The Simple Producer Demand That Ruined A Classic Star Trek Episode

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 11 seconds ago

These days, most Star Trek fans look back at The Next Generation as the gold standard of the franchise. Criticisms of NuTrek shows like Discovery and Starfleet Academy don’t occur in a vacuum; instead, the harshest critiques come from veteran fans who wish these newer series could be more like TNG and its spinoffs, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Ironically, though, TNG was considered far from a perfect show when it was originally airing. The first season is notoriously bad, and the third season is decidedly hit-or-miss. Star Trek: The Next Generation didn’t achieve true greatness until Season 3, and even then, producers agonized over how to improve the show.

For example, one frequent producer note was that The Next Generation could use more action. The series excelled at exploring moral dilemmas and wrapping everything up with a stirring speech from Captain Picard. However, it lacked the swashbuckling savoir-faire of The Original Series. Producers wanted to add more derring-do into the show, and at their behest, the writers created “The High Ground.” Unfortunately, the episode was a disaster: not only did it feature a script change that got the episode banned in other countries, but it led the writers to an unfortunate revelation. Namely, when you focus on action for the sake of action, you lose everything that makes Star Trek special!

The Warp On Terror

The premise of “The High Ground” admittedly sounds more like the plot of an ‘80s action movie than the plot of a Star Trek episode. After terrorists set off a bomb on an alien planet and abduct Dr. Crusher, she discovers that the special teleporter they are using for their attacks is slowly killing them by changing their DNA. While the Enterprise crew tries to find the enemy base, the terrorist leader boldly attacks the Enterprise; when he fails to blow up the warp core, he successfully kidnaps Captain Picard. Eventually, Riker finds the base and leads an attack in which the planetary security chief kills the lead terrorist.

One of the most fascinating things about “The High Ground” is that pretty much nobody who made it ended up liking the episode. According to Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyageslegendary staff writer and future Battlestar Galactica reboot showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, dubbed this episode “an abomination. It’s our one terrorist show. We didn’t have anything interesting to say about terrorism except that it’s bad and Beverly gets kidnapped – ho hum.” Not holding back, Moore sarcastically described how the show “[got] to have nice, big preachy speeches about terrorism and freedom, fighting and security forces versus society. It’s a very unsatisfying episode, and the staff wasn’t really happy with it.”

The Episode With Nothing To Say

Fellow iconic writer and frequent Moore collaborator Brannon Braga felt the same way. “Very rarely do we start thinking about an episode in terms of an issue. Let’s do a show about AIDS, let’s do a show about terrorism. We rarely think in those terms,” he said. “We usually think in terms of neat science-fiction twists, and that’s what sends us in the direction of what’s this story about and who’s in it?” Sadly, “The High Ground” had none of that: the day is saved by simply killing the terrorist leader and saying a few pretty words after Dr. Crusher convinces a young boy to put his gun down.

Star Trek: The Next Generation showrunner Michael Piller agreed that this was an episode without substance. “We set out to do a show about terrorists. What was the statement we made about terrorism in the show?” he asked. Was it the point where the boy puts down the gun…? It was effective in the context of that show, but is certainly not a statement that provides any great revelation.” He then summed up his thoughts on why this failed as a Trek episode: “You must be prepared to say something new about social issues.” Obviously, “The High Ground” failed to do so, and the whole episode felt like empty action schlock.

The Explosive Moment That Got This Episode Banned

However, nobody hated “The High Ground” quite so much as episode writer Melinda M. Snodgrass. She wanted to give the plot parallels to the American Revolution, with Picard reluctantly realizing that he had taken the side of the oppressor. But producers forced her to instead give the episode parallels to Northern Ireland’s fight for freedom against the UK.  Eventually, those producers would regret this decision: the final script has Data referencing how the reunification of Ireland was made possible through terrorist attacks. Because of this, the episode was banned from airing on the BBC until 2007, and it has never aired on RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster.

Most fans consider Season 3 to be when Star Trek: The Next Generation became must-watch television. Sadly, “The High Ground” is one of the season’s most disappointing episodes, offering nothing but empty action, empty words, and an implicit terrorism endorsement from Data. This resulted in an episode hated by the fans, the writers, the showrunner, and multiple countries that banned its broadcast. None of this would have happened if the producers hadn’t demanded an action-packed episode. Fortunately, the show never dabbled in weird terrorist plots again, and The Next Generation crew became known for exploration, communication, and diplomacy instead of action.

Except for ladies’ man Riker, who’s known for his love of an entirely different kind of action!