3.10 — “Plato’s Stepchildren”
Plot: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy respond to a medical distress call on a planet where a man is dying from a grievous infection born out of a simple scratch. The inhabitants of this world have powerful telekinetic powers. They want to keep Dr. McCoy on planet to attend them, kill the rest of the crew, and destroy the Enterprise. To coerce the Doctor’s cooperation, they use their telekinetic powers to turn Kirk, Spock, Chapel, and Uhura into puppets–and also to use them for their own voyeuristic amusement. Ew! The crew’s only supporter is a powerless dwarf named Alexander.
Thoughts: This episode is remembered foremost for containing the first interracial kiss on television, between Kirk and Uhura.[1] In other respects, the episode is exploitative–not that that’s always a bad thing!–and somewhat disturbing. The BBC banned it from airing until the 1990s, reportedly for sadism and voyeurism, not the interracial coupling.
I want to hear more about how the Platonians came to visit Ancient Greece, what effect they had on world history, the reasons they were so affected by Plato, and why they decided to leave Earth. That could make for an excellent science fiction novel. It’s too bad this this background is just treated as throwaway material. The teleplay also seems careless about establishing contemporary details about the workings of Platonian society.
Shatner and Nimoy are so gifted, of course, that it is a guilty pleasure to watch them dance, sing, and act under these conditions, even as the Platonians use their powers to violate their characters. Nimoy actually wrote the suggestive song he sings about drinking maidens’ bitter dregs. Nimoy deepens our understanding of Vulcans with his reaction to emotion being forced upon him, although I doubt whether it would really take him quite so long to master himself afterwards. If Spock was in so much shock that he couldn’t pull himself together, I would expect to see more involuntary trembling or weeping–but then I’m not a Vulcan psychiatrist.
The actor Michael Dunn, who played Alexander, appears to have had a notable Hollywood career, despite his premature death in 1973 (at age 38) from heart complications related to his dwarfism. Judging by this episode, he may not have been the most gifted actor, but his Wikipedia page is still interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dunn_(actor)
I did like Uhura’s speech about what it’s like to serve on the Enterprise under Kirk. I think the actors manage to convey that the affection being forced upon them isn’t titillating to them, it’s deeply embarrassing and a severe breach of protocol. Whether or not they would want to kiss each other is beside the point, they’re both too professional to consider it. Some of Alexander’s comments about life as a slave were also affecting.
While the resolution wasn’t great, I appreciate at least that the crew took an active hand in their own salvation, and that Kirk maintained his stand for nonviolence. Otherwise, it’s not a great episode.
I can’t quite summon the vituperation of our colleagues Eugene and Torie at TheViewscreen.com, however, who on a scale of one to six rated this episode “warp core breach.” http://www.theviewscreen.com/platos-stepchildren/
I give it 2 out of 5 floating hypos.
Edit: I think I was too hard on this one. Post-season, I retroactively bump it up to a 2.5. I rated “Spectre of the Gun” as a 3, but if I’m honest, I’d rather watch this one again, hands down.
[1] Well, if you want to nitpick, it was the first black/white interracial kiss between fictional characters televised in the United States. That’s still history.
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