10 Star Trek Episodes That Were Banned

3. The Icarus Factor

One final example of BBC interference here and it concerns The Icarus Effect, an early episode of The Next Generation where, amongst other things, Worf is troubled by having missed an important Klingon rite of passage. As a result, he begins to shut down socially and his crewmates take it upon themselves to find out what's wrong.

In the end, they create a holographic representation of the ritual and stand and watch as Worf walks through a figurative valley of punishment. He's repeatedly jabbed with Klingon implements called "painsticks" before crying out in anguish and declaring his true feelings. It's a very tame scene by today's standards.

Despite this being a situation he's enthusiastically consented to, the BBC once again classified it as a "scene of gratuitous torment or torture" and refused to air it in their family-friendly 6pm slot. After extensive editing was undertaken to film around the painsticks, it eventually went ahead.