Blood and Fire, the controversial script originally written by David Gerrold for Star Trek: The Next Generation, has been produced by Star Trek: Phase II and will premiere this weekend at Shore Leave 30.

As reported by baltimoresun.com, Blood and Fire has been twenty years in the making. It was originally written by Gerrold for Star Trek: The Next Generation but was deemed too controversial to produce at the time and was shelved.

Blood and Fire is about "a plague so horrible that Starfleet had issued standing orders not to attempt rescue of any infected ship but to destroy it immediately," and it depicts a gay couple. Producer James Cawley had a condition for keeping the gay couple in the Phase II version of the episode. "If you're going to show them as a couple, it has to be real," he said. "There was one line in the 'Next Generation' episode, 'So, how long have you two been together?' and that was as much as there was in 1987. There's a lot more now."

According to Cawley, the homosexuality as normal is not the message of the episode. "It's not a big deal to anybody on the Enterprise," he said. "There is no bias in the 23rd century. It's not about AIDS or homosexuality. The true message is to give blood, and that's always going to be relevant."

This early cut of Blood and Fire will be shown at 7 P.M. on Friday, July 11th at Shore Leave 30, which will take place at the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn in Baltimore, Maryland. The film will be introduced by George Takei (Sulu) and Cawley.

To read more, head to the article located here. Information on Shore Leave 30 can be found here.

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