From Plato’s Stepchildren Into Darkness
Science Fiction and Racial Identity
The kiss scene in the ‘Plato’s Stepchildren’, the third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast in 1968, is one of the most talked about in television history. Widely cited, albeit incorrectly, as the first interracial kiss on American television, when William Shatner deliberately ruined every other take of the scene to ensure that the footage of the kiss had to be used, he and co-star Nichelle Nichols created a small-screen legend. Of course, the original Trek was well known for the diversity of its cast. Even the choice to include a Russian character at the height of the Cold War was considered daring. (more…)