58. Banned by the Beeb II: Garth of Izar’s Glam Rock Band
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Dust off your illegal VHS tapes and be prepared to write a strongly worded letter to Points of View because we’re back with the second part of our ‘Banned by the Beeb’ two-parter looking at three more episodes of Star Trek that suffered the wrath of British censorship. We’re back with three episodes, the final two banned TOS episodes, starting with ‘The Empath’ where William Shatner has to do some Dark Place style slow-motion running and McCoy definitely violates some medical practices as our latest butt-headed aliens the Vians pull out the chains and then with ‘Whom Gods Destroy’ where Kirk and Spock are repeatedly taken in and out of rooms and forced to ask chess questions by a mad-man in mismatched boots. Which episode is more controversial- SHOOT THEM BOTH, SPOCK! But after that, the fun and hijinks go away with ‘The High Ground,’ a TNG episode banned due to a line about Irish Reunification and Miles and Charlie find themselves having to ponder the age old question, can a show written, produced and made by Americans talk about how fighting for independence against oppressive colonialist Imperialism and somehow seem to conclude that it’s a bad thing, actually. Or, as Miles’ wife Reanna said as she watched the episode with him ‘Gosh, this has aged well.’ There are some things we can try to make fun, not everything.
Timecodes:
00:11:37 TOS: The Empath
00:42:59 TOS: Whom Gods Destroy
01:08:30 TNG: The High Ground
Talking Points Include: THEY PUT BABY SUPERMAN IN A MICROWAVE?!?!, Judge Dredd killing the Jolly Green Giant, dialogue censorship in American comics, Miles’ 12th Wedding Anniversary is a good excuse to go off on how amazing the film ‘Lifeforce’ is, Alex Garland’s ‘Annihilation,’ Patrick Stewart’s first movie kiss, Charlie has a physical subscript to 2000 AD (Lucky Bugger, Miles has to do digital), 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, SHIFT Magazine that Charlie has a story in, Alan Moore’s ‘The March of the Sinister Ducks,’ Miles tries his empathic powers, the three different alien physicalities of Star Trek, DeForest Kelley’s favourite episode, Hurt/Comfort fanfic, sometimes you can tell that the cast know the show’s getting cancelled soon, the Cenobites would hate dealing with Starfleet, old make-up techniques, how the characters have become less real over the first three seasons, William Shatner doing his slow-mo running, the British hatred of Morris Men and all they stand for, how a lot of modern comedy lacks actual stakes, The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones, Jeff knows what he’s done, Yvonne Craig (TV’s Batgirl) as a dancing girl, Mental Health doesn’t work how Star Trek thinks it works, lots of shouting, oh God more Am-Dram, Legion of Super-Heroes, did Wayne’s World ruin the name ‘Garth?’ Double-Nerve Pinch, ‘Pointy-Eared Bum Head!’Garth’s really bad Glam-Rock band, did the BBC have a point? Power-Mad-Starbucks Supervisors, padding, Kylie Minogue, Michael Bolton, where do Americans know Kylie Monogue from? the Troubles, the IRA’s attempt to assassinate Thatcher in the 80s (in Miles and Charlie’s hometown no less!), Picard is unable to answer the important question ‘What is terrorism?’ and ‘but doesn’t terrorism occasionally work for good outcomes?’, does Magneto have a point? Imperialism, Colonialism, Centrists are the worst, it really stops being fun talking points for The High Ground, the actor playing Finn seems to be going for a Jack Nicholson-esque drawl to sound dangerous, but he just sounds utterly checked out. And sometimes Star Trek.
Pedants Corner: ‘Neighbours’ was a long running Australian soap-opera that would air in the 5:30 timeslot Monday-Friday evening BBC 1 slot after the kids’ programming ended and before the 6 o’Clock News.
Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn. Read Miles’s blog or Charlie’s blog.
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