I imagine so. The BBC would have had no control over foreign VHS releases.
Episode banned by the BBC
- Thread starter PCz911
- Start date
I imagine so. The BBC would have had no control over foreign VHS releases.
TNG Episodes on VHS were generally available quite significantly in advance of broadcast in the UK. The BBC broadcast TNG series 1 to 4 about two years behind their original air dates in the US.
Sky (premium satellite in the UK) got first run rights after 1992 for TNG Season 4 onwards but was still usually six months to a year behind the US, and the BBC was often a year behind that.
So I suspect the full unedited version of the episode was indeed available in the UK, probably before the BBC even became aware of the dialogue about Ireland.
CIC Video was also the distributor for Star Trek TNG on VHS in the UK, although they weren't imports of the US releases as the UK used the PAL recording system whereas the US used NTSC, which were not compatible, so you couldn't play US tapes through UK TVs, and vice versa. They were almost certainly manufactured in Europe somewhere.
UK law gives the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) full control over censorship and ratings of pre-recorded video releases (significantly greater legal power than the FCC/MPAA has ever had), indeed to be legally sold here they would need the BBFC rating on the package, and the BBFC can censor sensitive topics in the UK.
However the decision to skip The High Ground was made by the BBC, not the BBFC. It was not a matter of law or even government policy, it was a case of the BBC acting in what it believed was the public interest at the time, as per its mandate as a state funded broadcaster.
Sky (premium satellite in the UK) got first run rights after 1992 for TNG Season 4 onwards but was still usually six months to a year behind the US, and the BBC was often a year behind that.
So I suspect the full unedited version of the episode was indeed available in the UK, probably before the BBC even became aware of the dialogue about Ireland.
CIC Video was also the distributor for Star Trek TNG on VHS in the UK, although they weren't imports of the US releases as the UK used the PAL recording system whereas the US used NTSC, which were not compatible, so you couldn't play US tapes through UK TVs, and vice versa. They were almost certainly manufactured in Europe somewhere.
UK law gives the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) full control over censorship and ratings of pre-recorded video releases (significantly greater legal power than the FCC/MPAA has ever had), indeed to be legally sold here they would need the BBFC rating on the package, and the BBFC can censor sensitive topics in the UK.
However the decision to skip The High Ground was made by the BBC, not the BBFC. It was not a matter of law or even government policy, it was a case of the BBC acting in what it believed was the public interest at the time, as per its mandate as a state funded broadcaster.
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Yes, and Sky One screened them before BBC2.
More here:
https://space-doubt.blogspot.com/2014/10/star-trek-on-bbc-part-one.html
and here:
https://fanlore.org/wiki/File:Voyager5inside4.jpg
I believe Sky only acquired first run rights from TNG Season 4 onwards.
We're talking about a specific three episodes of TOS.
Space Doubt: Star Trek on the BBC: 1990 to 1994 (space-doubt.blogspot.com):
According to fanzine DWB (issue 79 July 1990) the BBC had paid £8 million for the rights to the Paramount Star Trek package which consisted of all 79 original series episodes, the first four Star Trek films, the 13 animated episodes, and "the 70 or so episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation made so far." Included in the package were resale rights and the BBC made an unprecedented deal with new satellite broadcaster Sky Television. The original series rights were sold on to Sky TV who began showing the series on their channel Sky One with the UK première of The Cage; Sunday 29 July 1990 at 8pm. During this repeat run Sky One also became the first channel to show Plato's Stepchildren, The Empath, and Whom Gods Destroy in the UK, and also repeated Miri for the first time since the BBC1 broadcast on 2 December 1970.
For many UK fans this would have been their first chance to see Plato's Stepchildren, The Empath, and Whom Gods Destroy. There had been two video releases in December1983 (Miri and The Empath) and October 1984 (Plato's Stepchildren and Whom Gods Destroy). By 1990 CIC Video was releasing Star Trek in production order on VHS with two episodes per tape. Miri was probably released on VHS before the Sky One broadcast but with its twice daily showings Sky One might have just shown the other three episodes before they were released on VHS; The Empath was released 5 November 1990; Plato's Stepchildren, January 1991; and Whom Gods Destroy, February 1991.
Sky also obtained the rights to show Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1991, and the first three seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation once the BBC run ended in 1992. It's not clear from the DWB article if these rights were resold by the BBC or purchased independently by Sky. The BBC did not purchase the first run rights to anything beyond series three of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A decision which would come back to bite the channel.
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Apologies, I misunderstood the threading of the two conversations!
