I just found out BBC banned Star Trek: TOS Season 1 Episode 'Miri' in the UK for over two decades (& it's not the only one)

Star Trek: TOS was surely a monumental series that took bold steps in pop culture and charted unknown territories (pun intended), but it often did not sit right with the audience.

While the series was aimed at all age groups in the US, the UK viewed it primarily as children's TV, which is why many episodes did not resonate with the adult UK audience, as they saw them as too graphic and portraying extreme and sadistic behaviors.

I recently discovered that Star Trek: TOS Season 1 Episode 8 Miri was banned in the UK for two decades by the BBC.

After its first screening in December 1970, the network received many complaints about the episode, following which it was banned for two decades. However, the ban was finally lifted in the early 1990s, and since then, the network has included it in its usual show re-runs.

Read on to know why Miri and three other Star Trek: TOS episodes were banned in the UK.

BBC received complaints about Star Trek: TOS Episode 'Miri', leading to a two-decade ban

The eighth episode of the first season, Miri saw the USS Enterprise discover an exact duplicate of Earth. Upon landing, Doctor McCoy and Spock learned that 300 years ago, the people of the planet conducted an experiment to extend their lives.

The experiment worked initially and the children aged only about a month every century. However, it manifested as a plague among adults, leading to their eventual deaths. While the kids survived, they were also severely ill till they reached puberty with ugly purple lesions forming on their bodies.

This disease also infected Captain Kirk and his crew and when they wanted to help the children, they attacked them. Since the children had grown up without adults, they saw them as threats and thus attacked Kirk's crew.

While the BBC never disclosed the nature of the complaints against Miri, it was theorized that the episode was banned due to its portrayal of children as antagonists and the graphic visuals of a contagious disease.

BBC also banned three other episodes from Star Trek: TOS

While Miri was the first Star Trek: TOS episode banned by the BBC, it was surely not the last. The network also banned three other episodes, which include "Plato's Stepchildren", "The Empath", and "Whom Gods Destroy". While the exact reason for the BBC ban was never made public, one can only theorize.

Star Trek: TOS Season 3 Episode 10 Plato's Stepchildren saw Kirk and the crew land on a planet inspired by Ancient Greek culture. The inhabitants of the planet possessed a special mineral that gave them psychokinetic powers, allowing them to compel others to act against their will. They made Kirk and his crew do all kinds of demeaning things, and the episode was likely banned for its sadistic portrayal of human nature. It also featured the first inter-racial kiss between Kirk and Uhura.

Star Trek: TOS Season 3 Episode 12 The Empath saw Kirk and his crew land on Minara II, a planet inhabited by a race of humanoid beings known as Vians. Vians subject Kirk and his crew to sadistic torture that was likely visually graphic for many audiences. The various forms of torture shown in the episode were graphic and thus inappropriate for many audiences.

Star Trek: TOS Season 3 Episode 14 Whom Gods Destroy saw Kirk and his crew meet a deranged shape-shifting captain who wants to control the world. He invents a torture device and plans on using it on people, likely getting the episode banned. Marta's risqué dance and other sadistic elements of the episode made it inappropriate for the young UK audience.

While all of these episodes were originally not aired on the BBC in the UK, the network lifted the ban and started including them after January 1994.

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Also Read: Top Star Trek: The Original Series episodes, ranked

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