full-on Nazis, wearing Nazi uniforms and plotting to destroy a neighboring planet. Kirk and Spock link up with a resistance group and figure out how to contact Gill to learn what happened.
Though presumably intended to be critical of Nazism, the episode's handling of the topic led to the "Star Trek" episode getting banned in Germany. The country outlawed displays of Nazi imagery and rhetoric following World War II, unless reproduced in an artistic or educational context.
While the "Star Trek" episode could have been allowable based on that exception, Gill's explicit praise of the Nazis' efficiency firmly placed it in the "against the law" category. Thus, "Patterns of Force" was banned for many decades, and only aired on a German public broadcast for the first time in 2011.
https://www.tvline.com/2024168/tv-episodes-banned-after-backlash/
In 1968, TV viewers were given the gift of a "Star Trek" episode entitled "Patterns of Force," which follows Nazis on an alien planet.
Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) travel to the planet Ekos, where they discover Kirk's former history professor, John Gill (David Brian), taught the Ekosians about Nazi Germany because he thought the regime was the most efficient form of government.
Now, the Ekosians have become full-on Nazis, wearing Nazi uniforms and plotting to destroy a neighboring planet. Kirk and Spock link up with a resistance group and figure out how to contact Gill to learn what happened.
Though presumably intended to be critical of Nazism, the episode's handling of the topic led to the "Star Trek" episode getting banned in Germany. The country outlawed displays of Nazi imagery and rhetoric following World War II, unless reproduced in an artistic or educational context.
While the "Star Trek" episode could have been allowable based on that exception, Gill's explicit praise of the Nazis' efficiency firmly placed it in the "against the law" category. Thus, "Patterns of Force" was banned for many decades, and only aired on a German public broadcast for the first time in 2011.
https://www.tvline.com/2024168/tv-episodes-banned-after-backlash/