In the tenth episode of the third season of Star Trek, the Enterprise answers a distress call and discovers a brutal utopia. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
Trigger Warning: For talk of oppression, racism, consent.
Okay, let me get this out of the way: I was misinformed about Kirk and Uhura’s kiss in this episode, though that doesn’t negate the impact of this moment. IT’S HUGE. But someone mentioned it on a panel at a SF/F convention I was at this year, and all they said was that it was the “first†interracial kiss on television, which isn’t true. (Emergency – Ward 10, The Wild Wild West, and I Spy all had interracial kisses before this one.)
ANYWAY I HAVE LOTS TO TALK ABOUT, I LIKED THIS EPISODE.
Control
Despite that I found a lot of the acting and extended sequences of telepathic control to be unintentionally hilarious, I think that what the Platonians do is horrifying. To the credit of the show, it was clear to me that they were meant to be frightening and that we were meant to look upon them with disgust and fear. Even the kisses themselves – ones that both Uhura and Nurse Chapel had actually fantasized about – were not portrayed as romantic moments. WHICH IS EXCEEDINGLY RARE IN SCIENCE FICTION. Sci fi narratives generally have problems portraying consent because – surprise! – our greater culture at large has issues with consent. But the brutal way in which the Platonians use their psychokinetic powers is demonstrative of how they gain joy from seeing others suffer.
Well, “others†denotes Alexander and only Alexander. I am going to be perpetually destroyed by his character, so I’ll get to that later. But this entire utopia is an exercise in sadism, and it’s kind of amazing to me how openly the writers portrayed this. There’s no mincing words here; when Kirk and Alexander finally vocalize their criticisms of Platonian society, it’s straight to the point. These people feel more alive by denying life to Alexander. And yet? They believe they’ve found a utopia. It’s so important to me that they call their world a utopia and that this juxtaposition is so blatant. It doesn’t matter what they intended with this place; it’s not a utopia if they’re openly brutalizing even one member of their society.
ACTUALLY, LET’S JUST TALK ABOUT ALEXANDER BECAUSE HE’S THE BEST PART OF THIS EPISODE.
Alexander
I’ve spoken of this before in relation to this show, but it’s so great that this episode doesn’t ignore Alexander’s marginalization at the hands of the Platonians. I’d even say that it’s tantamount to the plot; you can’t have this episode without him, and I don’t think it’s even nearly as good as it is if you remove him from the story. Now, it’s obvious that Star Trek truly does imagine itself in a future where bigotry and oppression no longer exist on Earth, and while that’s normally something I’d roll my eyes at, I didn’t do that here. You’ve got an interracial kiss onscreen; you’ve got a very explicit condemnation of nonconsensual acts; you’ve got a little person in an emotionally significant role that acknowledges the historical marginalization of people like him.
Seriously, Michael Dunn’s acting in this episode is incredible. He’s got such a heartbreaking story to portray. He’s spent untold years as the abused servant of these sadistic jerks who liken themselves after Plato. (Though Parmen even outright admits that they had to adjust their commitment to Plato so they could justify their behavior!!! THEY’RE THE WORST.) And throughout it all, the Platonians repeatedly told him that he wasn’t special, that he was a freak. As if he needed them to point that out! There are multiple layers of bigotry going on here, and “Plato’s Stepchildren†shows us them all. That’s why I liked this so much. Alexander’s story is remarkably complex, and when you get down to it, this was all about saving him from this oppressive system. How often do you see something like that?
Parmen
There’s a lot about this episode that’s unfortunately absurd, and if it weren’t for the stronger elements, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. Like… forcing Spock to flamenco dance around Kirk’s head has to be one of the weirdest things Star Trek has ever done. Until they started to legitimately harm Spock (OH MY GOD, SPOCK LAUGHING AND CRYING, WHY IS THIS SO DISTURBING), this was a little bit too silly for me. And look, I love a bit of camp (or a lot of it, let’s be honest) in my media, but this didn’t seem like an intentional thing. Maybe it was scarier at the time it aired, but… Spock and Kirk dancing! And singing!
But then it got REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE. Forcing Spock to feel emotions? Tormenting Kirk through humiliation? Controlling members of the crew to act out their disgusting sexual proclivities? NO, THANK YOU. YOU’RE AWFUL, PLATONIANS.
This was a solid episode, though, and I’m so thrilled that Alexander got to leave. The ending is a little weak. You’re just going to ask Parmen not to be a bigot anymore? Okay… that’ll work. Sure. Regardless, this just made me want an entire miniseries that is Alexander’s experience traveling the universe for the first time. Also, go make that Spock/Hobbit crossover, y’all. GO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
The video for “Plato’s Stepchildren†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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