Forty-three years after Star Trek made an episode in which its heroes battle characters clearly representing Nazis, it will be aired in Germany for the first time.
News Agencies
Too hot to handle? Germany finally airs episode in which Spock and Kirk battle Nazis. | Photo credit: YouTube |
For the first time ever, German audiences will this week view a special Star Trek episode in which the USS Enterprise battles the Nazis.
The Star Trek episode "Patterns of Force" – in which the "Enterprise" crew fights a planet populated by characters based directly on the Nazis – was made 43 years ago but has never before been aired in Germany. Despite the anti-Nazi approach in the episode, the uniforms and the narrative aroused discomfort in Germany of the 1960s, just more than 20 years after the end World War II. For this reason, the episode was never aired.
Forty-three years after the original broadcast, the German public television station ZDF will air the episode this week. It will be aired under constraints, however, showing only after 10 p.m. and with a disclaimer that the content is intended only for people over the age of 16.When the show began in the U.S. in 1966, it was considered ground-breaking. The adventures of Captain Kirk and his deputy Spock, played by William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy, were also aired in West Germany, excluding this one episode.
In "Patterns of Force," Kirk and Spock land on the planet Ekos, which is at war with the planet Zeon. They beam down and run into Isak, who appears hurt and tells them to run. While Spock and Kirk hide, they see Isak captured by two men in Nazi uniforms, complete with swastika armbands, who call Isak a "Zeon pig" and kick him.
After the SS officers drag Isak away, Kirk and Spock emerge from their hiding place and catch a propaganda video about the Fuhrer, John Gill. In the middle of this fictional video, promoting "Death to Zeon," actual stock footage of Nazi marches are spliced in, just in case the viewer does not already understand the message.
The similarity between the name "Zeon" and the word Zion is no accident. Throughout the episode the Nazis spew insults at the Zeons and refer to the "Final Decision," clearly hinting at the Nazis' Final Solution.
