Type Episode
Date 1968-11-22

Plato's Stepchildren

Star Trek: The Original Series 3x65

This episode contains the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk.

But this kiss is not actually as straightforward a gesture of racial equality as it appears. Although Kirk seems to spend almost every episode kissing one or other (white-skinned or in one case green-skinned) alien, so much so that a rather troglodyte version of ‘command masculinity’ is constructed by the show, his solitary kiss with a black-skinned woman is a fraught affair. He does not want to kiss Uhura, perhaps because she is one of his crew (although he has no problem desiring white-skinned members of his crew in other episodes), and she does not want to kiss him. They are both compelled to kiss by evil, mind-controlling aliens, who force this degrading and ‘wrong’ spectacle for their own entertainment.

Character TypeName
Alexander NoneMichael Dunn
Dionyd NoneDerek Partridge
Eraclitus NoneTed Scott
Parmen NoneLiam Sullivan
Philana NoneBarbara Babcock
Name RoleCharacter
Barbara Babcock Actor
David Alexander Director
    Derek Partridge Actor
    Liam Sullivan Actor
    Meyer Dolinsky Author
      Michael Dunn Actor
      Ted Scott Actor

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